828. - Imogene Strauss

24:06What do you mean by independent dance studios versus what?

24:09Jason Stewart:There's a lot of... We see them online where independent CEOs go into a sweaty room and kind of move their body and they let it all out. It's so fun. They let the stress out. It's so fun. I've been trying to get Carolyn to come with me, actually, but she's scared. It looks fun, but it also looks like there's too many people in the room. And if you're bad, you're going to feel bad about yourself when you leave. You stand in the back. You stand in the back. No, sure. I understand how we tear it out. I'm just saying I think the idea of letting loose is a lot more exciting if you're really good and you're hitting your steps.

24:44It feels a little more. You've got to start somewhere, Chris. I'm good enough. I'm good enough. I've been dancing since I was like a kid. And that's like I can get by, you know? What kind of music would you, are they playing the genre of hip hop? No, this weekend we did Bieber, Daisies. So it's like you learn a routine, like one song. Oh, I didn't realize that. Okay, okay. Yeah, well, it's like 40, it's 45 minutes of like cardio, working out, crunches, stretches, and then 45 minutes of learning a routine and then doing it over and over again. And then you do the routine two weeks in a row and then you do a new one.

25:17Jason Stewart:Wow. So like next weekend I'll do Bieber again and then I'll be better and then I'll probably post the video because i wasn't feeling is there at the end is there a show do you do a show for your parents at the end of the month is there like a recital no but no but my mom was visiting me last weekend and she wanted to come and she came to the class and did it and it was really cute that is cute i i'm interested are men allowed are straight men allowed or they kind of frown upon that men are definitely allowed i don't know how many of them are straight but there's definitely like a good amount of men are ugly people allowed totally yeah definitely yeah definitely oh yeah i've looked in the window because i've seen some of them i've only on social media where some of them are like this is like a class that anyone can sign up for and then some of them feel like if you know you know not invite only but like semi-private you know what i mean like very yeah i mean there's definitely ones that are more for like professional dancers which is not what i'm so do you do you black out and like close your eyes and think you're on making the band and you're like fucking in the making the bed and you're in the studio just you in the mirror you verse the mirror with one choreographer definitely not i'm like so in my head self-conscious about what's happening no it's it's it's an insane thing it looks so fun to do if you're good at it but i also know how hard it is to be good at it and i don't know how long that takes being a dancer would be my dream job if i could if i could like be really good at anything and just like turn it on i would love to be a dancer that's just like it seems like the most fun yeah but you're too much of a bag chaser yeah you're a bag chaser yeah it's a labor of love yeah the pay isn't great even at the highest level yeah there's definitely like a cap on where you can go with that unless you become a choreographer i think yeah sure we ain't getting a defender with that cap are we no okay what of all that we'll move on from dancing of all the songs that you guys have done what has been the one that your favorite was your favorite to dance to was there a carly ray jepson in play that's a tough question i think uh i mean my dance teacher now was charlie's choreographer during the crash era so he does some charlie songs which is fun when he did the welcome to my island remix that was really fun all my girls together that's nice not the welcome to my island remix like what about janet jackson like wow i haven't heard this song enough let's do it run that back turbo i've only heard this 7 000 times i can i can listen to the songs that I work on like infinitely I have no I'm not like a person who like needs to not good for you that is good you should dj in vegas I don't have that mental capacity I'm I'm done when it's when it I listen to a song 200 times I don't give a fuck if it's good it's good same that's why that's why I want to forever when they do a killers class let me know and I'll come to that one I think that's the one I'll really I'll really be hitting my steps yeah love the killers that was one of my first concert not first but I went to that concert with my dad at Irving Plaza and David Bowie was standing right next to me and i like my dad was like that's david bowie and he was like say hi and i was a little kid and i like tapped him on the shoulder i was like i'm a big fan did he respond you a big fan yeah he was so nice he like gave me a hug and was really sweet we i talked about this recently with someone because he lived in that building on lafayette like across the old supreme with with iman for like years so you would see him like at the grocery store and shit and it's just so yeah he had a mustache i didn't recognize him he was he was incognito at the killers show in disguise no one was more excited than brandon flowers that he was at the killer he he definitely outpaced you on excitement definitely did your so your dad is a is a dj that i've known of for a long time legendary nyc dj when he took you to the killers was he like i'm a little too cool no he loved the killer okay he's into it no he has good taste like like anyway i mean some people you know he's a he's a respected i wouldn't call him a snob but you know he's got high taste in music he's a sob okay he's like no we can say it it's a coin toss if you're gonna think that the he's like i gotta go to the fucking killer show at irving plaza god damn it i should be the killers playing at irving plaza and david bowie being there is a different time of their career i would say yeah i don't know if my dad would be like rushing to go to a killer's concert now but maybe honestly he's pretty loyal he's pretty loyal i like that that's good quality to having a dad i agree loyal to his favorite musicians not you or anything just his favorite musicians yeah i saw france ferdinand at glastonbury and he was like really he was actually at glastonbury also my dad but he missed the france burden and he was pissed hold on your dad was at glastonbury and all the things he was bummed he was friends did he dj or Or was he just there to kick it?

