Offline: Off the Record with Blonde Vibrations
Graphic by Ailani Wong
Podcasts weren’t always called podcasts. From as early as the 1980s, they were called ‘audioblogs,’ but didn’t seem to gain much popularity until the early 2000s. Now, podcasts are taking the world by storm. Back in September, I sat down with Eliz and Lilyemma, the voices behind the up-and-coming podcast Blonde Vibrations. From spitting fun facts about musical artists to being crazy smart in the academic world, Eliz and Lilyemma are making their mark in a male-dominated field. These ladies were kind enough to sit down with me to talk about university, content creation, and pop culture, how these things play a part in their everyday lives, and even dub me a true Blonde Vibration!
Bucky Wolfe: Tell me about yourselves! I only know about Blonde Vibrations. Who are you and what do you guys do when you’re not recording?
Lilyemma: I feel like Blonde Vibrations is very much kind of who we are. We’re students who have lived in London for about four years. We’re music lovers and very social!
Photo of the hosts of Blonde Vibrations, Eliz (left) and Lilyemma (right) taken by Lizzie Stringer
Eliz: I feel like– not that there are two sides to us in a bad way but there’s the academic side and then the more fun side because I do law and she does English, so that’s very much one part of us, but then it’s all work hard, play hard.
Lilyemma: It’s like Hannah Montana!
BW: So it seems we have quite a lot on our plates! Do you think you successfully maintain a work-life balance, and what does self-care look like for you?
E: I think that in theory, I don’t have a work-life balance but it always works out in the end. Nothing has ever become such an imbalance that it’s become a problem so far. Things can be stressful at times, but it always kind of mellows out at some point.
L: I think we’re quite rigid– we know we need to get uni work done and work for money but it doesn’t really cut into Blonde Vibrations time or social time. We’re not the kind of students that will lock ourselves away for 24 hours or do all-nighters; I don’t think that’s healthy, which is why I think it’s easy for us to have the podcast because we can set the time aside because otherwise, I think everything would just fall apart.
E: And also, if we know that we have things coming up in our social life, for instance, we have concerts coming up, we know we have to put in work now so that it doesn’t impact things later. And then in terms of self-care, I do think that going to concerts is self-care because you need that brain-switch-off-time, but for us in general, at the minute it doesn’t seem exciting… but hot chocolate at night and a film. Every film, to get our minds off the fact How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days isn’t available to watch for free, so we’re trying to distract ourselves because it’s a really sad thought that we can’t watch it.
L: That’s the most stressful thing about our lives at the minute! It’s films being taken off of streaming services!
BW: You ladies are usually on the opposite end of this scenario as the interviewers. How does it feel being the interviewees and was there anything you were nervous about going into this?
L: We were literally talking about this earlier! We started this because we would watch interviews with artists and so when we get the opportunity to interview people, it feels natural for us to be on your end. We always have fun, like it’s just friends sitting down for a chat. We were sitting here like… it’s so…
E: Nerve-wracking!
L: Yes! It’s not like… the unknown, I think– it’s weird to be on the other side!
E: Not to be like, “I’m an empath!” but… it’s made us think oh my gosh, what must the artists think? How are you just going into something not knowing what you’re about to be asked because us going into this not knowing anything was scary! Usually, we have our notes with us– we know everything.
L: We know exactly where it’s going to go; we normally research these people enough to know what their answers are going to be anyway.
E: It’s alright because we have each other. Otherwise, I feel like it would give job interview vibes.
L: But also, we can talk forever.
E: And we’re usually talking about ourselves on the podcast, anyway, so just doing it’s just like we’re doing that but with an audience!
BW: So, in 2021, there were just under a million active podcasts with over 48 million episodes. I like to ask folks this– what sets you apart in such an oversaturated environment?
L: I think there are a lot of men. We started as a radio show and it was always something we individually wanted to do and then it was convenient that we were besties and that we could do it together. But I think that when we started to go onto streaming services and take on the podcast label, we did see the stereotype of bald, white men talking about criminal cases. A lot of feedback we’ve gotten as well is that it’s nice to have a girlier podcast.
E: Because even someone said to me at graduation that we need to take the microphone from men and give it to more women. And it’s true! I also think that what sets us apart is that Blonde Vibrations as a name holds a lot of connotations. People might think one thing about the podcast, maybe that we’re ditzy or dumb blondes and then upon listening to it– not that it’s a bad thing if we were dumb blondes– but we take on a lot. We talk about so many different things and that in itself is different. It’s not the same thing every week. The podcast is adapting with us. We also have the music inclusion as well.
