Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! - Everyone & Spotify Stalking

Episode Date: February 22, 2023

Comedian Dulcé Sloan and Emma give your playlists the side eye. Plus we ask Pitchfork Editor-in-Chief Puja Patel if you should be self conscious about your bad taste in music.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

What's up nerds! Welcome back to everyone and their mom from Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, now with 100% more marshmallows! Yay! This week we're here with someone who I think would run an extremely efficient vitamin pyramid scheme. It's Dulce Sloan! What's up Dulce? Hello friend! Well, Dulce, exciting. Did you know that there's a hot new way to jump to wild conclusions based on little to no evidence? It's called Spotify stalking.

Mmm. Have you heard of this? I don't have Spotify, so I don't know how you can look at someone's Spotify if you don't have their electronical devices. I'll tell you about it, okay? Why? So, it was an article in the Wall Street Journal, and they were talking about when you use Spotify to do some light spying, right? Because what people are listening to can tell you a lot about them.

Like, if you listen to Adele, you're probably an empath who takes karaoke very seriously. Or if you listen to a lot of Bruce Springsteen, chances are high you're a union man with a complicated relationship with your father or your former president, Barack Obama. So you're using what people are listening to to try to figure out how they are doing. Yeah, yeah, what they're up to, you know, and, you know, and people are discovering that it's super useful for keeping tabs on people of interest, like a crush or an enemy. So, I mean, Spotify must be the most efficient way to spiral out about your ex, right? Like, why are they playing a playlist called Smooch? Is that his sex playlist? Is that his bug-killing playlist? Why does it have both the radio edit and the movie

version of i'll never love again from the 2018 movie a star is born right i want answers spotify i'm too busy for this also playing music doesn't tell you how a person is doing because sometimes people play music opposite to their mood so say i'm in a not a great mood i might be playing really jovial upbeat fun music yeah to get me out of this headspace this seems like some new school type of spying because you've got nothing this is it's very much this seems like a looking up what a crush likes oh absolutely i mean it's wild much, this seems like a, look it up what a crush likes. Oh, absolutely. I mean, it's wild conclusions off no, no data, right? It's like looking through someone's medicine cabinet on a first date.

Right. So like, hey, I like this guy. Let me see what kind of music he likes, what he listens to on a regular basis. It seems like a more way to like start a relationship than a way to keep tabs after you've ended a relationship. Counterpoint. Definitely not speaking from personal experience, but what if your ex is playing a song that you used to listen to a lot together, and he's been playing it a lot these days? You know, either he misses me, the song is good, or he's listening to the song with somebody else.

Gracious. That's the crux of the moment, because I am not as mature as you, Dulce, and those questions can really drive a woman crazy. Girl, he's an ex. Also, who broke up with who? Because if he broke up with me, I'm not trying to keep tabs on this man. If he broke up with me and I still like him, I could probably keep tabs. If I broke up with him, I'm blocking his ass.

That is a far healthier mentality than I applaud you. We were talking about playlists. So, I mean, do you have any songs on your playlist that are a little bit embarrassing? I've got, you know, I could be listening to a lot of gospel music. Or I could be listening to Jeezy. Or, you know, maybe once in a while I want to listen to a song from, like, a Wicked soundtrack. Yeah, yeah. Or when I play a little Hall & Oates.

I'm not finna be embarrassed about what I put on my playlist. You don't want to get in the way of me. Yes. Okay, I know what you're saying, but, like, for me, there's only so many times I can listen to Sudden Foster's rendition of Astonishing from the Little Woman soundtrack before I start getting a little self-conscious. Why? Because I'm an insecure person. I don't know.

I guess I have growing up to do. Girl, forget them people. They got nothing to do with you. That's what you like. That's what your music. Also, shut that feature down. Fair enough. Girl, nobody got time for that.

Okay, well, okay. How about generally, right? You meet someone new, okay? You're talking. Do you have any red flags right away? How they hold a fork. Oh, say more, please. Anyone that holds a fork like with the fist?

Yeah. Shoveling the food into the mouth? Bro, I mean, I'm just like, my lady parts just slam shut. No, sir. No, sir. Yeah. Somebody didn't care about you. It's always the real little things that they do. Like, a man holding a lunchbox is an instant turn off.

I know a man's got to eat. I get it. But if it's in a lunchbox, a separate bag i i'm just like hello hello little boy how can i help you do you need your mother are we talking about a man who's doing construction and he needs somewhere to hold a sandwich or are we talking about a box that has phineas and ferb on the front interesting thank you for asking that i say anything like even if it's a simple, like square container lunchbox. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I see a man holding a separate food container with a handle that I know is a lunchbox. And I'm just like, that is a little boy. That is not a man, you know? Maybe lunch just isn't sexy. Clearly, we had to talk to a professional about all of this.

So we called up our old friend, Pooja Patel. Okay, well, just to start off, would you introduce yourself to us? I'm Pooja Patel, and I'm the editor-in-chief of Pitchfork. You guys get literal pitchforks, right? Yeah, every single person gets one as soon as they're onboarded to the staff. Okay, just to start off, P Pusha, as the president of music, you need to hear your take. Can you really tell what's going on with people

based on what they're currently listening to? You can tell what's going on with me based on what I'm listening to, at the very least. Yeah, what have you been listening to today? Today, I really do not want to say what I've been listening to oh now you have to say it something that i have been listening to for work emphasis on for work it's like a disclaimer yeah is the monneskin album Rush, the Italian pop rock band that won Eurovision and then became a viral success in the United States. You sound and look ashamed. Is it because you don't want to be caught listening to them?

