Rihanna Steals the Superbowl Stage
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Hello, everyone. I'm Jan Arden. Welcome to the Jan Arden Podcast and Show. I'm here with Sarah Burke. We're in Toronto. She's in her home. I am in my home away from home. And we're really glad to be here. We got lots to talk about today, but I think right out of the gate, we're going to start by congratulating our friend, Frenza.

Josie Dye, Cynthia Loyst with the launch of their podcast Unmentionables and maybe it's supposed to be unmentionable to talk about other people's podcasts but it is a kick butt podcast Unmentionables go look it up

On their first day out into the world, they were in the top 10 on the Apple podcast grouping with some really fantastic other artists. So we just wanted to congratulate them. And that's it. We will never honor their names again on this show ever. We should also say they will be our guests on next week's episode. Jen, I don't want you to get angry at me. I took a gamble this morning.

I invited a secret guest on. A secret guest? A secret guest, because it involves one of the topics that we're going to cover today. So until then... Is it John Tory, mayor of Toronto, who recently had an affair? Is that who it is? I had many work affairs in my life. The mayor of Toronto, who is stepping down, or has stepped down by the time you hear this, he had an affair with a younger...

Thank you so much for having me.

And a lot of people engaged with this tweet. A lot of people were saying, yeah, yeah, yeah, we want to hear. She says, here's my idea for a topic. Is the idea of resigning because of a workplace affair antiquated or do these moral guidelines need to be in place to protect vulnerable employees? Enter special guest, Caitlin Green. Oh, my God. Caitlin. Oh, my God.

Hello. What's happening? Oh, just taking a wee break from trying to feed my giant baby solids to chat with you lovely ladies. Caitlin, oh my gosh. Will is so friggin' cute.

Thank you. And enormous. He is getting like a chunky monkey, but you know what? So am I. And I find it very attractive. That's right. We're all adorable and chunky and that's how we like it. Yeah. Tell us everything. So we wanted to talk about Rihanna today. We wanted to talk about John Tory having an affair. We wanted to talk about Black History Month. We wanted to talk about, now we want to talk about you, Rihanna.

Well, I love talking about all of those things. So I'm down. And obviously, Rihanna's Super Bowl halftime show was the biggest topic. And the love of my life on stage at the Super Bowl was just a thrill. Even though I feel like some people kept calling her low energy. Come on. She's pregnant. So, Caitlin, you had a child yourself just months ago. Yeah. Standing on a platform that's moving through the air. They look like the tiniest cables in the world that were tethered to this platform.

platforms that I think probably weighed a lot that were carrying humans on them. Anyway, it was absolutely breathtaking. I love the androgyny of the dancers that you didn't know if they were male or female. It wasn't sexualized. They look like

The mini Michelin men or Pillsbury. Yeah. Yeah. I just loved it too, Caitlin. I'm glad that I'm talking with people that really got it. So you're not mad at me? I'm not mad at all. I was like, who am I?

Is it John Tory? No. Oh my God. Imagine. Halftime for, for Caitlin. I imagine that you loved that she did that and announced the pregnancy as part of the process this week. Yeah, I loved it. But the thing that was funny was, I don't know if you guys noticed this, but the camera guy, I want to know, I need his information so I can send him an email being like, why didn't, or maybe it was the director in the studio. Yeah, probably that actually, they didn't linger long enough on the pregnancy shot. So the,

they cut away really quickly. And, and because of the tone now appropriately, so around guessing if a woman's pregnant or not, everybody's rampantly at home Googling, like, is Rihanna pregnant? Is this a reveal? Including my mom. Yeah. And my husband's next to me and he's like, Oh my God, I think Rihanna's pregnant. And I'm like, is she? Cause she just had a baby nine months ago. So like, maybe she's not like, like that, like, you know, just it's very close together and she could still be working on like post baby or

body and you never know and you want to give people a lot of time and respect around that so everybody spent i think half of the halftime show kind of going like is she or isn't she and i wish they had just lingered on it a little bit longer because then when it became really obvious it was like oh of course why why were we all like sitting on our hands for the first

little bit but I mean that's we were watching it with a group of people and all of us were kind of like is this is this not and anyway so that part of it um I loved seeing her make the reveal there and her outfit was like kind of an homage to um a former editor for Vogue called Andre Leon Talley. She actually had his coat on. Yes she did and if you look back at her I think this

theme a couple years ago at the Met Gala when she attended with her boyfriend, Asaph Rocky. I think the theme was like Americana, like American influence on fashion. And she wore this kind of beanie and then the iconic Norma Kamali sleeper coat. And that's what she was wearing this time.

And so, and she was even wearing a black version of it when she was walking in and out of the stadium. So like there are levels with Rihanna that if you like look it up and look into it, or if you know her as an artist, then you'll understand it. But people were like, she was wearing baggy clothing the whole time. Like I wanted to see her change a bunch of outfits. Then she put that big giant coat on and you couldn't even see her. And I was like, okay, well then you're not getting it. And that's fine. Like it's not for everybody.

but I also feel a little bit like ever since Lady Gaga wore her meat dress, there's this expectation that every single artist is gonna like get out there and stand on their head while they're wearing cold cuts. And like, it's just not, that's not the way every artist is. And Rihanna is known for like- - While they're wearing cold cuts. - You know, like-

And I've seen her live and her stage presence. She walked out when I saw her last to one of her songs called Fresh Out the Runway. And she just walks out. She has a big runway. She takes a stance at the end. She gives everybody a look. She is very self-assured. Her looks are iconic. I mean, yeah. So again, if you're here for...

a different type of show, that's fine. I just don't, I didn't like some of the, I expected more. And I actually overheard somebody at my nail salon talking to like that a little bit. And it was like me and my nail tech and then her nail tech were all like standing up for Rihanna's halftime show. Like our lives depended on it.

