How Will Alix Respond…? PR Stunt Strategies & The Return Of The Hunger Games | The LuxeGen Group Chat

0:00On this week's episode of the LuxGen Group Chat, we talk about the Alex L and Alex Cooper drama. If it was genuinely real, there'd have been someone in there going, not worth it, ignore it, because you've ignored it for this long. Why come out now? The Disney Channel stars making a huge comeback. Ladies and gentlemen, Jo, Jo. No! And the movie franchise, that brings out my emotional side, literally. Why am I crying? No, don't because you'll set me off. Keep on listening and don't forget to subscribe because we've got new episodes that come out every single week. Right, LGs, I need to put you on to my latest beauty find.

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1:02The best part is how quick it is to do. Ideal if, like me, you really don't have time every morning to do a full brow routine. Plus, it's Maybelline, so of course they're affordable. So LGs, if you want an easy, low-effort way to make your brows look better, the Maybelline Brow Inserts are definitely worth trying. Shop the podcast links below or pick up your own in your local drugstore. Anyway, let's get on with the podcast. Hello and welcome back to the LuxGen Group Chat. I am India and today I'm joined by Angelina and Poppy. Hello! We've got a lot to talk about today. Shall we start with outfits, girls?

1:34What are you wearing? Okay, so I've got this bomber from Prime Art. What? I am obsessed. I love it. I'm obsessed with it. No, I genuinely love it. Butter yellow, only 20 pounds. So I feel like this was a good steal. No, really not. And then I've got these barrel leg Tommy Hilfiger jeans. I have those. And for those who can't see, they're a really nice denim. And they're really long, can roll them up. Really baggy fit. Love them. And then I've got some really nice earrings from a small jewelry brand called Mamara. Ooh. Really nice. I love those. So me, gold hoops. Yeah. Yes indeed. Angelina, what are you wearing?

2:05Okay, I've got this shirt I recently got from Pull and Bear. They're new like summer stuff, really cute again, like butter yellow pinstripe, but was really cute in summary. And then jeans are just very classic urban, of course. And then jewelry. I got this bracelet actually at like a market in Portugal and it is literally my favorite thing ever. So buying stuff on holiday. Similar bangles. Yeah, I got one in a market in Marbeau. We are, there you go. That we're very good too. Amazing. I am wearing a leather bomber from Marks & Spencer with the fun of the neck. Obviously, I've got a t-shirt on underneath from Free People.

2:40My trousers are Zara, they're like kinda, not Barrelly, like Harim pant. I really like them, they're like a jean, cottony linen crossover. They're so comfortable. Also, if you haven't realized, we are all wearing New Balance's today. So these are the new New Balance 204L available at Shoe. I'm wearing the mushroom colorway. It's like a nice brown, really neutral, goes really well in my outfit. But to be honest, because brown is so in right now, could go with anything. I love that. I'm obsessed. And it's not like a nice, well, the laces are white, but they also come in brown as well. So you can mix and match.

3:15That's good. Sort of some nice like gray lining. It's just perfect for like everyday, throw on, dress up, dress down, love them. Mine are shade Timberwolf, which is like a creamy white color. But I feel like all of the colorways they've nailed. Yeah. I would wear and buy all of the different colors. because like you said, your ones with the brown, bit more something going on. But then these ones are really good basic every single day. Neutral would go with everything. And then Angelina, yours is sick. I've got on the rain cloud ash gray, I think they're called. I really love, for those who can't see, it's like a blue mesh that's like a baby blue, I would say.

3:45And then the New Balance logo is like a dark blue. So it's kind of like a blue, dark gray type of combination, which I think goes with a lot of stuff I own. I love it. So let's talk about the event that Angelina and I went to last week. Oh my gosh, I was so upset. I couldn't go, I was ill. No, the photo A. There's nothing worse than A, lying in bed and missing a day of work, and then B, missing a shoe event. And then C, all on social media as well. No. It was so, so fun. Oh, it was so sick. It was at the Shoreditch Arts Club. Yeah. You walk in, to the left there's this huge campaign imagery planted up on a projector.