L: I think the music really sets us apart from other podcasts, especially now that we use the Music + Talk feature on Spotify. Which doesn’t have that many people using it. I was trying to find similar ones the other day and there weren’t that many. I think it’s a new way for people to consume podcasts. Switching over to it wasn’t necessarily our choice, but I’m happy that we did it because it means that people can kind of pick and choose what they want to listen to. As a show, it’s quite inclusive to anyone and it’s just another way in which people can listen to the bits they want to listen to. And if there’s a song they don’t like, they can just skip it!
E: I also think when you listen to a lot of podcasts, they keep a lot of their life out of it and they talk about their topics; it’s not as personal. We. Share. Everything. Which might be bad at some point, but right now there’s a good relationship between us and our listeners. It’s very personal– we talk to you and if you give us feedback, it tends to come up in later episodes and there are ongoing conversations. We’re very two-way; we aren’t just talking at people.
L: It’s like easy listening but not the kind that’s just boring background noise. It’s like a friendly chat. I think that’s what keeps people listening because they want to keep involved and up to date with us!
E: And, on top of it all, I do think if it was just one person it would still be a very good podcast, but I think that the fact that we have a relationship adds to the dynamic because we just bounce off of each other.
L: I couldn’t do it on my own.
E: No, I’d find it boring!
BW: You guys do have this connection with each other that is so visible without having to see you guys that it brings people in and keeps them wanting to listen to more. It’s unique and refreshing in a male-dominated world which is… a demon on its own.
E: I like that people can tell our friendship is real. Without getting cringe, I always think that I’m quite lucky to have met Eliz. We’re very lucky to have a friendship like this– we don’t really have social batteries when it comes to each other. It’s nice that the podcast creates a place in which people can feel involved in it because I do know a lot of people often struggle with friend groups and especially students, who I think a lot of our listeners are. Having this atmosphere is special to us.
L: We always joke about people who vlog and they’ll seem like best friends on camera but as soon as they turn it off they hate each other. It’s not like that for us. Even in the breaks of the songs, we’re still talking and we continue the episode! We never stop talking ever.
BW: So, toward the end of season four, you guys changed the formatting of your podcast on Spotify. What brought that change upon you guys and was there anything you found particularly difficult about the shift?
E: As Lem said earlier, it wasn’t exactly our choice. We’re still new at this and we’re self-taught. So, when it came to copyright, we didn’t know what the limits were. When we found out about the Music + Talk feature, it seemed like the better way for artists to get the streams themselves and at the same time, we could play them just to be on the safe side.
L: When we first started, it wasn’t on a streaming service at all. I don’t think it took long for us to start uploading our live episodes onto Spotify as a podcast. We didn’t have a mentor or anything to teach us how to upload. The switch wasn’t a major problem– we did it so that we could credit and support the artists. I think it’s a cool feature. I’m glad we have it now, it was just a long process.
E: We’re also very much creatures of habit so to see the format change on the episode to start with, it didn’t look like our podcast anymore. Now it makes sense and you can see the album cover. It’s a nicer experience. You can skip the songs you don’t like.
L: I think it’s cool. More people should definitely do it!
BW: In October of 2021, you guys started going live with Quest Radio. How have things changed since then in terms of recording and the media you put out?
E: Well, like you said we started off live. It was always a 6 to 7 pm slot just before our uni nights out. It was very nice for people who we knew were going to listen to that. It was the pre-drinks playlist. It was also nice that being live in general gave us instant feedback.
L: It was nice to know that people could hear us. Even to this day, now and then we’ll do a segment and I’m like, “I don’t know if the mics were up all the way…” It made for more interaction. The interactive element is still there– people respond to our questions, but it meant that we could respond to those live and it felt more two-way.
E: I think that the benefit of going onto Spotify is that it’s more convenient for everyone. We can film at whatever time of day we want and people can take us on the go. It was always kind of hard at the beginning for family and friends who couldn’t fit in that slot but now we’re uploading and they can listen to it whenever they want. You don’t have to listen to it in a specific order, either.
L: It wasn’t as hard of a change as I think it felt. Since then, our audience has grown quite a lot and some people never even knew about it when it was live. We are still connected to Quest. We still record through it, we’re just not live on their website anymore.
E: It’s also quite good being on Spotify now because we can see the stats of what countries are listening to us! I think it’s easier to get exposure through Spotify than just recording live for an hour. New people may never have found us while we were live, but if you’re recommended to us by Spotify, you can find us again later.
L: And streaming services are so big, even in the music industry. Everyone has some form of streaming service unless you’re my mum and need to log into mine. It’s just more accessible.
E: We’re always on Spotify, anyway. Everything leads back to Spotify.
BW: Let’s talk inspirations. What inspired you guys to start creating media and what drives you to continue? What goals do you have for the future?
E: I think in terms of inspiration to start– we were always watching interviews with other people.
L: We consume so much media.
