Disintegrator podcast - "vespers pt. 2" with Millaze
The EXCLUSIVE Millaze interview, with information shared nowhere else. (Timestamps below.) Disintegrator is a podcast hosted by researchers Marek Poliks and Roberto Alonso Trillo about the declining subject under the regime of algorithm and artificial intelligence. Topics of conversation include the ideological foundations of AI, the intersections of technology and politics, and the modes of expression and reconsumption through which humans traverse and embed themselves within digital space.
Vespers is a limited series within Disintegrator that focuses on the creative feedback loops between music and social media. It follows from the Nobody Listens to Music Anymore superlecture, where themes of youth identity formation, reference-as-medium, generative AI, and the complexities of working with the total archive are discussed in more detail. The Nobody Listens to Music Anymore superlecture can be found here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4Y3Y...
For this episode, we're joined by Millaze -- an iconic face and musical voice on Instagram. We talk about love, cringe, the open-endedness of her craft (we barely scratch the surface here), and performance.
Favorite Millaze-core:
Ramen
Override
Driveways
Bedside Table
Viscera
But I really recommend her Instagram in general (as well as the fountain of Youtube Shorts)
/ iammillaze
-Marek Poliks
Thanks, Marek, for inviting me onto Disintegrator, and chatting with me about some of my favorite stuff in this life. It was an honor, and you're super fun.
-M
00:00-04:40 - Marek Polik's (incredibly kind) introduction, Anthony Fantano, the future of music
04:40-06:25 - The name "Millaze" and "the Malaise Mystery of your life"
06:25-10:00 - What is music, how is music, is a work ever complete in the Millaze universe?
10:00-16:30 - The music process shared with audiences vs. kept internally
16:30-22:33 - Why breathlessness?
22:33-29:00 - Business background (school, MIC), Emily vs. Millaze
29:00-34:00 - Stripping Millaze out of the music, motivation to share music/perform
34:00-36:11 - "Is self-awareness a burden?" vs getting humbled
36:11-40:12 - "boiling up" as love, Ramen, Driveways, woman martyrdom modeling
40:12-48:08 - The Oakland Map, "morning glory" writes for survival, PTSD/trauma freeze into art
48:08-50:11 - **a rare disclaimer**, sailor mouth
50:11-56:47 - "love", "self-love", the "malaise" in physical symptoms and Parts Work
56:47-01:04:16 - Millaze's theories on "cringe", issues of being "a woman online", Millaze's no-tolerance policy on bullying
01:04:16-01:11:26 - Sectioning off types of cringe, "Cringe Mountain"
01:11:26-01:14:15 - Cringe vs. amateurism
01:14:15-01:23:09 - Override, bonding over social media sharing, "Opportunity of a Lifetime" marketing brain snap-in, Millaze's trolls, lip-syncing
01:23:09 -01:26:18 - The real ones who *got* Override, connecting to fans, what music and all this really is about.