Happy Monday!

I’ve been keeping an eye on the viral boy band Boy Throb since early November, so I was very excited when the opportunity arose to interview them for Teen Vogue last week. It got me thinking a lot about online conspiracy culture. Of all the theories on Boy Throb that people had, the simplest answer was the correct one. More on that below. 

Also in this newsletter: Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner’s deaths, Nicki Minaj is fighting with Gavin Newsom, Act III rumors, and more. 

When Boy Throb debuted on TikTok in late October, the biggest question on everyone’s minds was: Are they real?

Yes, it turns out. Anthony Key, Evan Papier, Zachary Sobania, and Darshan Magdum are very serious. If you look a little closer at the members themselves, you would see that each of them has an extensive digital footprint of trying to earnestly grow their music careers. While each of them had their fair share of “satire” allegations (the internet’s favorite way of saying something is a joke), they have all insisted over the years that they are genuine artists trying to make it. 

Talking to the group, the humorous facade of their videos was dropped, replaced by a quiet, serious tone. They really want to become a successful boy band and really care for their bandmate Darshan, who needs a visa to join them. While their videos are pretty silly and feature a lot of parodies, they told me that it was just a strategy to get attention and reach their goals. As Anthony Key put it in our Teen Vogue interview: “You gotta do what you gotta do.”

In an age when creators like to blur the line between real and fake, people like to insist that they can’t be duped. Social media users will see a piece of content they find cringe and believe it is some sort of social experiment before they think it’s genuine. Before they did a few press interviews, people were throwing out some outrageous theories about Boy Throb’s origins. They guessed that the group was a performance art piece organized by Anthpo (creator of the Timothée Chalamet lookalike contests). Others speculated that it was a Nathan Fielder bit or an elaborate marketing campaign for a film that hasn’t been announced. Boy Throb serves as a reminder that sometimes the simplest answer is usually correct. These are just four guys hoping to build a music career using social media. 

And I’ll say it: Their debut single is pretty good! Before it dropped, I played it at least a dozen times. It’s catchy and sticks in your head. The members sound pretty good, especially considering they recorded across countries and with different equipment. You guys know I love a boy band, so I am rooting for them. Now that they have a 1 million followers and some press coverage, I’m curious how long it’ll take for Darshan to get his O-1 visa, especially with all of the roadblocks that visa applicants have faced this year.

Speaking of boy bands, are we entering a renaissance? After Boy Throb started making some waves, I saw a couple other Western groups make their debuts. Obviously, K-pop has seen a major boom since, say, One Direction’s disbandment, with boy groups like BTS becoming global sensations. However, it’s been awhile since a new Western group has broken through. It appears Simon Cowell is trying to capitalize on this, as he unveiled a new group called December 10. Meanwhile, Republic Records launched the band Just Your Type (JYT).

Will Boy Throb, December 10, or JYT have the juice to make it big? Only time will tell, but I think it’ll be a tall order.

Every Monday letter gets a playlist. Here are some songs to help you lock in this last week before the holidays. I love making a working playlist that sounds like I’m inside of a computer.

In this week’s playlist:

Other things I want to share with you.