Extra episode – How is Cher so cool? and Brat: The word that won't go away

Hello and welcome to the Papercuts midweek mini cast. I'm Miranda Sawyer and I like to smash my head into a brick wall deadline every single time. We're now out every Monday and Friday but to keep you happy through those midweek blues, every Wednesday we're putting out a bite-sized mini edition featuring some extra stories that we found.

OK, it's time to snap out of it. There is a brand new book extract in the Daily Mail, and incredibly excitingly, it is from Cher. I almost feel like giving it around, of course, just for existing. OK, Coco, you've been reading it. Which are the bits that you have enjoyed?

So it's basically, it's an extract from her memoir, different parts of the memoir piece together to create this piece. And it's really interesting. It gives you a real look into Beverly Hills 1970s and all the sort of mad cat parties that were going on at Hugh Heffner's house or whoever it might be. But really it's about Cher and her life after love, which she does believe in.

Thank you. Thank you. She talks a lot about the relationship with Sony, which she has to keep going on with in a professional manner, even though they're separated, even though you want her to snap out of it. I actually don't know how many more share references I've got in me. What else has she done? Oh, she's done many, many things. I mean, the part I really liked about this is the fact that she breaks away from Sony, and it's like,

Yeah. Like now we think of Cher as like a force of nature which she is and you can see her fantastic performances in the 70s or 80s and like even on Twitter now she is just the boss. Yes. She's amazing. But it was tough. It was really tough when she was in that relationship. It was a poorly difficult. There's points where she wants to kill herself. It's

And you get an insight into the controlling element of the relationship. And even just like the various ways that the controls happen, I mean, we can imagine it in kind of intimate settings. But also it was like capitalized by the producers of their TV show. At one point she talks about a contractor of renewing her and Sony's show. But when you looked into the contract, basically, Sony would get all the money, share would get nothing. And they were actual, even though they'd been separated by that time, and she was a star in her own right,

TV execs willing to do this to her, to put her into, not far off a servitude situation. So yeah, you really feel for her and everything she has to do to retain independence, to see her own child, be a great mother, but also stay relevant. She gets typecast, she can't get roles, and she's also attracted to men who are a bit dangerous. She has a relationship with Gregory Orman from the, is it Orman

brothers. And he's a drag addict, which obviously happens quite a lot when women have been in abusive relationships, they find themselves in this same cycle. But it's, you know, it's a really uplifting piece in the end, because she sort of comes out on top. And it's just great to have a moment to realize this woman who can sometimes be the butt of certain jokes or be like not taken as seriously was a total powerhouse. Oh, completely, completely. She was absolutely amazing. She's so talented. She looks so brilliant. She can act

She can see. She's like, she is astonishing. And she's also the only person I know that Regley uses the toilet emoji. She's a very good tweeter. She's a great always, always in capitals as well. I mean, she's 78. My nan does the same thing and doesn't receive any of the fanfare, but yes, she has a star.

So we found a new story about Brat, because there haven't been enough stories about Brat. It's been a while, hasn't it? So Brat has been picked as the word of the year by the Collins Dictionary. The Telegraph writes, not just for summer, Brat named word of the year. Jacob, have we finally got to the bottom of exactly what Brat means here?

I don't know if I can answer that question, so I'm a 32-year-old father of two, and I think if I try and define what a brat summer is, it's... Sure. But the Colin's dictionary definition now, isn't there? Which, you know, maybe can give some backing. I think... Charlie XCX herself... Did she describe it as... It's a bit lighter. Ava, please help.

No, I could hear you like, I could feel you looking at me. I thought you weren't a pink jumper today. I thought you were being brat. I've tried all summer to be brat. I don't know what it is. I don't know how it worked. I'd love to be brat. I'm desperate to be brat. It looks like so much fun to be brat. Also, I will say, I do know a lot of, I think brat is aimed at Gen Z, right? Am I wrong in that? It's a TikTok thing. She's not Gen Z. She's not, she's worked like 30 or something. She's millennial.

Yeah. Should we do the definition? Yeah. What's the Collins one? So Charlie said that it was a bit lighter, a white stripey top, no bra and a glass of wine in the afternoon, right? Collins dictionary has gone for it's a person characterized by a confident, independent and hedonistic attitude. But what everyone seems to be missing here is it really is defined by a lot of coke. And the dictionary has not picked up on that.

No, it seems to have slipped through. I mean, with the whole brat thing, everyone seems to have misunderstood it. And when I said I was going to talk about it today, if you did say we're back on brat, are we? Are we feeling a bit tired of brat?

I like the album, but I mean, I don't really see how someone like Kamala Harris is brat. Do you think it's made too many people want to aspire to be brat who may be? Just shouldn't worry about it. I'll say yes to that. Yeah. I've got one friend in particular and she's a bit older than me. I think she's 37, 38, right? Newly single this summer.

loved brat went very brat what you describe wine in the afternoon she went brat right now i don't want to you know good for her she's had a great time i'm happy for her at the same time i think if if i was thirty eight newly single and i try to go brat i think that's a midlife crisis i think if i went brat

I think people would be concerned for me, whereas from my mate, it's liberating that she's done that. I don't think anyone's going to accuse you or worry about you going brat when you've spent a lot of this podcast talking about how you moved to bed. It's not sure if you want the lower bunk or the higher bunk, where will I be most comfortable?

Yeah, I think I would be calling Child Services if you went brat, so don't worry about it. You definitely, you shouldn't go brat. That's why he's not sleeping well, because he's, yeah. Yeah, I'm trying to be brat. Yeah, scalding TikTok, brat video going, ah, wish. Is it a lime green tent up on me?

That was your midweek snackette of Papercuts. We'll be back every Friday and Monday with full-length shows, and on Wednesdays with this, the maxi bonus mini cast. Don't forget to subscribe so you get all our episodes big and teeny tiny. And if you fancy helping Papercuts to keep punching above our weight,

amongst the huge money podcast Big Boys, then why not back us through the Papercut supporters club? For under £4 a month, you get extended episodes with extra bits and no ads, and you'll also know in your heart that your cash will help us keep pod-pod-podting along. Just click on the link in the show notes to find out more. See you next time!