E: We’re just always looking at what’s going on and we have opinions on it anyway, so putting it on a platform– even if it’s just Instagram or Spotify– is something we enjoy doing. With the interviews, we would hear questions and we’d be like, “we could do that or even a better job.” If you think you know an artist, we can know them on a deeper, more personal level. We can ask better questions.
L: I think we’re naturally quite obsessive people and I don’t mean that in a bad way, but I think that if we know something, we know it really well. We will watch someone’s entire interview history, their every music video, and I think because of our actual friendship and how we work, we’d end up doing mini segments before Blonde Vibrations even existed. It felt normal the moment we sat down to film the first episode. It wasn’t awkward and there wasn’t any need for adjusting. Now, we just have actual people listening to us. It’s nice to have actual fans interviewing people, too. Way back when, you’d have really stuffy artist interviews with music critics, so I think it’s nice to see people who genuinely listen to the music and attend the shows speak and ask questions that other fans are going to want to hear.
E: It’s more genuine like that. Before we were merged as Blonde Vibrations, music was super important to both of us. Back in the 5SOS days, as individuals, we were the exact same person. We had super musical upbringings. In terms of what inspires us to keep going, I think it’s the people that enjoy it. We’d probably do it anyway. We did this on our own without an audience before. We just enjoy doing it! People would come up to us at uni nights and say, “heard the show tonight!” And we’d be like, “No you didn’t! You’re lying.” But then they’d say something specific about a song we played or something we said and we realized that people were taking us seriously. That and the surprise of how we were growing… It's inspiring us to keep growing.
L: We’re rambling. Goals. We have so many goals.
E: Right, specific goals: we want to get press for the major festivals like the Reading and Leeds Festivals to review the sets and interview people. We like to talk about who we’d love to get on the show and we always say Taylor Swift.
L: I’d love to talk to Taylor Swift. She’s such a Blonde Vibration that I think we’d have a very good conversation with her.
E: I always change mine but right now… I think it's Lana Del Rey, just because she’s so diverse in lyricism and style. I have so many questions about her. I think we also want Maisie Peters on the show. She is feral blonde energy and she has a song about being blonde. She’d fit next to us so well!
L: There are certain people we know we would gel really well with.
BW: So on the topic of some of your favorite people, here at Humankind Zine our team does a little segment called Monthly Favorites where many of us share our favorite TV shows, movies, songs, books, etc. from the last month. What are some of your current favorites?
E: You’re making me want to go onto my Spotify. Our top song is Antifreeze by Easy Life and Gus Dapperton, but a contender is Unholy by Sam Smith and Kim Petras.
L: And Nothing Lasts Forever by Dylan! I know it’s not out yet, but the new 1975 album is going strong. We watched Almost Famous (2000) recently which is an all-time favorite.
E: Anything Kate Hudson, which is why we love How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days– the ultimate heartbreak.
L: I feel like I should say something literature-based, but I’ve just gotten back into academic reading so it’s all I can think about.
E: We love watching Zane Lowe interviews. We just watched the Jack Harlowe one– they’re such in-depth interviews.
L: That would be a goal: to have an hour-long conversation with an artist and do a deep dive on an album. That’d be cool. We also like Sophia and Cinzia! If you like Blonde Vibrations– they’re YouTubers who have similar vibes to us.
BW: How has pop culture and media in general shaped your worldview and personality?
L: We consume so much of it. I don’t think we realize how much our world revolves around celebrities and pop culture. It comes with owning it rather than being ashamed of it. We were huge One Direction fans and there was so much shame around it. Now as adults, we realize that we can like trendy things and celebrities without being reduced to fan girls. We like it because it’s fun! It does mean that we consume so much content.
E: It’s to the point that it could be unhealthy. When I go to work and I can’t be on my phone, I don’t know what’s happening or what the latest updates are and I hate it! Like you were saying, there are so many connotations that come with the fan girl but so what? It doesn’t have to define it and even if it does, it’s not that deep anymore.
L: I also think that it’s part of 21st-century life now. If you say you’re anti-pop culture, you’re lying. You are aware of it even if you aren’t running to go see a popular film. You’re still aware and the world does revolve around the media. It’s all so intertwined.
E: Not to deepen it, but we talk a lot on the show about TikTok about how it can always start a conversation with deeper discourse.
L: It’s something that everyone can join in on. If we go on the show and say something like, “Has anyone seen the Met Gala outfits?” the likelihood is that you’ve seen one or two.
E: You know how there are always people who are like, “oh, I was born in the wrong decade,” well I saw a response about how we have technology now– it’s such a big useful tool. And that’s true; without it, we wouldn’t see such strong communication and we see things as they happen.
