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Two Broke Chicks

In Defence Of The Flop Era

25 May 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What is the flop era and why is it significant?

0.031 - 26.14 Alex Hourigan

This podcast is recorded on Gadigal land. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land. Hey chicks, I'm Al. And I'm Sal. And this is Two Broke Chicks, the show that shares life lessons and tips to help make you rich in life. We're coming to you from a very cozy couch today. We are. A bit of a sleepy girl vibes, but we're locked in. We've got our coffees.

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26.44 - 29.044 Sally McMullen

Yeah, it's a cozy, almost winter morning.

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29.384 - 30.586 Alex Hourigan

Oh my God, I know.

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30.606 - 33.269 Sally McMullen

And it's fucking beautiful. I love it.

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33.35 - 37.395 Alex Hourigan

From the heart. Literally this morning, the last like month,

37.375 - 62.607 Alex Hourigan

Rob's been like I think my my frontal lobe has developed I'm like loving the cool autumn like I love it I'm like yeah it's good isn't it like yeah it's vibe and then anyway this morning he goes it's too fucking cold he's regressed yeah he's regressed he goes I thought you liked it he goes no not this he was not and I was like this was lovely yeah put on some trackies and but on the weekend um

62.941 - 79.498 Alex Hourigan

For like ages, I really want one of those like electric fireplaces that like they're just a heater but they look like a fake fireplace because I just, I grew up with a fireplace and it's just, there's just something about it. The ambience. I don't think I have to sell it to anyone. I think everyone gets it. It sells itself. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

79.478 - 96.313 Alex Hourigan

And I've been like, well, if we like, you know, we'll put the portable air con in the shed and we can like put a heater there. And he goes, we don't need to. We don't need to buy something new. That one does the heating, goes up to 30. And I was like, but one, it's ugly. Yeah. And two, like, you know.

96.373 - 108.844 Alex Hourigan

Anyway, the other day it was freaking cold and he pops over and he does his little beep, beep, beep, beep with like little technical ears. Yeah. And he goes, oh, guess what? What? It doesn't have a heater in it.

Chapter 2: How does the concept of the Kia Asylum relate to pop culture?

142.651 - 158.018 Alex Hourigan

The couples may want to do some extra inspection of what's being bought and how much is being spent when the male half goes to the store. The issue may not just be that men are buying things at random. They may also be inadvertently breaking the budget.

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157.998 - 179.365 Alex Hourigan

Stephanie Johnson, an assistant finance professor at Rice University, says there could be a lot of factors at play here, and it may be that men are less experienced at doing the shopping, weaponizing competence, so they're less familiar with prices and deals. Men may spend less overall time shopping, so there's less of a window to browse and compare numbers.

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181.201 - 184.306 Alex Hourigan

That just sounds like a big fat excuse to me. Do better.

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185.128 - 186.009 Sally McMullen

Yeah, I agree.

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186.029 - 191.599 Alex Hourigan

But, yeah, I saw that and I was like, I'm not surprised. Yeah. Yeah.

191.659 - 206.258 Sally McMullen

Disappointing but not surprising. Yeah. Yeah, love that. Well. Today's episode, speaking of Flop Tina Boots. Flop the house down. Flop the house down, mama.

206.699 - 223.278 Alex Hourigan

Should we get into floppy doodle? And I was like, we can't actually say that one with this. Yeah. Because we normally go like, oh, should we get into, I don't know, let's say we're reading a book. We'll be like, oh, should we read our bookie doodle? Yeah. Or like, shall we sit down for dinny doodles? Yeah, something. And I was like, for actually this one, we can't do floppy doodle.

223.578 - 223.678

Yeah.

223.658 - 243.079 Sally McMullen

Because we're going to get the E next to the episode. There's always the E next to an episode. What do you mean? Yeah, true. True. But today's episode we're chatting in defense of the flop era. The rise of the flop. The rise of the flop. The rise of the flop. I like that. Let's bring back the flop.

Chapter 3: What examples illustrate the idea of a flop era in music?

258.868 - 275.042 Sally McMullen

My description of a flop error would be when things are just feeling a bit meh. I don't think it's necessary. And because it's an error, it's maybe not forever. It's just a little period in your life when you're feeling a bit meh.