It became this like whole moment. We were like, what are you talking about? She was really tearing it down. But I loved it. I love the reveal. And again, like we said, she's pregnant. She's obviously probably in her second trimester. She has a nine month old at home.

Like it would not be easy for you to train for this. It would not be easy for you to perform. They rent, you know, 30,000 square foot, um, warehouses and they go over and over and over these routines. It was a lot of work.

I mean, they may well obviously have had a stand in working for Rihanna when they're training the dancer. She's not going to be there for that whole thing. No. But just as far as the symmetry and the choreography, and I thought it was such innovative choreography. It just looks so fun. And how do you, when you're an artist with that kind of a catalog, choose the songs? Oh, I know. Yeah.

There's a few that I really wanted to hear that I didn't hear. I love California King bed, but I'm thinking, how can you sing about a California King bed? Oh, we know what happened on that California King bed girl. Yeah. Did you guys see the, the clips of the NFL players walking in and they're all like singing Ella, Ella, like all the little Rihanna clips. Yeah.

The thing is, you sometimes, because she hasn't put out new music in such a long time, and she's been taking the break to focus on, obviously, her family, her personal life, and her beauty empire. But you forget how many hits she has. And it's just hit after hit after hit. And also, a very wide range of hits. You know, dance music, traditional pop, ballad, frankly, strip club anthems. Like, she can kind of do it all. So, yeah, I loved it. I'm never going to dislike anything Rihanna does.

Well, the commitment that you have to have, the confidence, like you said, Caitlin, nerves of steel. Not only are you playing to 75,000 people in a live event,

that you have one opportunity to get it right. And it's time down to the second. So you're thinking about just breathing, standing on your platform, being lifted up, remembering all the moves. I had some people writing me saying, the lip sync was off. She didn't even have the microphone near her face.

And the vocal was still going. And I'm like, listen, it's not about this at all. For one thing, she did have a live vocal mic in her hand. Yes, she did. So there's a live aspect to it. But there's also pre-record that's done in case anything goes wrong. And she's not going to be up there moving around, you know, relying entirely on a vocal because there's backup vocals and there's all kinds of things. But her live band was there. Yeah.

And, and, you know, they were playing, but yes, there's absolutely pre-recorded aspects, but people are so hard on them. I'm like, what have you done today? There's so much criticism, this armchair criticism going out to a woman who is not only championing women artists and like you said, her beauty empire and all of that, but

but to be a pregnant working woman in the arts, we should all be standing up and cheering her on because it said so much about, I don't care if I'm pregnant, I'm doing it. And they knew she was pregnant when they started down the road. Yep. Absolutely. And I'm going to be, I'm going to be like out to here when we do the actual show and that that got past a committee of probably a lot of men is a real exceptional woman. And we have to think of these things too, because I,

There was a day when that would have been completely shot down. Oh my God, absolutely. There's no way we're having a pregnant woman on the Super Bowl. And you know, you really can't win because I bet you if she did go out there and do some advanced choreography and was like doing what some people felt like was missing from the show and was a lot more physically active, then people would be saying, I don't know if that's safe for a baby. I don't know if a

pregnant woman should be doing that can't win and so it's just one of those situations where i i mean i loved it and the thing with the super bowl halftime show was everyone's going to have an opinion it is one of those moments it's like award shows where everyone's going to chime in on who they shot thought should have won or whatever so i get that part of it i just some of the tone was like a bit not fun and that's what i didn't like at first some people were like this just wasn't for me my favorite performer was x y or z then like i totally get it like you know

I didn't love certain other halftime shows that other people thought were standout top five of all time. And that's just the way it goes in the entertainment industry. But doing that at the stage of pregnancy that she's at with a nine month old baby at home is no easy task, regardless of what you think of her. And she was also not paid. I know, I know they do it for the promo. Everybody think of that. I mean, it's the promo is exceptional. And I love that the cover that you had posted on your social media was

The Vogue cover with that cute baby and just her walking ahead of him. And he's holding the baby. Like you said, there's so much to unpack with how she manipulates how we think.

She's out front. She's walking in front. He's back there holding the baby. Yeah. And the caption. Your caption was the best part, Caitlin. What did you say about the photo? I said I'm telling my grandkids that this is the royal family. Mic drop. Okay.

Well, I think also too, you've got to realize like ASAP Rocky is a really interesting artist himself. He's a really self-assured creative guy. The two, she referred to them in the interview as best friends who have a kid and they were friends for years. I saw him open for her. He toured with her on the tour that I saw and,

And so he was, they have a longtime connection and apparently they reconnected over the pandemic. And I think she said they rented like some fancy RV or they had an RV and they were out in like Joshua Tree Park or whatever and just hanging out. And I think, you know, the two of them. I'd have a baby too. Right. Like the two of them are pretty cool together and it takes a heck of a self-assured guy, especially in, you know, in hip hop.

to say, I'm going to walk behind her holding the baby. And it was great. It was a real nice family portrait. And I think he knows who he's with, obviously, that she's a superstar and that that's part of what attracts him to her. And he's his own superstar in his own world and his own way. And it wouldn't work. I wouldn't imagine it would work for them if it was any other way, honestly. So yeah, I loved it. I thought it was so sweet. And that baby is just the cutest, chubbiest little thing ever. It's just adorable.

