Post-Fame Plus Wrapped

s2 Post Fame Plus: Wrapped 2025

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You’re a 3, 2, 1, 3, 2, 1. We’re on. Oh, I didn’t know. Not bad. I was teasing you about your YouTube channel. Oh, hi guys. Welcome back to my YouTube channel. Okay. You got it. You totally delivered that cleanly too. Thank you. I love it. Okay. Well this is post Fame Plus with Alexi. With Alexi, because I’m the host of this.

And are you the host? I decided. I think I am. I think you kind of are. Yeah. Thanks. That’s totally fair. So this is our post fame plus for season two, pre-Christmas end of 2025. Kind of all rolled up. Into one. Into one super special. ’cause we’re gonna try and pull off video. Yeah. Which is, you know why I, you’re so brave.

Did my makeup, so Oh yeah. Right. Okay. You can tell from the pasty white look on my face on the screen, I’m gonna have to really like edit after. that’s okay. [00:01:00] So, uh, we’ve been talking about this for. Weeks now. A few weeks I’ve been like touting what we’re gonna do. ’cause Spotify rap came out, it came, it just feels like we’ve been talking about new music as a main part of what we do.

Mm-hmm. In post fame all the time. And the music we’re listening to and sharing new music. And it’s a great time I think for us to just kind of review and then, I don’t know whether people give a rip or not, but maybe they like music recommendations from us. So. I pretend in my heart that they, that’s something that’s exactly what we’re doing here.

We’re pretending that everybody cares, so we’re just gonna go on the premise and go ahead. But people have told me that they do care and so my ego has been inflated. Like I’ve had friends who have like texted me and been like, Hey, just so you know, like I have been listening. Stop. Right. There’s, they’ve been listening.

That’s all I needed. No, not to just this, but like my playlists. Oh yeah. This as well. I’ve had those texts. Okay. Well. I’m gonna just pretend now that all your friends are listening to the podcast [00:02:00] and some are so important about it. Okay, so this is post fame plus wrapped? Yes. So we are going to go in order through some of the main categories that were in this year’s Spotify wrapped.

Mm-hmm. There were some new things I think that weren’t in there before, and you probably have a better memory than me, so you’ll be able to tell me. It’s true. We will. Sort of share things that we hadn’t shared with each other. ’cause we were saving it for now. We tried. We tried. and then, and then after that, I wanna talk about what our actual favorite songs released in 2025.

Yes. Were ’cause. As you and I have talked many times, our favorite songs, or at least the things that make it to the top of rap, are ones maybe we’ve been listening for three years. Yeah. Nonstop. So, and I always like to do a playlist called Shamelessly recommended. I’ve been doing it since I made mixed CDs.

Mm-hmm. And I had the label back in the early two thousands. So I’ve continued that in Spotify. And so that captures some of the songs that were released in this year that are my favorites. [00:03:00] So we’re gonna see which ones I think. Have risen to the top and I’ll add, yeah. And then we’ll do that. So without further ado, top genres.

Top genres, drum roll or whatever. Um, okay. You share first on this one and then we’ll rotate. Okay. Yeah. And so everybody knows, yes, I am looking at a cheat on another. Over there. my top genres not surprising, right? No, right off the bat for it to say indie rock because that’s what I would always have said.

That’s a hundred percent I like, since the first time I even knew what that term was, I said that was me. Yeah. So Spotify agrees and is calling me indie rock, but number two, I’ve never heard of freak folk. People were talking about this this year. So many people who had like freak something on their Spotify were like.

What? Like what in the call out? I think it’s just like, it’s their new like little hook. Yeah. They decide for 2025. So here’s the thing about my top five genres, like two and three are [00:04:00] terms I’ve never heard before. And then the rest are, you haven’t heard three really standard. No. So two is freak folk and three is bedroom pop.

And you’ve heard bedroom P. No, I haven’t heard bedroom paw. Don’t age yourself. I, well I’m gonna surprise you with that in a minute, but. Freak folk and bedroom pop. So like my immediate post on Instagram was like, who wants to start like a bedroom folk genre with me? Oh yeah. Or a freak pop genre with me. I basically just mix the two.

Yeah. so that’s weird. I’m wondering what all the bands I was listening to are that are being called that bedroom pop. Yeah. ’cause they don’t like, they, I don’t think, am I clueless? Do they, they don’t tag, there’s not a place for me to see on Spotify. Like, no. Them tagging the ways that they would. Make these a genre and categorize them anyhow.

Never seen freak folk in my life. So you can search them in the search bar. I’m gonna have to now. Uh, and then number four was Americana. And I think you and I agree that’s probably because I made this exhaustive Folk Fest playlist. Yeah. That covers every band I’ve ever seen [00:05:00] or known to be there at our folk.

And then played it a lot at work and then played it a lot while I was at work. And now it’s like all over, like its songs are just filling my list and. Number five is pop as if like, that was a little surprising to me. Yeah. Is it because I still listen to a lot of Post Malone. Is he being called Pop? Yeah.

Like last year you remember? He was right at the top. And I think a lot of the songs you listen to are like genre and pop. Like they kind of just get thrown into Pop. And Sabrina Carpenter, you listen to Sabrina Carpenter? No, I just wanted to see how I was gonna have a fight with you. I just wanna see how you’d react, not well.

yeah, so I don’t actually know where the pop one is coming from, but that’s my five. I like it. Okay. You know what, overall predictable. Yeah. Well for, well, I don’t know what those two, number two and three are, but listen, they probably fit somewhere in with, if I was given a list and I had to choose for you, those would probably, actually, I’m gonna spin it this way, which will actually make me feel really good is that I don’t know those.