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276.003 - 281.408 Alex Hourigan

Literally? Yeah. Get it? No. A little period in your life where you're feeling a bit meh?

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281.86 - 282.722 Sally McMullen

When you've got your period?

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282.742 - 283.503 Alex Hourigan

Yeah. Yeah.

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283.744 - 285.988 Sally McMullen

That's a flop era. That's a monthly flop era.

286.308 - 306.867 Alex Hourigan

But a flop era is a term that basically defines a time in your life where you're experiencing like setbacks or a bit of a lull, a bit of a dull in the spark, or you maybe just feel like you're in a bit of a rut. Yeah. And the term started to kind of circulate around 2020, which we all know what happened then.

306.927 - 319.63 Alex Hourigan

But especially within the music industry and was used by people online when they were talking about like a dip in an artist's career or even just potentially songs themselves.

319.93 - 345.128 Alex Hourigan

itself yeah like we'd hear bop but then we also would hear flop yeah you know and it could also refer to things like albums that didn't quite hit like their other music like if a you know an artist had had back-to-back bangers and hits and then they sometimes and very often come out with something a little bit different and then that one doesn't quite hit it got coined by the term flop yeah

346.002 - 359.016 Alex Hourigan

So there's also this term online called the Kia Asylum or the Kia Asylum. It depends on how you look it up. Lucy was explaining to us the other day, Lucy Neville.

Chapter 4: How can we embrace our flop era for personal growth?

430.819 - 451.423 Sally McMullen

Yeah. I remember the first time I heard it. Really? It changed your life? It was 2002, I think, or 2003. Yeah. And I was at my friend's house in Thoreau where I grew up and we heard it on the radio and I just remember our eyes like opening like saucers and being like, oh my God. Like I just couldn't believe it.

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451.403 - 460.216 Alex Hourigan

I don't remember the first time but I think my version of that is when I was like 12 years old singing Rude Boy by Brianna in the front seat. Yeah. Being like, come on, Rude Boy, boy, can you get it up?

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460.777 - 463.101 Sally McMullen

I know. I love when we're like, oh, kids these days.

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463.121 - 479.055 Alex Hourigan

Come on, Rude Boy, boy, is you big enough? And I was singing that with chest and my mum was like, okay. Yeah. What a hit though. Yeah. What a hit. Absolutely. Great song. Probably in my top five Briannas if I'm going to. if I'm going to go out there. Damn, yeah. You're like, okay, top five, go now.

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480.617 - 504.733 Alex Hourigan

But the reason it came from that is because that artist had such a hit with that first song and then didn't really have any that followed behind it. We were also talking about, when we were talking about this episode, Mike Posner. Oh, yeah, yeah. And how he had that hit, Cooler Than Me. Yeah. And then no one ever heard from him again.

504.893 - 533.052 Alex Hourigan

Like, Cooler Than Me was everywhere, big number one, and then crickets. Yeah. And then years later he wrote a song about – Literally that, being like I had a hit and then flop. Yeah. Flop after flop. Yeah. And then that song became a hit and then haven't heard another song since. Yeah. Thank God I'm not a musician, honestly. I don't think I'm built for it.

533.152 - 535.275 Sally McMullen

It's like the modern version of a one-hit wonder.

535.456 - 549.839 Alex Hourigan

Yes, exactly. And so it kind of refers to those songs or those experiences where, like, most people know the song but maybe they don't know who sang it or they don't know much about, you know, what's come after it.

Chapter 5: What is the life domains strategy and how can it help?

549.939 - 573.024 Alex Hourigan

Yeah. And so there's also a list of... of current pop stars who are apparently in the Kia asylum. And some of them include Katy Perry, Meghan Trainor, Rita Ora and Bebe Rexha, which I think that's interesting because Bebe Rexha actually made her own memes about being in the Kia asylum. Did you see that?

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573.044 - 597.776 Sally McMullen

Yeah, she kind of embraces it. Yeah. A bit more, which I think is interesting because we've also seen other artists who have allegedly escaped the Kia asylum kind of do the same, like Charli XCX or Zara Larsson. And I feel like they're in a different position because they've been applauded and celebrated for escaping the Kia asylum. Yeah. Whereas I'm like props to you, Bebe Rexha. Yeah.

