Recession Indicator!

Valerie Gorham: Woohoo.
Valerie Gorham: We belong together.
Valerie Gorham: Okay, welcome back to another episode of more than you think.
Valerie Gorham: More than you think.
Valerie Gorham: I'm Valerie.
Valerie Gorham: I am your host, and this is a podcast about how political and economic and social events are actually really important in pop culture.
Valerie Gorham: How pop culture affects them and vice versa.
Valerie Gorham: If you hear a squeaky sound, that is the chair I'm sitting on.
Valerie Gorham: And if you think I sound congested, well, yes, I am.
Valerie Gorham: And you're gonna have to just bear with me.
Valerie Gorham: But I have a really fun topic for today.
Valerie Gorham: Harry Styles just released his new album, kiss all the time disco, Occasionally.
Valerie Gorham: But I think that title is a warning because he knows that if you disco too much and party too hard, that causes a.
Valerie Gorham: What?
Valerie Gorham: Say it with me.
Valerie Gorham: A recession.
Valerie Gorham: An economic recession.
Valerie Gorham: Yay.
Valerie Gorham: So thank you, Harry, for the warning.
Valerie Gorham: And we're going to get into why he's correct, why we are actually seeing the effects of his warning and what we need to prepare for.
Valerie Gorham: So, yes, we're doing a little bit of conspiracy theorizing today.
Valerie Gorham: Harry Styles is actually a secret economist who wants us all to stop spending all of our money.
Valerie Gorham: So let's go back to about 100, what, seven years ago, it was 1919, and the Roaring Twenties were about to begin.
Valerie Gorham: So the Roaring Twenties was post World War I and it was also post Spanish flu.
Valerie Gorham: So similar to the era we're in right now, it was a post pandemic era.
Valerie Gorham: And basically there was this new attitude going on with all the young people where they were just like, looks like life is actually quite fleeting and we never know when we're gonna die.
Valerie Gorham: And so we might as well just go out and party.
Valerie Gorham: The girls were cutting their hair, wearing.
Valerie Gorham: Oh, my gosh.
Valerie Gorham: They were showing their ankles.
Valerie Gorham: They were showing a little bit of calf woo.
Valerie Gorham: That was crazy.
Valerie Gorham: And the men were like, well, yes, I think I like this.
Valerie Gorham: So people were out, they were doing the flapper dances, they were drinking.
Valerie Gorham: They were probably driving as well.
Valerie Gorham: Drinking and driving.
Valerie Gorham: Oh, yeah, they had cars back then.
Valerie Gorham: And they were doing crazy stuff for.
Valerie Gorham: Well, for the time they were going out partying, getting lit.
Valerie Gorham: And then what happens?
Valerie Gorham: They don't have any more money.
Valerie Gorham: Everyone gets broke.
Valerie Gorham: Now everyone's broke.
Valerie Gorham: It's like, okay, crap.
Valerie Gorham: And then what happens?
Valerie Gorham: Great Depression.
Valerie Gorham: Whoa.
Valerie Gorham: One of my favorite depressions.
Valerie Gorham: So that is kind of what Harry is warning us about with this album with the title.
Valerie Gorham: He's like, listen, you guys need to start limiting the disco.
Valerie Gorham: Disco only occasionally, because if you keep it up too long, girl, we're gonna get in another Great Depression.
Valerie Gorham: And that's why he also made that song called American Girls.
Valerie Gorham: Because the Great Depression was mostly in America.
Valerie Gorham: Yes.
Valerie Gorham: I've known you for ages.
Valerie Gorham: How many ages?
Valerie Gorham: Well, ever since the Roaring Twenties over a hundred years ago.
Valerie Gorham: That's how many ages.
Valerie Gorham: That's why he's saying he's known for ages.
Valerie Gorham: He's known for ages that this would happen because it's historical.
Valerie Gorham: It's historical accuracy.
Valerie Gorham: Yes.
Valerie Gorham: Also, if you hear some music playing in the background, like some jazz or like some trumpets or something going on in the background, I'm at the Price music center, practice rooms recording this.
Valerie Gorham: So you might hear someone playing an instrument in the background.
Valerie Gorham: But anyways, back to the Roaring Twenties.
Valerie Gorham: Obviously everyone knows this.
Valerie Gorham: The Roaring Twenties were kind of a big cause of the Great Depression.
Valerie Gorham: And so I want to just kind of look at what we're.
Valerie Gorham: Where we're at now, because right now it's coincidentally also the 20s, the 2000s.
