Support for WBUR comes from Is Business Broken, a podcast from the Mehrotra Institute at Boston University that explores questions like, why is innovation in healthcare so hard? Is ESG just greenwashing? And of course, is business broken? Listen wherever you get your podcasts. WBUR Podcasts, Boston. Ben Slappy Dappy James Johnson, as you've named yourself in this virtual room that we're in together. Emery Slinky Slivery Dippy Severson. Wow. You've been working on that one for half a second. Three seconds. How you doing? I've got a song in my heart, you know? Oh, you do? I do. I have 12 different songs in my heart. You do? Yeah. Well, that's what brings us together today. And love. True. Love. I'm excited to talk about something that I've been wanting to talk about for a while. We're going to talk about music together. And I'm excited for that because I have 12 songs in my heart. You have one song in your heart, which probably means that you're focused on quality and I'm focused on quantity, which is also maybe, you know, right in line with how we usually operate. Quality is subjective in the musical arts. It's about the joy it brings you, I'd say. Yeah, that's right. That's right. So how do you find new music? oh man i used to be so good at this um i used to work at a music station when i was in college and i literally just sat on my butt and ran the dj board yeah and new music was injected directly into my ear holes and now okay i still listen to the radio um like an old woman but I have never I seriously have never done the like for you playlist what are those things called on the streaming platforms where it's like recommended if you like I know yeah like you like you like pick a you pick an artist and then you check the radio you do the radio of this artist thing or whatever that's how I experience it on YouTube music oh you're a YouTube music guy I know I'm one of the few one of the proud So I am really frustrated by like I'm an I'm officially an old man now. Like I, you know, I am in my middle age and like I am consistently conscious of the fact that like it's hard for me to get new music. It's hard for me to figure out what the cool kids are doing. I'm still listening, listening to Damn by Kendrick Lamar as if that's new music. I'm still listening to like Run the Jewels 3. I'm still listening to, you know, indie rock records that came out literally like 10 years ago at this point. Like as if those are that's the new music. Same. Okay. Yeah. Fair. But I will say I've had this huge discovery in the past several months, which shockingly has been on Reddit. And it is the obscure music that slaps subreddit. Do you know of this? I don't. This is great. You don't? No. Oh, my God. This is like brought me so much joy in the past like six months that just has like filled a void in my life of like discovering new music. The beauty of this subreddit is like the only organizing principle is like the music has to freaking slap. Like it has to be good. Like other than that, it doesn't matter. Well, hit me. Give me an example. I'm just going to give you a couple of tastes. Okay. Is that cool? Okay. Okay. So take a look at this one. This is a person who I think they may be a paleontologist because they are singing about being excited to support a dinosaur for president. Well, this is already up my alley. another president that represents me this geezer is fantastic i never seen a mezzo jurassic we get to have another dinosaur for president all i want is a dinosaur it's good right yeah i mean in like again this could fall this i would like i would put this in a in a category of like I'm not necessarily going to like spend hours and hours following this person. Like I'm not going to go do a deep dive on them personally. I just appreciate the quality of what they do and that they have humor and beauty. And they're just like making a song that I can like appreciate on the internet for two minutes. And that may be the extent of our relationship. So are most of is most of what you've discovered on this subreddit in this in a similar vein of like, this is something that sort of stops in your tracks. It's different. Or is this like you have sought any of this out to download and listen to? Okay, so I will say that there have been artists that have inspired me to go down the rabbit hole beyond, like they've converted me to listening to their music, if that makes sense. This is an Australian artist who I discovered and I discovered this particular song from them which I believe is called Molly Eka Vandal, this person from Australia, I was like, when I saw this song on the Obscure Music That Slaps subreddit, I immediately went and like searched out her music and was like, oh, I'm into some of this. And I started to listen to it. I feel like if you sent this