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597.796 - 617.026 Sally McMullen

For like being able to make fun of something that would be really hurtful. Absolutely. Like all of the internet is saying this about you. And she is so fucking talented too. That's what like pisses me off about shit like this. So I'm like there's real people behind that and they can see it. I know it's supposed to be funny and maybe I'm deeping it.

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617.467 - 617.707 Alex Hourigan

Yeah.

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617.727 - 622.193 Sally McMullen

And I'm like sensitive but I'm like. No, I have my feelings hurt.

622.493 - 647.062 Alex Hourigan

Yeah. Seriously. But I really love, you know, a lot of Zara Larson interviews have also had her talking about it and I know she had like her documentary about how like she was getting so much pressure from her recording company because she hadn't had a hit in years and they were like you need to like – Get out. It's now or never. Yeah, like you've had flops.

647.102 - 671.419 Alex Hourigan

We need you to get out of the flop era. And in an interview she was saying how she's not – she's completely unafraid of flopping now because she did. She already lived it. And, like, she's like it's not actually the end of the world. Yeah, yeah, exactly. But we asked you chicks is this idea – unfair or justified.

671.499 - 686.644 Alex Hourigan

And we polled you about whether or not you'd even heard of the Kia asylum in relation to pop stars. And 88% of you said you'd never heard of it. 7% said you knew about the term and 5% said you'd heard of it, but didn't know what it meant.

686.624 - 705.814 Sally McMullen

Which I was kind of surprised by that. Same. I was like, are we just chronically online or what? Yeah, probably. Which, yeah, we probably are. But I do think that flop era is maybe the more popularised term. And we've spoken about some of those, like, smaller artists who are allegedly stuck in the Kia asylum, but...

Chapter 6: How does tall poppy syndrome affect our perception of success?

705.794 - 729.625 Sally McMullen

I don't think anybody is safe from the flop era like there are lots of conversations at the moment about Harry Styles and that he's in his flop era at the moment which are you taking that as a personal attack not really because like I am a Harry Styles apologist like I'm probably just gonna love him and everything he does forever um like I understand that I'm very biased um

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729.605 - 747.346 Sally McMullen

And I think there's other fandoms that are very similar, like Taylor Swift's fandom I think is similar to that. Like if you love her, you're probably just going to love everything that she does. Yeah. All the iterations and everything. And I would hate for like, yeah, I wouldn't want to be stuck doing the same shit all the time so I can understand when they want to mix it up.

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748.235 - 770.857 Sally McMullen

Yeah, there's quite a lot of discourse online about his new album, Kiss All The Time Disco, occasionally. And I just realised I'm wearing some merch from that. So shit. I'm not helping my cause. But it's received like a lot of mixed reviews. Like a lot of people are saying that it kind of, there was a bit of noise around Aperture when that came out, which was like the lead single off the album.

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770.877 - 788.468 Sally McMullen

And then since then, I don't think we've really heard anything many people talking about it and it definitely hasn't got the same level of hype as his most recent albums would you agree yeah I'd agree but I also just like as you're talking I was just thinking about how

789.41 - 812.903 Alex Hourigan

this whole idea behind it is kind of just, it just reminds me of like the bean soup theory. Yeah. And how like, if you are unfamiliar, the bean soup theory is essentially when making fun or poking fun at when people online, if they don't like it, then it needs to be fixed. Yeah. So it kind of stemmed from

813.153 - 832.532 Alex Hourigan

this lady who like kind of stand from the example comes from, you know, someone online going, this is how I make my bean soup. And someone in the comments going, well, I don't like beans. So what else could I make it with? Yeah. And it's like, well, just don't make it then. Yeah. Have a salad. Yeah. Like have pumpkin soup. I don't know. Yeah.

832.552 - 839.439 Alex Hourigan

Like, and so the bean soup is like, not, you don't, you're not going to like everything. That's okay. But does that make it a flop?

839.839 - 840.239 Sally McMullen

Yeah.

Chapter 7: What role does perspective play in overcoming setbacks?