Terms for two and [00:06:00] three, but they feel like adjacent categories, which is, I’ve always probably figured, I’m always on the fringe of whatever some mainstream categorization is. Yes. Also, when we get to your listening age, I think that’ll check things out. Probably true. Okay. Yeah. Lexi’s top genres of 2025. I think.

You know what? Not happy with these. What? Yeah. Okay. Tell me. Okay. Number one, very predictable indie folk. Indie folk. Like My Roots. yeah, like your, like so many of my top songs. Is that like the paper kites and your, um, Mount Joy? Yeah. Indie folk. Yeah. Like yeah. All of that Indy folk is like Indy folk.

Like just like, you know, all my, even though my like playlist, it makes you feel like your top plays, like so many of them are indie folk and I’m like, okay. number two, A little surprising. Retro soul. Retro soul. Yeah. You know what it was I mentioned on the podcast like. End of August and I have a playlist called Hot and almost fall that [00:07:00] expanded.

Okay. and a lot of the songs in there would be considered Retro Soul, and I lived off of, I just wanted to make a dad joke about how it expanded. ’cause heat expands and, okay. Anyhow. Yeah, you’re done. Okay. number three. Surprising actually. Shocking Alternative country. What w how, how that, because of, uh, what’s his name?

Is that Brian? Yeah, it must be. And everything adjacent must be. Yeah. And you probably just let it play and then it would just keep all that on stuff. Well, because I think because I, I love the Spotify thing where you can like play an album or a song and then listen to its radio. Okay. You know, like, you, you like I’ll hit an album.

Yeah. Hit shuffle. Once all the songs have shuffled through, it’ll shuffle based off like that track. Yeah. And I, I think I did that quite a bit with that makes sense. That genre checks out. And like drives to the mountains and stuff. There’s a lot of that. That’s like my go-to number four is solely because of the gym hip hop.

Yeah. I’m always shocked at, yeah, the music you have on when you get in the car and then it starts auto playing. Yeah. [00:08:00] And I was like, where did my baby girl go? Yeah, not me at all. But sometimes you just need someone to like scream obscenities at you while you’re working out to get you through. Yeah, I guess that’s fair.

Mine would just be like loud guitar driven obscenities screaming. Yeah. So, and then number five, disappointed in myself, pop. Oh, we both had number five. Pop. I know. It makes me, I’m like, feel like we were listening to the same thing. See here, you reflect on yourself as basic. I don’t know what I reflected on myself as young, wrong, but.

Maybe we were just listening to the same thing, but I’m like, and it was called pop. I looked at my top songs and I would consider maybe two of the 50 pop, but it doesn’t. Well, okay, two outta 50. I’m like, what’s pop anymore? Well, it’s obviously not what you think it is. No, apparently not. No. Per me, I’m uneducated.

Well, I’m actually quite thrilled that we both started with the word indie and we ended with the word pop. Yeah. Somehow. So I’m gonna just take that as a [00:09:00] win. Why did I get indie folk? And you got freak folk. I’m kind of jealous. Yeah, I told you I’ve been cool. ’cause I’m adjacent my whole life to the main category, so That’s true.

I’m like legit anti-establishment Indie. Yeah. Sorry, I’m just a wannabe. That’s okay. Yep. Okay. Well that is our top genres. Moving on now to, they didn’t do this before, right? No. When they identify your listening age. This is new. You go first. This one. Okay. I love this so much. My listening age. I’ll read the blurb under it too.

’cause it explains, let’s just tell everybody how old you are right now. Oh, okay. I’m 20. Okay. oh, my favorite thing about this age is like that meme of the kid being like, you’re 20. Because every time I, every time I tell anyone my age, I’m like, you’re 20. anyways, but my listening age was 26 26, which is like, I don’t know, it’s an old lady, not a big deal.

And then it said, since I was into music, it’s a career woman. That’s okay. Well, the [00:10:00] reasoning said since I was into music from the late 2000 tens. But I think if it’s pulling from my music from the late. 2010s. My top genre being indie folk, like those two things are direct matches for the most part.

There’s a lot of indie folk from 2010s. I gonna say something eventually here that you’re not gonna like it all. Go do it. Rip it off. Well, I’ll wait for my turn. Are you done chatting about your age? Okay. 26. Yeah, I’m done. Okay. Rip it off. Go. Okay. My listening age at 50. I know it was younger. 54 isn’t, it was 24.

Thing. I was 24 in my listening age, but for the exact same reason as you. I was in music from the 2010s. I don’t know if it said late, maybe it’s ’cause yours was late 2010s. Yeah, I didn’t have to, I didn’t do a screen grab Indie rock, but it said 2010s and so that made me 24 instead of 26. So I’m younger than you in my music music, but So I’m like two years older, late 2010s.

That’s [00:11:00] true. But if we’re in the same realm of the 2010s and stuff, and we both had our genre start with Indian end with pop. Do you think because we’ve been doing this podcast, it’s like our cycles sinking in in music on Spotify without us knowing it. Oh my goodness. Are we cycle synced? Yeah. I don’t know that I wanted to say that and I just did ’cause I thought it would be funny.

But anyhow, that, that can be the caption is very strange with me. Welcome to post fame. I just discovered I’m cycles sync with my 20-year-old daughter. yeah, that will, I don’t know if people will keep listening after I say. okay, let’s move on from our listening age. Let’s move on to, do you I have them in a certain order.

Do you want go order? I want the top songs ’cause this one thrills me. It thrills you. I love this one. Okay, well we’re gonna top, top songs then. Yeah. And I’m gonna, I’m gonna go first then. Okay. And this one, let’s do it. Oh, let’s, how about we alternate? Oh, like 1, 1, 2, 2. But we have to count five backwards. Oh, okay.