29:59Yeah, he DJed at Block 9, the big after thing, at 3 in the morning. So your dad's going on at 3 a.m., and how long is the set? I think it was probably like two hours. I missed it because he played on Sunday night, and I had to fly back for a music video. So I saw him the night before, after Charlie's set, and we hung at NYC Down Low. And then he played the next set. You didn't get to see him bless the stage, though.

30:28Jason Stewart:unfortunately not yeah yeah because i feel like when you when you were first going out where you did was it ever a thing where like you're embarrassed by like your dad being in the club and now you're of an age where you guys are both old people in the club a little bit i feel like i'm not saying you're old before before i had a before i'm old um before i had a fake id i could only go to the clubs that he was djing at so i'd like bring my friends to submerser that was like my favorite one that he dj'd at how could we forget how could we forget summer submerser's still there is it yeah yeah what happens there now does it look the same i haven't been there since i haven't been there but i feel like mark ronson will dj there still occasionally that place was sick yeah it's the cool i think it's the same i think it's just like the same as it ever was i could be wrong but it's definitely still around we should bring it back we should go i'll go i'll go anytime okay so we were going through all the artists that you've worked with i think you just we're we're rolling out the new tame impala right now as well as the demi lovato is there anything else i'm missing that's that's currently in motion i feel like i'm working on one million things but i guess those are those are the main things and then portola the festival that i do yeah in san francisco and i'm working on the addison live show okay and then there's always some charlie stuff going on in the background but right now nothing at the yeah the new and carolyn worked on some of the the tame and paula stuff with you for styling and i think a lot of people are people are loving the seem to be loving the new song yeah i like the new direction yeah it's so good interesting okay uh well the the um the no i'm joking chris less of a have you heard it chris yeah yeah of course i heard it i heard it because carolyn i because they worked on it i wouldn't have listened to it otherwise and i also i'm a big Julian head so I support his anything he does I appreciate yeah yeah love Julian Chris is more in the than he's more in the Demi Lovato space though oh well I'm in the I'm in the Demi Lovato space as in is she just so she's just like I'm hot again is that the vibe she's bringing it back old school style yeah yeah okay if it ain't she's hot and she's healed and you know I just I don't mean to get into her personal life of course but didn't she wasn't she married to some like mma guy and then like honestly i don't know the details of that kind of stuff but she's single is what i'm asking or is she married she just got married yeah to like a regular guy yeah he's a musician someone's bringing her joy yeah he's a musician not a regular guy but yeah he's a musician he just played warp tour the last weekend he seems he's very supportive chris is bad i would i would love to know what band he played at and on in at warp tour but we i'll find that out myself yeah you can you can do your research because i don't really know but when someone like when someone like demi lovato who has had a very long career and very many phases is she coming to you with a fully baked like this is what i need or is she coming to you like mama help me neither i think it's i think it's more of a i mean she's not gonna tell us the real answer so you could do a media one if you want imaging yeah please go ahead it's a collaboration it's a collaboration you know everything's see somewhere in the middle anti-collaboration if i'm fucking at a certain if i'm at a certain level i'm like oh are we hiring her all right go crazy i'm paying you how much bitch you do everything i'm gonna be at the pool yeah yeah literally you do everything i'll i'll show up i'll show up when i need to but i'm gonna be at the pool until then that's i'm with jason um i would say most artists don't do that i know they don't because they're control freaks and they think they're the ones with the good ideas, and they do have good ideas in the recording studio.

34:17But sometimes outside of the recording studio, they have to engage someone like you to make it translate. Totally. I think all the artists I work with are collaborations, and I think that's part of why I choose them. Yeah. No, that makes sense. No, that makes sense. I think it's also a pretty new job. Yeah. I mean, I didn't even know what it was until I became one. Well, no one still knows what a creative director does. So that's never going to change. But I guess, I guess that I'm saying there's a point in, I feel like music specifically though. Now it's like you have to, no matter who you are, someone's doing this job for you.

34:55I mean, it's, it's kind of almost like a logistical thing. Like the artists don't have time to do the amount of work that's required to like maintain all the creative. There's just like so many assets and things that constantly need to be made and looked at and approved and you know like the spotify banner for this thing and you know it's just like