880.802 - 893.785 Sally McMullen

He did his first two shows and there's been, I guess because I'm on Harry Talk as well, so I'm going to say shit like straight away. But yeah, there's been a lot of critique around it. And part of me is like, are we just like piling on?

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893.765 - 912.145 Alex Hourigan

now too I do think like naturally with music books movies that does come with critique like that's just naturally there's always been movie reviews there's always been book reviews and there's always been music reviews like that's just naturally what yeah kind of comes with it as well

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912.125 - 933.196 Sally McMullen

Yeah, which is completely fair enough. And it also reminded me of Charli XCX too because she's had a huge couple of years and, again, has been applauded for escaping the Kia asylum and, you know, she's been one of those artists who's been in the industry for like, you know, 10 plus years and has only just really become like one of the big pop girlies.

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933.657 - 950.306 Sally McMullen

And then she's released a new single called Rock Music and because it doesn't sound exactly like Brat, everyone's like she's back in the Kia asylum. Like, send her back. She's in a flop era. And that's what I think is interesting because we've sort of moved from this place where it's like, yes, we can critique things.

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950.366 - 991.436 Sally McMullen

We can recognise that maybe something isn't as much of a commercial success or hit as one of their previous pieces of work. But does that mean that it's instantly a flop? Mm. What I think is interesting about this and how it can be applied is that it's kind of like a sign of tall poppy syndrome. Like as soon as people hit the spotlight and are at the top of their career, we love seeing that.

991.476 - 1004.316 Sally McMullen

We love an underdog story. But then we resent and criticize people for their success and want to tear them down. And if anything is even slightly off the mark, then we feel like they're in their flop era. Yeah.

1004.819 - 1031.856 Sally McMullen

And yes, we're talking about celebrities and, you know, pop stars and all of that, but I do think that this whole cyclical nature of success, tall poppy, flop era is kind of like a representation of how we see ourselves and that we're so quick to critique and label anything as a flop era even if we're slightly deviating off of

1031.836 - 1054.27 Alex Hourigan

Like, is it expectations we set on ourselves? the reason why it's so easy to call ourselves in a flop era or so easy to critique our own failures. And I do think that's potentially even like the way to look at when we look at celebrities or when we look at that.

1054.29 - 1068.346 Alex Hourigan

I mean, you know, we've used music as the example to kind of showcase, you know, the history behind this and how flop has kind of become. Every time I'm saying it, I'm laughing in my head. I just want you to know that. Coffee doodle. Yeah. Yeah.

Chapter 8: How can we turn our flop eras into valuable life lessons?

1136.772 - 1137.032 Alex Hourigan

Yeah.

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1137.793 - 1139.335 Sally McMullen

I think it's got a bit of a bad rap.

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1139.675 - 1171.643 Alex Hourigan

Yeah. Like is the flop error really that bad? I don't really think so. Because yes, a flop error can really damage your confidence if you have had repeated setbacks, if you can easily fall into the trap of the idea that every new thing you're going to try is going to end in disaster. That's not true. It Just because something hasn't worked in the past doesn't mean it's not going to work again.

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1171.663 - 1186.903 Alex Hourigan

But I understand that like, yeah, flop error is not the goal. Of course. But it's also like doesn't need to be avoided like the plague because I think you can look at the flop error as like maybe just you need a rest.

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1187.086 - 1202.428 Sally McMullen

Yeah. Yeah. I think that's so fair. And we're just, we're so hard on ourselves and having a flop era is inevitable. Like you can't be at the top of your game or your best self a hundred percent of the time.

1202.56 - 1223.985 Alex Hourigan

If you did like the fucking everything shower and did the Thursday night glow up every single day, that just then becomes the standard. Exactly. You know? I loved that fucking quote of Kylie Jenner on Therapus going, I thought like there's been so many times that I thought I was depressed and then I went and got a spray tan.

1224.165 - 1224.265

Yeah.

1224.633 - 1226.455 Alex Hourigan

And I just realised I was pale.

1226.475 - 1238.811 Sally McMullen

I was like, girl. Honestly. Yeah. She knew what she was doing with that. She was like instant TikTok sound. Yeah. Yeah, that was so good. So true. And that's the end of the episode.

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