Culture Club is a weekly podcast discussing pop culture, internet trends and current affairs, hosted by writers and editors Jasmine Wallis and Maggie Zhou. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to our last Culture Club episode for 2025! We start this chat with a pop culture year review, reminiscing on the biggest stories of the last 12 months. 

Then, we get into our annual book recap! Here we discuss our best, worst and most unexpected reads of the year.

Jas' least favourite reads were Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao and Orbital by Samantha Harvey. Her most unexpected reads were Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead by Olga Tokarczuk and Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner. And her favourite books of the year? The Coin by Yasmin Zaher and Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors.

Maggie's least favourite reads were Eat Your Heart Out by Victoria Brownlee and Three Days in June by Anne Tyler. Her most unexpected reads were The Names by Florence Knapp and Gliff by Ali Smith. Her favourite books were Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy and The Bee Sting by Paul Murray.

Thank you for listening to Culture Club this year. If you've enjoyed this conversation, please share it with a friend. We'll see you next year!

Jas & Mags x
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Culture Club.

The Best, Worst & Most Unexpected Books Of 2025

Daphne Berry is the host of the number one music podcast in Australia, Airing Your Dirty Laundry. Since launching in 2024, she’s welcomed a host of artists into her laundromat, from Peach PRC and Ayesha Madon, to GFlip and 5 Seconds of Summer. Married to one half of Lime Cordiale, Daphne is well and truly embedded in the Australian music scene. From her international modelling days to her stint in teaching, Daphne’s career has twisted and turned in unconventional ways. In this solo interview episode of Culture Club, Maggie chats with Daphne about her podcast, manifesting her dream career and the judgement of being a music "WAG". 

You can follow Daphne on Instagram and TikTok.

Jas & Mags <3 

 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Career Manifestation, Music WAGs & Meeting Your Heroes, With Presenter Daphne Berry

Hi friends, 

In today's episode, we chit chat about Kendall Jenner's mountain Architectural Digest video, Zendaya and Robert Pattinson's A24 movie, and Melbourne's new DIVA exhibition. Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson have been confirmed to make an appearance in Sunrise on the Reaping confirming Jas' theory of a Josh Hutcherson renaissance. We reference a New York Times interview and the Jesse Tyler Ferguson podcast Dinner's On Me.

Disney, the company that's famously staunch on copyright, have made a huge deal with OpenAI. We reference an article by Crikey and the Search Engine podcast. Analysis has found that Taylor Swift was the victim of a targeted online bot attack that aimed to align her and Life of a Showgirl to Nazi and rightwing imagery and values. We discuss the report findings and the headlines coming out of the first two episodes of Disney+'s Taylor Swift documentary series, The End of an Era. 

In Bookmarked, Jas recommend the HBO show I Love LA and references a substack by Whitney Friedlander on Gen Z's new era of TV shows. Maggie recommends Zootopia 2. 

Talk to you next time, and take care. <3 

Jas and Mags
 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Disney's AI Flop, Josh Hutcherson Is Back & Taylor Swift's Bot Campaign

Hi friends!

Miley Cyrus has confirmed her engagement to musician Maxx Morando, and the new Sunrise On The Reaping trailer is here. In Culture Shock, James Charles discovered the deep Australian lore of the Bunnings sausage sizzle.

From the 10th of December, anyone under 16 in Australia won’t be able to keep or make accounts on social media apps. We discuss the pros and cons of the law and what it's like living in one of the first countries in the world to implement restrictions for kids on social media.

Spotify Wrapped dropped last week to slightly less fanfare than years previous. We share our personal thoughts on the hallowed pop culture tradition, and Maggie shares the op-ed she wrote for Cheek Media titled 'Why I opted out of this year's Spotify Wrapped'. We also reference the new podcast, Fan To Fan podcast by Bridget Hustwaite and Alex Pearce. 

In Bookmarked, Jas enjoyed the new A24 rom-com, Eternity, while Maggie loved Consider Yourself Kissed by Jessica Stanley.

Talk to you soon!
Jas & Mags xo
 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Australia’s Under-16 Social Media Ban, Miley’s Engaged & Is The Tide Turning On Spotify Wrapped? 

Hi pals!

In this episode, we recap some of the internet's reactions to our Wicked Instagram post, and writer Soaliha Iqbal reads from her Substack essay titled: 'Can women's bodies ever be apolitical?' Next, we have a quick chat about the TikTok Awards. Please note: this episode was recorded before the allegations of racism against the awards show came to light. We highly recommend Zee Feed's break down of the topic.

In Culture Quickie, we ask why Americans love the Irwins so much and ask if Timothee Chalamet is moonlighting as a rapper. In our main topic, we discuss the discourse around Chante Joseph's mega viral Vogue article, 'Is having a boyfriend embarrassing now?' and the callback articles that have been published in response, including this one from Dazed and Vogue UK.

In recommendations, Jas throws it all the way back to the eighties with her staycation film pick, 'Moonstruck' while Maggie shares the non-fiction book, 'Cult Bride' by Liz Cameron. 

Chat soon!
Jas & Mags xo 
 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Celebrity 'Bullying', The Australia Effect Trend & Why Are We All Embarrassed?

Hi friends!

We're back from a little wedding break as Jas got hitched. After a quick debrief, we're straight into Culture Quickies.

Charli XCX has published her first two Substack posts: one on creativity and one about being a pop star. We chat about Charli's emergence on the newsletter platform and break down her musings. Next, Sydney Sweeney has been having a tough year after her indie biopic flopped at the box office this month. We discuss Sydney's 2025 controversies (including recent comments with GQ) and why she's being portrayed as a right wing celebrity.

Wicked: For Good the second part of the Wicked franchise, was released earlier this month. But it's not the movie musical that has people talking. Main actresses Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo and Michelle Yeoh all looked noticeably thinner at press junkets and premieres. But should we even be discussing women's bodies in the post-body positivity movement era? In this segment, we discuss the eating disorder allegations and reference a piece for The Free Press titled 'In ‘Wicked,’ There’s a Very Thin Elephant in the Room' by Kara Kennedy. This segment references disordered eating and body image. If you need help with this, you're not alone. There are resources available on the Butterfly Foundation.

In Bookmarked, Jas recommends a short romance novel by debut author and Substack writer, Erika Veurink titled Exit Lane while Maggie shares her love for Apple TV sci-fi series, Pluribus.
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