4:18It was gorgeous, yeah. And then the display of shoes. So I didn't know that there were more colours of these shoes. So many. What other ones? So I saw these really nice pink ones that were like two-tone pink. So it was like a dark pink and a baby pink. Oh, I like those. So cool. And then they also had a similar one that was like to mine, but a darker brown. Then the N was a pink. Yeah, it was like a pink. I know. Those were so cool. Can we like Neapolitan ice cream? Yes. So cute. No, I love doing that. I feel like we all need a pair of those. Literally. But basically the whole campaign messaging is Gen Z's obsession with going back to analog culture.

4:51So getting back into reading, getting back into writing. Physical media. Physical media. So it's like the modern classic mixture. Exactly. And they've been able to portray that really well throughout the event. So we did a little like bead making, like bead charm making. With Beads by Edie. With Beads by Edie. We made bookmarks for the books that we got at the event. I actually brought mine to work and I was going to bring it down to the podcast, but I forgot. Yours was quite cute though, I would say. It was kind of that like, you know that like thing in like 2020, like kid core thing where everyone's having like chunky beads.

5:21like maximums and that thing yeah the food amazing there were like these like chicken nugget bites with like pickles on it with some amazing sauce you know when you just keep going around to like the person who's having food you're like yeah of course can I have another one please can I have another one it's when you make friends with the people coming around with the tray and they know exactly or you stand by where you know they're coming out so literally we ended up standing by the bar and we saw them like bringing out the trays and we were like let's just take one for the road don't mind if I do I always end up making friends with them and I'm like swing the tray this way then you'll have a lighter load because I'll eat them all.

5:50Also, they had this mystery bookshelf curated by Kimberly Cumberbatch. I absolutely love her and her book club and how much she talks about reading and things like that. So there was three genres of books and they had to take it. So it was romance, mystery, and fantasy. And they were all wrapped up and they had a professional rapper. Remember they were telling us about that? The PR was telling us that they had this professional rapper come into the office and she was like, so how do you want to rap? And they were like, not rap. No, but the rapping was pristine. I felt bad. It was amazing. I made that for my Christmas present.

6:19like I know it was amazing you can tell the difference between a professional rapper and me I wonder how you get into that like how do you discover your professional rapper maybe Christmas maybe your family's like hey oh yeah so sorry carry on so we had to unwrap the books and then when we were unwrapping them you got a mystery book yeah I think I got um when no one's watching I'm really excited to read that because I really wanted a mystery one because I love yeah you need a good mystery um what did you get you got something I got Children of Blood and Bone which which is one of my favorite books ever.

6:49I read it, I feel like when I was a teenager, I must've read it. And it's a very good fantasy book. I will say like the world building is so amazing. And funny enough, that book is being turned into a film soon. So I'm very excited. Yeah. So I'm happy to reread it. Yeah, Poppy, you really missed out. No, I love this whole vibe. And I think it's really nice when you're going to these events, having the analog culture, like the juxtaposition just like works really well. I think sometimes if you go to these events and it's too focused on social and just a lot of things going on. It can be quite a lot and distract from the main focus, which is the shoes.

7:22But having people just a bit more grounded and relaxed and chatting and the fact that you've got to so cozy. I just love that vibe. Yeah, it's nice to sometimes take a break away from all the chaos of social media and just our culture. It's actually the whole books aspect of it and even the Polaroid camera. Yes. And our amazing selfie-taking skills, India. The camera came out interesting. Nobody needs to see that image. The camera, the picture came out interesting. But it was really fun. And I'm really happy we went because it was just nice to like touch grass. And also these shoes are amazing.