music video to Mike, to my husband, Mike, he would be like, this looks just like what you do at home. It's a lot of. She does kind of look like you, I feel like. And there's dancing around. That's like an Amory movement. Dancing in the kitchen and on a rooftop. And yeah, I'll bring this to my next kitchen offering in my home. It's great. I'm going to send you another example of like an artist who I started to follow after I saw their stuff. I think it's pronounced Boko Yaut. I love it. This maybe speaks to, I don't know, I've never, I don't talk about this publicly, but you and I have talked privately a little bit about the Taylor Swift obsession. What this gets at for me is there's so much music out there. And when it feels like society is just focused on one artist. Yes. I get a little like, oh, but guys, come on, you know. Right. And I know that people who love Taylor Swift are not necessarily just listening to Taylor Swift. But it's also like, hey, not everybody needs to go to a tropical resort on vacation. there's also this and there's this and there's that you know it's just like the world is so big and there's so much to consume that will open your brain in new ways and let's all dip into more music portals for our own well-being I don't know I love that no I love that and I think like you know we are living in this interesting era where like sometimes I miss monoculture like I miss the idea that like, oh, we're all going to like actually consume this thing at the same time because it's great. And we all agree that it's great. And the internet has like basically like completely fragmented that idea in this way. But what you're talking about is also true, right? Which is like, you can also say that discovery becomes this like challenge for us in this, in this world of limitless opportunity. And again, like this is the other thing about this subreddit, right, is it definitely has to slap and you're never going to see Taylor Swift on this subreddit because it has to be obscure. It has to be someone that you probably haven't heard of. And so like, again, that's to me, that's, that's what so much of like, I have always loved about music is about, is about finding something new that like is exciting and you'd never heard of it before. And it's like, opens up this new world for you. And you're like, oh my God, like, who is this person? Where do they come from? Like, what do they care about? What do they believe in all of this stuff. And so for me, this is the kind of thing of like where the joy is, especially when it comes to like what the in theory, what the internet is supposed to do, which is like help us discover new things from places like we don't even know. You know what I mean? Another thing that I love about all of this is that when I was figuring out where I wanted to go to school and what I wanted to study and pursue, I had done this program at a particular institution that shall not be named because I was mostly music focused at the time. This I was told, like, yeah, your stuff is really interesting, but I can't really hear it on the radio. And, you know, I was I was like 16 years old and hearing that to me at the time was a knife to the heart. That is whack. And don't say that. You know, that is fine. That may very well have been the case. And yet I just think about all of the people out there who make stuff that brings joy and is more interesting than a lot of what you do here on the radio sometimes. And I'm just so glad that people do it for an audience of who knows how many people, but the people that love it, love it. And I appreciate these people out there doing their thing. All right. Well, that's my recommendation for you and anyone else who wants to discover new music, either just as like a momentary joyful curiosity or an artist that you might grow to know and love well is check out Obscure Music That Slaps. It's worth it. Yeah. Yeah. Because you know how they say to eat the rainbow to be healthy? You got to eat all foods of all the colors. I think you got to consume the rainbow of musical variety and artistic and cultural variety in order to be a well person. I love that. I love that. So whatever helps you do that, hear, hear. And thank you for bringing this subreddit to my attention. And there goes the rest of my day. All right. Just kidding, because we're going to take a quick break and then I'm going to tell you a story when we come back. I can't wait. Business leaders listen. Over half tune into podcasts daily. Reach them with CitySpace Productions, the creative studio from WBUR's business partnerships team. CitySpace Productions crafts custom podcasts for businesses that showcase expertise, deepen connections, and drive engagement. Turn your vision into a podcast. Visit wbur.org slash creative studio. Okay, so