In an entertainment industry where LGBTQ stories are often synonymous with painful coming-out stories and prejudices of society, Tampon Rock is a breath of fresh air. “We didn’t want to tell the same coming out queer story that’s, like, traumatic and tragic,” Sarah Aument — who joined forces with her fellow Jingle Punks co-workers/comedians/musicians/writers Alysia Brown and Sophie Dinicol to create a one-of-a-kind scripted comedy podcast series — EXCLUSIVELY told HollywoodLife. Cue Tampon Rock, premiering on Dec. 3, which Alysia sums up in the trailer above as “a sitcom kind of like Friends, except gay and with Black people. So, actually, really not like Friends at all.”
However, this Anthem Entertainment original podcast from iHeart Podcast Network is about friends (not to be confused with the ’90s sitcom), which Sophie adds in the trailer — best friends, actually, named Deja and Chloe. They also rock out together in a band called G.O.A.L (The Greatest Of All Lesbians), a clever twist on G.O.A.T. The “resident lesbian narrators” — also endearingly referred to as the “Resbians,” voiced by none other than the podcast creators — will bring listeners from each scene to the next through song.
Expect a punk-rock delivery of “My Heart Has A Heavy Flow (…Period Blood!),” “Nipples!,” and other such melodies that are cheeky winks at the podcast’s menstrual-themed name (which is actually a genius rebranding of a term that was once used as an insult towards women who made rock music, as Alysia explained to HollywoodLife). As you can infer, this podcast series falls into the “silly” humor camp of “not taking itself too seriously,” Sophie noted. It’s a refreshing move, considering that the LGBTQ community gets most of their representation not in lighthearted comedies, but rather in main character introduces their significant other to conservative family/reveals their sexual identity to the entire school types of stories that are all rooted in emotional labor.
“With these coming of age stories with queer or Black people, it’s always really been some sort of problem,” Alysia added, reiterating Sarah’s point of how such stories are often “traumatic.” She added, “Being a Black person in general is traumatic. But I think for me, it’s like, I want to live in a world [where] that’s — that’s just not it. That’s not it all the time.”
While the three-person team behind Tampon Rock wanted to create a story with LGBTQ characters having fun, they also wanted to stray away from the show obsessing over the fact that the leads are lesbian women (another trope in LGBTQ-focused stories). “I think that we wanted something where people were just living their lives…sure they’re queer, but I want to know more about the actual people…and not just their identity,” Sarah clarified.
While the show isn’t identity-obsessed, Tampon Rock allows the creators — and their listeners outside of the heteronormative narrative — to see their own “identity” in a genre that’s not about making the audience shed sympathy tears. “I’m just so, just so exhausted of seeing the same white men doing the same sitcoms, or the different sitcoms for like, the same premise,” Alysia said. Now, she’s “finally getting to create something” and happily say, “‘Oh, this is what I would watch’,” and realize “‘Oh, so many other people would feel that too’.”
Tampon Rock will premiere on Dec. 3, which you can listen to on Apple Podcasts. Stay tuned for the podcast creators’ video interview with HollywoodLife, going live on the podcast’s premiere day!