7:57I wanna get some other colorways. I wanna get the pink and brown. Yeah, the pink and brown is, I think that was my favorite. In the vlog you'll see, but like I literally screamed when I saw them. I was like, ah! But yeah, I love them. They're so comfy as well. Yeah. Like wearing them the last couple of days. It's just been like a little cloud. Yeah, because you know when sometimes you have to like break into a shoe yeah i don't have to break into at all but anyways um don't forget you can shop all of these at shoe these are the new balance 204 l's we are obsessed okay shall we get into the rest of the podcast yes let's do it

8:31let's move on to the hot list guys alex earl and alex cooper the battle of the alexes oh my gosh What the hell is going on? I love beef. So this beef started, what, like over a year ago? Yeah. For those that don't know, Alex L's podcast Hot Mess was under the Unwell Network, which is owned by Alex Cooper and Call Her Daddy is also under that. And they had a huge falling out. Alex L was dropped from the Unwell podcast. I don't even think she still runs her podcast. Well, no, she left, Hot Mess basically left the Unwell Network. Right. But does she still have her podcast? I don't even think she does it anymore.

9:03I think she started an iteration of it, but she's still like, but it's not very frequent. Well, yeah, so she was dropped. They then had beef. And for the past year, we've had no contact between both of them. Obviously, now we've seen that Alex L has reposted a sort of petty TikTok kind of shading Alex Cooper. Alex Cooper has now come out and been like, Alex L, what is the beef? Just basically squaring up. Tell me what's up. What's up, girl? And Alex L commented underneath and said, OK, got it. On it, yeah. I don't think it's real. I think it's a PR stunt. And I think, because Alex Cooper's not also announced the Call Her Daddy guest yet.

9:40Because she always does it. I swear she announces it weekly, right? Yeah. Yeah, because I'm not going to lie. We all know they run through all of these things through their PR team. That video would have gone through like five different people. I bet that if it was genuinely real, there'd have been someone in there going, not worth it, ignore it. Because you've ignored it for this long. Why come out now? And I do think it's either the reality show, maybe you're right, maybe Alex is going to be the guest. And when it's like, come out, tell me your story. and she's gone okay on it because I'm coming onto your podcast.

10:08Isn't Alex Earl getting a reality TV show like the Earl Girls or something? So like, I feel like this plus Real Actives recently coming out. I think it's like, you know, but then it was a bit weird to me because the TikTok that she reposted was about how Alex Cooper talks to women on her show and interviews them. It was like calling her like an ambulance chaser or something, which basically I think the TikTok meant like she interviews women when they're at their lowest, like whenever something really bad has happened, which in my head I'm like well it's celebrity drama. Like obviously you wanna get someone in your podcast that's like hot in the moment.

10:40But apparently like that's what the video was. It's like when she interviews people, they'll be like talking about something bad that happened. She was like, okay cool girl. Like apparently that's what the TikTok was like. So I don't really know why that would be the TikTok to repost. I feel like that seems like such a random. Yeah it does seem random and that makes me think that maybe there is actually beef because that's quite deep. Because if it was a PR stunt I feel like a TikTok like that. Like why not just repost? You're not really helping Alex Cooper. Like two people are in the wrong in this moment.

11:06Yeah, so I don't really know, but I still do think she's going to be on Call Her Daddy. Yeah, fair enough. That would be a good podcast. I think that is the like, you know how she does a teaser for each podcast? I think that is a teaser. Yeah, because it could be then Alex going on and being interviewed at like her lowest. Like it may be her highest, but it could be her. But okay, got it. It's basically her being like, okay, let me tell my story. And then she goes on the podcast. I think they're going to like reply to comment and then that's the trailer. Yeah, exactly. But have you guys seen all the memes about it?