my story comes by way of one of our sound designers, Emily Jankowski, who was not intending to pitch this for an episode. She just sent this to me. She DM'd me some links on Instagram. She knows that I love a good jingle. Okay. Are you much of a soda man? I feel like I haven't seen you drink that much soda. Oh, only in my darkest moments do I slip down the soda stream. Okay. Well, when you slip down the soda stream, what's your soda of choice? I'm a Dr. Pepper. I mean, Dr. Pepper, it's tough to beat Dr. Pepper. There you go. If I'm going soda. Yeah. Okay. Although, in my later years, Fresca. But that's a whole other story. All right. Well, sadly, this story is not about Fresca, but it is about Dr. Pepper, which is absolutely my one soda of choice. It's Dr. Pepper. So this involves a TikTok creator who goes by Romeo. OK. Their name is Romeo Bingham, but they're known as Romeo. And in late December, they posted this video. I have a theme song for Dr. Pepper, and it goes like this. Dr. Pepper baby is good and nice Oh, I've seen this. I love this story. Dr. Pepper baby is good and fine It's nice. It's good and nice. Oh, I'm sorry. It's good and nice. That's good. So just this person, the camera kind of under their chin, singing this song. Looking at the ceiling. They could be on the bed. They could be anywhere. Yeah. This is not a highly produced video, shall we say. Oh, no. It's nice and casual and cozy and genuine. And the caption says, Dr. Pepper, please get back to me with a proposition. We can make thousands together. And then the text on the video itself reads, had to act on this before someone got sent this in a dream and steal it from me, so I impulsively posted this. Okay, so this little song blew up. It has tens of millions of views, and it got the attention of the people at, of course, Dr. Pepper. Dr. Pepper, baby. Yes, Dr. Pepper told Romeo to check their DMs, and then about a month later, Dr. Pepper aired a new commercial during the college football playoff national championship on ESPN. And we're going to watch, and more importantly, we're going to listen to that together. Dr. Pepper, baby, is good and nice. Dr. Pepper, baby, is good and nice. Dr. Pepper, baby, is good and nice. Good and nice, too. They've got some choir vocals. Good and nice. Toodle-oo. And then there's a... The cans of Dr. Pepper are dancing. There's a little bit of a... Somewhere in there. Yeah. So Romeo told People Magazine that Dr. Pepper licensed the jingle and treated it like a real creative collaboration. Romeo was credited and they were paid. Although I have not heard Romeo confirm the amount that I've at least seen circulating on social media, which was... Romeo, you mean to tell me that you made $2 million off of a jingle jangle? $2 million? $2 million? For her Dr. Pepper jangle? So whether it was $2 million or however it shook out, this inspired a lot of people to start coming up with their own jingles for big food and beverage brands. And the news site Atlanta Black Star posted a compilation of some of these on Instagram. And here's a bit of that. This is great. I'm in. Same. So Romeo already had a pretty big TikTok following before this. A lot of their posts would get tens of thousands of views. But now they get millions of views. Of course. And they've already dropped a couple more jingle ideas. Of course. Including one for the coconut water brand Vitacoco. Vitacoco, you'll go loco because it's so dang delicioso. And, you know, when you scroll through the comments of some of their recent videos, You see other huge brands in there basically saying like, do us next. We want a jingle too. Of course. Goodyear comments and is like up for driving a Goodyear jingle. There's Wix. There's Pana Express. Twitch says, please, we need one too. Lipton iced tea. I mean, go get it, Romeo. Crumble Cookies says, we have never wanted anything more. Which this is when, Ben, I'm like, we got to quit the podcast and just get to work on jingles. I was about to say, this is like, we should just be doing this all the time. This is what we should just be doing all the time. I think this is why Emily sent it to me, our sound designer, Emily Dankowski, because she knows the joy that I get from this. This is how I live. She didn't send it to me. So clearly she thinks one of us is better than the other. She just doesn't know enough of your repertoire. But like, this is the stuff I do all day. I am doing this all day anyway. Same. but I just so delighted to see this I mean I going to tell you a little bit more about Romeo too But I so delighted because I also thought that jingles were kind of dying out I was born in the late 80s, grew up in the 90s, grew up, felt like surrounded by jingles. Well, they have less of a venue. They have less of a venue because television and