35:16Jason Stewart:one it's like one million things actually like so we need a video a visualizer and visuals a spotify canvas you know it's just like a moving album cover on apple like bro what is up with the moving what are we gonna do for last fm the deezer phone call at three we got deezer at three i i mean the moving the moving apple cover is mind-blowing to me because every time i'm an apple music user every time i see it i'm like i know that someone had to sit down and do this and it doesn't matter at all i feel like when i do them i try and it's like the most subtle like it's like hey you can't tell if it's moving or not it's kind of those are the coolest ones those are the coolest ones that are very it's like a high trick i don't even understand like why are we doing this then like this is all it just has to be like a little subtle like a pixel shift we're doing it because we all have the brains of a three-year-old and we're like oh it moving i like it well i think it i think it's a symptom of the sort of the shift to video that we experienced where like even now when you go to like a big new york times story it's all it all moves it's all like interactive like that's it's what people it's like somewhere between video and not video it's not even full on it's yeah it's confusing keynote i i get bummed because like on spotify it's like when you play the music you can't even see the album cover on most artists because it's like some visual like you click it and it's like everything's like some blurry vhs style well look luckily all of your three second looping gif all of your hard work gets synthesized down to a one by one square and that's it's still a w you would prefer to just say brat in green but no it's gotta move it's gotta move i can't i can't remember what the brat moving album cover was i don't to be like it was like i feel like it was like scribbles or something no but i i well we're kind of post album cover as anyone can just change it at any time so yeah you know it's it's basically just an nft it's actually an nft is more legit than an album cover nowadays yeah because album covers are now fungible definitely i mean vinyl covers well you can still make like 17 different ones i guess so yeah we just we just saw the fuzzy sabrina carpenter you saw in person or you saw no one's seen it no one's seen it in person unless they're under the age of 15 but the it it i was very i was into it i thought it was cool because like we talk about all the time no one no one that's buying that kind of shit is listening to it anyway so you might as well just make it insane and cost a hundred dollars like who cares for sure i mean i don't even have a record player which is kind of embarrassing but i left it in new york when i moved i was just like i'm not bringing this don't tell your dad yeah hey neither do i you don't have a record player i was a vinyl dj no get rid of it you don't have a cdj's rule single 1200 in the storage bro i might they're just around i mean i still have records that i care about that I'll never play ever in my life but I think I was I was thinking about album covers and vinyl records specifically and I feel like now because they're just creating these collectible items to juice the first week sales and nobody has record players anyway they should do two tiers of vinyl one where it's just like here's the record it's$12$20 you put it on your record player and you play it and then there's the$70 version where it's just crazy and fuzzy and it doesn't even, the vinyl is not even playable.

38:46Jason Stewart:It's just ornamental. It doesn't have any grooves on it or there's no record in it at all. It's just a framed piece of square artwork and that counts as a sale. Not a bad idea. No, it's not bad. But I don't, I mean, people are willing to pay. That has been proven. So I don't think the price point would scare them. You need a website and thank God that Squarespace exists, Jason, because if you're online, or you want to show up online, Squarespace is not only your friend, but also your partner. Yes, and I love my partner. And without my partner, I would not have a customizable website that attracts clients and grows my personal brand.

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42:00Get started with ShipStation today and get 60 days free at ShipStation.com with code HOWLONG. That's ShipStation.com slash HOWLONG. ShipStation.com. Code HOWLONG. Taxes and fees do apply. Yeah, I'd be curious if they did that. Like how many of the like, you just do like a white label for the actual music. Like how many people actually put that? We could do less numbers on those.

42:25Jason Stewart:I think that could be a smaller run. Or the non-playable records are cheaper. and then the playable ones are more maybe i don't know but no one would ever do that because of charting so like if you're gonna sell it they just just put the grooves on it anyway you know because then just put the grooves on what's the what's the what is the kind of i haven't opened a vinyl record in since i can remember is are people doing intricate inserts and shit or is it all about it is okay it's not just all about everything is customized yeah though there is still like i don't know some of the artists i'm i'm working with they're more like the labels like make it really simple so we can make the price point as low as possible and sell as many and then it's just like a single versus most of the ones i'm doing are like gatefold with like a booklet and like special like package special like paper and stickers and stuff vinyl has cocaine inside of it and blood and you know well i mean to be fair that's 47 different colors and glitter That's what hardcore records used to be like.

43:27And that's why. I mean, we've talked before about the buzzsaw die cut 10-inch on this podcast. Or like a heart. Like American Nightmare did like a heart. Yeah. It's not uncommon. But I guess it just all drives the price up. It really does. It's like a price thing. You don't want Grammy from just doing a single insert. Yeah. Why aren't you drinking a cup of orange juice out of your Grammy right now for us? What are you doing? It should be. I have to do a shot out of it. Is the Grammy in the room with us? The grandpas in the room with us. Okay. Right over there. Okay. So this is, how does it, how long does it take?

44:01How much did it cost you and who paid for it? I honestly didn't expect to win just based on looking at the previous. Bitch, do not. Do not.

44:11Jason Stewart:Look, the time for a speech is over. Yeah. She pulls out some crumpled paper. Actually, I have a few people I would like to thank. We're trying to bring you back down to earth by asking you how much you had to pay to get an award and who paid for it. Or at least your manager or the label or Charlie. I was not expecting this, you guys. Wow. All the other nominees are so talented.