Oh, you're one to talk, Caitlin, because that baby of yours, I'm telling you what. I don't know how babies have any toes. I don't know how they all just don't get nibbled off because they're just like appetizers, especially around the Super Bowl. Don't put that baby's toes too close to the snack table, honey, because people are going to think they're little tiny nibblets. Yeah, you want to just be like, they're so delicious. They're just so cute.

Special guest, Caitlin Green. It's weird that I'm calling her a guest because she's normally here as my sidekick. Sarah Burke has been doing the most loveliest, amazing job, Caitlin, in your absence. Caitlin's coaching me for the record. Not really. Fantastic. Listen, before we leave off of Rihanna completely, I got more DMs, queries, questions, questions

perplexed thoughtfulness about Rihanna grabbing her bum and grabbing her crotch. And people were just like, you know, my kids were watching. And I'm saying this is a very small percentage of people. 99% of the people out there loved it. So can you comment on that, Caitlin, of just, you know, doing the booty call, bending over, bum forward and grabbing your butt and...

I loved it. If it was my butt, I'd be grabbing my butt all the time too. It's a great butt. It's a great grab away. I mean, she has a lingerie line. So, but I do think, you know, that when you look at her, again, her music videos, when you look at her choreography, when she does go on tour, it's,

If you look back at her performance when she was celebrated, I think she received an Icon Award at the VMAs one year. And she did a whole different series of dance numbers that were celebrating all the different types of music she does. And you see, you know, this is definitely, this is her style. And if you've ever watched any of her socials when she goes to Carnival in Barbados, you know, some of these dance moves are very much like, this is just what you see her doing as part of her life.

And if you don't get that, then it's not for you. Not everything in life is for you and not everything in life needs to have your approval or your understanding. And that's the part that I don't get. It's like, I always refer back to that Ricky Gervais clip that I've sent you, Jan, before where he said, you know, it's part of his standup routine. And he said, it's like somebody seeing something they don't like on the internet or on TV is the same as somebody seeing an ad for guitar lessons in town square with a phone number and they rip it off and call it and go, but I don't want

guitar lesson. Who cares? Who cares? Well, change the panel too. Honestly. Is Rihanna going to give you a refund for the two seconds of your life that you saw watching this? Come on. Do not bother. I just think art is art. It's there to...

to get us thinking and to broaden our horizons. And I think most art isn't supposed to be met with just open arms and running towards each other in a field of daisies. I think, you know, like Madonna, she, she never ceases to surprise me because she's kind of been,

Looking a little different than what we're used to. And she likes it. She's doing the grill all the time, but she, she posted something. It was last night. I saw it this morning and I thought, this is where what artists do is so important. She goes, it's Valentine's day. I know we're all supposed to be talking about love, but let's shine all our love. I'm paraphrasing here, all our kindness, all our caring kindness,

to the people of Turkey and Syria, to the people there. Let's shine a light. And she posted a link where they can get donations. And then I read this other little sidebar article of this guy commenting on what her comment did for them for donations. Oh, wow. It just went up exponentially. Yeah. And I just thought, good for you. It wasn't about her. It wasn't about anything. It was just this statement of here's the best place to donate.

Because for millions of followers might step up for five bucks. And I'll tell you what, in people donating one or two or $3, guess what that turns into in a hurry. Then you realize the importance of fame and what it actually is good for fame in politics. Let's move on quickly to John Tory. Right before the budget stuff, he admits to an affair and wants to step down. They're basically begging him not to step down until his budget is through and

And the wife is nowhere to be seen. Normally she's been there beside him. So what do you think about that? Oh, it's a tough one. Cause I feel like there's more that is not currently public about this story in terms of just the,

you know, perhaps, yeah, some like private stuff. I think that's probably for the family to deal with. So that part of it is obviously not necessarily included in his statements. And, you know,

He is, for many people in the city, beloved, but he's had a long time to be in public office here in Toronto. And he had a corporate history before that. And he is no stranger to media. So, you know, he has a lot of relationships. People really like him. So I think it's understandable to me that some people would be sad to see him go. I also think some people are really not. How long has he been there, Caitlin?

I want to, like, I want to say he's been the mayor for at least 10 years. He's been in office since 2014. Yeah. So, I mean, and don't forget to like, it's, it's, it's complicated, right? Because sure is it's a consensual affair with two adults, but this is a 31 year old junior staffer. He's 68. And she's 31. And she's 31. Yeah, I believe so. And we haven't seen any photos of, of the woman, have we at all? Not publicly. Again, I will say though, that

In Toronto, in many circles, people do know who it is. They've seen photos, they know a name. I think she was given some sort of a job at MLSC. I could be wrong about that. There's a lot of stuff that is just...

Kind of out there, but not really. Okay, well, do you think the man should step down because he had an affair? Well, I think that there's... Again, I think that there's stuff that is not out there super publicly. And so it's better to leave because...