11:32So it goes a bit deeper. So Alex Cooper was part of basketball sports before she started Unwell. Dave Portnoy. Dave Portnoy was her ex-boss. So did you see what he posted on his TikTok? He posted the screenshot of Alex's comment under Alex Cooper's video. And then he just posted like the eyes, like he commented the eyes emoji underneath and the comments went crazy. Also, the Miami Heat's account, the basketball. Oh my God, they're so funny. So good. They're like waiting, they're like. That TikTok account is hilarious. and they made a meme about how they're all waiting for Alex L's response. And it's just all the basketballers just on their phone or legs crossed.

12:09It's just hilarious. But I'm really excited to see what is going to come of that. Whether it's real or not. Is she going on the podcast? Is Alex Cooper going to be on the reality TV show? If it were to be real, whose TV are you on? Ooh, shoot. Low key. I'm Alex L. Ooh. I don't really know. But also, I'm not deep into fandoms of either of them. That's the thing. I don't really care, but I think I'd be more Alex Cooper. Why are you Alex L? I obviously don't know them at all. But I think from what I've seen and like just how I am maybe, I'm like, I feel like Alex Cooper, yes, she's absolutely slaying the game.

12:39She's great. But she's giving me vibes of a bit full of herself. Whereas Alex L, I feel like, you know, she does do a lot. Like she gives back and I just think she's quite wholesome. Like maybe it's all PR as well, but I just quite like her as a person. I like her family. I love Ashton. Yeah. And I just, I think I just align maybe better with Alex. No, interesting. I think Alex Allen and I would be really good friends because I think we're both like quite chaotic. But based on the length of time that Alex Cooper's like been in the industry, like she's like, she's been there for ages. She knows what's going on.

13:14I feel like she just knows more about, like, I don't know, like celeb etiquette or like just things that Alex L wouldn't know because she's like newer to the game. So I feel like where Alex L has gone wrong, Alex L doesn't see that. And Alex Cooper's like, you can't do that. you can't tread on toes or whatever. Anyways, let's do a quick Coachella debrief. First of all, what do you guys think of Justin Bieber's performance? I was arguing with my friend today and I think it was quite, I don't want to say lazy. I don't think it was lazy. I just thought it was quite mid. If you can't see Poppy's reaction right now, she is literally like fuming out of the ears.

13:47There is smoke coming out of her ears right now. I just think it was okay. And can I just say, I am a Justin Bieber fan. I'm not like super fan like, but like I've had his CDs in the past. I've liked him since I was a child. So I'm just not like die hard. I liked his performance. I just don't think it was out of this world. Comparing it to, sorry to compare, but comparing it to Sabrina, comparing it to Lady Gaga, Beyonce. Beychella. I'm sorry, but nothing is meeting Beychella. Like Beyonce set the bar and nothing, even the weekend. I don't think anything's ever beat Beychella. So I just think to be paid$10 million for a performance like that.

14:24Like, I don't know. I don't know. I see what you mean from that. perspective and like how much he's paid for it. I think for me, I didn't expect him to do anything like - Crazy. Crazy, yeah, because if you think about like old Justin Bieber, like 2014 journals, Justin Bieber, like the tour, and all the crazy stuff they had him doing on tour, coming down from the rafters in our heart. Oh my God, that was true. Having wings on. I forgot about that. Do you remember that one tour he went on and it was a trampoline and people under the - Yeah, it's a lot. Like they had him doing like the most wild stuff.

14:55So I think when I thought about like, oh, he's going to headline Coachella, I'm like, there's no way that man's going to get up there and dance. Like they are not getting Justin Bieber. Like even at the Grammys, he performed in boxes. Yeah. So in my head, I was like, what is he going to do? But then the YouTube videos, I was in tears the next morning. What did Katy Perry say? She was like, she's glad that he had YouTube Patreon because if there were ads, she wouldn't have been happy. Which is kind of fair because like, you know, like you don't want to be like, and now brought to you by Graham Ray.