44:37No, I mean, based on the people that I've won in the past, I was like, I don't know. Who has won in the past? I know a guy who won for a Wilco album cover.

44:44Jason Stewart:Well, what was the award that you got exactly? What was the award you got exactly for our listeners? best album packaging. Who was the competition though? Like the only one I even knew was Post Malone F1. And then there was like a Kate Bush re-release and then a bunch of stuff I've never heard of. Because it was like international or was it just like stuff you'd never heard of? Just stuff I've never heard of. I mean, if you haven't heard of it, then it's most likely that we also haven't heard of it. No, I'm sure you probably haven't. okay so but you were there did you go well charlie performed so i was there working anyway and then at the regular grammys but then at the like the album packaging is like in the the like yeah so i like actually had dress rehearsal i wore my old like outfit to dress rehearsal and had my hair and makeup done and then i like ran in the most uncomfortable shoes ever to the other area and like got there five minutes before they announced our award okay and so and so did you get to give a speech or you just go up there and grab that shit and sit down i just uh i had like a two sentence give a who else was who else was up there with you uh brent from special offer oh okay yeah yeah okay okay so is you and brent on now did brent talk or was it did you kind of take the reins well i mostly we we both talked it was we kept it short and sweet though we weren't like doing a whole yeah i gotta be honest we don't we don't need to hear that much from the best packaging winners no offense i mean it's an impressive feat but i'm just saying i don't We don't.

46:14We don't. But they sent us on like a two and a half hour press journey after that. Like you literally had to go back. You go backstage and you just are like on a. It's like a junkie. All these like little YouTube interviews for. I don't even know. Never saw them. Don't know where they went. And they're asking you. Do they. Are they asking you good. Is it like a real interview or is it sort of like.

46:35Jason Stewart:Tiny microphones. They're just checking off a box because. Lots of tiny microphones. You just won the Grammy for the best recording package. Can we get a tour of your apartment? basically that a lot of the same question over and over again type of thing you know i get that i get that that's fine okay so you got so how long did it take from victory to having it in your house um i just got it like a month ago yeah okay so it took it took a while yeah it takes a while and they spelled your name right and everything yeah that's nice that's nice and And if you want to dodge the - And now I'm in the Academy.

47:13Oh, great. So now your ass gets to vote. Yeah, now I get to vote. And you get to recommend other people to be in the Academy. So I'm trying to, you know - Well, I don't want to kiss your ass too much, but I'm available. Okay, okay. I have one more. I have one recommendation left. So if you want it. Yeah, I do want it.

47:33Jason Stewart:Don't waste that shit on Demi Lovato. She has enough of these awards, okay? Yeah, she's got plenty. I think she's in the Academy, so I think she's good. Would be my guess. Yeah, as you see, that's the thing. You don't have a lot of friends that aren't in the Academy. So think of it as a make-a-wish kind of situation. So true. So true. Yeah, speaking of make-a-wish, I mean, I feel like I was thinking about this earlier when I was realizing you're going to be on the pod. Somebody like you in your position, you have – it's like such a dream job for young people. Like you're a young, cool person, and you're the creative director for all the biggest artists in the world doing all this crazy shit.

48:11Jason Stewart:If this were like the 90s or early 2000s, you would have like a Disney Channel or like a Nickelodeon show about you. Or there'd be like books about your career path. And it's a bummer that now all you can do is talk to us really. But I think you should have a Disney Channel show or something like that. The Adventures of Strauss. That's true. Your name is even kid show friendly. You think? Oh, very. Yeah, very. Imogene explains it all type shit, you know? Yeah. Is Disney Channel, do they still make shows? I don't even know. about what happens i bet i bet it's i bet it's bigger than it ever has been and it's just not really on our radar yeah it's just you know it's like bluey yeah i needed like a youtube series maybe or something yeah that's what it is we're showing our age we need bluey but with the little solange well i mean i i feel like you know creative directors nobody knows what they are what they do but a good one gets the job done from what i've seen and it doesn't really necessarily mean that they're the most creative person in the world just you know who the most creative people are you're able to contact them put everyone together get a budget and get it done on time and that's you know just finishing the job is nine tenths of the work is is what i've seen what do you think yeah i mean i was being a manager before i was a creative director definitely like helped a lot in like i think being someone that managers actually like to work with like i am pretty like professional i understand the music industry really well i know how every aspect works i know how labels work i know how managers work i know how live shows work i know how touring works like i know i understand all the bits and pieces um of how it all works and i'm not um i think like the best creative directors are probably like really good at something else before they become I'm a creative director.

50:01It's not like you go straight into creative direction. Like people are always asking me, like I get emails and DMS and stuff being like, how do I be what you are? And I'm like, honestly, don't try to be what I like. I don't like, I don't, you don't want to do that. You don't want to do that. Let me tell you. No, I think you're absolutely, I think you're absolutely right. But I think that, I think that that title is sort of, I don't think people fully understand what it means. And if you're 22, you think it's, that's just what you want to do. You don't know that stuff has to come before.