I see. Like any good [00:12:00] count. Yes. Okay. Okay. So I’m gonna start. My top five was a song that’s been on my list probably for five years, I think, in my Very Top, which is my top song by Bleachers, which is Roller Coaster. And you and I talked, I think it’s because it’s on all of my feel good. Yes. Playlists. Yeah.

And on my indie rock playlists of every kind. And that’ll do it. Yeah. It’s just, that’ll do it. I mean, this year has been clear, I think for both of us, we can say in advance, it’s clearly so influenced by how heavy we’ve playlisted our lives. Yeah. Um, and the ones that get played to death, for me, it’s like, at work I get to take the ox, so to speak all the time mm-hmm.

On the Sonos, and, and that’s what happened. So Rollercoaster bleachers was my number five. Okay. What was yours? My number 5K. I’ll say it, but I’ll say the one below. It was off by one. Listen. And I need Oh, you went to the list to send. I went to the full list. ’cause I’m, I’m in, in my, but those accounts for bullshit, [00:13:00] Lexi.

Oh my goodness. They were so bad. There’s no way I only listened to the songs bad. No, they were like 32 times in a year. That’s like alive by Spotify. It’s definitely going to bs. Um, number five was wait, wait. That’s why artists are getting paid such crap. Oh, if they’re counting that, I only actually listened to like my top songs like 32 or 36 times.

Yeah. Okay. That’s an aside. Go ahead. That’s crazy. That’s good. Look at you. I know. Um, okay. Number five. Wait it out by both Alec. Okay. Not surprising because this was one of the songs. I said, do I know the song you do because I know him. But I don’t know the title of the song. No, you would if I play it. It’s a song that you play all the time.

It’s one of them. I’ll say my, I won’t say number four yet, but my number five and four were songs that like I discovered and then I had to play on repeat for like a few weeks. Like you do, like I do. And then I just added to playlist, listen and like heard throughout the year. Um, this was one of them 52 listens, which is also like, that’s another bunch of bullshit.

’cause yeah, I don’t get it. I don’t, [00:14:00] I probably listen into it 52 times the week I found it. That’s a lot of times. But maybe they thought you were one of those like bots or farms where those, have you ever seen the videos of the Yes. The guys in the third wheel countries who set like all these phones, 50 phones, they’re all playing all this rack.

They have them like all Velcro to this like wooden rack and they’re all playing the same song for you and you can pay for this, but this is what I mean. The song that was under it off by One Listen was moves by Suki Waterhouse. And I would’ve placed a large be bet. But you call that number, that’s number six for you.

That’s number six. Oh. But I would’ve placed money on that being overweighted out. ’cause that one’s on like probably eight on my playlists. And when I drive home from my boyfriend’s, every single time I pull away from his house, I play moves by Suki Waterhouse and sing it. Okay. Or just me ex everything I know of Suki Water hosts that now I think of you choosing to play Suki Water hosts when you leave your boyfriend’s house.

Makes me very uncomfortable. No, like it’s just like sad and I’m just like [00:15:00] driving as a long day. You sad when you leave his host? Because I think of Suki Waterhouse as terribly sexy music. No. Have you listened to moves? Have you watched her live performances ever? No. I only listened to like that and two other songs of hers carries herself a certain way.

Okay. Well you talked about, so i t-shirt on this. I did that all. Shh. Did I? You talked about wet t-shirt on this podcast. I’m, and then I told you, you that the Instagram is like all nudes. So what, we had this conversation. Oh, you were talking about this. We Ruby Waters. We’ll get back to her. So don’t play.

Yeah, fair enough. But I’m not sitting there going like, yeah, every time I leave the gym I have to listen to Ruby Waters wet t-shirt. Like, then you’d be like going, what on earth? Uh um. Okay. Well I’m just saying I have a ritual. I listen to it a lot. Okay, let’s move on. Before I dig a bigger hole here, what’s number four for you then?

Why am I going next? Is you? ’cause I said so. Oh, okay. take me as I come. It’s a collab between Evan Hoener and Wyatt Floors whose concert I had to miss. so good. Again, that’s another one of my repeaters. Oh, that’s the one. I don’t know [00:16:00] if I’ve even listened to, unless you played, played it in the car again.

One more listen than the other. Do you play it in the car? Do I know it without knowing it? Yes. And you know what? I, you know what? I think it’s up there. I played it for mom and on the rare occurrence this happens, she enjoyed it and added it to her. And I shared playlist. I played what? Every single time we’re in the car next to like blue rodeo.

Yes. And like Billy Joel. Yes. But you don’t understand. Every single time I drive with mom. We, we have one playlist that we love and it gets hit on shuffle. And her and I love every single song on it. Is it off of your account? We share it. It’s a collab playlist. Okay. So it might not be, but I usually play it.

Your numbers as much play. No, but I’m usually the one who connects to ox. Yeah, that’s true. So, so that’s, I think, shout at Arlene. Okay, well that happens. Yeah. Okay. Well my number four is again, one that’s been around. Yeah. All we ever do is talk. By Dell Water gap. Dell Water gap. Yeah, I know. That’s not surprising.

It’s [00:17:00] not surprising. Your number three and four actually are not surprising. You get in the car and you’re, well, I’ll just go over diesel to know by number three too. Yeah, because we’re kind of doing a snake version of this, but yeah, so the first one I ever found of Dell Water gap owed to a conversation, blah, blah, blah, do dot stuff.

Dell water gap stuck in my, is my number three. So two Dell water gaps, essentially like. They’re like, and like some of his top two songs, they’re on all of the playlists that Rollercoaster is on. So basically you’re looking at 3, 4, 5 as like all of the playlists I’ve listened to to death for the last two and a half years.