Valerie Gorham: But there's been like sort of a rebirth of clubbing culture which happened, I'd say, you know, when Ke$, was really popular.
Valerie Gorham: I think clubbing was also like, kind of a really cool thing to do at the time with like millennials and them.
Valerie Gorham: And, you know, if you go online on Twitter or TikTok, you'll see Gen Z, like people my age saying, geez, when I was younger, I wanted to party like KE do and Pitbull and all those people and like the Kardashians on Keeping Up With Kardashians.
Valerie Gorham: Like, and now you go to the club and it's like, lame and nobody dances.
Valerie Gorham: And that's kind of like.
Valerie Gorham: Also in the song Dance no More from the new Harry Styles album, he's saying, DJs don't dance no more.
Valerie Gorham: And it's not, it's.
Valerie Gorham: You might think he's saying like, oh, geez, these DJs, they don't dance anymore.
Valerie Gorham: But what he's actually saying is, DJs don't dance anymore.
Valerie Gorham: Because if you keep dancing and inviting people back to the club, going to get into a recession.
Valerie Gorham: The Great Depression, part two.
Valerie Gorham: Thank you, Harry.
Valerie Gorham: Thank you, Harry, for this economic advice.
Valerie Gorham: Well, yes, but anyways, people my age, really, they yearn for the club.
Valerie Gorham: We yearn for the club.
Valerie Gorham: Honestly, I do too.
Valerie Gorham: I keep thinking about, like this sweet 16 that I went to when I was 15.
Valerie Gorham: My friend had a sweet 16 and it was kind of like when you listen to a ke$song or something like that, like Britney Spears or whatever, that's like how you envision that's how I envisioned the club in my head.
Valerie Gorham: It was like my friend sweet 16.
Valerie Gorham: And since then, I don't think I've been to many parties.
Valerie Gorham: Much better than that.
Valerie Gorham: But recently, starting with Charli XCX's album Brat, because that was like.
Valerie Gorham: To me, that was like, the resurgence of, like, trashy, messy nightclub culture.
Valerie Gorham: Like, coming back with Brat, there was, like, this sort of revival, like, cultural revival of, like, ooh, it's fun to, like, stay out all night, get your hair messy, get your makeup messy, sleep in your makeup from last night.
Valerie Gorham: And now you're seeing people think again that's cool.
Valerie Gorham: Like, before Brat, I wasn't really seeing that.
Valerie Gorham: Before Brat, the big thing was Taylor Swift, and she's, like, a very clean girl.
Valerie Gorham: Like, I work hard, I make money.
Valerie Gorham: I'm a CEO, I'm a boss.
Valerie Gorham: Well, I'm a boss, so I'm a boss.
Valerie Gorham: And that's also amazing, right?
Valerie Gorham: But, like, she doesn't really.
Valerie Gorham: Aside from, like, new romantics or 22, she doesn't have, like, clubbing music, you know, Charli XCX, you know, it's not traditional clubbing music, Brat, I don't think.
Valerie Gorham: But it's.
Valerie Gorham: It is very, like, bassy, kick drum loud.
Valerie Gorham: Like, you know that song Crank it by Slater?
Valerie Gorham: You see all those people on TikTok saying, like, gay people love just really loud songs.
Valerie Gorham: Like, that's sort of, like the vibe with, like, Brat, and, like, it's just loud.
Valerie Gorham: It's, you know, in your face, and it's amazing.
Valerie Gorham: I love.
Valerie Gorham: I love Brat so much.
Valerie Gorham: It's so good.
Valerie Gorham: I could do a whole episode about Brat and how important it is.
Valerie Gorham: But that's for a different day.
Valerie Gorham: But, yes.
Valerie Gorham: So clubbing, sort of the clubbing aesthetic, people weren't really.
Valerie Gorham: It wasn't really encouraging people to go back to the club because everyone was like, if I heard, like, this song from Brett at the club, oh, my gosh, amazing.
Valerie Gorham: But from what I hear, like, people don't really go to the club and dance anymore.
Valerie Gorham: But you know what?
Valerie Gorham: That kind of music is definitely coming back.
Valerie Gorham: And it started with Brat.
Valerie Gorham: So another, like, artist, I guess, if you want to call him that is making, like, that sort of experimental pop club.
Valerie Gorham: Deep bass, heavy bass, like, heavy drum type of, like, music is Cat's Eye.
Valerie Gorham: And is it good music that they're putting out?
Valerie Gorham: Jeez, I don't really think so, but.