She's a much younger staffer. I think there's probably people within the staff that maybe perhaps felt that this was inappropriate to be carrying on, that they were put in precarious positions by maybe having to conceal this secret because he is a well-known, very married man with four children. And Toronto is a big city, but it's a small town, kind of at the same time. He's the same age as some of his children. Yeah. So I think...

I think it's good. I think it's the right thing to do. Do I think that it takes away from some of, you know, his belovedness? Of course not. No. And, and don't forget he came in on the heels of the Rob Ford days. Right. So a lot of people are also like this, this person was exactly what we needed. This was this, this kind of like fly straight sort of guy, because we were coming off of a guy who was seen smoking crack and speaking in Patois. Like, yeah.

It's just so that Toronto has just always been stuck ever since then with this bizarre reputation for having the crack smoking mayor. And and yeah, I mean, I think that's kind of where he came in and people wanted him around. Obviously, he was continually voted in.

But a lot of people also now don't want to get into politics. It is hard to pull people into the ring in politics these days. Yeah, because of the vitriol people face and what we said before with Rihanna and the arts, you're damned if you do, damned if you don't. You're just not going to please everybody. Politicians now face death threats on a regular basis. They have people, you know, sending them things that are so unbelievably outrageous. And that has become the norm.

in the last eight or nine years because of the man whose name we shall not speak that opened a box and just let out this, there's just absolutely no decorum. No, there isn't. There isn't. And that's got to be part of the reason why I would think too. And again, this is like, I'm just putting myself in his position. Why you may not want to stay because everything you do is now going to be painted with this brush and

And, you know, what if there is more information out there? Are you nervous that that comes out? And then, but there was this weird back and forth moment, like he now is officially resigning. But there was this weird back and forth moment this week where I think some people reported getting robocalls, like, would you support John Tory coming back as mayor? And

And I think also, too, because there is this gap in leadership where who is going to run and who would win and who's paying for the election, right? Like there's all those questions that pop up as well. So, yeah, it's a tough time to be in. Imagine being the deputy mayor. Yeah. Oh, my goodness. Jennifer, yeah.

Yeah. So that's who will take over. And then there was this rumor that Doug Ford was going to try to run for mayor because he had awarded those strong mayor powers to the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa recently. So everyone was like, why would he have done that? And maybe because he wanted to step in. Isn't Doug Ford the premier? He is. Yeah. So he can give up his premiership to be the mayor? Yeah.

Well, he's a lot of he's in a lot of hot water right now with the Greenbelt scandal. So the amount of like, you know, alleged cronyism and crookery that's been happening with developers. And then his daughter, Stag and Doe, which we know apparently raised six hundred thousand dollars and they had a lot of developers in attendance there. So then he has said, I'm not doing that. And I don't believe that he is doing that. But there was this rumor going around that people thought, hey, that would be terrible.

because you're now no longer the premier. His deputy would take over. He could run. But I don't think he'd ever get voted. I don't think his voting base is really Toronto-based anyways. Like, I don't think that he has a ton of... the same kind of support here that he does perhaps in the rest of the province. But...

It's just like politics is just like this all the time. And you can like feel when you're talking about it, you're like, you can feel like, like, Oh my God, like people are going to pop off about this and the ick that comes with it. And that's why I think people don't want to run anymore. Like they're not as interested as they once were in local politics. You know, Nicola Sturgeon, who was, you know, leading Scotland for, you know, the last eight years, she's stepping down as well. So we've seen two very prominent world leaders, um,

In New Zealand and now in Scotland, they're just like, this job requires so much. These are women with families. And it's weird to see them actually going, eight years is, I'm topped out now. Somebody needs to come in here with fresh ideas that isn't clouded in the politicking of it, which is the antithesis to someone like Vladimir Putin,

who, you know, stepped away from being the, you know, the whatever, the dictator of Russia. Yeah. And then had to come back and manipulate the system to do this again, to do what he's doing now. I mean, I think, too, it depends on the time when you're in politics as well. Because social media, it is a lot more...

intense around politicians and any public figure. There's a lot more hate. There's a lot more harassment. I don't think, you know, I do think we're going through a large global mental health crisis as well, obviously, after the last few years that we've lived through. So all that to say, politicians do get abused in a way that they never used to. And people have access to them that they never used to. I would, I mean, I can't imagine wanting to do it

in a job as a job for the first in the first place. But I've often felt like politicians everywhere should have set term limits just because I do think it's actually quite a taxing job. It's very hard on you. They do in the United States with the presidency, you know, there's the eight limits, two terms. Yeah. And that's that. And,

And it also then forces the parties to continue to look for new talent and to not stagnate and to not put too much of their eggs in the basket of one specific politician. And then they kind of weaken themselves. And you see that happen in politics all the time. And both parties in Canada have fallen victim to that mentality before. And then they sort of find themselves in the political woods for a period of time. So I

I think it makes sense. Like when they're saying, oh, you know, I've done it for eight years. I'm out. I'm like, yeah, no, that tracks. Like I would like you. Everyone should just have their little moment. And then it's like, OK, I've done my time. Next person comes in, please. And let's just like freshen things up and make sure that the person who's in charge of your country is not so burnt out that perhaps they're not doing the best job. I've been asked so many times to go into politics.