Yeah, I feel like, but I’m, I still like, I remember my big debate is like, I think I like all we ever do is talk more than over conversation now. Yeah. But you play one, you get the other. Well, they all go to Yeah. Yeah. They’re all together. Like they must be like literally identical minutes. Yeah, I don’t know.

Well, my number three was actually exactly tied with my number four. They’re all within one or tied, taken. Mm-hmm. [00:18:00] But, um, another tie Bathroom Light by Mount Joy. It’s one of their most popular songs. So good the way I, you said that. I feel like you already know that. I don’t know that one by them. Oh, that’s awkward.

You’re like, well, that’s one of their most popular songs. Did you like know? No, I don’t know it. I’m not a jerk. Like I know like a number of their big songs. Not that one. This one though. Strangers. Okay. It’s a big one. You’re tapped in. Okay. this one? Yeah. It’s like very much more. Hmm. Tame, but you can listen to it when you’re like sad, happy, you know?

Um, I get it. But yeah, listen to it a lot. Saw it live when it was pouring arena on the folk festival with like my best friend and boyfriend. Actually two of my best friends and my boyfriend. Shout out. I thought you were gonna pretend they do that thing where he was one in the same. He was both of those.

My best friend and boyfriend. Oh no, sorry Eric. The girls have me. yeah. Okay. Number two. Number two. Go ahead. do I wanna [00:19:00] know BB, C live version by Hozier? Do I wanna know by the Arctic Monkeys? A covered by hozier of that song. Wow. Yeah. You’re holding note on me. Yeah. That seems like a song that you would’ve played for me.

And you’ve never played that song for me ever. Really? Not in all of 2025. 71 listens, and you know how much time we increased together in 2025 by driving to the gym and driving you to school afterwards. I’m being friends. You all of that was being friends, but it was an increase in friend time. Yeah. And you never played that ever for me in that whole time.

Well, it’s your number two. My number two. Okay. Well, my number two you like a lot and it surprised me. This is my biggest surprise and I know that it’s on that Folk Fest playlist, but not dead yet by Lord Huron. I do like that one a lot, and maybe it’s just because I realized like Lord Huron has a lot of really good songs.

And maybe I never [00:20:00] felt like they have like a really, really good song. Yeah. And maybe I discovered that that actually is a cut above like a banger. I thought for them and would let it play all the time rather than skip past it. Even if I was tired of Lord Hero, I would never skip. Is Lord Hero that one of them like a band or is it like a hymn?

It’s a an artist. Oh, it’s a band. I ke I thought so. And people prefer as like him and him. Did you not see them that year? They were folks? No, because remember I at the um. I was at a concert for the Liers and I missed them, and I was so upset. That’s right. It was such a good show. They had this whole elaborate set.

Nobody even builds a set on the Folk Fest stage. Okay, so you’re a liar. They bought a whole set because you told me after I missed it that it wasn’t even that good and I didn’t miss, miss it didn’t tell you that. Yes, you did. You and mom both were like, it wasn’t, he came out wearing like the don’t even play right now.

The Mexican like, uh, UBA cabra mask kind of thing. Like it was really rough. I gonna be friends off. I can’t believe you did that to me. It was really good. Um, well, it protected my piece at the time, so I would go see them. That’s totally why I would’ve done it. Yeah, I, I would go see them again. [00:21:00] So I was also super surprised at my number one Why, but I shouldn’t have been.

Well, because I thought Sam Fender’s, people watching would be number one. Oh yeah. Hands down. Because, so valid. And it’s not even in this top five, which again, I’m like, you got to it later in the year. What on earth? Huh? You got to it later in the year? No, I got it to it later. In 2025? Like it wasn’t No, I got to it much earlier.

Oh, my bad. I’m pretty sure because it got released earlier before, well, before the record came out. The record came out later. But anyhow, the, the point is I still played that song like all the time. Yeah. And know my top song, uh, was Old Tape by Lucius. That’s the song that features Adam Grand Sale of the War on Drugs.

Mm-hmm. And. This was the one that, I was in late 2024 after we went to see them all play, and me and the guys missed the opening set by Lucius because we were That’s [00:22:00] so crazy. Having burgers. And then, and we were there for the war on drugs in the national, and then afterwards someone’s like, have you heard this song?

Uh, by them. And I was like, oh my goodness. And it was like on what the forthcoming album from 2025 was gonna be. Mm-hmm. And I played this song a lot, so I shouldn’t be surprised. Maybe it’s just the people watching one that I thought should there you’re notorious for not going to an opener, or like not going to a smaller show.

Oh. And then having crazy regrets about it. I’ve got as along a list of like regrets as I do of like great shows performances as well. That’s what I mean. I’m like, that’s a bad thing to be notorious for my friend. Okay. I just got called out. Yeah. Okay. No problem. Okay. That was my number one. My number one.

And everybody should listen to it ’cause it’s still just a killer song. Okay. My number one I think we talked about, did we not? Is it the same guy every year? Same guy every year. Oh, I didn’t. And you thought it wouldn’t be, that’s what you were talking about. Okay. Yeah, because thought that’s spoiled thought [00:23:00] would not be thought.

I thought I really held back and I did. You know what? It was over a hundred, like less than previous years. You’re doing a good job of building suspense. 789 listens. That’s a lot more than 36. Yeah. Drowsy by Bain’s World every year. What are you doing to play it that much? I, you know what? Like, you play it that much more than Suki Waterhouse when you leave your boyfriend’s house.

I don’t play it when I leave my boyfriend’s house. I play it when I study, when I drive, when I am just, you know, out and about in life. Sometimes I play it on an hour timer to get myself to sleep. But I don’t play it on repeat in my sleep because I used to that. Why don’t think it counts that I’m, I’m convinced they don’t count that now.