50:30Jason Stewart:when you're 22 you think you open your gmail and nike's like yo do you want to be in charge of the new michael jordan shoes and you're like yeah finally i know what's cool yeah but it really has nothing to do yeah and i think it's it's very like glamorized obviously there's like so many fun parts of it like i'm very lucky i know but like it's also hard and annoying and there's all the normal things that come with the job yeah you're dealing with fucking lunatics all day long it's a fucking that's 100 it's no that's no joke there's a fire to put out every day it's definitely better than management though so i'm never going back speaking of let's let's talk about let's talk about solange my friend you were telling me the story about how you started working with her and i found it to be interesting and i was like oh when when imogene comes on the pod i want her want her to talk about that yeah so how'd you start working with her well i actually started working with her because i was working with dev heinz first um and they were both being managed by i was 21 when i first started working with dev i just graduated college and did you say you were like interning at like rock nation or is that what it was no i was interning at dfa at the time actually and then i was also interning at moma ps1 doing their like dfa is the dfa is the rock nation for white people jason if you were i also worked at rock nation but that was later so okay got it i started it's r-a-w-k nation sorry go ahead but yeah i was working at interning at df and interning at mama ps1 during the warm-up summer music things i met dev there and started working for they both had the same manager in the uk and then and they both ended up like leaving her and they were like you're our manager now basically so long went to rock nation and i went with her and then Deb I started doing on my own and then Solange left Rock Nation when I was like 22 or 23 and then I met with every management company under the sun and was like I have these two artists and they all were like great we can pay you five dollars and you can do all the work and I was like I was gonna do it um but I had a friend and he had done some management stuff before and he was kind of trying to get out of music and go into crypto but he was like i'll help you set it up and then we ended up starting a company together and uh so i did that from when i was like 23 till 20 yeah so you you grew you were at what age did you become an adult um am i an adult now spiritually i would say 15 16 probably based on new york race i mean growing growing up in new york city being raised in the city you're managing two you know worldwide renowned artists at the age of 22 yeah i think 15 16 sounds about right you're still a kid at heart of course through the spirit of dance i feel like i weirdly like skipped a lot of like i definitely like partied and stuff i partied a lot in college i went to wesleyan and it was just like one constant party what choice what choice do you have really yeah that's the that was the point um that's the education you deserve yeah most expensive party of my life artisanal molly water yeah um but yeah then i feel like i worked really hard in my 20s to the point of like i was not partying like everyone else was i didn't like when when people are like oh were you at like the jane i was like i went to the jane maybe like twice you know like i wasn't that new york kid in my 20s like i was in dubai in Dubai doing the fashion week, DJ days.

54:14I don't know which one's better to be completely honest, but I'm glad that you found a path that worked for you.

54:19Jason Stewart:Okay. So, so you're 22, you're solo and you're working doing day to day management with Solange. And then you're just learning as you go along. Definitely learning as I go along. I didn't really have like a mentor, I would say I kind of had to just like figure, it out. I think managing salon is kind of getting, salon just getting thrown into the deep end. Definitely. Yeah. Did you have to ever, Chris had a meeting with Miss Tina one time. Did you know that? I had some meetings with her too. She's had more than one meeting. I have to find that screenshot of me and Miss Tina on Zoom one-on-one. What was your meeting about?

54:58Jason Stewart:It was just a general baby. Parkwood wanted somebody to help with this and that and it was like, alright, sure. Let's talk about it. And they're like, well, the final boss obviously is Miss Tina. And I was like, okay. And I thought they were, I don't know. I just didn't think it would actually happen. And then they were like, all right, tomorrow at three o 'clock you're getting on. And she's got like the, just the ornate like Houston mansion behind her. Like it's a, it's like a marble foyer is what you could see. I wouldn't want my parents involved in my business like that. Me either. Definitely not.

55:29No shade to my parents. You know, they're great.

