An introduction to our newest contributor, Michael Cadoch, and the first Tuesday edition of MC's Music Lounge

(Message from Lainey: new year… new contributor! Meet Michael, who will tell you all about himself below. Michael can be reached via email at mc@laineygossip.com, on IG @mikecadoch, and TikTok @mikecadoch. He’ll also be posting on our Substack, The Squawk – so please subscribe and join him there!)

“Allow me to introduce myself. I want you to come a little closer – I’d like you to get to know me a little bit better. Meet the real me.” - Christina Aguilera “Stripped Intro”

Hello Gossips,

The name’s Michael Cadoch, but you can call me MC. I have the honor and privilege of sharing initials with the queen of music herself, Miss Mariah Carey, a woman I fell in love with when my parents gave me their copies of the Music Box and Mariah Carey albums (also the butterfly tattoo on my ankle is my own little pledge of allegiance in the lamb fandom). As a tribute to Mimi, I go by my initials with anything I do. Besides, if the Xtina reference wasn’t enough of an indication, I consider myself a younger millennial (gen Z cusp) who lives in a 1998-2003 world, so what else would you expect?

Every Tuesday I hope to bring you a little more into my what goes on in my brain, through my musical picks and what tunes have me excited. Why Tuesdays? Well, you may be familiar with “New Music Friday”, the music industry’s term for the street date that record companies drop new tunes and albums on. You may not know however that for decades, until 2016, the general street date was Tuesdays! So here at LG we’re mixing the old with the new and dropping our weekly musical picks on, you guessed it, Tuesdays.

From my earliest memory, music has been a part of my foundation. The moment I heard Mel B’s roaring “YOOOO” at the beginning of “Wannabe”, my destiny as a music nerd was sealed. The Spice Girls were my first experience with being a “fan”, but it wasn’t until a little lady from Kentwood, Louisiana came onto the scene that Michael Cadoch the fan was truly born. Britney Spears is the reason why I am the person I am today, and that is not an exaggeration. My love for music, sonics, pop culture, performance, celebrity and literally everything in the world of entertainment, is all because of her. I’ve been working in television with Lainey for three years now, and it was my passion and knowledge of all things Britney that brought me to that position in the first place. I was and still am a fierce defender of her freedom and general happiness, and while she may not make music at this time, make no mistake about it, there would be no MC, me, without Britney.

Once the Britney fan fire was ignited in baby Michael, the rest was history. I started going through my parent’s CD collection, which is how I got introduced to the likes of Mariah, Madonna, and Shania among others. There’s one magical photo of me at four-years-old holding a copy of Madonna’s Bedtime Stories and Britney Spears’s …Baby One More Time albums that basically describe who I am as a person to this day; Pop Music and Pop Culture in general was my calling, and nothing was going to change that.

Being born in 1995, I got the unique opportunity to witness and experience music before the digital age, and in turn, have essentially grown up along with it. I was there with my older brothers picking my tracks to download on Napster (yes, Napster) to burn on my “Michael’s 3D Mix” series. I was going to Future Shop on album release days to pick up my favorite new albums. I was also there when music turned to streaming and mixtapes turned into playlists. We are now living in a world where we can discover music easier than ever before, and for a music nerd like me, it’s like every day is my birthday. Having older siblings to mimic also allowed me to experience music that wasn’t necessarily marketed to me and my age group which I feel is a huge reason why my taste is so diverse. Yes, four-year-old Michael was expressing all the girl power and Britney dance-breaks possible (I also had a particular love for J-Lo’s “If You Had My Love” dance break – you can ask my aunt, lol); I was jamming to the likes of 2Pac, and Usher, which helped me discover a few other things about myself, but that’s for a different blog post (lol). When the average child was watching Saturday morning cartoons, I was watching the MuchMusic Top 30 Countdown and listening the Rick Dee’s Weekly Top 40 radio show – writing down the entire countdowns and keeping up to date with the new songs that week, and if my favorite girlie earned the #1 spot. There’s a lovely home movie of mine where I am SCHOOLING my parents on who was singing what song on the radio and why the song was number one (it was “Together Again” by Janet Jackson by the way – oh, and I was three lol). I am now 29 years old and my passion for music has only grown stronger, while my connection to the artform itself has grown into something deeper than words can express… only a song could do that.

