In this episode of teenVoice for the Heights Herald, Staff Writer and host Ja’Sirah Barber (12) is joined by Mariah Barber (12), Newte Roberts (12) and Hanan Mohamoud (11) for an unfiltered conversation titled “Hear Me Outs”. They enter into the world of unconventional crushes: people you find attractive even when society or personal conflicts say you shouldn’t. The guests explore what really makes someone a “Hear Me Out”, whether it is in looks, vibes, personality or pure delusion. Give this episode a listen and evaluate who your “hear me out” is.
Partial Transcript:
(0:17) Welcome back to teenVoice, the podcast where we say the things everyone’s thinking but won’t say out loud. Today’s episode is all about ‘hear me outs’, those people you think are hot even if they’re not the most conventionally attractive, or maybe they even have a terrible personality. We’ve got some fun guests joining us to spill their takes, so get ready for some laughter, a little chaos, and maybe even some unexpected crush confessions.
(0:41) Let’s get started. The phrase “okay hear me out” has been internet slang for more than a decade, with the phrase often developed before pitching a silly idea, a joke, or an unconventional casting choice for an upcoming film. The meaning of ‘hear me out’ gradually became sexualized as internet users started using it to express their attraction to unconventionally attractive actors, characters, and animated characters.
(1:20) Sometimes people use the phrase as an excuse to post a picture of an unattractive actor. Many commenters have made efforts to keep the phrase weird, as it’s supposed to be about admitting a confusing attraction. Okay, guys, so our first guest is going to be Mariah Barber.
(1:40) Hello, I’m Mariah Barber, I’m a 12th grader, and, um, yeah. (1:47) Um, you’re a PSEO student, right? (1:49) Yeah. (1:50) Do you go inside of the colleges? (1:52) I’m sure you see a lot of cute guys. (1:54) Yeah, I go into MCTC a lot, there’s a lot of fine stuff. (1:59) Yeah, a lot of them. (2:01) Yeah.
(2:01) Every day? (2:02) No, not every day. (2:04) Okay, um, who would you say your celebrity crush is? (2:07) I would say Timothee Chalamet or, um, oh, Luka Doncic! (2:12) Ah, scratch all that, Luka Doncic. (2:14) Yeah. (2:15) Yeah? (2:16) Yeah.
(2:16) Um, so for the first question, I’m gonna ask, “what does hear me out even mean to you?” (2:22) It’s about looks, vibe, personality, or even some outside drama that may affect how someone sees this person. (2:27) So I would say ‘hear me out’ would mean like, I don’t know how to explain it, so like, I think it would be like if we have things to relate about, so like, I’m a sports girlie, so if there’s a guy that I think is like, cute, but he knows nothing about sports, or he doesn’t do sports, he does things that I don’t really do, like musicals, I would say that’s kind of like a hear me out, because that’s not stuff that I do, or (2:50) that I’m kind of like, quote unquote, interested in, and so it would be kind of like a ‘hear me out’, because like, we’re so different.
(2:56) Yeah, would you kind of say like someone that is outside of your clique? (3:00) Yeah, pretty much, yeah, it’s like a hear me out, or like if someone’s like a, um, if my friend group doesn’t like that person, or they like think like, oh, that person’s weird, like, that could also be considered a hear me out. (3:12) Yeah, like, oh my gosh, she’s so chopped. (3:14) Like, if you hear your friend saying, oh my gosh, she’s so chopped, like, this guy is (3:18) so bad, and then you’re like, dang, I look kinda like him.
(3:21) Yeah, yeah, that happens a lot. (3:24) Um, yeah, that’s, that’s very good. (3:27) In what situation would you say like, you’ve had like a crush on someone who’s been like, kind of controversial to your social circle? (3:36) So I have, I’m friends with these girls. (3:39) And we’ve been best friends since like, fifth, fourth or fifth grade. (3:43) And there’s this guy that we’ve known since middle school. (3:46) And he had like a glow up. (3:48) And I was like, dang, like, why is he lowkey cute? (3:50) They’re like, bro, like, you know, he’s so desperate. (3:53) He has a new girlfriend every other week. (3:55) And so I would say that’s my ‘hear me out.’
(3:56) Do you want me to name drop? (3:57) Or like? (3:58) Yeah, if you feel comfortable. (4:00) So like, okay, hear me out, guys. (4:02) Soren. (4:02) He doesn’t go to Heights. (4:03) He goes to Edison, I think. (4:04) But yeah, he’s my hear me out. (4:06) He definitely glew up. (4:07) But like, my little birdies say that he’s like a man. (4:11) Can I say that? (4:13) No, he’s like, he goes for a lot of people.
(4:16) Yeah. (4:17) That kind of goes into my next question. (4:19) But does this guy go to Heights? (4:21) I said he doesn’t go to Heights. (4:23) He goes to Edison. (4:24) Okay, um, then who’s someone at Heights that you’d say is a hear me out? (4:28) Please write on the paper. (4:28) Don’t say it. (4:29) Okay. (4:31) And then you’re gonna slide over the paper to me. (4:34) Okay, you’re writing aggressively. (4:38) Oh, that is so surprising. (4:44) Oh my gosh. (4:45) Why would you say like, can you describe this person in like four words?
(4:51) Talented, funny, attractive, (4:59) band kid. (5:00) Hmm. (5:02) Um, so, um, how would you say like, why do you like this person? (5:08) And why are they a ‘hear me out’? (5:10) Okay, so there’s like a whole story with it. (5:12) So he, um, I’m in choir. (5:15) I’m a choir kid. (5:16) And he joined choir second semester of last year. (5:20) He graduated, by the way.
(5:21) He joined choir second semester last year, right? (5:24) He wasn’t in the first. (5:25) Um, and I was like, dang, like, he’s so cute. (5:27) Like, who is this? (5:28) I was telling my friends, you’re like, oh, this is da da da da da da. (5:31) I was like, we, we always have nicknames for people. (5:33) And so it was, his nickname was ‘hear me out’ because I was like, wait, ‘hear me out.’ (5:37) He’s lowkey cute. (5:38) And I would say that because we’re not really, I wouldn’t say we have a lot in common. (5:42) Like he seemed like the type to, well, he was a band kid. (5:45) I was not, well, I was a band kid in middle school, but I, I like stopped being that. (5:50) And so like, that’s like, you know, we’re kind of different. (5:53) He does musicals. (5:54) I don’t, the only thing we really had in common was like concert choir. (5:58) So yeah, so I was like, oh, hear me out.
(6:02) Um, um, why did you like him? (6:04) I, I asked, oh, did you actually, um, so we went on a Chicago field trip for a choir and I was just like, dang, like he’s cute. (6:14) And so the first thing that we did was, what was it? (6:18) The sports comedy show thing. (6:20) And he sat next to me and I’m like, bro, wait, like, why am I lowkey getting like butterflies? (6:24) I was like, dang, like, interesting. (6:27) And so, I don’t know. (6:28) It was just like, um, an attraction. (6:30) And I was just like, dang, like he’s lowkey cute. (6:32) And so I guess he’s also really funny and that’s what people say. (6:36) Like he’s nice and that he’s like really funny. (6:38) And so that’s where the attraction came from.
(6:40) Yeah. (6:41) So you would say like the Columbia Heights, um, Chicago arts trip, like kind of triggered (6:46) this crush or did you already have it?
(6:48) I would say it and heightened it, enhanced it.
(6:52) Rapid fire round celebrity ‘hear me out’ picks. (6:55) So I’m going to name a celebrity and you are going to say if they are a hear me out. (7:02) Okay.
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