55:31Jason Stewart:I don't think the Knowleses have a choice, right? Yeah, they don't. And obviously Miss Tina turned them into greatness. I've always been a Solange head personally she's amazing I mean she taught me so much we're still like friendly I don't speak to her that much but like I think she's incredible and I would not be she taught me a lot about chairs and lamps that one Solange song is an all timer and I think that that was the peak which one losing you yeah losing you or later losing you is losing you that was my era that's as good as it gets like I don't know if you can do better than that if you're her yeah that song is it's a classic um classic let's talk about artists you don't work with uh if if ovo called you today and said we need to fix whatever's going on with drake what are some things that you would do i've actually worked for them before or um okay on what was called certified lover boy they kind of like i worked in the office for a bit but nothing i ever came up with happen oh you were at the dream crew world headquarters in los angeles they're cool i was down it was chill i came up with a bunch of crazy ideas nothing ever happened sure they're big on paying a lot of people to come up with a lot of ideas and then using one that someone that was already employed came up with is what i totally that was very yeah that's okay but right now if you were right now i'm gonna i'm in a big no phase just because i'm feeling um fried honestly i'm like i need i have not been on a vacation and really in like two years i just like need the power of saying no yeah even when i have been on short vacations it's like i'm on my phone i'm checking you know it's like i need to you better ride this way well you need to ride this wave while it's crashing i mean this this shit might go away no you got to be on it for sure i'm locked in for now but i i think next year keeping the roster tight you're so you're saying you're in your say no era yeah okay well i'm in my say no hopefully people listening that that are trying to hire you will come with so much money that you can't say no that's that's what the goal of this podcast is totally yeah has there been you don't have to say who it is but has there been somebody where it was a a big ass bag and you and you said no and it felt good or you were like crying while smiling kind of thing no this is good for my mental health not really i think that i think that i think i think honestly that's what's cool about your job is that it you can do it for anyone and make an impact and it's good and it's fun to do that like i think like i think it's like that's a bigger like demi lovato is a bigger challenge than charlie or whatever you know what i mean because it's a different thing she's trying to sort of like remake her image or reappear a different way and i think that's yeah fun of the job is that like nothing is off limits really yeah i think it's interesting too because she has such a different audience that i'm not like super tapped in with but like with charlie it's like i am a fan you know like i understand the fans you are a 20 you are a 24 year old gay guy on poppers you're absolutely right literally i am so but dimmy's dimmy's fans are just younger i assume like and they've been with her the whole no they're not younger they're like her age like they grew up with her it's like disney camp rock but how old but how old is she she's younger than me she's 33 i think oh okay yeah but i think it's it's a little bit more mainstream it's like it's a lot more mainstream it's just like everybody it's like everybody you know like it's like middle america it's 155 million followers on instagram that i'm just like wow bro what wow well it's cool because like with with charlie it's somebody that you already know somebody who's cool so it's just like here's a cool person making good music you love just don't fuck it up and with another artist it's kind of like you know making demi lovato cool my words not yours is a more impressive feat like i always told carolyn like anyone can just be like i'm gonna make this model du jour look hot again it's not that impressive but if you take somebody who's a stinker and always has dumb photos and they look bad in clothes and you turn them around don't talk about seth rogan don't talk about seth rogan like that they keep trying but all that cuccinelli ain't gonna do it wow the clothes fit lily rose depp again wow amazing how did you pull it off but then yeah like if you look so amazing in those photos i don't know how john ham looks good for once in a minute you know but but like you said a seth rogan or just a random person where you're like this is a trend you know like if amanda binds whoever turns that ship around that's actually they deserve the grammy you know imaging that's the job you need that's the next that that's the ultimate i need buying give me the binds account no i think with demi it's like she's so nice and chill and like easy to work with like she's very like she's been so she works so hard like you i tell her i'm like we're gonna here's an idea she's like okay i'm gonna work so fucking hard to like achieve that thing and that's like that's like a necessary component of who i'm working with too is like they gotta be driven and down for it kevin tame also like on that music video shoot like he was fucking we put him through hell like it was like a dusty ass train yard it was a hundred degrees he's sitting on top of a hundred year old train tanker and we're like blowing wind at him there's like bird shit flying all over him and he's just like taking it doesn't appear that way he's too he's too rich he's too rich for that i would have been like let's let's come up with a new concept no he was so he was such a fucking trooper it was very julian was like i've never seen an artist like be so down for literally everything i mean that is refreshing to hear though because it is like that's why people like that get to where they are that attitude is what i think people respond to yeah i mean charlie in the von dutch video was another one like that where it was like fucking freezing out she's on the plane of an the wing of an airplane it's like wet we didn't know that it was going to be slippery so she's like it was so stressful it's four in the morning and paris to go and charles de gall in paris like we're all like fuck but she fucking that dedication is like what you need yeah i mean i get i think that it's the you have to be those people are just wired different that's why they rose to the top yeah honestly i think i think it's just like a mental thing like you can have there's a lot of talented people that no one gives a fuck about and it's because they don't have that yeah the dog in them yeah i mean charlie's knees after that von dutch video shoot they were like black like she just bruised the shit out of herself i'm scared i'm scared of her honestly i think she's i think she's a powerhouse i think she yeah i think she could really put chris in his place you know if it came down to it in a way that would humble me don't make me yeah don't make me exactly don't make me are you gonna have time to go to the wedding yeah yeah okay good so we'll be there that's so fun maybe the three of us can do a three three by three dj set who knows i'm bringing my usbs for sure i was hoping i was hoping you i was hoping you were going to say choreography but i guess we could do some tiktok dances yeah imogen's like instead of a speech i actually prepared a small dance if there's if there's one this is if you know if there's one tiktok dance i i do i have amazing rhythm i i know it doesn't look like it but i do have good rhythm So it's not out of the question that if you found a rudimentary TikTok dance and taught it to me that I could achieve, I could get over the hump.