Valerie Gorham: So it kind of starts with, like, that song Gnarly, which.
Valerie Gorham: Can I just say, you know what?
Valerie Gorham: Full disclosure.
Valerie Gorham: Hate that Song Full Disclosure.
Valerie Gorham: Hate the Internet Girl song.
Valerie Gorham: And I heard, like, I think a snippet of, like, a new song that they were gonna put out soon.
Valerie Gorham: Hate that one, too.
Valerie Gorham: Like, it's like they're allergic to now making good music.
Valerie Gorham: I thought Gabriella was good.
Valerie Gorham: Whatever.
Valerie Gorham: Like, it's not, like, on my playlist or anything, but it was good.
Valerie Gorham: And then.
Valerie Gorham: What the heck is gnarly?
Valerie Gorham: What the heck is that?
Valerie Gorham: Why are you.
Valerie Gorham: Why.
Valerie Gorham: Why are we being conditioned to, like, want to listen to, like, stuff that is just.
Valerie Gorham: It's not even music because, like, you know, it's kind of a copy of, like, this producer that Charli XCX has a song about called so I.
Valerie Gorham: This producer Sophie, who was, like, a very experimental producer that, you know, she used, like, things that just kind of sounded like noises.
Valerie Gorham: It was just like random sounds, like trickling water or whatever.
Valerie Gorham: And she would turn it into music, and it sounded really cool, but gnarly.
Valerie Gorham: Or like Cat's Eye is trying to do that similar sort of thing where it's just like.
Valerie Gorham: And it sounds so gross.
Valerie Gorham: Like it's not good.
Valerie Gorham: Like it's not the vibe.
Valerie Gorham: Stop.
Valerie Gorham: You know that.
Valerie Gorham: Okay.
Valerie Gorham: Another rising artist who is, like, making sort of dancey pop music that is actually really amazing is Pink Panthers.
Valerie Gorham: She is kind of on the rise.
Valerie Gorham: She's been out there for a while, but, like, she's having a moment right now.
Valerie Gorham: You know her and Zara Larson.
Valerie Gorham: Stateside remix.
Valerie Gorham: Yes.
Valerie Gorham: Stream that song.
Valerie Gorham: Yes.
Valerie Gorham: It's amazing.
Valerie Gorham: But other songs that she have that would be, like, really good in, like, a dancing club scenario or like, Girl Like Me Tonight.
Valerie Gorham: And even illegal is sort of a.
Valerie Gorham: It's not as fast, but it's still kind of fun to dance, too.
Valerie Gorham: Like I mentioned before, Slater is an artist who's, like, sort of having a moment as well.
Valerie Gorham: It's not as prominent right now, but I feel like she might make, like, a big splash soon.
Valerie Gorham: And she obviously makes, like, that hardcore, like, loud, current Y sort of music, if you will.
Valerie Gorham: And there was a very recent performance by Rosalia at the Brit Awards that was incredible and beautiful and amazing.
Valerie Gorham: And it was her song Bergain, I think it's called.
Valerie Gorham: I think it's pronounced Bergain.
Valerie Gorham: But it was that song, you know, the one that goes.
Valerie Gorham: Yeah, I don't.
Valerie Gorham: I don't actually.
Valerie Gorham: I mean, I think it's in German.
Valerie Gorham: Anyways.
Valerie Gorham: The song is very, like, classical orchestra, opera.
Valerie Gorham: And then in this performance, she like, remixed it into, like, a nightclub remix and was like.
Valerie Gorham: And it was just.
Valerie Gorham: Everyone Dancing on the stage, the lights flashing, like, Club Bing.
Valerie Gorham: Club Bing.
Valerie Gorham: And it's like, well, yes, she's from Spain.
Valerie Gorham: Like, they do go party there a lot.
Valerie Gorham: That's what I've heard.
Valerie Gorham: I had a friend who went to Spain and she was like, girl, these people, like, if you're out at midnight, you're too early.
Valerie Gorham: Like, you need to stay up late.
Valerie Gorham: In Spain, these people stay out late and they party and they dance.
Valerie Gorham: And yeah, it's like, if you're not out after like 2am, like, you're missing out on like the actual fun part of the night.
Valerie Gorham: Apparently in Spain, like, that's what I've heard here in the US it's not really like that at all, I don't think.
Valerie Gorham: I think here people do prioritize, like their sleep.
Valerie Gorham: Anyways, all this to say clubbing culture is sort of making a comeback.