Really? Elizabeth May, Green Party Elizabeth May, a couple months ago, she sent me a message. She goes, have you any desire to run, you know, to be an MP? And I'm like, I just, I'm not. I'm sorry, Elizabeth. Yeah. Rick Mercer talked about being inundated with, you know, requests like that all the time. I mean, it's bad enough, kind of the stuff that I...

endure that is self-inflicted a lot of the time. I walk right into it, but I just can't imagine. Bonnie Henry, I met her. She was the chief medical advisor in British Columbia during COVID. And I just happened to be on a talk show called Vance and Steele. Jody Vance and Linda Steele have a show

That just plays right now in British Columbia, but she was a guest and I got a chance to talk to her and she was there with an RCMP guard, an under guard. And so I talked to her a little bit about that. And she goes, it's just, she goes, I would never have fathomed that this would be my reality.

No, but it is something she goes, she's not with me all the time. It was a woman. Yeah. You did not have a uniform on, but she's just a little bit of a buffer to buy Bonnie Henry a little bit of time to be safe, getting into her car or getting wherever she's going. And it really broke my heart because she,

These people were put into impossible situations the last couple of years. You know, what do you do? I know. And you see even like doctors and stuff, people that you wouldn't think would ever be harassed, being harassed on social media now just because they're talking about the pandemic, which was then politicized, which is crazy. So it does happen. We're about to have another special guest join us. Oh, my God.

I would like to see who the special guest is. Gee whiz. He's such a Gerber baby. I know. He's very, very big. We are not sponsored by Gerber, but we will accept. And Will, what are your thoughts on Mayor John Tory? He said, I bet he has good snacks. That's all he cares about is snacks. You and I are cut from the same cloth because I really don't care about anything else but a snack.

Oh my gosh. He's cute. Anyway, at home listening, I'm sorry you can't see Caitlin's baby, but if you go onto her Instagram and I don't, you know, when my cheeks like that, that look like that, people are getting injections to look like that kid. I know. Thanks for saying hi to us today, Caitlin. It's always great to hear your way in. And of course, let's have a conversation in the next two or three or four weeks and figure out when you'll be coming back to hang out with me and Sarah. Oh, very soon. Great.

Great. Well, nice to see you, Will. Once again, you talked our legs off. That's right. You go have a nice day. You have a nice nap, mister. Thanks for coming on, Caitlin. Bye, guys. Bye.

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Welcome back to the Jan Arden Podcast and Show. I'm here with Sarah Burke. Caitlin Green was our special guest today. That was so nice. She was quite active on Twitter. And to see Will, I was reading her Twitter stuff about Rihanna and her posting the Vogue cover. And, you know, just a point, you know, to put out there to everybody is, you know, we're all just trying to do our best. Artists aren't going on shows like the Super Bowl to do a bad job.

They're out there doing the best possible job that they think with their art, with their catalog, with their music, their vision, how they want, you know, to have the clothes. And you better believe that Rihanna was involved in this from the one inch off the ground to the absolute end, to what, how she signed off, what she said, everything, how she got into the arena, how she left everything.

And she wasn't there to do a bad job or to be disliked. She wanted to entertain people for 13 minutes. And criticism is just the plague of a modern century. The fact that you do have access to artists, they can actively and instantly see your comments and

whether they are uplifting comments or derogatory comments, you know, artists have access to that. A lot of us choose not to even read it because listen, if you're going to listen to the accolades, you're going to have to weed through the crappy stuff too. So anyway, that's just my take on that. Everyone's doing the best they can. They're proud of their work. They've worked all their lives to create something.

you know, I don't, I don't like all music. There's some stuff that just doesn't fit in my biology. It just doesn't feel right in my body. And that's okay. It's okay. What would you play from the Jan Arden catalog at Superbowl halftime? If you were going to be the Superbowl halftime show, I would be the worst halftime entertainment ever. Uh,

Even my own mother would say, you've got nothing, Pepe. There's no possible way you can do the Super Bowl because you've got nothing, Pepe. You could put Poppy on a platform. I think I would just send Poppy out there. They'd love to see him. You know, if I ever had an opportunity that outrageously amazing.

I think I would really rely on old stuff. I would go with Good Mother and Could I Be Your Girl? Like I'm just talking little clips. I'd probably grab Where No One Knows Me, a little clip of that song. You know, so 13 minutes. If you did five songs with...

a couple, two and a half minutes each or something? Or do you do eight songs that are a minute 40? Like, what do you do? You know, someone's got to get up. Let's do Christmas carols. You know, a Super Bowl Christmas extravaganza.

I don't know if I would be able to breathe. I don't know if my nervous system, my nerves could withstand that kind of pressure. It would be nuts. I think it would help an unbelievable amount to have a lip sync opportunity, to have a live mic, but to have your tracks running. I don't dance. I mean, what the hell would I do? They would have to strap me to that pole and then I would just never leave it. At least Rihanna walked around. And I loved how her minimal little moves that fell in with...

how all the Michelin men were moving, our puffy guys, were so sexy and cool. Like even if she did like an arm move or a leg move that was very minimalized, when it fit into all those hundreds of dancers, imagine the work. Here's how people watch that. They're looking for someone to be out of sync. Yeah.

That's how some people, but this is a bigger, this is, this is a glass half full or glass half empty. That's how people look at life. How are you going to look at life? How are you going to look at the life around you? Are you always going to be looking for those flaws and those mistakes? And I don't like that. And it didn't taste good. I'm sending this back. People make their entire lives about that.

