Are we being force-fed Olivia Rodrigo?

I remember when I heard “Driver’s License” for the first time. I didn’t know who was singing it and didn’t recognize her name upon discovering the talent behind the song.

Since then, Olivia Rodrigo has been all over the radio and awards shows (congrats on the three Grammy Awards earlier this week, or “Granny’s” as Trevor Noah called it). As I was watching the Grammys, I couldn’t help but wonder if we have been and are being force-fed a steady and robust diet of singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo. She has already had a taste of fame and success as an actress (Disney shows I’ve never watched because too old/ don’t care), but it’s almost as if the powers that be are telling us that we like her music, too. If we were to ask the executives, “Do we like this music?” They’d respond with…

It makes me uncomfortable almost to the point of latching on to my contrarian ways to purposely not listen to her music. I’m sure she’s talented and I know she can sing well but the idea that we must like her because that’s what they want never works for me. That’s the vibe I’m getting and I’m wondering if I’m the only one?

Her rapid ascent in the music world doesn’t feel organic at all.

What are your thoughts on this? Will she stay relevant as a singer or is her fame just a flash in the pan?

-Out of the Wilderness

Lake lizards, sunset, and a swimming gator

I was camping in Georgia when I snapped these photos. I loved finding the lizards and the sunset was pretty beautiful at this Georgia park called East Bank. Thanks for stopping by…

-Out of the Wilderness

State Farm’s Never Stop Streaming Ad – The Subtitle Mistake?

Welcome to my site where I write about all kinds of things for two reasons… 1. I like to and 2. I write every day (posting at 1pm central). Thanks for stopping in! I’ve discovered in the two years of daily posts that I really enjoy researching and writing about commercials. Today’s post covers a company I’ve written about before: The abandoned pet commercial and Jake from State Farm. It’s State Farm and they’re back with a creative ad showing a woman enjoying the benefits of someone else’s streaming service. BTW, if you want to enjoy the benefits of cheaper gas to the tune of 15¢/gallon off your first fill up, try GetUpside. Back to State Farm, take a look at their balcony streaming ad then scroll down for more info…

The Actress. Playing the part of thrifty TV viewer is Hayley Huntley. You can find more of her acting credits on her IMDB page.

My gripe. This might be a stretch but I can only pick out one thing where the ad goes a little off. I wouldn’t call it a gaffe or anything, but it might have been written better had they used a different line than, “subtitles would be nice!”

Now it’s very possible that the man of who’s personal space she was invading was watching a foreign movie and all the dialogue was in a language she didn’t know. In that case, there could be subtitles to help her understand what everyone’s saying. What I *think* she meant, though, was that she’d like CLOSED CAPTIONING on while the movie plays. The reason I think this is because there are a lot of people (hard of hearing or not) who prefer watching movies with the captioning on so they can read (in the same language as what’s spoken) everything being said. That’s different than subtitles, which are meant to translate what’s being said.

This is what stuck out to me as I watched this ad. Not to mention, and this is 100% conjecture, if it were a man sitting on the balcony staring into a woman’s apartment it wouldn’t just be the perp in the movie getting arrested.

I wonder if they got the idea for this ad from Friends? It’s hard to forget how they got wrapped up in the interests of people living across the way, whether it was ugly naked guy, or Ross spending time with Rachel’s sister before he closed the curtains.

If anyone know’s Jake from State Farm, can you check with him on what movie was playing and whether the balcony girl actually meant closed captioning? Curious minds want to know.

-Out of the Wilderness

Picking a decade to live in based on music alone

I honestly can’t decide which decade I’d want to live in, if I could only pick one. If I had only 5 seconds to answer, I’d say the 1960s because I love the furniture, music, and cars from that time. On the surface, I’m fine with that answer. But then I have all these thoughts about the things I’d miss if I picked that decade.

Sure the music would be awesome. But as I sit here in 2022 I didn’t realize I wouldn’t know any music from the 70s through the 2020s, and even though I like older music better, a lot of my favorite songs come from the 90s and 2000s. In the 60s, I wouldn’t know any of the music that comes after. Wouldn’t that be so sad?

In 2022, whether you like current music or not, you still have access to every decade that has come before. I don’t know if I could give all that up to go back to the 60s.

And even as I type, I have this thought: what if someone in the 2060s is asking themselves the same question and picks the 2020s. But then they struggle because they wouldn’t know music from the 2030s, 2040s, etc. That makes me wonder what music could be coming that we have no idea about. Will there be an artist that rises to the top and becomes a legend, and today, April 1st, they’re not even born yet.

It’s just a crazy thought and a choice I’m glad I don’t have to make today. How about you? If you could pick a decade for music alone, which would you pick and is that decade worth sacrificing all the music that comes after? Chime in below!

Thanks for dropping in…

-Out of the Wilderness

GMC Hummer crab walk commercial, should we care?

Hello hello! If this is your first time stopping by, thank you. I write about all sorts of things, and a lot about commercials. If you’re curious about a recent ad you’ve seen, find out if it’s already on my Popular TV Commercials page.

GMC has been pushing the “crab walk” feature on their new Hummer EV. Here’s the ad featuring LeBron James…

A celebrity endorsement is fine, but a 10-degree tire rotation is not. Maybe there’s been a situation where someone thought, “I wish I could go sideways but not much, just barely sideways,” but I can’t recall it ever happening in my life.

GMC, if this is going to be a feature you highlight then throw out all the boundaries, hurdles, and expectations. In other words, it’s 90-degrees or nothing. It’s kind of like the ongoing technology in shaving razorblades. There’s always a big to-do when a razor goes up a blade or two. I remember when it went from one blade to two. Then to three. I’ve often thought, “Why are they going up one by one? Why doesn’t a company just make one with 10 blades and call it a day?”

Go big or go home. Isn’t that what a celebrity of LeBron’s status would say, anyway?

And if the crab walk actually IS something we need, show us why. Show us how it can be used in a middle class American life. LeBron moving the SUV barely sideways on a random crab-infested driveway doesn’t make me want to go drop a hundred grand.

The music is catchy enough, the soundtrack being Missy Elliot’s “Get Your Freak On.” But folks commenting on the YouTube page call out the production crew for not using a song that might have made the ad epic. It’s Noisestorm’s “Crab Rave.”

What are your thoughts on the GMC ad? Leave a comment below, and thanks for crab walking over to my blog today…

-Out of the Wilderness