No, I just, it’s just like my go-to song. Like if I don’t play, it’s a lot of plays. I gotta give it to you. That’s an awful lot. That’s like more than an average of twice a day. Every single day. The entire year. [00:24:00] Well, if you do the math, then it’s, yes. I guess you’re accurate in what you say. Yeah, I’m pretty good.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well we took a lot of time for our top songs. It’s a banger. By doing it in round albums is quick. So we can just list down Now we will do Spotify Raps Your Top albums. And again, I think you could go deeper, but it’s like give you, they give you your top five. Yeah, we can rip ’em off. Do you?

Do you wanna go first and rip yours off? I can rip mine. It’s pretty, you know what, they don’t reflect my music taste. They reflect the shows I went to like this year. Hmm. okay. Number one, the Great American Bar scene by Zach Bryan. That would be surprising except I went to the show in like January of 2025 and like February.

I was definitely heavy on that as like a like, oh, I’m driving in the car, I just wanna throw on an album. Mm-hmm. Like I was pretty anti playlist those months. I was like, lemme just throw on an album. And that was like it for studying and that, um, number two, stick [00:25:00] season. Noah Kahn also went to that concert when I came by.

That was in 2025. That was 2024. Concert at the end of it. The concert, yeah, whatever. Um, just another like easy throw one. Number three, hope we have fun. Mount Joy again. Saw ’em at Folk Fest Classic. Yeah. Indie folk. Indie folk. Number one genre. Um, number four, another concert I went to, chromo Copia Tyler, the Creator.

All of those songs are in my gym playlist and I went to the concert, so I wanted to like really get to know them and it was just like, I really enjoyed it. So your concert was just. Some guy yelling, cuss words at you the whole day. Nah, no, no. Nah, he’s an artist. It’s okay. Oh, it’s okay. And then number five was actually one of my favorite albums of the year.

Garden State Vampire Joe P. Oh yeah. I like that one. Came out. Do you remember it came out? I told you. I like, every time you say it, I get excited about the movie Garden State. And then I’m like, oh yeah, Joe joked you, I haven’t watched it. ’cause you failed as a father in movies. I You did watch it. No, I didn’t.

Oh, we talked about this. My bad. I did. I can’t [00:26:00] remember. You’re gonna have to watch it again. We have to anyways have it on DVD. yeah, that was the only one that wasn’t like concert related, but that checks out ’cause I just really liked it. Yeah, you do. I want it on cd. Okay, so you counted one to five this time?

Yes. Okay. So my top five albums, oh, I must had a yawn there. Uh, top five albums, I’ll count down one of five, but I feel when I look at the list like. Those are the only five albums I can think that I ever would put on and start playing. Start to finish. Start to finish, yeah. This year. Anyhow, so number one, I’m really kind of happy about, and I’m gonna sort of like.

Drop a little spoiler for everybody. Uh, number one is an artist, Canadian artist named Ken Yates. His record that came out this year was called Total Cinema, so it’s a record from this year, and that’s good on you. I know, and I loved it. And so. Ken Yates was introduced to me by Mike Angus, one of the brothers in the wheat pool, my band, uh, probably a couple, few years ago.

[00:27:00] More than that, probably a few more years ago. and I really liked, and I liked the sound and I liked the person he used as his producer. Uh, I’ve liked a lot of the work, Jim Bryson does. anyhow, so the backstory behind this is that. I actually was able to land Ken Yates to come and be on the podcast.

Oh, yes. And we recorded an episode in. Uh, August when our Internets was the worst Internets in all of Edmonton Internets. Yeah. And Ken was recording from a small farm ish, kind of like house out in the country, so outside of Toronto. And the combination of our bad Internets resulted in the recording having all kinds of drop signal.

To a point where I couldn’t even recover portions of the conversation and it was the saddest thing in the world. Mm-hmm. To have to ditch an episode. I’m actually revealing that to everybody, but Ken has agreed in the new year, hopefully if some [00:28:00] things happen and work out and come around to come back and, yay.

Now that I have. Really decent Internets now that we’ve upgraded our Internets, it’s pretty good. We’re paying less money for the upgraded Internets. I love how the world works sometimes. Okay, I’ve, let me rip this off. So I’m really happy. It’s an album from this year, Total Cinema, Ken Yates. And then not surprising at I’ll Not Talk last year, talker by Wilderado.

I just top to bottom, it has so many songs that I love on it and such a groove and a feel, and as a guitar player, I love the guitar tones even so I can just like get lost. Number three, not surprising, no. I might even go on record and say like, this is what I think is my favorite record of the year. No.

Okay. No shade to Ken Yates, but Royel Otis’s record and they’re everywhere now. Yeah. So good. Royel Otis’s. Record Hickey, I told you. Well, I told you I think even on post fame a couple times that. I keep listening to it and then being surprised like, oh, this song’s off of the [00:29:00] new record. Yeah. And then there it just, I keep discovering different tracks like every few weeks.

So that’s a great experience for the record. And then the last two should be four fives. Nobody’s Survive so predictable. A deeper understanding by the War on Drugs and Trouble will find me by the Nationals. Yeah. So those two still find a way to show up in my life and my lists. And I obviously they’re, they’re obviously my classic rock.

Yeah. Now. Yeah. Okay, so top albums. Yeah, wrapped. Let’s just try and I’ll try not to be so verbose and just rip our top artists, which I find it interesting how they calculate this, but so they must calculate this just by accumulative yous are the same minutes of everything I listen to. You have mine are the same in a different order.