They'll never get a meal in a restaurant that's, well, you know, it just wasn't hot enough for me. And that's Jan's take on Super Bowl halftime. And yeah, the Super Bowl is just a small example of being that person who's just hurling this vitriol, this negativity into the universe. That is what you are going to get back. I don't make my way through life like that.

That's why we love you. We're going to leave this aside now. And there's just something I really did want to talk about today for a little bit. And that's Black History Month. Sure. And I want to know your thoughts. And you posed that question to me. How does it affect you? How does it affect how you think? Or what experiences...

Can I bring to the table? And I wanted to ask you that and how you bring mindfulness to that. And what can I do? How can I even be involved in Black History Month? So, I mean, for you and I, we have platforms, right? So I think that's sort of what it comes down to for us. I'll give you a very close to my heart example. A girlfriend of mine in radio, she's one of the only black women who works in country music in this country.

And she has shared a lot about her experience coming into the genre as a black woman and how she feels, you know, especially during a month like this kind of stress the whole month. And I said, tell me more about that. And she said, constantly being asked my opinion on something while it's good. And, you know, she likes to engage in conversations around how we can make things better in this industry and outside of the industry.

Even if she's feeling annoyed about it, she'll put up with that for the greater good, you know, even though sometimes it might come from a token place. For example, let's say she said, you know, let's say I'm applying for a new job. All of my friends who are black are worried that I'm going to be selected because

Because I'm black, because now all these organizations are trying to be more mindful of it. And while that's a great goal for any organization to have, how does it affect the person who might be, you know what I mean? And then you have to vector into that how your colleagues are going to perceive you and that are you there on your own merit?

There's so many things that do play in and things that you and I as white women never have to consider. And there's no caveat to this. I was going to say women in general who have been historically marginalized in every culture. If you look at what has been going on in Iran, the

The last three, four or five months, if you look at what happens in China, the one child policy that went on for years and years were, you know,

female infants were literally thrown out. And then to be a black woman. And I heard a very interesting story about a black Jewish gay woman. I remember reading this article and the name escapes me. And if I can go back through my stuff and find it, I'm going to find it my history, Sarah, because I want you to know this woman's name. I was, I was interested in the article just because she was speaking to black history month and,

And then she was speaking to, she goes, now imagine this. I'm also Jewish, a black Jewish woman, and I'm also a black Jewish lesbian. And so I was reading this article and the stuff that she has encountered, the, I can't even fathom that she said is a barrage. That's the word she used on a daily basis of,

But the joy, the positivity, the community outreach, the other people's lives that she touches, the trans people, the work that she does in her community. And this is in Atlanta. Oh, wow. And I just was thinking about my own life. I don't even have anything to compare it to. But I think what she did say, she goes, you want to know how to help? Be empathic, be tolerant, be open-minded.

Smile at me when you cross me in the street, you know, engage me, ask me questions. If you don't know, ask me questions. She says, that's what you can do. And I think that's what my girlfriend was maybe alluding to is like, even though she gets exhausted of maybe being that representative for certain people who are looking to lean on her because she's black, she does still want to participate in that.

She's just acknowledging that it's kind of unfortunate and exhausting that she has to do that. And here's like a super real example.

If I go to my women in media podcast page, you know, the last four guests are blonde white women. Am I aware of that? 100%. Do I try my best all year round to make sure I have diverse voices on the podcast? Absolutely. But to someone who has their guard up, it might look a different way. You know what I mean? Yes. And remain inquisitive, supportive,

This may seem like a small thing, but during Black Lives Matter, when that movement started, one thing I was made very aware of that my silence and my lack of engagement in my social media spoke volumes about how I didn't want to be perceived. And I was afraid of saying the wrong things and

Everything I read is like, don't be afraid of saying the wrong thing or asking the wrong question. You have to ask the questions. What I was getting to is that I, it was recommended to me to follow black artists, creators, black women in businesses all over the world. And I did cause I, the question that was posed to me that made me kind of ashamed is look at your, look at your social media. And I looked at my social media and I had a hard time.

It's hard for me to even say this. I've had this too. I've had this too. And I'm looking at it, I'm going, this viewpoint, what I'm looking at here, and it's filled with really great people and really great creators and great artists, but there's no diversity. And what is there is just happenstance, and I need to actively go out and to promote diversity

black businesses and black creators and, you know, black vegan chefs. And even in the vegan community, I've, I've heard so many stories about black vegan creators, chefs, food stylists, people in that community that have felt very marginalized because even parts, aspects of the vegan movement, which is about marginalized beings, right?

And then black people are like, yeah, get it. You know, anyway, it was, it was really interesting. So I, I delved into that reading, but my, my social media, I'm happy to say it looks so much better and I'm learning more and seeing more

women, men, trans people from all over the world and what they do. And it's so much more interesting for me. And I've learned so much in the last couple of years, but they're hard lessons. And they come at having that moment of, you know, checking in with yourself and going, well,

What am I? Because my silence is complacency. I feel that so hard what you just said. And then to the average person listening right now who maybe doesn't have a huge social media following, like we are lucky that this is the world that we work in and everything. And we have things that we can do that show our support or activism towards things. But for the average person, like Jan said, it's a journey in self-reliance.

