Patreon Teaser: The Authenticity Trap

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Full Episode Description: On this patreon exclusive, Torry (she/her) and Cam (she/her) from what i will say discuss the paradox of celebrities/influencers becoming famous based on being “authentic” and/or “relatable”, but then their success making them not “relatable” to their audiences or their content becoming more curated and therefore less authentic. They use Emma Chamberlain, the Kardashians, Jennifer Lawrence, Alex Cooper, Alex Earle, the Summer House cast, Chrissy Teigen, Harry and Meghan (and more!) as case studies.  

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Photo by Mariah Burchell.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
OK, let's let's get into the topic for today.
So this is a topic that I find really interesting and that I've
wanted to talk about for a really long time, but I just
like didn't know kind of what mythesis statement was.
And I still actually don't know if I know what it is.
So maybe we'll we'll figure it out through this discussion.
Like I just have an interest on how celebrities and influencers

(00:24):
in particular kind of become famous off of being authentic or
relatable to the their audience,having a relatable personality,
being besties. And then because of this, they
become successful and then rich and famous and then very not
relatable to people. And so it's just, I feel like

(00:47):
it's a funny paradox of like thething that makes you famous also
could be the thing that like cancels you almost so it doesn't
make you famous anymore or losesyour original audience or
something. And then I was thinking
especially I wanted to ask Gabbythis, maybe you can ask her
offline and report back. But because I feel like she has
the longevity to really talk about this.
But what do you think about that?

(01:08):
Like, do you feel like when you first started your podcast and
no one's listening and stuff like that, that you were like
more authentic? Like do you feel like you curate
yourself now that you have 40,000 people following you on
TikTok? You know, it's funny, I actually
think I'm being more authentic lately than I was T Yeah, it's,
you know, I came into this wanting to talk about the idea

(01:31):
that Taylor Swift is queer. And to do that, I had to sort of
sell out my own values a lot. And and I don't mean to be
dramatic. It's fine.
It's not deep. It's not that serious.
My podcast was the Gaylord podcast for a while.
It's just not anymore. It's not that serious.
I'm fine. So I feel like what I'm saying
kind of has all this gravity to it.
I don't mean for it to it's it'snot that deep, but OK.

(01:53):
I just all the time, I felt likeI was kind of like I did like a
15 part series on Kayler and I don't even think Kayler
happened, but I felt like to be accepted by Galen.
Like again in on our toys like. Shops like.
Internet. Yeah, yeah.
Can you believe it? Like I, I, I, you know, I just,

(02:14):
I would like walk through the timeline and be like, yeah, I
can see how maybe I don't believe it.
I really never, you know, I justfeel like I never really did.
And I feel like I tried to talk myself into believing it because
if you doubted Kaylor, you'd be cancelled by the Gaylors.
And now I feel like I'm way ableto be more, way more authentic
by being like, yeah, maybe she'sgay.

(02:35):
I just don't care anymore. And I think most of it's
bullshit. And like, you know, and, and The
funny thing is, is like, I was so scared of Swifties, but so
many Swifties that I talked to especially, like, in more
one-on-one setting, they're like, I mean, yeah, who hasn't
fucked a girl? Taylor probably has.
Anyway, moving on. Like, they're not weird about
it. They're not mean about it.
And I feel like I would bend myself into a pretzel for so

(02:56):
long, selling out my core valuesof, like, skepticism and, like,
cynicism to an extent to try andget along in the Gaylord fandom.
Yeah. And I just, I don't wanna.
I can't do anymore. And I stopped doing it.
And I feel so much better. I think the the line I have to

(03:19):
toe now is very much like I'm more in the Taylor stand space.
And I don't want to just like, say everything Taylor does is
great and wonderful. Like, I want to remind myself
that it is important to, like, dissent if it seems like I
should be dissenting. And so I think that will be the
next thing that to stick to my values, like, I have to make
sure I'm dissenting. But since I don't talk about my

(03:41):
person, my personal life that much, I mean here and there, you
know? Yeah.
Yeah, like you really don't. I don't.
I feel like the only thing I need to be authentic about is my
beliefs and my values. I don't, you know what I'm
saying? Like I I don't need people to
see that I wake up looking disgusting and disheveled with
no makeup on. Like, I just put some makeup on
for my tick tocks. And I don't feel like I'm not

(04:03):
being authentic. Like part of my brand never
needs to be like, oh, look at me.
I'm just, you know, I'm just a girl.
Like, the only thing I worry about is like, do I strongly
believe what I'm saying? And like, does this strongly is
the way I'm communicating it andthe way I've come across this
information that I'm then gonna share with the public, does that
go in line with my values of, like, being a skeptic, being

(04:25):
like somebody who's honest and like, in a genuine search for
the truth, not just to make people happy or feel good?
So I guess it's about values like for me, you know?
Yeah, no, I get that. I feel like I used to talk when
no one listened to the pod, eventhough there's like there's
technically public record of it.You could go back and listen.

(04:45):
I talked a lot of shit about people at work.
I I think I feel like. Like people?
You worked with, yes? What did you say?
Name. Names.
It's like people being fucking annoying at work, but that
that's that is my authentic experience.
So I do feel like I do now curate like I do edit out like I

(05:08):
wouldn't talk about things necessarily that are like going
on at work. Thank you so much for listening.
If you want to hear the whole episode, you can head over to
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as well as gain access to over 120 episodes, see a bunch of
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(05:31):
Discord chat, and many other funthings that we've got going on
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(05:53):
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(06:16):
Betty today. OK, love you.
Bye.