Yours are the same as your top albums. Mine. Well, yeah. I feel like yours probably is a little more accurate and I’m a little more predictable. Mm. I’d make the difference, but you go first. Okay. So my top artists are the same as my top albums, but the top artists, they’re [00:30:00] accumulating just all the minutes.

Yes. That you give that band. Right. So the national, by the way, is my top artist, and I’m in the top 0.2%. Okay. Of national listeners. So that. I don’t know why. It makes us feel snobby good as people. I like it. I’m a fan, but here I am, sitting here going like, yeah, man, I’m in the top 0.2% of the national. How you find that stat?

number two, this is where I’m really happy. Like Royel Otis, like I gave them so much. They dis planted the war on drugs to number three. Like they’re fast becoming one of my favorite bands of the last number of years. Uh, number four, Ken Yates got a ton of time as he was my number one album, right? And then Will Dorado, number two, record.

they obviously kept dominating a lot of my time, even though all those people don’t necessarily have songs in my top five. Actually none of them do. But yeah, none of them have a song on my top songs. But it’s whole album. But it’s how much I listen to the band cumulative and I [00:31:00] listen to the records.

Yeah. Okay. So that’s my top artists of 20, 25. It, I just got the stat. Okay. yeah, I just got ntroduce that Okay. Mine. You know what, again, like not very reflective of my like taste. But because of like albums, I just threw on shuffle all the time. Number one, Bains were all, mm-hmm. Top song had almost 800.

Like that’s just gonna happen. But listen to this stat, I just went to see my top like percentage, like you did like the top 0.00 last year. It was like 0.005 this year. I was in such as the top that they didn’t even show me the percentage. They just said, I’m like 160th. Like I’m that, yeah, I could just say it.

Which is kind crazy, but that’s awesome. Wow. Um, but also what sick freak, what 159 sick freaks are listening to Bain’s World More than 800 minutes in the year. Yeah. There’s people like that man. you know what they say? It’s like as good as you think there are, there’s [00:32:00] always somebody better. Oh, here it does gimme a percentage, 0.006%.

Yeah. You’re like in the, yeah. But then you sit there and you be like, yeah, you must be like the one I told you your number 1 60, 73 minute. Of him total. Okay. Um, the rest kind of snooze Fest number two. Zach Bryan, number three. Noah Khan, number four. The Lumineers number five, Mount Troy. All four of those are just concerts I went to.

Yeah. And why didn’t you think that you were indie folk in the whatever country? Yeah, like that’s pretty clear. Checks out. yeah. Best top artists. Okay. There songs. Love. Okay. Wait, wait, wait. What do you want? So you wanna go to this last part or did you wanna do the little folders? Oh, I was gonna ask you, what was your favorite you folder, because this was a new thing this year.

Yeah, right. That they did these folders and then they obviously just used AI to write you a story. Yes. Know, which is kind of weird. Do you know this thing like clocked yet? Like, oh, you clocked me job. Yeah. I had to ask. [00:33:00] Oh. Um, I didn’t just figure it out on my own. I had to ask one of you. I don’t like, I’m.

Generally perceived as cool. You’re making me very elderly on this podcast too. I’m not, I was just wondering, even like you sit with me now. No. I’ve clearly been defined as the elder, elderly member of the music scene, but of the podcast. Other than I, other than I’m 24 in my listening age. But yeah, anyways, the thing kind of clocks you.

Like you liked it? I like it, but it’s just like I sometimes I love being perceived and sometimes I hate being perceived. I hate being perceived, like for the most part, do not put me in a box or I will like, no, that’s meaningly vacate the box. I usually hate being perceived. And then this one’s just like, oh, here’s a specific thing, and we noticed you did all of these things.

And I’m like. Don’t tell me that, but also I love to know more about myself from Spotify, like outside perspectives from Spotify’s ai. Yeah. So it’s okay. You go first. You’re saying that you really love how AI pay you I’m anti AI till the day. No, you’re [00:34:00] not. You can’t be. I die, but I, I’m so snoopy like, tell me more.

Okay. So fair enough. It’s just a validation tactic. Okay. So I, I dismissed a couple of them. I think I told you because. I looked at the date and I’m like, these are specific days at work when I just Yeah. Had this one playlist that played the entire eight hours. Yep. and then they were like, on this day you had this really awesome, and I’m like, it wasn’t that awesome.

No, it wasn’t. But on February 24th, they said, the day you let Indie Rock take this scenic route and never look back. That was cute. I know. And here you go. After an early morning podcast detour IE me driving to work. Yep. Or at the gym. Maybe you let Sam Fender inhaler and Wonder Horse Bullshit. I don’t know where.

Wonder Horse, I’d never listened to Wonder Horse ever. I don’t know A Wonder Horse song if I could save my life. No shade. But Sam Fender inhaler makes sense in, oh yeah, the early part of the year carry you from this is the AI writing you guys like carry you from [00:35:00] sunrise through evening. I don’t think that those three bands carried me from sunrise to evening.

No, but it was February, so it’s a pretty short day. Um, in Edmonton. Not much sunlight. pausing for air every What? I gotta read that I gotta lean right in. Lexi don’t want me to Oh. Every track from people watching. Okay. Well that’s obviously them. Yeah. Yeah. It just told me how many minutes and all that.

Go ahead. Say it stuff. I don’t need to say it doesn’t matter. It was like my most indie rock pack day of the year. It says whatever file under genre tunnel vision in the Iraq immersion in the rock immersion, I mean. I’m here for it. I don’t think anybody edited the AI though. I think they just let it have its way they let it rip.

Well, that’s too many, that’s too much volume to edit. You just, you have to make a decision if you’re there. Yeah. Like are we just, they probably did a couple prototypes and they’re like, well, they’d have to, they’d have to practice their prompts and stuff for sure. Yeah. Not that they’re used in chat. GBT, they’re using some other, that’s a lot of minutes though.