Ask questions. Learn, you know, Black History Month. Learn about the history of black people. Well, I think people in Canada have this very odd idea that racism somehow doesn't exist here. You know, if they're looking at a comparison to our neighbors to the south, it's simply not true.

slavery, people that worked for other people for decades, generations in this country. We have to look in the mirror too. And it is, it's a very hard conversation to have. And I hope to someday live in a world where we don't have to have gay pride and we don't have to have Black History Month and we don't have to have

you know, Trans Awareness Month, that we can actually be a society that is inclusive, tolerant, understanding, supportive, inspiring. But I need to do a hell of a lot better. And I wasn't going out of my way by any means to not be

champion and a supporter. But like I said, my silence, my lack of learning and finding out and asking the questions and what can I do and what can I post and who can I follow? Those are all really important, really easy things that you can do that you can start today. Love this. I'm being earnest. I think that is a real...

a real issue of not wanting to step on, you know, saying the wrong things. And, and I will say this right now, like to anyone who's listening, I,

am afraid of saying the wrong thing, but this is what I want to get past. It's okay if I do say the wrong thing. I'm afraid of it, but it's okay if I do. I just, you know, I have lots of trans friends right now. People I've known for years that are transitioning. Like it is a really odd time for me just because did I not see, did I not really understand? But I'll tell you what, my friend Ari, Ari, shout out to you.

took me out to a wolf sanctuary west of Calgary. We went for the day and they let me ask any question, anything that I was confused about that I didn't understand. And it was the best afternoon I've ever had because of their openness, the ability to laugh, to laugh at me and stuff that I was like, what about this? And I just said, just do it.

So I'm grateful to you, Ari. Just so grateful. You know, something that I really like to do on the show is touch base with you, the listener.

And read some of your tweets and read some of your comments because sometimes they really make me laugh out loud. Sometimes they really make me cock my head to one side. What are we talking about here? Where are we going with this? Sarah, go ahead and read some comments from the people. Okay. So Kelly tweeted us and she said, tonight I had the best idea. Run a contest to be a guest on the podcast. That might be cool. Yeah.

Okay. I did a poll of like what we should talk about Valentine's Day in a romantic way, in a single person's way. I weighed in on it. And then I said, and if you don't like something in the poll, tweet us your topic. And Jodi tweeted in, Pentatonix and their rise from nothing to stardom, getting their star on the Walk of Fame in a week. I don't even know who Pentatonix is. Do you? No.

Blasphemy. I don't. Sarah. Who's Pentatonix? They are the most incredible acapella singing group. Okay. Not since Manhattan Transfer. That'll go back in the vault. Sarah's looking at me like Manhattan Transfer. Look up Manhattan Transfer and look up Pentatonix.

acapella genius. Okay. Bobby McFerrin comes to world. Don't worry. Be happy. That was all his voice. So he did all the parts. Wow. So Pentatonix is a big vocal group and they're doing,

drums and bass lines and guitars and horns. Do it with their voices. It's nutty. Okay, Jodi, we see you. This is more of a comment. I'm just going to say hi to Christine who says that she wanted to talk about her crush on me. This is my first time having anyone tell me they have a crush on me on the internet. So thanks, Christine.

How about this Aaron Davis tweet? Going back to John Tory for just some of the comments that came in from that. We got a note from Llama, I think is her name. Let me be straight. I believe in workplace guidelines, accountability and respect. Asking for a friend. Do all women need protection? What if it was mutual? How do we then define vulnerability?

I think this was a very consensual relationship that John obviously had with his work partner.

mate. And I don't think it was a me too thing where it was an unwanted advance. No, I don't either. This was a lengthy relationship, but I do understand what our listener meant. And it's interesting. Yeah. Where do you draw the line? How do you have the conversation? I think you have to have your own guidelines in your life of what's acceptable behavior to you and

And, you know, to stand up for your girlfriends that need you to stand up for them. And you found another one. I'm excited for this one. Okay. Stacey says, how about Chelsea Handler's response to the Fox News little boys club and their frustration with her happiness and success? Did you see she posted a video about like why she doesn't have children? She does that a lot.

It's nothing new, right? It's part of her brand. A day in the life of a childless woman. The point is to make you feel good about being an aging, deeply unlikable woman who never had kids. Narcissism, it makes you happy. Feminists like Chelsea Handler, they've been lied to by their society forever. That you could be a girl boss and you can do anything a man can do, which everyone who's ever seen a woman back

This lady is miserable. I mean, she is miserable and it's written all over her face how miserable she is.

- Hi everyone. I woke up this morning, well, more like this afternoon, and noticed that there was an emergency meeting of the receding hairline society to discuss a comedy video I filmed about not wanting kids. Wow.

Why would I even need my own children when I get to hear these crybabies all the time? I mean, I can't believe that bearded version of Tucker Carlson thinks I would take a half a bottle of Xanax. I'd take way more than that, you silly goose. Look, I don't want to debate whether or not I'm a girl boss, although I did just look at my bank account and think, "That's pretty girl boss." You guys seem so triggered by me. I mean, my goodness, Tucker, I think it is time for you to ask yourself a serious question.

Are you really upset about how much freedom I have?

Or are you upset that you haven't been able to take it away from me yet? Well, it was the most appalling commentary. I don't know how white middle-aged guys are still getting away with this kind of dialogue, but Chelsea Handler is fierce. And I am going to tell you right now, one of my highlights of 2022 was meeting Chelsea. I went to her comedy show in Calgary. Carla, if you're out there, Carla, her assistant, her road manager, she,

We're hoping to have Carla on the show, an upcoming show. Carla has, I just want to talk to her about her job and how she got her job and what it's like working with Chelsea. So we're definitely working on that one right now. And, uh, but yeah, it's just Chelsea is she's, she is very fearless. She's very bold. She's very much her own person.