While I definitely love and appreciate all forms of music, I would be remiss if I didn’t point out the obvious. I love women, especially older women. You can ask Lainey, nothing gets my fangirl music loving juices going more than a woman over the age of 45. As a four-year-old, many of the queens I have mentioned in this introduction were in their 20s and 30s. Now they have reached the 40s and 50s, and to me they only get more powerful with age, and my love for them only grows stronger. I may not be a woman in my 50s, but my god do they make my little gay heart feel powerful. That’s really what it comes down to: stepping into my power; and it’s the Mariahs, Britneys and Janets of the world who make me feel like I can do just that. Music is a universal language of love to me, and I can’t wait to share it with you. I hope you laugh, cry, dance, disagree with me (respectfully of course), engage in conversation with me, and most importantly, appreciate the art for what it is… art. I truly believe that music brings people together, and I can’t wait to get to know you all through this process.

Next week, we’ll get into a bit more about “it girls” and the music that follows them. Little Mix album JADE will be dropping her latest single “it girl”, and unless you’ve been living under a rock, then you know next Tuesday will also bring us the Beyoncé announcement she has been teasing since Christmas. Whether it’s new music, a tour or yet another new business, I’ll be tuned in and ready to chat with you all about it. Back to this week…

For this inaugural edition of MC’s Music Lounge, since it’s the first week of the year, some of the picks were also influenced by what has been buzzing over the holidays as well as some brand new releases. We have music from a theatrical hip-hop newcomer, a Danish pop girlie, an R&B It-girl, a soulful crooner, and the true king of today’s Latin music.

Listen on, my friends.

MC’S PICKS OF THE WEEK

“DENIAL IS A RIVER” by Doechii

If anyone gets the award for biggest buzz around the industry for 2025, look no further than Doechii. While she’s been making viral hits for a few years now (“What It Is (Block Boy)” has earned over 350 million streams on Spotify), it’s her latest mixtape Alligator Bites Never Heal that has truly been making noise. While the mixtape dropped back in August, it’s only in the last couple of weeks after her viral Tiny Desk that it feels like you can’t go anywhere on the internet without hearing about her. In just the first few days of the new year, Doechii has gotten viral co-signs from the likes of SZA, Billie Eilish, Hayley Williams, and Finneas. Doechii is determined to make 2025 her year, because if the co-signs weren’t enough, she kicked off the new year with the music video release to her viral single “DENIAL IS A RIVER” earning her the top spot on this week’s music picks.

The video is a fun play on the classic sitcom Family Matters, with Rickey Thompson, Schoolboy Q, and Earl Sweatshirt playing the respective characters she raps about in the song. The track dives into her past traumatic experiences from relationships, to career and even addiction; but it is done in such a unique and whimsical way that you can’t help but lose your mind the entire time and ask yourself “damn did she really just say that?!”, while bopping your head… it’s that good. The song itself is super theatrical while still being rooted in hip-hop, and it looks like she is giving Megan Thee Stallion a run for her money when it comes to creative visuals. Expect to hear a lot more about Doechii this year, she’s here to stay.

“Lonely Heat” by Drew Sycamore

All I can say, is thank the lord for European dance-pop. Without it, a whole generation of gays just wouldn’t feel the freedom to enjoy life, and I will die on that hill baby. Not since Aqua burst on the scene in 1997 with their Aquarium album have we gotten a Danish pop act ready to take on North America… but the wait is over folks, meet Drew Sycamore. Her first piece of music was released in 2018 and since then, she has been making a name for herself all over Europe, earning a nomination for Best Nordic Act at the 2021 MTV Europe Awards. Her latest release is the first of her songs to be highlighted on North American streaming playlists, and that’s how she fell into my orbit. Her vocals sound like they are straight out of an early-2000s disco where you might here some Cascada or DJ Sammy, while the instrumentals fit perfectly for the pop girlie explosion we’ve been seeing in music over the last few years. I expect to hear this bumping through the speakers of every club during Whistler Pride later this month.

