In the sixth episode of Comedy Central’s freshman series The Other Two — “Chase Shoots a Music Video” — 13-year-old viral singing sensation ChaseDreams makes a music video. The single is “Stink,” a song about dancing until you stink, featuring lyrics like “Ain’t a party ‘til you reek” and “My pits smell wrong / My neck smells wrong / My whole body smells wrong.” It’s all highly upsetting, which actually means it’s pretty perfect. But apparently, the song was originally supposed to be called “Drip”… only to be changed once a rival musician’s — Cardi B — single of the same name dropping the day before shooting for this episode began.
Uproxx spoke with the creators of The Other Two, Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider, about the song change, as well as the rest of the episode — from the latest stage in Chase’s career to the “surreal” Patrick Wilson guest spot to the reveal of a pretty big Dubek family secret. Spoilers ahead for “Chase Shoots a Music Video.”
Just real quick: With the season two renewal, is there any chance of you guys selling any promotional Lance shoes? Because I too would love to sound like a dollar.
Chris: I know. He wants them to take off but I’m positive they won’t.
Comedy Central could either sell that or the “real” Dolphin Dreams book by Pat Dubek.
Chris: Oh yeah, we really should have written that for real. Seven, six pages. It would have been easy.
For this week’s episode, before ChaseDreams’ new single ended up being “Stink,” it was originally supposed to be “Drip.” What were the key differences when you had to change it from “dance until you a drip” to “dance until you stink”? Or was it a completely different song altogether?
Sarah: Yeah, we actually hadn’t started writing it yet. We just kind of knew that that was the word we liked. We liked that it was sort of gross-sounding but then the song wouldn’t actually be gross – it would be like if you listen to it, you were kind of like, “Oh yeah, I think that’s kind of gross. But is it?” And so we just knew that was the word we wanted to go for. We hadn’t written it yet, and then Cardi B dropped her song.
And you still ended up writing a pretty gross song.
Sarah: Thank you.
Chris: We like that this song still… Even when it was “Drip,” we wanted [Shuli, Wanda Sykes’ character] to have plausible deniability. You know what I mean? “It’s not gross, it’s just about dancing ’til you stink.” It still kind of sounds like an adult club song, but it technically isn’t that, like Sarah was saying. So we liked that his team really work hard to ride the fine line.
Are you somewhat thankful that Cardi B came out with “Drip”? Do you think it was better to be “Stink” instead of “Drip,” or are you kind of sad you couldn’t have “Drip” at all?
Chris: It was really a blessing in disguise. When you go into production, you write so many things in the writer’s room and then so many things change when you go into production. Little things – like this change – that seem like a big deal at the time, or on that day, your brain is like, “Oh my God. If it’s not ‘Drip’ the whole show topples.” And then a week later, you completely forget that that was ever changed. So I actually even forgot that we changed the song until we started talking about it during press. I think it worked out totally fine.
Also, we wrote the lyrics, but it really came down to the actual music. The guy who wrote our music, Leland, just made it sound so real and cool. So I think the reason the song is good – if people think it is – is because of the hook and the actual music that he made. We just wrote like dumb ass little lyrics.
How do you even go about writing a song as catchy as “Stink”? Because I’ve honestly had it stuck in my head for months now.
Sarah: I mean the best way to write a catchy song is to – like Chris was saying – hire a legitimate songwriter who is known for writing amazing, catchy songs. So we delivered the lyrics, but the music is truly what makes it such an earworm. And Leland is just so good at just feeling what makes a pop song catchy and what makes a pop song memorable. And so, this was basically the first draft of the song he sent us. We were kind of like, “Hey, we’re thinking, some sort of pop song, like Ariana Grande, late-stage Justin Bieber-y,” and he was like, “Got it.” And then he does this and it was perfect. We never could have even gotten it on our own.
Chris: Yeah. We gave him more visual references as opposed to music references. I mean, I think [Shuli] says this in the show, but they’re basically moving ChaseDreams through different levels of fame. First, he was sweet and innocent, then he did a socially conscious gay song. And now he’s supposed to be sexy, which is disgusting because he’s a child, but the right amount of cool, you know? And Sarah and I, when we were researching videos of pop stars at this level of fame, when they start making big budget music videos, it’s like a little more money put behind it, but they still don’t have a ton of money. It’s just so many music videos are just a party in a parking garage, because they just get one car and then put a bunch of fog and it does look good, but it’s really not that much money if you think about it. There were a lot of Justin Bieber songs in particular that are just like, “me and my friends in a bunch of neon partying on a roof of a garage.” Just working with that aesthetic we kind of knew what the sound should be.