15:21Exactly. But like, I think that the whole thing, apparently it's because he sold his masters back in like 2022 when he had that medical issue Scooter Bronner or something like that so he doesn't own like his music so he had to play it through YouTube and he could only play clips of it and that's why he had to like karaoke with himself because apparently he doesn't like own it so that's the only way to loophole the royalties okay I'm passionate on this okay right so my thoughts are firstly ultimately he's promoting the album swag and I think that's quite a swag way to go about it because he knows he is famous enough in his own right that he doesn't need like yeah this big extravaganza pull a crowd whatever and apparently also because it's his first tour slash like stadium kind of performance where he hasn't done it in a while they wanted to also make him feel comfortable right and I think the going back in time looking at the old youtube videos was partly a because of the 2016 like the olden day Almost like the analog nostalgia.

16:19But then equally, it's a way to connect with the audience of like, look how far we've come. I'm back. I'm here. Giving like Hannah Montana 2.0. So like stripping it down. Yeah, stripping it down. And be super intimate with the audience. Yeah, making him feel really comfortable so he can deliver. It makes it just feel intimate with everyone watching it. Yeah, the YouTube. It's also pretty swag. And I just think, I think he nailed it. Like I would have loved that. I think it was quite emotional. It was just different. Like Sabrina Carpenter's up and coming. she needs that extravagant boost whereas he's done his time he's over it he's popping in he's slaying and he's off I totally understand what you mean by that like it just makes sense and then even he got discovered on YouTube that video so in that sphere what is your favourite old Justin Bieber song right there cause I'm right right here oh it's right here with Drake that has to be or Confident or I mentioned this last anything from journals or Purpose but I mentioned this last week You guys don't know Makes sense with Travis Scott No I know It doesn't Don't make sense You don't make no sense That's what I'm doing No but that was when he was I don't know if I can say that I feel like I do Now you sing it You must That has to be one of my Favourite ones I don't know if people I really call it like RM Bieber Oh and I had tickets To see him For his Justice tour Guys I've actually heard About this every day Of the week Since I met Poppy So I met Poppy Last year And every week I had tickets I was meant to be In the video I was meant to be In the video I was meant to be In the video Okay Madison Bureau No guys over it because is he going to come back to the UK?

17:48No. Like he isn't. Well apparently he's in Clapham today so. What? I was like. India don't do that. We were talking about how we should prank Daisy and tell her that he's in Clapham and AI a picture of him with us. But he just wouldn't come to Clapham. But why would he come to Clapham of all places? This is what we were saying. It's just not believable. But then also like maybe he just would. Well yeah I mean he's stripping it back. He's stripping it back. He's coming his boxes and his head. Talking about stripping it back with Justin Bieber and with the shoes. I've noticed that Coachella fashion, or actually just fashion in general, but especially at Coachella, there's been a real difference between like the OG influences and the OG celebs versus like the newer influences and the newer celebs fashion.

18:31So I'm thinking of like Father Kells, Kylie Jenner, Kendall Jenner, Tana Mongeau, like they're all rocking up in jeans and a tank top. Or like in Lily Chi, T-shirt and shorts. It's to show their status. that they don't have to perform. It just shows that they don't need the extravagant outfit. Like themselves in literally like Kendall, backwards cap, white vest, white shorts is enough. It also shows that, you know, fashion doesn't need to be this ever changing trends that everyone's constantly chasing. Like if they're almost setting up that, you know, a nice basic, you can still look great, feel great.

19:06And like, it's cool, which I do like that. But then also I would quite like to see how those cool people with insane budgets would smash the trends and would do Coachella. Coachella is now so like influence saturated and so like celebrity heavy that they've got to show that like we are the OGs like we've been here since this is another day in the park this is just not so long this is just another festival like we could get here easy we've got so much money like this is so easy for us whereas like loads of the new influencers have been invited by brands and they really have to show up they have to yeah just like kind of prove themselves in the sense that also the star guy was making videos while he's at Coachella and talking about how loads of the influencers and celebs are like literally like faking, faking having security just to show their status.

