By Olivia Turner | Staff Writer
Spotify has seen its fair share of Baylor sports, academic and even crime podcasts, but finally, there’s one to cater to the lovers of low-key conversations: “Cute Girl Chronicles.” Reminiscent of podcasts like Emma Chamberlain’s “Anything Goes” or “Late Night Drive with Ellie & Michaela,” this pod brings on the chill vibes and randomness that the Baylor community has been lacking.
El Paso senior Kameron Brooke brought her podcast to Spotify. She said “Cute Girl Chronicles” has been more than a year in the making.
“I’ve always kind of wanted to start one, but I think I didn’t really realize what all went into starting one, so I was kind of hesitant for a while,” Brooke said.
Brooke, a long-time lover of podcasts, said the idea for “Cute Girl Chronicles” was born of notes app brainstorming and an admiration for storytelling. The light-hearted name also reveals the purpose of the podcast, a platform on which she hopes to share her experiences and what she learns from her life in the current stage she is in as a college student, almost like a sort of verbal diary, Brooke said. Although the name suggests a ‘girls only’ requisite, Brooke said the podcast is open to anyone who is willing to listen.
“I always feel kind of deprived and weird for how talkative I am, so having a podcast is like my space to be as talkative or as not talkative as I want,” Brooke said. “It’s really just like a place for everything that’s in my brain.”
The first episode was recorded at Brooke’s apartment, a location famous among her friends for its zen element, according to Brooke. Released on April 3, it follows various topics such as mental health and relationships, as discussed by Brooke and her guest star, Baton Rouge, La., sophomore Brooklyn Joseph, in their go-with-the-flow manner.
“I credited Kam for having that open space to feel kind of vulnerable and not really any judgement,” Joseph said. “It’s a free, open space to really sit back and talk about things that we don’t talk about on the daily, to take a step back to really look at ourselves beyond face value and others, and see how you really connect.”
Brooke said Joseph is a friend who reminds her of a younger version of herself, making her the perfect candidate to kick off the show.
Though, despite similarities, Joseph said she is known among her friends as one who doesn’t usually allow her emotions to surface, contrasting Brooke’s blunt and open-book nature. However, Joseph said that the openness of the podcast and Brooke’s acceptance was able to bring it out of her.
It seems Brooke’s first episode has already been a success, and not just because of all the positive feedback Brooke said she has received from friends and peers. Brooke said one of the goals she had for “Cute Girl Chronicles” was to create a space for her feelings and thoughts to run free, especially in light of a typecast placed on black women by society.
“I feel like a lot of times we’re taught to kind of confine our feelings and keep them small,” Brooke said. “Having that space where we can be on a podcast where we can curse, we can talk however we want to talk, I feel like that’s really important.”
Keeping it real is also important for Brooke, especially in the content she discusses on the show, she said. Among hype and the flashy Instagram posts that romanticize the Baylor experience, she also wants to bring the tougher, less glamourous parts of college into the light, she said.
“Sometimes college really sucks, and you come here and you’re stressed out and you’re figuring yourself out,” Brooke said.
Although these chronicles just launched with the show’s first episode, Brooke said she plans for many more in the future, with both solo episodes and guest star features. She said she plans on covering more topics like fashion, beauty, personal growth and things in her life that she’s passionate about.
Brooke also said she sees a bright future for the podcast, as she will be going to New York CIty this summer for an internship which presents the opportunity to include some of the people she meets there in her “Cute Girl Chronicles.”
She said she encourages anyone pursuing a project like she did to “just do it,” and Joseph said she agrees.
“Take Kam’s leap as an inspiration to yourself to take a leap on anything that you might be inspired to do,” Joseph said.