Valerie Gorham: Even if people don't actually go out quite yet as much, it's definitely on the rise.
Valerie Gorham: So we need to be watching out for that.
Valerie Gorham: Because recession indicator.
Valerie Gorham: That's the word that's going around, right?
Valerie Gorham: The phrase recession indicator.
Valerie Gorham: That's something that I see all the time online is people like, yes, this Hannah Montana.
Valerie Gorham: This Hannah Montana 20 Year Anniversary Special is a recession indicator.
Valerie Gorham: Like, no, it's not.
Valerie Gorham: That's not a recession indicator.
Valerie Gorham: What would be a recession indicator is like this cultural shift towards like, partying and not caring.
Valerie Gorham: That is an actual proven recession indicator, proven by history.
Valerie Gorham: And again, Harry Styles warning us against needlessly spending our money.
Valerie Gorham: Thank you again, Harry, for the financial advice.
Valerie Gorham: There's like a pattern that I'm trying to show you guys.
Valerie Gorham: You know, first we have the parallels with the Roaring Twenties and that era and what came before it, which was World War I.
Valerie Gorham: And we haven't necessarily been through a war quite yet, but we did go through a worldwide pandemic, which was pretty devastating.
Valerie Gorham: And a little over 100 years ago, they also went through a worldwide pandemic, which, as I said, was the Spanish flu.
Valerie Gorham: So there's a parallel there.
Valerie Gorham: Then after sort of the uncertainty of World War I pandemic era, there was, you know, this rise in like, partying and not caring and just wanting to live in the present because they were like, whatever, we're all gonna die anyways.
Valerie Gorham: You know, everyone just died in this war, whatever.
Valerie Gorham: So, you know, that's kind of.
Valerie Gorham: I see it happening.
Valerie Gorham: I see it in young people also.
Valerie Gorham: They're, they're, you know, concerned about their money, but at the same time, they're like, I'M young.
Valerie Gorham: I have to do something with my life now.
Valerie Gorham: You know, that's kind of what I was talking about last time in my last episode, which was like, young people are really scared right now of wasting our youth.
Valerie Gorham: I think that's something that people probably across all time have had to struggle with.
Valerie Gorham: But also right now, I see it a lot.
Valerie Gorham: 20s is supposed to be.
Valerie Gorham: I don't know, people are saying there's a really popular phrase going around right now saying, like, you should have been at the club.
Valerie Gorham: And that also has to do with, like, what I said last time, which is, like, that people who are in their twenties are not really getting married or having kids as much as they used to.
Valerie Gorham: And so now people who are in my generation, my age are kind of judging people who did that from before.
Valerie Gorham: You know, if they see, like, a post about a woman who, you know, had children in her 20s, 10 years ago, they're like, girl, you should have been at the club.
Valerie Gorham: You know, that's always the first comments like, you should have been at the club not having kids.
Valerie Gorham: You know, so there's, like, that cultural shift happening right now as well.
Valerie Gorham: It's.
Valerie Gorham: It's.
Valerie Gorham: It's kind of interesting to see.
Valerie Gorham: It's kind of interesting to see that people are not really focusing on being family oriented.
Valerie Gorham: But remember, guys, like, we can only disco occasionally.
Valerie Gorham: Harry said.
Valerie Gorham: Harry said so.
Valerie Gorham: And he also said, respect your mother.
Valerie Gorham: Like, girl, shut up.
Valerie Gorham: And then, like, the last thing that I just want to mention here quickly is like, we all know what just happened with Iran.
Valerie Gorham: And then, of course, there was, like, the whole Venezuela thing.
Valerie Gorham: It sounds like we have sort of a.
Valerie Gorham: We all know our president's a little wonky.
Valerie Gorham: What a crazy guy.
Valerie Gorham: He's so goofy.
Valerie Gorham: He's so crazy.
Valerie Gorham: Yeah.
Valerie Gorham: But it is a little bit scary that he is just, like, out here bombing country number one, country number two.
Valerie Gorham: And not just like, you know, Venezuela.
Valerie Gorham: At first, you know, you're like, okay.
Valerie Gorham: You know, still kind of weird.
Valerie Gorham: But, you know, it's.
Valerie Gorham: It's not like we're.
Valerie Gorham: This is gonna end up with us at war or anything, right?
Valerie Gorham: But then it's like, okay, now he's bombing Iran.
Valerie Gorham: Now we're bombing Iran.
Valerie Gorham: Oh, oh, we're bombing Iran with, like, our ally, Israel.