L: This isn’t to say that we’re Internet sympathizers, it’s good to consume media but there are a lot of problems with the excessive consumption of it. There’s toxicity, but I think there’s a right level and we are right there… maybe leaning a bit on the excessive side.
BW: Before meeting you guys, I was informed that you’ve started a YouTube channel! What inspired you both to start creating video content and what do you intend to do with your channel as it grows?
L: So far we have up a couple of vlogs and videos from the festival season, but the goal is to have another platform to speak! We love to talk and have people talk back.
E: It’s kind of like, “if you’re not quite sick of us yet, there’s more of us over here as well!” And it’s nice because it puts context to some of the things we talk about on the show. We did an episode dedicated to Truck Festival but in the vlog, you can see what we were doing. Plus, if you only listen to us, you don’t know what we look like, so it adds more personality.
L: We were talking about things and the show relies so heavily on what we’ve been up to. People don’t get to see that. It still works, but there’s a further level of involvement if you can actually see it. We can share clips from sets we saw and it’s similar to things we like to watch personally.
E: In terms of what we want to do with it, it’ll always be the extra things that you don’t always get to see. Not in a deep way, but it’s always nice to have something to look back on in years to come. Not to kill us off, but when we’re old it’ll be nice to look back at what we were doing in our glory years– our twenties.
L: It kind of started because it was part of our press accreditation– you could use content if you go, but it’s also just so busy that I would forget what we were up to if we didn’t film. It’s like a blur! It’s nice that it’s there as a video and we can relive it and share it with others. It’s a companion to the podcast.
E: I’ve already watched them back. I live in the past, clearly; I’m a sucker for nostalgia.
BW: As you mentioned, you guys attend a lot of festivals and concerts- what has creating content through the pandemic been like in that world? Despite the pandemic, how has your podcast opened up opportunities for you?
L: Going to concerts and festivals is a very big part of our lives. It shows on Blonde Vibrations. We met about a month before we got sent home from uni in March of 2020, so we didn’t get the chance to go to any concerts together. It was really scary at first, going to things after Covid. The UK was really strict with rules and restrictions. It’s very weird being in a room full of people and festival season is even weirder because everything’s pretty much back to normal.
E: I have two things to say about this. I feel like there’s a difference between pre- and post-Covid. The artists also seem a lot happier to be there. They seem grateful to have the chance to be performing again at the same time we’re thankful to be able to be there. It’s nice that we’ve been able to get to a point where we can attend these events again. One thing we have noticed is that people who are younger than us now might not have gone to concerts or gone clubbing before the pandemic because they might’ve only been turning 17 or 18, and we’re with them in the crowd. They seem to not know crowd etiquette.
L: I think we’re probably more irritable than we used to be because we’re adults now and sometimes it’s hard to stand in a crowd for two or three hours. Crowds are just worse than they used to be– they seem to be more hostile. It’s pretty dependent on the fans and sometimes you just get unlucky with it, but it’s a weirder concert experience than it used to be. It’s nice to have it back and although there are a lot of problems with live music at the moment, we still really enjoy it and attending!
BW: I like to add a few random questions at the end just for fun, so: if you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would you choose?
L: I have the diet of a four-year-old! It’s really bad… I think I’d just have a pizza. I’m always happy with pizza!
E: I feel so distressed by this question.
L: I’ll have the same bland food but you’ll have loads of variations of the same meal.
E: Roast dinner! Roast dinner can have different things in it but it’s still a roast. Vegan meat and vegan Yorkshire puddings. As long as that’s on there, it’s complete.
BW: What were your favorite childhood TV shows?
L: These are harder questions than your serious ones! My favorite TV shows? Oh my God… I would say in terms of Disney shows… Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Lizzie McGuire, and That’s So Raven. Hannah Montana, Sonny With A Chance… I was also raised watching FRIENDS as a child, and the Simpsons– should I have been shown that?
E: I can’t think of anything. I was more of a film kid. High School Musical. This isn’t me-related but my parents have this story about my brother and how he would always put Thomas the Tank Engine on and dance in front of the TV… He’s going to hate that this is on record. I liked Lazy Town as well!
BW: If you had to describe each other in just three words, what would they be?
L: Blonde…
E: Are you just using physical descriptors? You finish and then I’ll go.
L: No! I don’t want to keep blonde…
E: Okay, delete that! For you, I would say bubbly.
L: I feel like it’s a generic word but sweet, just not to me.
E: I’m sweet to you! Bubbly.
L: Intelligent, because she’s like a lawyer.
E: Literate! Bubbly, literate, pink!
L: Purple!
To follow along with Eliz and Lem, you can find the girls on Instagram @blonde_vibrations, on Tiktok @blondevibrations, and on YouTube & Spotify (new episodes every Wednesday) under Blonde Vibrations.