582 minutes. 134 tracks in 25, 5 artists like you were ripping it, it was ripping [00:36:00] it. You had a shuffle on. That was a big shuffle. Yeah. Okay. You go ahead too. Okay. Lemme look. Oh, sorry, my screen time went off. Okay. mine was February 18th, so the week before, um, what was I doing that day? That’s interesting.

Um, I was on reading break. Let me look up. I was getting a haircut, driving, you know, okay. Mine was, how do you know that? Did you go back and check your schedule? Yeah, I have my calendar. Everything I’ve ever done in my entire life anyways. mine, the day I turned my queue into a bedroom, pop marathon, and never looked back.

Bedroom, pop. That’s my genre. That’s your genre. Shout out. I, you know what? And it was so true. It says from midnight through Sunshine also. Oh wait, you’re gonna tell me bands now and I’m gonna finally understand Bedroom pop as a genre. Oh, this is so true. Actually, this is full circle. This is awesome.

Okay. From midnight through Sunrise, you drifted through a sea of bedroom pop bands. I don’t know that artist. What? Show me. Fancier. Fancier. I’ve never heard of that. Showed [00:37:00] out. Dunno You. Sorry, babe. men I trust. Oh, you love that. Oh, going to that concert. Yeah. and Mellow fellow never did you, don’t them?

I do. threading gentle textures between Dream Pop and lo-fi Indie Afternoon brought folk detours with Rayland Baxter. We know them. Yeah. And Wild Rivers. Yeah. It’s very well. Well, evening circled back to soft in Indian lullabies. 821 minutes. 253 tracks. 821 minutes. Yeah. I got you beat by a lot actually.

Oh, it’s like 300 minutes now. And wait, you have. How many tracks? 134 tracks. I have 253 tracks. Yeah, because you had so many more minutes then you have 25 artists. I have 120 artists. Yeah. I just kept playing the same playlist. But this was 25 artists that many minutes. But this was your biggest Indie rock date?

This was my biggest music listening day. Oh, I should have went and found that one. Um, filed under Gentle Overdrive All Night Haze. Interesting. I think they got their wires crossed and sent me bedroom pop when they meant to give it to you. Nah, [00:38:00] don’t put that on me. Mm. It’s starting to look pretty suspect.

No. Okay. Let’s, um, that was our Spotify wrap. Yeah, let’s, let’s call a wrap. Do I have my closing comment on Spotify? Wrapped? Okay. I got a CD player this year in my room. Yes, you did. My listening minutes decreased by like 40,000 minutes this year compared to the last few, and I think it’s ’cause in the car I was playing CDs and in my room now playing CDs lot, you also letting.

Me play in the car sometimes. Yeah. And sometimes, but you’re probably right. Oh, I think we were holding the mic too close Oopsies. Um, that’s all right. Yeah. Um, that makes sense. So that’s a good observation and I’m happy about that for you because, makes me a little sad. Not that you would’ve probably liked any of them, but I went through like this CD purge probably.

I don’t wanna, I don’t wanna hear about this again. Yeah, I just came to the conclusion like, I don’t know, but you hate me. I don’t [00:39:00] know. Same with the cameras. Oh, let me take this awesome niche, cool indie hobby and just chuck it out the window. Nobody wanted them at all. They were like, I was like 12 valueless.

I was like 12. You had to let me like have my frontal lobe. Had no idea. Semi developed. No, I can’t keep a basement full of stuff just in case you can’t. It’s called being a hoarder. No, it do it. Yeah, that’s exactly what it is. It’s like here’s my eBay listing of things nobody will buy on eBay. I’m entitled.

Uh, my cycle synced with my dad and he also hates me. Okay. Let’s transition to the last part, okay. Which I want to call the favorite songs of 2025, released in 2025. Yep. You can go first, not on my wrapped in 2025. Not, yeah, that’s an important caveat. Not in my wrapped, not in our rap. Okay, so I’m not gonna pick obviously all of them out.

You can pick a top three. Do I get to pick three Max? Oh my goodness. Okay. Well, let me just say the first one that hung through from the very start of the year, it felt like all the [00:40:00] way through, um, and I’ve talked about it multiple times on a podcast, is the song Flowers, Nathaniel, rate Lift, and Greg, this was my lap, Gregory Allen as a called you.

What? This was in my raft. It was like my, like it was right under my top five. Oh, was it? Yeah. I couldn’t add it. Okay. So yeah, I played this song. Since I added it to this playlist in March 7th, 2025 obviously. And then Gotha to it before then. Listen to it all year long, I thought, yeah, but it’s not there. So surprising that that’s so that’s a song that’s clearly one of my favorites of the year.

My top three. I might just gonna run my three. Do it on roll. Yeah, go. Okay. So probably, oh, that’s gonna be hard to do, Lex, to differentiate these. So I did have like. I just, I’ll shut out then. Like Ken Yates has a song who I tried to have a guest. the song that went to number one, by the way, uh, in Canada’s alt Rock charts, boy Golden, who was the start of season two, [00:41:00] his song Suffer, went to number one.

Oh, the light went out. Lex, that’s terrible for. The fact that we’re doing a video podcast. Oops. Okay. Light change on the podcast light. Um, oops. Okay. Anyhow, boy, golden had that song, which is really great. Is that your number two? And I’m even, huh? Is that your number two? No, I’m just giving you the honorable mentions down there just to, oh my goodness.

To note. And because we already noted Ruby Waters Sweat t-shirt. Okay, I won’t talk about it. Okay. So my number two I think is actually back to Friends by Somber. Okay. which kind of, when that one got in my head, that’s just like an earworm song. It is. I think like, don’t hear my hot take. Well, you kind of gave it to me before and I did watch him on Saturday Night Live and was like terribly unimpressed.