19:51Oh, that's really weird. It's really weird. Like walking around with like fake. Yeah, like they are buying security. Where you should have a security guard who is like subtle in the background, sort of like 10 miles away or 10 meters away, just ready to pounce on whoever's going to attack you. They are literally buying or paying for them like to stand by them. just to show their status. It's really weird. Basically, I feel like Coachella now has just become a status symbol. Because it's so expensive. Even getting there in the first place is such a privilege. Being invited is such a privilege. But then once you're there, you've got to show up and show out in a different way to show what sort of level you are in that industry, which I just think is so peak.

20:31Because apparently it's come out that loads of people are posting, they're getting readies, photos of them in like Airbnbs in Palm Springs, but nothing actually from the first floor. And it's because they didn't have tickets. Oh my gosh, they're just hoping. they go to the gifting suites they go to the event they stay in an Airbnb they post their getting readies but like we'll say something like oh leaving my phone here or like they just no one's quite going to go in there enjoy the music yeah they've not got photos of them in the festival because they don't have tickets that's great which is a touch girls I saw a TikTok that was like me in bed watching it from District 12 yeah I was like that's so funny I did that speaking of District 12 oh my god what a good segue guys well done Poppy this is why we're here This is why we do what we do.

21:13Take it away, India. The Hunger Games trailer two has come out. I don't know if you guys have seen the trailer one. Sunrise on the Reaping. Yes, I am obsessed with The Hunger Games. It is my favorite film of all time. I remember when I read the book when I was like 11 and something changed in me. Like that was the first book that I read that I was like hooked on and couldn't put it down. Like I was so obsessed with it. I read one, two and three and then obviously the films came out. I was like in it oh my god like I was shaking generally my favourite film not because of there are better films out there but because of the way it made me feel at that age like it's the first film and book that I've read that I was like wow this is flipping amazing evolutionary so Hunger Games 2 trailer is out this surprises me as much as your intense obsession with 5 Seconds of Summer I could see you 5 Seconds of Summer I saw them when I was 13 for my birthday and I cried and my dad was like India what the hell anyways Anyways, back to Hunger Games.

22:11I want to talk about the cast. Yeah. Okay, yeah. The cast is insane. So we've got McKenna Grace. Oh, I love her. Yeah, so I think she's part of District 12 as well, as long as Joseph Zada. Oh, my God, he was in We Were Liars. We Were Liars. I love that show. Which one was he in We Were Liars? The brother, the blonde one, the really fit one. Yeah. So he is Hamish. So Hunger Games 2. Oh, my God, he's Hamish. So it's a complete redo. It's a prequel. So, yeah, Sunrise on the Reaping is a prequel to The Hunger Games. So, Hamish Abinathi is Katniss and Peter's mentor in the regular Hunger Games. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

22:43And it's basically just about... Yeah, it's his game. It's his game. And it's the second quarter quail. So, it's double the amount of tributes, which means it's so much harder to win. You've got 48 tributes because there's two tributes per district. I have a question. I forgot. If you lose, you die, right? Yeah, you die. So, surely we know he wins. No, yeah, he does win because he is their mentor in Hunger Games. I'm really liking the resurgence of Hunger Games media. I feel like it makes me really emotional. No, it does. I was watching this video yesterday and I was like, I know I'm going to cry.

23:14I was just so happy and emotional. Again, taking me back to my childhood. I've got another segue into the childhood. Guess who I went as for World Book Day? Katniss Everdeen. No way! Oh, wait. How old are you? I was probably about, I'm going to ballpark here 10. Did you do the braid? I did the sidewards braid. I made a bow and arrow myself. And then I bought the badge, you know, the the do do do do. The badge, honestly. Oh no, even that gave me goosebumps. No, I'm literally like, I'm getting hot and sweaty because I'm so excited. Let me talk about who else is in the cast. We've got McKenna Grace and Joseph Zada.