Spot On: Where Psychic Card Readers Meet Music | A Review
Reviewing the first episode of the latest passion project from one of the minds behind Kenny Beats’ The Cave Series
Spot On is the new and upcoming web series starring Porsche Little, a psychic who invites musical guests and performs tarot card readings for them. Not only is the idea a niche one, and breaks the traditional interview style of other web series, but the man behind the scenes is none other than Aris Chatman.
Aris is a director, editor and photographer who has worked with the likes of Channel Tres, Zack Fox and IDLES. Moreover, he was the creative genius behind Kenny Beats’ YouTube series The Cave. Filming and editing arguably one of the best hip-hop series on the platform. I talked about my love for the series back in 2021, and my thoughts still ring true. I was lucky enough to have Aris reach out to me via Instagram earlier this week where he talked about this new endeavor: Spot On. I had the chance to check out the first episode before it drops on November 12th, here are my thoughts.
For the first episode of Spot On, Porsche does some spiritual reading on West Coast rapper Buddy. She firsts asks Buddy to pray to a spirit and ask for anything he wants to reveal today. As Porsche shuffles the deck of cards, she asks for guidance on where Buddy was in his past, present and his future. She then reveals the cards that we picked for Buddy, and explains they’re meanings to him in great detail.
As someone that knows pretty much nothing about Tarot card reading, Porsche does an excellent job at explaining how it works, but more specifically what each card means and how it relates to Buddy. Through their conversations you can see how Buddy correlates his own experiences to what Porsche drew from the deck, for example he talks about having to restructure his crew and fire people in the past, exactly pairing with the card that symbolizes the loss of opportunity due to not having the right team.
The back and forth between Porsche and Buddy is a big highlight, you can tell he’s genuinely interested in the subject matter and cracks a few jokes in between, at one point throwing off Porsche in the beginning when she was shuffling the cards. Another moment when Porsche delves into romance and reveals a card that’s tied to Buddy’s romantic life, he doesn’t hesitate to learn more about it which made the interaction incredibly funny thanks to his reaction. As a host, Porsche is great and I’m excited to see how she’ll interact with other guests in future episodes.
I also have to commend Aris and his team for the editing and cinematography throughout the episode. As Porsche refers to the cards, Aris pulls them up on screen with these quick animations to show viewers. The use of some tracking shots like when Buddy gets excited about a revelation at one point makes the scene stand out even more. Even the short musical cues are an added bonus and help accentuate a lot of Buddy’s reactions with Porsche.
Towards the end of the episode, Porsche explains one of the final cards to Buddy that could deal an amount of stress for him as the year goes on, he’s shocked but humbled and fully agrees that he knows what he needs to do. After the whole session where he learns his faults and where his energy lies, you can tell he had sense of relief and finishes his session off on a high note.
What I loved about this first episode of Spot On is that it’s more focused on the inner workings of what the guest is thinking. Not so much on just their work or music, but the artist themself. What they’re going through, how certain things are affecting them but revelations about what they can do about them. I left with the impression that Spot On is not like your typical interview type series, and it’s got me very intrigued to see what Porsche Little, Aris Chatman and the rest of the crew have in store as the series continues.
Overall I really liked this first look at Spot On. As Aris’ next series after The Cave I think this is a pretty cool idea and something very different. Porsche is a great host who does a good job explaining the Tarot card reading process and drawing cards that align with what the guest is thinking of/going through. Also Buddy is a nice addition with his humour and camaraderie throughout the whole episode.
If your a fan of music and Tarot card reading, I highly recommend checking out the first episode of Spot On when it drops November 12th. I’m excited to see where this series goes and what other guests might show up for a spiritual reading (fingers crossed for Zack Fox). I think this will be a very interesting take on your typical interview style of web series’, it’s something fresh and new and if this first look is any indication, Spot On will be a series to really look forward to.