“Scorsese Baby Daddy” by SZA

This one goes out to my girls who were blasting “F2F” off the original version of SZA’s SOS record. Now that the deluxe edition was released over the holidays, we’ve all had proper time to digest the new material, and as always she does not disappoint. “Scorsese” is the standout track for me by far, and not just for its iconic song title. The lyrics show SZA expressing her wish for a man who reminds her of the men in Scorsese’s filmography (I’ll skip the criminals though… the internet may be thirsting over Luigi Mangione but I’m good love!). Martin’s daughter Francesca even made an Instagram story with her father showing him the song. The track has also been teased as an upcoming single and video from the re-released album, so when you guys hear this on the radio this entire spring, don’t act surprised.

“My Decision” by Eric Bellinger, Rotimi

Eric began his career writing hits for artists like Usher and Chris Brown. Fast forward to today he is a respected artist in the R&B world and has dropped his latest single with Nigerian singer Rotimi. “My Decision” is a laid-back afro-beats track that is sure to get your hips moving and body ready for the sun which, as someone writing this very column in freezing Canadian weather, is not a bad picture. “My Decision” is the first release off Bellinger’s upcoming album It All Makes Sense – and if the single is any indication you better get your Brazilian Bum Bum lotions out, and “party and bullsh-t” as the song says. You’ll no doubt be blasting this on your Bluetooth speakers during your next beach trip.

“VOY A LLeVARTE PA PR” by Bad Bunny

The first major release of the new year is none other than the king of Latin music himself, Bad Bunny. Even if you are not too familiar with the Latin music scene, you still likely have at least heard of Bad Bunny, as his streaming numbers and overall global appeal have reached heights that before this decade were unheard of for Latin artists. The new record DeBI TIRAR MaS FOToS is a bit of a return to form as this time around he ditches his usual trap/hip-hop beats for a more salsa/merengue influence. While there are definitely still tons of hip-hop influences, they come more from his actual raps and vocals versus the instrumentals, which are way more dance-infused… sign me up! My favorite so far is the second cut on the album “VOY A LLeVARTE PA PR”. The track makes you both want to shake your hips on the dancefloor, and in another more private area of the house (if you catch my drift). I may not be able to understand a word he’s saying, but with a voice as sexy as his, who cares? In the words of JLo… “I luh ya papi, I luh ya, luh ya, luh ya papi!!!”

MC’S VIRAL PICK OF THE WEEK

2Pac, K-Ci & JoJo “How Do U Want It”

If there’s one thing you can always count on for Tik Tok, it’s to come up with some dance to a classic old-school track and turn the song viral, introducing it to a whole new generation of listeners. In the case of the viral dance attached to 2Pac’s 1996 classic “How Do U Want It”, we got both generations old and new tagging along (and yes, that is indeed Keyshia Cole doing the dance). What started out as a “pov” TikTok made as a joke has gone viral and has given the classic song a whole new life. While it hit #1 on the Hot 100 during its initial run, 29 years later the song is burning up the streaming charts, and bringing joy to online creators everywhere. Well, maybe not everyone. As you can imagine, 2Pac has a very dedicated fan base and some fans don’t love seeing his music being “reduced” to a TikTok dance. Listen, as you have now read in my intro, I’ve always had a soft spot for 2Pac – I truly believe he is one of the greatest poets of our time; but the fact is we are living in a different world today and the way that people learn music has changed. If a TikTok dance has to be the thing that introduces his genius to a new generation, so be it.

@dnsty444
IM BOUT 2 PASS OUT 😮‍💨 #tupac #kciandjojo #explore #fypシ゚ #howdouwantit #trend #dance #trending #nightcore #spedup #foryou #xyzbca #tb #throwback #oldschool #dnsty444
♬ original sound - 🧍🏾‍♀️🧍🏾‍♀️