1:03:01Have you done the apple dance? I haven't done the apple dance, but I need, I mean, I haven't been asked. It's the most rudimentary. I've done it in my head a thousand times, it feels like. Yeah, I've done it in my head. I've practiced a lot. Can you do the first move? Do the first move. Oh, I don't even know. I can't. Not off the top of my head. I have to see it first.

1:03:18Jason Stewart:My favorite one is the big diagonal swipe down. Yeah. Love that sweat. Well, there's a hip touch and then the heart thing, right? Yeah, the apple splitting. Yeah, sure. The apple splitting. The metaphorical apple splitting. It's more of a heartbreak. It's a heartbreak to me. Okay. I think it's an apple. Let's talk about stage design, direction, all that stuff. We have musicians on the pod all the time. We're talking about pyro this and all that stuff. what are some you know when you go see a show like gaga last night are you are you think are you thinking like oh that's tired i want to do this or i'm going to steal that or like are there new are we moving into a new direction with staging i feel like you know for next year that you're thinking about my inclinations are always more stripped back than most of the things that i see just like i like you guys saw sweat tour and the brat show and obviously there are like big staging moments but most of it is just like charlie as a performer lighting like smoke camera it's not like you know roll out the big inflatable whatever don't talk about don't talk about katie perry not when she's not here to defend herself don't do that we don't bring out the marching band we don't bring out a gospel choir well it's refreshing because i think a lot of people need that because they ain't got nothing else yeah i guess like i've been lucky and i guess it's specific to the artists that i've been working with that like haven't needed that so that could change on future things like for sure um and i would be excited to do a show that felt like really crazy too like watching the gaga thing it's like oh i've like never even had the opportunity to make something this extravagant and over the top like it just wouldn't fit with the type of artist that i'm working with don't don't say that your your claro could definitely go that way i think that's i think that's who i could see really that's my favorite though i thought that set i thought it looked so cool i thought it was so good and cool and just thank you and just like i love that one different but also really familiar you know what i mean as far as it just felt like something from a different era kind of that you sort of recognize in a nice way yeah it feels very classic i think that one and both me and claire have been like oh we could just like that's a third tour i've done with her and we were like this one could be the one we just like keep forever kind of or like you know maybe we variate on it but it just has this like classic feeling to it that we just we loved i think of all the shows i've done with her we i think we really felt like we nailed it on this one yeah i think because there's a lot of other shows where it'll be like what if it's like 70s vibe and and or like the john mulaney netflix show it's like you know funky old furniture i actually haven't seen that hell yeah i watched that but that it's an exact you know like we'll we'll have like an old mahogany table and like some like those glass grapes that you'd see from this you know like and they'll make it look vintage and kitschy and stuff but it never really feels exactly right and i feel like the claro stage show pulling that off authentically is is more difficult than you think it is because most examples i've seen of that like let's do it throwback vibes it just doesn't feel right yeah so good for you yeah i think like marrying the influences from like the 70s and like the conversation pit and all that stuff but like making it feel modern and not uh not too stuck in it what's up what's up with the what's up with the the cans on stage the cans you know what i mean yeah she wears the big headphones you know the frank ocean where's the bit what is it they're more comfortable for her no i get that they're more comfortable but look at jason he's not wearing any shit in his ears well you mean you mean compared to the in-ear yeah no i think that's what they're using yeah i'm saying with claro it's it's stylistically correct to me in that setting especially where it like looks right yeah most people it does not look right is my point most people aren't cuties chris yeah but i mean who else is doing what who else is doing it frank ocean he looks like a dork who else no He looks good doing it, but he also hasn't performed.

1:07:33I don't know. I don't know if the show's actually started or finished, but he was wearing the headphones. He was wearing them.

1:07:39Jason Stewart:When Frank is wearing them, it's sort of like when you have the kid with Tourette's at the airport and you have to just put the things on them and let them be on the iPad. It's giving autism. My word's not yours. But with Claro, it's like, you know, this is how I like to listen to my music and it works and it looks good. And also when you get the in-ear monitor, It's always some dumb color with sparkles on it. You get to pick your color. So I think that's the choice of the... I know, but it's always wrong. It ends up looking like a fishing lure. Never forget drakes with Aaliyah's face on them.

1:08:12Those are my favorite of all time. Damn, that's crazy. I've never seen that. Thirsty ass. I need to look that up. Damn, that's crazy. It is crazy. It was crazy at the time, and it's still crazy now. Damn.