Valerie Gorham: Oh, like, okay.
Valerie Gorham: Yeah.
Valerie Gorham: So the.
Valerie Gorham: The last thing I want to say here, just like, we might possibly be in a pre war era, like, hello.
Valerie Gorham: Ooh, gag it.
Valerie Gorham: Oh, okay.
Valerie Gorham: Because as we all know, the Great Depression, we got out of it by doing what, entering World War II.
Valerie Gorham: And you know, the manufacturing in all of the, like, economic exchange of World War II was what got the US out of the Great Depression.
Valerie Gorham: We made a lot of money with weapons and things like that and like, shipping, exporting, whatever, because countries needed our help.
Valerie Gorham: So we did what we did best, which is manufacturing weapons.
Valerie Gorham: Woo.
Valerie Gorham: Okay.
Valerie Gorham: And so if we are in, you know, the buildup of the recession and we, you know, we might be in a pre war era, it's kind of just like a pattern that I'm seeing.
Valerie Gorham: You know, history does tend to repeat itself.
Valerie Gorham: You know, just, you know, I guess what I'm trying to say is just like, you know, be on the lookout for that.
Valerie Gorham: Like, save your money.
Valerie Gorham: Don't spend quite too recklessly.
Valerie Gorham: Just be careful and respect your mother.
Valerie Gorham: Respect your mother.
Valerie Gorham: And he also named that song Season two Weight Loss because he knows that if we enter a depression, economic depression, people won't have enough money to buy food and they will lose a lot of weight.
Valerie Gorham: Yes.
Valerie Gorham: He's such a mastermind.
Valerie Gorham: Like, he's thinking things that you wouldn't even believe, this British man.
Valerie Gorham: And it's crazy that, you know, a British man would be so interested in American economics.
Valerie Gorham: Wow.
Valerie Gorham: Like, surprising.
Valerie Gorham: Whoa.
Valerie Gorham: Just another thing to love about Harry Styles.
Valerie Gorham: But yeah, just, guys, be on the lookout.
Valerie Gorham: Like, be careful with your money.
Valerie Gorham: Seriously.
Valerie Gorham: Like, like, make a budget seriously.
Valerie Gorham: And be careful.
Valerie Gorham: Obviously now we have, like, systems in place so that the banks don't crash.
Valerie Gorham: So I don't think I would worry too much about that.
Valerie Gorham: But just make sure that you have things ready in case things go awry in this country.
Valerie Gorham: But I think, you know, I'm optimistic.
Valerie Gorham: I'm hoping that things are going to be fine.
Valerie Gorham: Like, I honestly feel like a lot of what Trump does is all talk and like, it never really leads up to anything, hopefully.
Valerie Gorham: But, you know, we have been seeing a pattern of like, oh, guys, this time for real, it's World War iii.
Valerie Gorham: And then like a month goes by, nothing happens.
Valerie Gorham: And then he does something else and we're like, crap, it's happening again, world guys.
Valerie Gorham: And then, you know, again, just like, you know, nothing happens, and then it happens again.
Valerie Gorham: But it's.
Valerie Gorham: It's possible that this just becomes a repetitive cycle of just like a little spike in concern and then nothing happens.
Valerie Gorham: But it's also possible that one of these instances does build up into something a little more concerning.
Valerie Gorham: And I think that's also a reason that people are, like, trying to live their lives a little more in the now is because they are they're kind of fearing, like, that something might happen that will prohibit us from.
Valerie Gorham: From being able to spend our money in the future.
Valerie Gorham: But, yeah, that is kind of just the point that I'm trying to make is like, these are all recession indicators.
Valerie Gorham: Recession indicators.
Valerie Gorham: Lots of recession indicators.
Valerie Gorham: Thank you, Harry Styles, for pointing this out to us.
Valerie Gorham: Thank you for giving us the warning.
Valerie Gorham: And I think that's kind of the episode for today.
Valerie Gorham: Yes.
Valerie Gorham: Well, yes.
Valerie Gorham: Spring break is almost here, so, guys, just hang on a little bit longer.
Valerie Gorham: We're almost there.
Valerie Gorham: And again, I am Valerie.
Valerie Gorham: This is more than you think, and I hope you enjoyed this episode.
Valerie Gorham: I will.
Valerie Gorham: I will make another one in another two weeks.
Valerie Gorham: So love you all.
Valerie Gorham: Thank you for listening.
Valerie Gorham: Listening by.
Valerie Gorham: Sam.