Hey, I'm Candice Lim and you're listening to I see why am I. In case you missed it,

Slate Podcast about Internet Culture. And I'm so excited to have Bloomberg Business Week senior reporter Amanda Mull on this show with me today. Hello Amanda

Hi, how are you? I'm so good. I'm even better because you're here. Look, Amanda, you write the buying power column,

which follows the intersection between culture and commerce.

On top of that, you have had an amazing five-plus year run at the Atlantic where you have written some of my favorite

culture pieces of the last decade, but before we get into that, I have a warm-up question to ask you.

Are you ready? Yes.

It's July. It's hot outside. It's heated online. What is something that has made you

happy online recently?

It could be a meme.

It could be a song.

It could be a tweet.

This is not a terribly original answer, I don't think,

but I have loved enjoying my brat summer. I have

Okay talk about it talk about I was not really a Charlie XX

XEX fan before this like I was aware of her I thought she was cool she seemed fun I had heard some of the songs and enjoyed them but I had not like sought out her albums to listen to around the time that the album came out I was getting used to a new commute and I was looking for and like a lot of my favorite

podcasts were sort of like on summer break or like you know sort of like casting around

for like random stuff to talk about and like not really understanding what their summer content should be so I was just

looking for something to listen to and I was like let me try a brat let me you know and this was

what it was like first like popping off it had just come out and I was like, this is exactly what I want.

This makes me feel like I am doing something other than going to Midtown

on the sea train.

...