She meets with a lot of vitriol. Chelsea has millions of people cheering her on, but she also has people that

Just wish she would shut up. I feel like you and her have a similar situation. You're both very strong voices and it comes with a lot of support, but also like the trolls are there too. Oh, I'm not even anywhere close to, you know, where Chelsea Handler is. But the thing that drives, I think, people crazy, men in particular, about Chelsea is

is that she's extraordinarily smart. Yes. She's funny and she's very witty. She's incredibly intelligent. And, you know, on top of that, yeah, she's blonde and beautiful and with a rocking body and she tells it like it is. So thanks for that, Stacey. Stacey M., I love hearing Stacey's comments. She's always funny and forthright and there's some –

I think our voices are getting stronger. Women's voices are getting stronger. They have to. Like Rihanna standing pregnant on a platform, zinging across 70,000 people singing. I mean, there's statements and then there's statements. I think Rihanna, that performance is going to go down in history as, you know, who knows how to measure performance.

the greatness of these performances, but it gave everybody so much fuel. Another woman that I would compare in a similar light to Rihanna, who's, you know, broke a lot of boundaries, at least in country music, Shania Twain. And Linda says you should interview her. Yeah. Shania has been interesting. You know, she's, she came out once again to probably male criticism. She goes, no, my body doesn't look like it used to. I don't look like I used to. I don't sing like I used to.

but I'm going to get out there and kick ass. And she, she gets a lot of flack for lip syncing. It's, you know, it is what it is. If you're willing to get out there and bring joy,

perform for people give it your all critics be damned like jesus it's shania twain like she's she can do whatever the hell she wants yeah absolutely we'll put that out there shania if you're listening you know give me a dingle you've got my number before we wrap up today i did want to ask you um as you know i i think we both live like similar in in our romantic lives even though yes yes i have a

How was your Valentine's Day? Do you care? Do you make plans with friends? What do you do? I want to say I don't care, but I know that's not true. I've been single for seven years. When I walked into the hall, I had a gig on Valentine's Day. I walked into the hall and there was a card in my dressing room and I opened it up and it was a Valentine's Day from Jerome, who is the manager of the building that I was singing in. He said, just to make sure that you got a Valentine's.

When I went out to do my sound check, I had at the foot of my mic stand a chocolate heart bomb for hot chocolate. That was from Chris, my road manager. So sweet. And all the band, everybody got one just so you had a little Valentine. And then I felt like an a-hole because I'm like, I didn't get you guys nothing.

Um, I think I've been very romantic at different points in my life. I think you hear it in my songwriting and certainly early days, twenties and thirties, all the stuff that I was writing was about love in some form. And of course, and you go through a period of like bitterness and you have to face the music and realize that you are the common denominator in every relationship that you've had over,

30 years and kind of go, well, I was, I seem to be at the heart of a lot of these failed mishaps of relationships. So I would obviously love to still think about doing romantic dinners and getting flowers and all the corny stuff. And then when I lay in bed at night, I'm like, I don't want that.

And of course, Miley Cyrus has come out with the anthem of the century. Oh, it's so good. And, you know, speaking, she was speaking of a breakup of someone that gave her all these things that somehow gave her confidence and gave her compliments and, and lifted her and made her feel loved. And then the chorus refrain is so great because Miley breaks into this thing of, I don't, I can have long conversations with myself.

I can give myself flowers. I can look after myself. I can compliment myself. I mean, I'm paraphrasing here, but that song, man, it is all over TikTok. It is all over every social media form. It's probably her biggest song since the climb, I would imagine, or Wrecking Ball, which were two of her massive hits. And she's just so sassy. She just owns that. She looks great. She's this

tall kid that used to be Hannah Montana. Like God, look how far she's come. And she just looks like she doesn't give a shit. It's like, I am here for all of this. And it's a great message for women that are always somehow self-reliant on a man or a woman or their girlfriend, boyfriend, whoever, giving them credibility. Like what, what are we waiting for? No, you got this. You are

Listen to that voice in your head that is cheering you on. Don't join into the choir of negativity that we are inundated with every day of our lives. You got to cheer yourself on and lean on your friends. And going full circle back to Chelsea Handler and the comment that we got from Twitter is,

The end of that video with Chelsea Handler, she says, I'm in a relationship with myself. And guess what? Yourself never goes away. So you better treat that relationship with a lot of honor. That's perfect. We're going to leave it there. We hope you've had a fun journey through today's show.

And keep those comments coming. We're on Facebook. We are on Twitter. We are on Instagram. You know, Sarah and I might even consider getting a Jan Arden podcast TikTok. Oh, boy. We don't yet. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Let us know what you think about this week's show. You can subscribe on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Once again, another shout out to Unmentionables.

Josie, Cynthia, congratulations on your launch. Go listen to Unmentionables. You might even hear from yours truly on one of those episodes coming up. So you never know. And they'll be with us next week. So come on back for that. Yes. You've just heard a few minutes of bonus stuff that didn't end up on the radio show this week. I'm Jan Arden. Thanks for listening to We Do. We Do.

This podcast is distributed by the Women in Media Podcast Network. Find out more at womeninmedia.network.