The TikTok duo remixing your favorite political soundbites

+ an AI startup founder's diss track drama, DIY dating apps, why Gen Zers are deleting their profile pics

In a 2016 interview with Charlie Rose, “Hillbilly Elegy" author JD Vance proudly declared: "I'm a 'never Trump' guy, I never liked him." Eight years later, thousands of people on TikTok are dancing to a musical remix of the clip produced by the TikTok duo @casadimusic. 

@casadimusic is at the top of a growing remix industrial complex that has emerged online, where young producers race to create viral remixes of trending soundbites. These creators have shaped audio trends on TikTok for years, but as the election heats up, they're playing a growing role in politics. @casadimusic's initial JD Vance remix garnered nearly 3 million views, but the audio has spread across X, Threads, and Instagram amassing millions more.

Carl Dixon, known as Casa Di, and his friend Steve Terrell (pictured above) form the producing duo behind House Of Evo, a music and film production company. Together, they produce the viral remixes on @casadimusic and have generated an impressive number of hits on TikTok. After initially making a name for themselves through pop culture remixes like the viral Beyoncé “My Husband” and “bombastic side eye” remixes, their breakout hit came last summer with the "one margarita" song. 

In May, they began experimenting with more political sounds. 

A remix they made of Rep. Jasmine Crockett's comments about Marjorie Taylor Greene's "bleach blonde bad built butch body" attracted two million views. The audio was immediately picked up and used by the Pennsylvania Democratic Party on TikTok. 

Neither producer was particularly excited by Biden, but when Harris became the nominee, they went all in. "Steve and myself have been thinking about how we can add to the campaign," Dixon told me. "We realized there was a lot of momentum [behind Kamala]."

Having created several remixes of her "coconut tree" comments, they discovered the JD Vance clip after Kamala's campaign account posted it to TikTok. "We thought, let's just take that clip," said Dixon. "Music is just repetition and, for us, anything can be a hook. The main thing is for it to be as catchy as possible. You always want to provoke emotion." 

They cooked up a remix by layering Vance's audio over a sample of the song “Freek-a-Leek” by Petey Pablo, produced by Lil John. It immediately began spreading. Thousands of users have leveraged the audio. Within days it was picked up by Harris' campaign account, where a video of young staffers lip syncing to the remix raked in another 5.3 million views.

Dixon and Terrell said that while it's a dream of theirs to formally partner with Harris, they're happy with the symbiotic relationship they've developed with the campaign through TikTok. "Our goal is to be part of history," Dixon said. 

Terrell added that he and other producers "can implement [remixed audios] to help create narratives." He said the ultimate goal was to boost Harris' popularity and encourage people to get out and vote.

The duo is already planning their next political remix. "People have been requesting a cat lady song," Dixon said. "I definitely think cat ladies is next." The two also loved Harris' comments on Thursday daring Trump to "say it to my face.” "The 'we're not going back,'" Dixon said, "To make a song out of that, that's the goal, to make it stick."

My favorite tech drama right now

The latest stab at an AI wearable companion is an always-listening pendant called “friend”, which, as WIRED notes, doesn’t help you be more productive, it basically just keeps you company. The promo video launched on Tuesday and a lot of people were confused whether it was real or not.

It turns out that Friend is a very real, new AI wearable and and shortly after the announcement dropped, 404 Media reported that the company spent $1.8 million out of the total $2.5 million it raised solely on buying the domain name, friend.com.

Then, chaos broke out. Suddenly, it came out that there’s somehow a *second* AI pendant named Friend, meaning there are now two competing AI pendant startups, both named Friend. One spent the $1.8M to buy the Friend domain and launched on international friendship day, the other responded with a diss rap video (which you can watch below).

A back an forth ensued and the day ended with one AI friend founder tweeting a shirtless photo inviting the other AI friend founder to physically fight him. I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.

What I’m reading

Trump may be a star on TikTok, but Republicans aren't following his lead

According to an NPR analysis, zero Republican members of the House of Representatives or the Senate have accounts as of July 1. Just a handful of GOP challengers in major down-ballot races do. - NPR

This bill purports to protect kids from big tech. For LGBTQ+ youth, it’s a grave danger

Those on the right say they will use the “Kids Online Safety Act” to target queer and trans content. Despite that, nearly all democrats support it. KOSA creates powerful new ways for the government to interfere with online speech and the bill is like catnip to extreme right-wing groups like the Heritage Foundation. - Them

It’s Silicon Valley vs. Silicon Valley as political fights escalate

Elon Musk, Reid Hoffman and others in the “PayPal Mafia” are openly brawling with each other over politics as tensions rise. - NY Times

Zoom is the new political rally

Tens of thousands of Kamala supporters are raising millions of dollars on Zoom. These online events are cheaper to organize, easier to attend, and they're poised to become a powerful tools for fundraising and voter outreach this fall. - Axios

The kids are deleting their profile pics

Having zero profile picture and using the default avatar is allegedly a new Gen Z status symbol. - Embedded

Fed up, singles are DIYing their own Dating platforms

In a rejection of the dating app dystopia, singles are DIY-ing their own apps, from an IYKYK dating app for Twitters users, to posting ads in literary journals, using facebook ads, sending out google forms, and one woman's app where the only option is herself. - Bustle

The rise of the influencer chef

Across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, a new generation of food filmmakers aspires to create a very different form of culinary entertainment than in the past. - The Nation

Why the hell is everyone pretending to be grateful they got laid off?