But the song doesn’t matter. Like Yeah, the song itself is like the guy wrote, like the one big song he needed to true to set himself up. What’s your hot take? I don’t like it, the song at all. [00:42:00] Like not at all. I just, I told you why I like it, right? Yes, yes, yes. Because the sense Yes, and the, and the repetitiveness.

It’s unique. Its definitely Earworm feels eighties. To me closer to real age. I’ve had it in my head and I haven’t been mad about it. It’s just like if I, like, if it came up, I wouldn’t skip it per se, but I’d never just go and like play it on my own. Okay. That’s fair. Here’s my dilemma with picking number three.

I’ll tell you what it is. Okay. Is that I have in this playlist I had chosen Moody from Royel Otis, which is the one I found out that was like on the radio. Yeah. ’cause remember I said the station in the peak in Vancouver? Yeah. Uh, plays Royel Otis, which I love, love about Fred. Uh, shout out Peak, um, and Pattison.

, But I don’t know actually if that’s my favorite song on that record anymore. I just added this to the playlist. Right. And then I’ve been discovering other ones. I’d probably have to think that over. It’s fighting with the LL Water Gap song, which is very late in the year in October, called How to Live.

So [00:43:00] those two are fighting with each other. Okay. That’s hypothetical gun to your head. One of the songs is gonna get erased off the planet forever won’t be recreated. Which one are you choosing? Oh, I’ll choose Royel Otis to get removed. Oh no, I didn’t know you were asking me to choose which one’s removed.

I’ll remove the Dell Water gap one because I told you you. That’s his new record and that’s actually the only banger I feel You’re one. And he’s got those old ones that are both in my top five still. Yeah. And I would probably happily live for the rest of my life with those two songs, but I love this new album and I would keep moody.

Best by Royel Otis. Ba real for sure. Yeah. You have some gooders in there. Thank you. Yeah. Okay. Your turn. Okay. My turn. never, I’m not gonna know any of these. Imagine if yours was all ruby waters. Um, no, because I don’t have freak in the top five like you do. I do have freak. Yeah. And it checks out now. okay.

Number one, easily without a doubt, backseat by, I don’t know. I’m gonna butcher this. Balu [00:44:00] Ada. Yeah, it’s pretty phonetic I think. Well, listen, you never know these you days. This, um, you can’t possibly love something that much and not how know, how to say it. I don’t know. You had to put me in speech. That’s therapy.

That’s, I don’t know how to say half of the things here. That was because he just left your tongue behind your front teeth. Put you, uh, I don’t know what’s going on. Okay. Um, backseat though, the entire album it comes from is just amazing. Love it. But backseat. Okay. Love it. Love it so much. I, my favorite thing is like, I was like road tripping with two of my girls on our day trip and we were playing songs that kind of had that vibe and I played it and then within like 30 seconds of the song, both of ’em were kind of like, okay.

Like, yeah, like what is this song? Was it like in the movies where they both just started moving? Yes. It kind of, you were looking over and you had a little smirk on your face. Yes. Because you totally made it work. I was like, let me be everyone’s curator. I love that. Please. number two and three are tied, but I’m gonna give number two to the one I actually had in third, but, [00:45:00] oh, um, sick dogs buy, hey, nothing.

also just a good one all the way back to February. All the way back to February. And this one, you know what another show, because I put this one on my Instagram story to a cute picture of my girls and I, and then four of them. That week had posted about like our girls night and pictures and stuff, and all of them put this song to it, which was awesome.

I love that. and then number three, easy Love by West 22nd, another album that came out April. the entire album’s really good, but if I had to pick one, it’d be Easy. Love. this one’s like my instant mood booster. Like this one’s like serotonin in a song. Oh yeah, so cute. Um. Yeah, this one makes me wanna, like, believe in love or something, you know?

Wow, that’s a, it’s so cute. Um, but you won’t play that on the way home from your boyfriend’s house. And you know what, for that you play Silky Waterhouse. Oh my goodness. I’m never gonna let this down. Sultry sad music. That’s awesome. It’s in my, you know what, you know what? [00:46:00] For context before we leave this, I have a playlist called Screaming as a Woman, and Suki Waterhouse is also in there, and that’s about female rage.

So. Okay. It’s gonna be okay. well, I don’t ever want to be the cause of you adding songs to that playlist. I just realized I’m, I’m gonna, I said I’m gonna be ambitious and this is gonna be a video podcast and somehow I’ve seeded us so that I’m forward of you and it makes me look like a giant head.

Yeah, that’s, see, that’s way better. But. But I’m so little. I’m not at all happy with how I look. Okay. Maybe everyone will think I’m just so tiny and petite. Well, you really are. you need to wear a belt or your pants for falling down. Oh my goodness. Help. Um, yeah. Okay. Well that’s fun. Right? Post fame plus with Alexi and co-host Glen.

Okay. I like it. Thanks. Post Fame plus with Alex and Glen, so real quick. [00:47:00] PSA, we are gonna continue season three. Yeah, in the new year, 2026. Lexi will still be a part of the podcast. A crucial, important, a very important part. Very awesome, very beautiful part of the podcast. Absolutely. Yeah. Um, maybe we’ll even give her some more time.

Maybe you’ll even crash an episode like you did this season. Maybe I’ll even host an episode. Oh, I’m just kidding. I’ll tell you off camera a suggestion somebody gave me. Oh, that involved you hosting. Okay. well, let’s wrap up before the boy gets in the house. Okay. Okay. Let’s wrap up. Love you. Love you.

Bye. Bye.