radio were the places for the jingles. Like that is that is the natural habitat of the jingle are these like broadcast media technologies. And that's harder on the Internet, I think. Maybe. I mean, I don't watch TV anymore either. I don't watch like broadcast television. So maybe they're maybe they're healthier than I. Yeah. Maybe they're doing OK. But this gives me some hope. And as you were sort of hinting at, Romeo now has a manager's name and contact on their TikTok account now. They have what appears to be a brand spanking new website, RomeosShow.com, where companies can reach out about working with Romeo on a jingle of their own. But also, some of their other content also really touched me in a different way. They talk about having bipolar disorder. They talk about their anxiety. They make, you know, kind of like positivity pep talk videos that are clearly seem to be coming from a very personal place that they're trying to radiate out into the world. and I was really moved by a particular video that they posted before the Dr. Pepper video that's more in the performance poetry realm. And the message is really, it's this kind of like an it too shall pass message about small things like having a stomach ache, but also much bigger things like debt and being in a period of serious depression. When you're in your room and you're depressed and you're laying in bed, and you can't eat, drink, sleep, or shower, or you overeat, and you feel alone and nothing's ever going to change, well, that feeling, that feeling will end too. So, why not stick around to find out what begins after all the little things end? Why not put your efforts into something that will end and create something beautiful? Thank you. So yeah, this started out as an appreciation of a goofy song gone viral turned huge commercial. But going down this particular rabbit hole, it's now for me turned into an appreciation of this particular creator, Romeo, and how true they seem to have stayed to themselves over the course of their social media rise. And I know in some ways they're at a beginning of a new stage of, you know, massive attention. But I hope that they will also continue to keep bringing the goodness that they already are to the world on the Internet. So, viva la Romeo, I guess. Viva la Romeo. And I, you know, I think like on the one hand, like what's more American than, you know, a regular person doing something that somehow like serves a larger corporate brand and getting rich off of that. And also and also like brands glomming on to stuff that they recognize as like potentially like a good story, quote unquote, for the brand to tell. I guess my takeaway from this kind of thing is like anyone can have a stroke of genius. Anyone can come up with something that is truly irresistible. And hopefully the people who do that in a way that like gets them a bunch of attention and potentially compensation. And it does seem like Dr. Pepper went about this the right way in the way that they like engaged with Romeo. But hopefully this kind of thing like results in, you know, non-material based happiness, if that makes any sense. Yeah. And who knows if Romeo becomes the Taylor Swift of commercial jingles, we're going to be back here in, you know, months or years from now being like, come on, guys, you know, you have to eat the rainbow. We've got to eat the rainbow of silly jingles. Yeah, yeah. That's right. That's right. I love a silly jingle. All right, let's get back to the jingles. Silly jingles, you might say, are good and nice. Are good and nice. Endless Thread is a production of WBUR in Boston. This episode was produced by Kalyani Saxena and us, your co-hosts, Ben Brock-Johnson and Anne-Marie Sievertson. It was edited by Meg Kramer, mix and sound design by our production manager, Paul Vykus. The rest of our team is Dean Russell, Grace Tatter, Emily Jankowski, Chiosna Bernadeau, and our managing producer, Samata Joshi. Endless Thread is a show about the blurred lines between sudden, unexpected virality and, oh my God, this music is so good. Why aren't more people paying attention to it? And on that note, please, please, please check out Too Crispy, who made the song Dinosaur for President. That's the number two, K-R-I-S-P-I-I. Also, Eka Vandal and Boko Yaut, all of whom you heard in this episode. But also, Ben and I talked about a lot of obscure artists who didn't end up making it into the episode, but you should absolutely check them out, too. And those are Mari Miranda, Christy Koish, and Michael Fortenal, also known online as Everyday Naturalist. Do you have an untold history, an unsolved mystery, an artist you want to tell us about, or some other wild story from the Internet that you want us to let other people know about? Hit us up, Endless Thread, at WBUR.org. Thank you.
