Main argument

This public edit preserves the main argument. The complete transcript, including livestream chat and digressions, is available to paid members below.

But yeah, I figure we can do another extended video talking about the growing influence and presence of nepo babies in the industry. And right now, who we have right in front of us is none other than Mr. Magnus Ferrell, who famously is the son of comedic legend, actor, writer Mr. Will Ferrell.

This is actually Will Ferrell's son. What little material has been dropped onto these platforms? Because there's no album as of right now from Magnus. I wanted to come on here and basically listen to a little bit of his music and see what all the hubbub's about. Because why is he getting so much buzz off of a handful of songs? Is it just because of his connections to his dad? Is it just because he has kind of the means and the ability to promote his music and push it out there? Is it like, a TikTok following or something like that?

Everybody in chat is currently calling out their favorite nepo baby. So I mean, it's kind of crazy to me that he's already doing, like, over a million monthly listeners, no album. You can be a nepo baby and make good music. It might mean that you have more means and ability to tough it out there in the trenches of obscurity and not have to worry about paying rent as you're trying to get your music career to take off. You can sort of put yourself out there in a way with more resources than somebody who doesn't come from an affluent background can.

So I mean, just because you know this guy is Will Ferrell's son doesn't mean the music is necessarily bad. In fact, to me, it's not all that surprising in concept that somebody who maybe made a career out of music and is quite good at it, is very talented, is successful, would then go on to have children who maybe also are musically inclined.

That is not inherently a surprising thing, or a bad thing. Again, especially if music is like your family's whole deal. Guys like Flying Lotus and Thundercat have previous connections through their family to the music industry because they have relatives who are also very talented musicians. So that's not necessarily a bad thing inherently.

But... What is maybe more of a bad thing or more questionable is when you have the capacity to push yourself to the top of these algorithms because of resources, because of the means and ability to promote yourself more efficiently, or having the free time to do so during a time period when most people are trying to figure out how to pay rent and pay for fucking groceries. So with that being said, what I really want to know here is: is the music good? Or are we just kind of seeing a bunch of buzz around some slop?

Because of Mr. Ferrell's entertainment industry connections. We're going to find out and see whether or not there's some bangers here in these top tracks. We can start with the latest single and see what it's got to offer.

It's got a bit of a Charlie Puthian flavor to it. Maybe more falsetto than I think Charlie would do, but it does have kind of a top 40 pop soul vibe out of the gate.

Oh, God, what does that sound like? Those guitar layers. You think city pop? I suppose maybe. Honestly, some of these Gen Z are tapped into city pop in a way that sometimes I have a hard time picking up on my radar because I'm not as into it as much as I think I am the influences of city pop.

Sounds like Robin Thicke with Timberlake? A little bit. I mean, it's appealing in a similar way in terms of the way it's being presented, I suppose.

Damn, "you hate that you can still feel the lipstick all over your face"?

Yeah, the falsetto's not bad. I gotta say, it doesn't have a whole lot of unique style to it, but the vocals are not bad. He's got a decent voice. He's got a solid voice. And it's a nice falsetto. It's a pleasant falsetto. Yeah, I suppose it is a little Bruno Mars, or at the very least, Bruno Mars is already scratching this itch. He's already providing what this song is trying to do.

You say Steely Dan? That also kind of came to mind as well. I was a little afraid to say it, but maybe now that you're kind of putting it out there, there is potentially something to that. Gen Z, they love those Steely Dan guitars, so it could possibly be that. But yeah, I mean, to me, mainly, this just feels like some Charlie Puth-coated pop soul with, again, not much in terms of distinct style, or even that memorable of a song. Because honestly, what the hell is the hook on this?

I don't even know if I could recall the chorus on this thing. I like his falsetto, though. His voice is nice. He just needs a better song and some more interesting production. We could try another track over here. Let's see if this is also a bit of a pop soul thing.

This almost feels a few shades away from what Tame Impala was doing on the new record in terms of the dancey, funky bass line and the dreamy, reverb-soaked falsetto lead vocals.

Oh, yeah, I suppose it does kind of feel like a boring Dua Lipa track, too.

Oh, my God, stop. Stop with the disco strings. Stop with all this.

No, no. John Travolta would not be shaking ass to this in Saturday Night Fever. I'll say that much. We're continuing this nepo baby trip down the rabbit hole. "Life or Death", what a title. This one's gonna be urgent. This one's gonna have something to say, hopefully.

God, he just loves those funky, like mid-80s synth funk leads and bass lines. That's just really his thing.

Ooh, more of a smooth, boyish kind of demeanor in the lead vocal this time.

This just sounds like an alcohol commercial for some kind of drink that you would sort of chug at the beach or something like that. Again, it doesn't even feel Ed Sheeran to me. This just feels like, once again, we're just in Charlie Puth territory. This just feels very Charlie Puth to me. This feels like something Charlie Puth would do, but with, like, somehow less personality. And as somebody has said earlier, being a nepo baby doesn't necessarily mean that you can't make good music.

What's sort of drawn me to Mr. Magnus Ferrell here is that without having dropped an album, really just a handful of singles, he's already at 1.3 million monthly listeners on Spotify, and I'm trying to see what the hell is the hype about? Because this guy's drawing more attention than indie bands that are filling small venues right now and putting out whole full-length albums and doing tours and doing festival slots. So what's all the hubbub about? And so far, I cannot say I can figure it out based off of the music.

No, exactly, Orange Marlin. I feel like if you have the resources and sort of the free time that being a nepo baby allows you to have, you could at least put yourself in a position to where you are sort of like learning and accessing the things that you need to access to make music that stands out a little more and is more interesting. Take Willow Smith, for example. I'm not really crazy about her new record, but at least in terms of, like, performing goes, she has chops. You can see that she's put in quite a bit of practice time. Being able to play well and being able to write a great song are not necessarily the same thing.

It's not one-to-one, but clearly she's taking advantage of the fact that she has the ability and she has the resources to make herself and train herself to be a better musician. And that's showing very clearly in the music. Whereas this, again, just feels like dime-a-dozen pop soul that you could conjure by virtue of just linking up with the right B or C-tier producer in a weekend afternoon.

This is somehow getting less interesting. The further we go into these tracks, which I guess makes sense. Like, the further we go down into this rabbit hole, the more we're hearing songs that have less streams.

Now I actually feel like we're in Timberlake, Robin Thicke territory.

Oh, that's such a Timberlake line. Oh, he's got so much swagger. Oh, the charisma is oozing off of this one.

The production kind of sucks ass too, though. Like the beat, the synth bass, and like those kind of squealing lead synthesizer melodies are all like kind of squished and condensed down in a really kind of grating way. It just makes it sound way cheaper than what it actually is. I'm sure, in terms of like the effort that went into it.

We're going to try one more because I mean, I think definitively at this point, we can say, like, I don't see what the hype is. Why does this man have a million monthly listeners?

Can Robin Thicke sue off the vibe of this one?

This one at least feels a little silly. I can give it that.

He's bringing sexy back, y'all. He's bringing that sexy back for the second time. Yeah. Is that not Justin's flow from that song?

Here's the thing. Even Justin Timberlake is struggling to get people interested in Justin Timberlake in 2026. You're going to try to make it by just ripping him off?

Even Justin is hitting hard times in the 2020s. I feel like you need to pick some better inspiration if you're really trying to build yourself up.

But yeah, this is not interesting. Sorry, Magnus. I feel like this is a pretty disappointing nepo baby adventure that we've undergone over here.