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No guest. Just Jen and Rachel, a bottle of rosé, some very big news, and the return of one of the OG segments.

Episode 43 has a lot going on: Jen paid off her student loans (HALLELUJAH). The Trend Decoder made its triumphant comeback. The whole Cole family had a Music Man moment. And Rachel officially became a Swifty — live on air. Reputation precedes her, indeed.

📱 TREND DECODER IS BACK

Listener Tracy requested the comeback and we delivered. Jen reads each trend cold, Rachel guesses what it means, and then we riff. Rachel has zero prep. That is the whole point.

Trend #1 — “Hallelujah”: Justin Bieber’s Coachella performance spawned this wholesome gratitude trend — list things you love, add “hallelujah.” We made our own list on air. Top entries: paid off my student loans, cold pillow at bedtime, perfectly poured glass of wine, and chicken wings landing in ranch. (Rachel’s contribution. No notes.)

Trend #2 — “My Top 5 Horror Stories”: Not actual horror films — people list real-life fears and everyday icks that feel like a horror movie. Rachel’s guesses went immediately to being eaten alive and trapped underground cannibalism. She got there eventually. Two points out of three.

Trend #3 — The NYT Taylor Swift Interview: The New York Times Magazine named Taylor one of the 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters. In a 30-minute video interview, she talked songwriting, rant bridges, and how Reputation didn’t land until 6–7 years later — specifically calling out “...Ready For It?” Which, not coincidentally, is tonight’s Hits Different song.

🎉 THE BIG PERSONAL WIN

Jen paid off her undergraduate student loans today. First thing this morning. After nearly 20 years. She sat with it for a minute. We all should.

🎻 THE MUSIC MAN — A WEEKEND IN TWO ACTS

Tim’s favorite musical came to Broadway in Wichita. Friday night: Jen and Tim went, then debriefed over cocktails at Goldfinch. Saturday: Tim’s mom Brenda, Jen’s sons Nick and Nathan, and Tim’s son Riley and his girlfriend Hailey all went together — followed by a family dinner at Sabor (get the salmon). Nathan is the theater kid fresh off a Broadway trip to NYC. Nicholas plays trumpet in band. The Music Man was made for this exact family moment.

Shoutout to our local loves: Broadway in Wichita, Goldfinch, and Sabor.

🎵 HITS DIFFERENT: “...Ready For It?” — Taylor Swift

From Reputation (2017). Assigned to Rachel. Timed perfectly with the NYT interview drop.

Rachel’s take: queen energy, the bass drop kills, and it should be licensed to EDM shows with laser lights immediately. She is filing this under party songs that hit. Also: she officially declared herself a Swifty. We knew this would happen.

Jen’s take: hype song since day one. Volume all the way up. Not six or seven years — since the beginning.

📣 BEFORE YOU GO

• Request a Hits Different song — drop it in our comments or DMs!
• Merch is live: Uncorked and Slightly Unhinged & Messy is My Polished (10% to Ballet Wichita 🩰)
• New merch dropping this summer — we have an inkling.
• Next episode: Krissy Buck, Chair of Digital Wichita, joining us live from WSU Tech’s NCAT campus for everything Digital Day 2026.

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🥂 And we’ll see you next time

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