A weird phenomenon happens on Twitter and LinkedIn once folks lose their jobs. Search Linkedin or Twitter for the keywords “laid off” or “layoffs” and “grateful” and you’ll find hundreds of posts featuring similar language. Why!? - Slate

Zombie alt-weeklies are stuffed with AI slop about OnlyFans

The Village Voice, LA Weekly, and the Riverfront Times are publishing AI generated slop promoting OnlyFans creators, disguised as editorial. - WIRED

The unexpected rise of the specialty popcorn bucket

2024 may be the "year the War of the Popcorn Buckets began" - Yahoo

The author of the viral joke post about JD Vance fucking a couch breaks his silence

Business Insider tracked down the author of the post that launched thousands of memes. He acknowledges rolling "in the mud" with the joke but believes it captures an "ecstatic truth" about Vance. - Business Insider

On TikTok, familiar childhood dynamics are pathologised

From “gifted kid burnout” to “eldest daughter syndrome”, influencers are rebranding familiar human experiences as a trauma diagnosis. - New Statesman

A few blockbuster podcasts are making all the money

The top shows are adding video, merchandise and live tours and signing megadeals with Spotify, Sirius and Amazon, while mid sized and smaller shows languish. - WSJ

This Bay Area resident is so good at dunking on California on the internet, it’s her job

“Watching Diana Regan’s TikTok videos feels like stepping into a bizarre California utopia.” - SF Gate

Interactive: Find Your NYPD Coppelgänger

A new website uses facial recognition technology to match people with the NYPD officer that person most closely resembles. - Hell Gate

Can MrBeast Be Canceled?

Being the top YouTuber in the world, having hundreds of people on your team, and and endless stream of viral content to create is bound to let in a few cracks into MrBeast’s carefully cultivated branded image. Over the past week, those cracks might be starting to show. - Passionfruit

Google wins the gold medal for worst Olympics ad

Google is running a new ad during the Olympics that’s supposed to demonstrate how AI can help forge human connection, but nothing about it makes sense. - The Atlantic

Conservative influencers are targeting Harley-Davidson

Right wingers are trying to cancel Harley-Davidson for DEI policies. It’s just the latest in a long line of companies far right figures have waged war on. - Fortune

I Changed My Race to White on Hinge And got better matches. Is the algorithm the problem, or the men?

Black women have dismal experiences on dating apps: user data collected by OkCupid in 2009 and 2014 showed that men rated Black women less attractive than women of other races. Can swapping your race out help? - The Cut

A real life Emily in Paris

Amanda Rollins moved from Boston to Paris seven years ago and is now a social media influencer in Paris. - NBC

The Harris Meme Machine Thrills Content Creators

Previously short on inspiration for Joe Biden-based content, social media meme authors are cranking out volumes of viral Harris content. - Inc.

Meta scraps A.I celebrity chatbots

After spending millions of dollars to license celebrities' likenesses for AI chatbots, Meta is cancelling the project less than a year after it launched. - The Information

Meta blames hallucinations after its AI said Trump rally shooting didn’t happen

Meta caved on letting its AI assistant answer questions about the shooting and immediately ran into the problem it was trying to avoid. - The Verge

Twitch completes its TikTok makeover

Twitch’s revamped app will open on a TikTok-like feed of recommended videos that you can thumb through. - The Verge

Influencer marketing platform LTK launched a new TikTok-like shoppable video feed

TikTok shop has some competition. - Passionfruit

How essential oils became the cure for our age of anxiety

Oils have become big business online. This 2017 article came across my feed this week and offers a deep dive into the essential oils industry. It’s a wild read. - New Yorker

Five influencer horror movies to stream this week

A growing subgenre of horror centers around influencers, content curators, and social media addicts so caught up in their internet presence that it shapes the horror. - Bloody Disgusting

Other fun stuff

This Catholic church liquidation sale has some great finds and I feel like these vestments could crush it around Dimes Square this fall:

Zuck got a new chain and is slowly transforming into an Albanian man from the Bronx.

Japanese 7-eleven snacks are coming to the us, which means egg salad sandos, chicken teriyaki onigiri, rice balls, miso ramen, and more!

Judging from these replies, a terrifying number of people want Elon Musk to create an “UNWOKE search engine” so they don’t have to use Google.

The first Olympic gold medal TikTok?

On this day one year ago, Kyle Gordon released his epic euro pop dance hit “Planet of the Bass.” It still slaps.

The Barstool and Babylon Bee girls are fighting:

Unrelated to anything but these tweets capture something about the current mood and reminded me of this TikTok.

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