1:08:22Jason Stewart:Okay, so when is the next break? Are you going to get a vacation? is that ever going to actually happen? I think I have two weddings in September and I think like a week in between. They're both in Europe. So the week in between, I will hopefully. I need so many outfits, guys. I'm stressed. I feel like, you know, that's funny you mentioned that because I feel like I've only seen you in casual clothes in a good way. And I can't even imagine what it's like for you to go shop for like something more formal it doesn't seem like your natural inclination i guess it's not natural for me definitely like wearing heel like dress that's long doesn't it's very weird for me dress that's long yeah you're gonna walk into sacks do you guys have dress that's long long dresses here well maybe i mean you're a busy gal out can we outsource this yeah personal shopper yeah you can outsource it's tough to outs i'm very particular so i don't most things even like my friends have been like oh where this where that i'm like no i need to just go do it myself but there's no shops on the east side there's no shops in la period so it's like i have to still like make a whole day about it you got to do everything yourself though imidgin you got to do everything you're further together faster alone as they say have you you're gonna to have to sew it yourself.

1:09:49Jason Stewart:Can you cut a pattern? I have so many outfits. So I'm going to start a clothing company because I've got a couple of weddings coming up. I don't have a choice. I need a bodycon ASAP. Actually, speaking of fashion, have we done any fashion show production? Have we done any stage direction? I did an H &M. You came to that, I think. Big ass party. What was the budget on that one? Real quick, Imogene. I have no idea. She's like, they didn't let me see that number. It was too big. I couldn't see. No, literally, I wasn't allowed to see that number. Robin got paid$150 for three songs, yes or yes? I have no idea.

1:10:32I mean, that seems reasonable. That seems pretty reasonable to me when it's a big corporation. Plus, that's reasonable. Oh, wow. Damn. Okay. All right. We're going. All right. Fair enough. Okay. That's what I was saying. I was like, you don't give HNM a deal.

1:10:45Jason Stewart:That's not the person that gets a deal. No. No, definitely not. Yeah, that was a great party. Great lineup. Well done. I mean, obviously, that's a different kind of fashion than like fashion fashion. But it was fun because there was budget and they were kind of like, do whatever you want. And I had never really been in a position like that before. I didn't three other jobs with them, but all attached to an artist. So like two with Charlie and one with Troy. And even with those, they were like super supportive and just like, yeah, do whatever you want. but this one was like designed for the brand as opposed to the artist i feel like if people are i mean yeah i feel like if people are you got it like like i said earlier you got to do let them do their thing yeah that's a great example of being like well we came to you so here's the money go do it yeah and it was such a positive experience that i i don't know if they're all like that but i'm like i could do more of that for sure like it was it was cool yeah there was no like oh this isn't going to work it was like yeah we'll figure it out type shit so we love it we love a say yes you're spoiled say yes you're you're in your say no moment but we're in our say yes moment i want everyone else to be in the say yes and i'll be in the day now sure yeah yeah yeah different rules apply you're working your way there okay well thank you for taking the time to chat with us my friends well done thanks uh anything coming up you want to plug i guess the new Demi and the new Tame Impala?

1:12:10Jason Stewart:Anything else? Come to Portola in San Francisco. It's going to be so fun. I would take you up on that if I liked any of the music, but it's just not for me. Come on. The Prodigy? Moby? Underworld? I'm big on Moby right now. I think Moby's going to have a real... Moby Live. He hasn't played live in forever. I'm back, actually. I'm very interested in this. Creation, Chris? Creation? creation or creation you know how long gone has been doing a lot of festivals lately we're going to be in Lollapalooza tomorrow interviewing the dare so you know just something to think about oh the dare is playing Portola also I'm sure he is that motherfucker can't say no he's in a say yes era the return of the rapture return of the rapture that's huge okay hold on this is actually sounding way better than I thought because I feel like last year it was a little I was like I don't even know what half this is my girl Arca I got COVID last year.

1:13:05It was on my birthday. I had a Claro show in Dallas the night before. I got COVID. It was the first Claro show of the tour. I got COVID. Couldn't go to the Claro show. Couldn't go to Portola. Nightmare. So this year, I'm coming back. Well, your first mistake is that you tested. And hopefully you learned from your mistakes. I was forced to. I fainted.

1:13:26Jason Stewart:And also, Christina Aguilera. Christina Aguilera? Christina Aguilera. Are you back in? It's just a wild mix. but I'm very bullish on Moby play era return. So I think that this is interesting. What are the dates? Can you make sure Christina and LCD are playing at the same time so I can make sure to miss LCD completely? What are the dates? What are the dates? The dates are September 20th and 21st. Unless we get COVID, I might need to come up because we've been planning a trip to San Francisco. We want to go eat at Chez Panisse. we're gonna build this around portola do it we're gonna go camping on the way up you lost me on that one but yeah moby sounds great come on bro i don't camp either i like literally only slept in a tent once but now that i got this new car my boyfriend's like you have to camp because you can't be the person with this car and not now you want no stolen valor he's never been in la i guess like no one uses those cars for what they're for yeah truly it's a creative it's a creative director their car it's not a camping car he's holding you to a higher standard and i appreciate that the only thing in the back are gelson's bags baby yeah no fucking no hammers in here at all even i don't care have you got it all figured out all right thank you for joining us uh and we'll we'll see you soon for sure don't work too hard and get yourself get yourself some nice clothes i will try you deserve it thanks later later

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