AI Summary
5 min readIn October 2023, an email landed in the host’s inbox inviting him to the release party for Magnus Ferrell’s debut single. The email didn’t bother using Magnus’s last name in the subject line. It just said “Will Ferrell’s son.” The host screenshotted it, wrote a rant about nepotism babies intended for his Instagram close friends, and accidentally posted it to his public story. His agent swiped up with laughing emojis. Now, two years later, Magnus Ferrell is nominated for Best New Artist at a major awards show. And he is not alone. The host reads a list of seven names from this year’s Best New Artist lineup: Bella Kortis, Magnus Ferrell, Malcolm Todd, Miles Smith, Sienna Spyro, Stella Lefty. He recognizes exactly one of them. The rest, he says, sound like they were generated by an Xbox username randomizer and then 3D-printed into existence.
The new nepo baby pipeline
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:36) **The "Who the Fuck Are These People?" Rant Begins** - The host rattles off seven unfamiliar names from the Best New Artist list and questions if they’ve entered an alternate reality.
- 2 (02:21) **Breaking Down the List: Stella Lefty** - The host argues that Stella Lefty represents a new, extreme tier of nepo baby privilege.
- 3 (04:43) **Checking the Wikipedia Test** - The host uses a quick heuristic to determine if an artist is a nepo baby: checking for blue-linked parents on Wikipedia.
- 4 (06:01) **The Magnus Ferrell Lore Drop** - The host shares a personal story about receiving a press release for Will Ferrell’s son’s debut single release party.
- 5 (09:55) **The Defense of the Nepo Baby** - The host offers a nuanced take, acknowledging the impossible position these children of famous parents are in.
- 6 (12:33) **Finishing the List & Comparing Past Lineups** - The host wraps up the original list and compares the current Best New Artist nominees to previous years.
- 7 (14:52) **Who is Responsible? The Astroturfing Argument** - The host blames the audience for normalizing the rise of manufactured, inauthentic artists.
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Show Notes
Ben misses when you could yodel in Walmart and end up on Ellen.
Watch the video version of the episode here: https://youtu.be/0GPrPLGYnIA
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