Well, I'm doing it for research. You know, as part of my job, I have to listen to all kinds of music including things that i'm not a huge fan of yeah but are you ever afraid of like people seeing like we're talking about spotify stalking this week like someone seeing you listen to this on spotify and not knowing it's for work being like oh puja's listening to monoskin that's weird no actually No, actually. I challenge people to spy on my listening and then take me to task or ask a question about it. So you welcome Spotify stalking. I have no understanding of the actual reaches of Spotify stalking, to be honest. It was, I know what it is. It is something that doesn't appeal to me in the slightest. Like you don't want to do it?

I don't want to do it. I feel like it is so, music is like a sacred thing. You know, the things that you do in the privacy of your home, your like weird habits. Yeah, the cutting your toenails over the sink. Yeah. I don't do that, but I'll give it to you, right? You deserve you deserve to do that in peace. But, but yeah, all of these private secret things that people like, like me might be judgy about, like you deserve them, you deserve to have them privately and secretly and without explanation so i'm fascinated by the idea of spotify stalking and i'm i'm fascinated by the idea of being that judgmental that you would want to you know sift through someone's

playlisting and and comment on on their well-being or their life state but it is something that I just don't do but do you have is there like any like song or artists that you take a hard stance on like if they listen to this one artist you're like oh you're probably not a person I like or is it just are you more open to everything I think if you're someone who takes, you know, Linkin Park and Creed seriously, artistically, I don't know if we're gonna be able to connect on an intimate level. Yeah, respect to you and your choices. But I don't know if if you and I are going to become, you know, intimate soulmate friends. going to become, you know, intimate soulmate friends. That is so true. You are surrounded with people with a great taste in music, right? It's kind of what you guys do for your livings.

Do you know anyone with bad taste in music? So many people. So many people I love and adore have bad taste in music. And some of them know that I feel that way and some of them don't. bad-tasted music and some of them know that I feel that way and some of them don't. You, like, people know that you're the editor-in-chief of Pitchfork, right? Like, can you tell when people are playing music trying to impress you with their taste? A hundred percent. It happens all the time. It often happens with men playing, like, you know, tropical music from Brazil, deep cuts, and being like, have you heard of this B-side? Oh, that hits physical, dude.

Have you had this experience? Sorry, I felt that in my bones. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Keep going. Or, you know, talking about the lineage of some guitarist or something, and like like have you heard this deep cut and I hate when I I feel like I'm in a classroom of people who want my job um counterpoint to the Spotify stalking thing if it can go back is that for some people Spotify stalking is not so much to you know judge people it's more of like an unhealthy coping mechanism of seeing where you're like your crushes or your ex is listening to anything like that any any thoughts on that technique i saw this dating i saw this article in a woman's publication about how to it was one of

those classic um classic throwback articles about like how to snag your crush or something. Yeah, yeah. How to find out what they really want or what they really need. And one of them was figure out what music they listen to and understand why it makes them feel the way that it makes them feel. And you know what, as much as I would like to say that sounds silly, I was, I was that person in college, you know, I was someone who, who your musical identity kind of informed who you were in the world. And I remember actually one of my first dates in college when I was 17 was this guy taking me to the archival library at school to watch a tape version of a Tom Waits performance

that doesn't exist on YouTube. Wow. That is a deep cut. I know. And I was just like, this must be love. You know, this is it. And then Tom Waits became one of my favorite artists of all time. So as much as I think it is silly,

I also really understand with understanding someone music as a way of understanding who they are, for sure. Alright, we can talk about Spotify stalking all we want, but what if we actually got to experience it? Welcome everyone, to my brain. but what if we actually got to experience it? Welcome, everyone, to my brain. Oh my gosh, the new Caroline Polachek album just dropped. She's so hot. She's so cool. Okay, let's open Spotify.

Wait, it is online. Wait, he's listening to Celine Dion? Celine Dion? Celine Dion. Is he playing it as, like, a joke? I wonder how tall she is. Did we ever watch Titanic together? God, that's a bad movie.

The ship will never sink. Leonardo da Vinci. Is he watching Titanic with somebody else? A girl? Or a guy? No, wait, he's straight. I would know. Oh, God.

I'm hungry. All right, guess we're going to his profile. 30 public playlists. He hasn't deleted the one he made for me. Interesting. Oh, shut up. Wait, he can see me too. Quick, play something cool. Hawker music, hawker music. Play the Camp Rock soundtrack.

Camp Rock? The Disney Channel original movie? Yes. No, no. Play something cool. Send a message. No, why would I play Camp Rock? Um, Charlie XCX. Or, um, what's cool? No, why did I click that? Oh, this is so lame. He thinks I'm so lame. Joe, Joe, Joe. Well, um, what's cool? Happens if I'm insane. No! Why did I click that? Oh, this is so lame. He thinks I'm so lame.

Joe, Joe, Joe, Joe. Well, might as well listen. Now this is good music. Here's the sneakiest part of the podcast. The credits. This show was brought to you by Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. This episode was produced by Haley Fager and Oja Lopez, with help from Lillian King

and everyone who ate dinner on Valentine's Day over the sink. We love you, my lonely queens. Our supervising producer is Kelly Wessinger, and our Michael Cera from Another Dimension is Mike Danforth. Once again, Lorna White, you're the best. Thanks for doing our sound. Thank you to the editor-in-chief of Pitchfork, Pooja Patel, for giving us all permission to listen to the Marley and Me soundtrack all we want. Didn't know that about you. You can find her on a

different podcast. What? Those exist? The Pitchfork Review. Thank you to my co-host, panelist, Daily Show correspondent, and my own personal Waluigi, Dulce Sloan. You don't have to do this. Catch her traveling the country for comedy. Her tour dates are at dulcesloan.com. I'm Emma Choi, and you can find me at WaitWaitNPR and creating an indie musician alter ego with

five vibes. So Obama will finally put me on his favorite music list. Come on, Barack, let's do this. This is NPR.