Shuli even says, “Now he’s a fuccboi.”
Chris: She said that, not us. We did not say that.
Yes, that was all her. Well in true fuccboi nature, I guess we’re supposed to note that Chase does not in fact dance until he stinks, or at all, during the video.
Chris: Mm-hmm.
Sarah: Yeah, he kind of just stands still while everyone dances around him.
Chris: Yeah, it’s a command he’s giving. He’s not doing it. He’s commanding other people to dance until they stink.
Sarah: There was just a theme that we realized watching a lot of these videos, that the star just kind of sings to camera while these amazing women are just doing so much hard work around them, like absolutely crushing it.
We’ve now heard and seen all three of the season’s song: “Marry U at Recess,” “My Brother’s Gay,” and now “Stink.” Are there any other ChaseDreams songs that you really wanted to do this season but had to drop, or were you fine with the number you ended up having?
Chris: We’ve talked about that a lot. We didn’t want to overwhelm the show and have a new song every episode. That’s not what the show is about first and foremost. We were trying to think of, realistically in a six month period, how many songs would a new artist put out? And three felt like about the absolute max. We just knew we didn’t want to repeat ourselves, so we tried to find new ways of going about it. So in episode four, we did a music video, and then in episode six, instead of just seeing the video, let’s see them make it. And then in episode 10, you’ll see a live performance. We tried to make sure that every time we showed his music or his world, it was coming at it from a different angle so we weren’t just doing the same thing over and over again.
Again, all of his songs are there hopefully to advance the plot, not just to be songs. So like obviously if the gay video was about Cary, then in this song, Brooke ends up dancing in it and it helps make her realize things about her life and her career. So we think they’re fun, but they also are doing more for the other two.
In terms of advancing the plot, how are you finding the process of keeping the balance the emotional heart and the more ridiculous parts of the series? Because this is also the episode where we find out about the Dubeks’ dad and how they’ve been lying to Chase, saying he died of cancer.
Sarah: Like Chris was saying, we like the series as a pop culture satire, but hopefully… We just tried to make that more of a backdrop and not the meat of the show. And so it’s kind of like, that thing that you just mentioned happens on Watch What Happens Live. But we’re not just at Watch What Happens Live for the fun of it. We are. But we’re also there to advance the plot and drop that ball about their family. And we liked that it let us have… Basically, having that happen in a public forum could only have happened because Chase is famous, but it is drama that the family would have to go through anyway and would have had to deal with because they decided to tell a son something different about the death of his father. It just so happens to come out on Watch What Happens Live because of his career.
Sarah: We try to keep that balance. But as a part of it, the show’s about the family and what they’re going through.
Well, we know Shuli’s intention is for Chase to be a fuccboi in the “Stink” video. But did you guys intend for Patrick Wilson to be a monster on Watch What Happens Live? Because that’s how I felt when he tells the sour cream/coffee prank story. It was the most disgusting and evil thing I’ve ever heard.
Chris: That is so funny. When you said Patrick Walton was a monster, I was like, “Let me think about it, I don’t remember.” He was so lovely. That was one of the few moments on set while we were shooting, when Sarah and I would turn to each other and just be like, “I cannot believe Patrick Wilson said yes to being on a fake Watch What Happens Live next fake Molly Shannon as Pat.” It was just very surreal and cool that he was just down and game and fun and happy and we felt very lucky to have him.
So he’s not really a monster.
Chris: He’s not a monster, we only made him say that disgusting line. I like that you were more disgusted by that than the lyrics to “Stink.”
Sarah: Chris, wasn’t Patrick the one to come up with the idea that we would be making a board game adaptation?
Chris: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it was.
Sarah: Which was great.
Yes, a Candyland movie is what he’s promoting at Watch What Happens Live. That was his idea?
Chris: Yeah, I think he pitched that.
Okay, he’s clearly not a monster then. But one last question: What is the best show on TV, Survivor or Watch What Happens Live?
Sarah: Whoa.
Chris: That’s tough because Watch What Happens Live let us shoot there and Survivor didn’t let us use footage of their show. That one is really tough. Oh God, I can’t deal with the ramifications of this answer.
Sarah: Let’s be honest, if you threw Real Housewives into the mix, then it’s a very clear cut answer.
