Podcasts We Love: The Love Bomb
What better way to kick off a Podcasts We Love series than by choosing a, relatively new, podcast all about love. Nico Tortorella’s The Love Bomb is weekly therapy for the actor and his listeners. Each episode features Nico in conversation with someone he loves, or will love. This love doesn’t have to be a sexual one and the aim it to be as inclusive as possible. It’s about human connection.
Every person is more than their tagline
The Love Bomb is a podcast that truly develops each week, learning and growing, while maintaining a free and open dialogue. Nico speaks to people from all walks of life, people close to him and those unknown before they record. Every conversation is unique and there is no telling where it could go.
Why this podcast works so well, I think, is that Nico is an open book, an avid learner and someone who years to connect with people. He has a trusting innocence (although innocence isn’t quite the perfect word) that lends this project a safety net. The people that are engaged in these discussions can address or not address topics as they want, the conversations are steered by Nico, but are open to free movement with the people he speaks to. Often, those being interviewed will comment on what topics they are always asked because they are, for example, trans, or political, or spiritual. Importantly, these questions are never where the episodes stay. They don’t become fixed on sensationalism. There is always a breadth to the episode’s topics, reminding you that every person is more than their tagline.
Bisexual is a word with history
You might know Nico Tortorella from his starring role in the excellent show Younger. Part of the shows success has helped launch him into renown, backed up by his talented acting and, let’s be honest, good looks. Vanity though, isn’t one of the aspects most associated with the star. Rather what stuck with him, at least for the media, was his sexual fluidity.
At the start of The Love Bomb, Nico labelled himself as fluid, or “beyond definition”. His personal journey to exploring his sexuality and gender presentation is fluid and in flux. Through the first season of his podcast, and speaking to several bi identifying people, he learns more about bisexuality, the terminology and its history. From this, he decides to start using the word: bisexual. He remarks in one episode (S1e20) that:
“I wasn’t using labels for a really long time…and now I am really comfortable using the word bisexual, because it was a word that was fought for for a really long time by a lot of people and I refuse to take that away from a community”
This development with labels is a part of the lives of many people, be it sexuality, gender identity, race, kinks or whatever comes with labels. We try hard to discover the labels that fit us to give us a sense of community, a sense of belonging and normality. We aren’t the only odd ones out. The end goal for labels is to give them such visibility and recognition that they make themselves obsolete. You can identity, or not, because no-one is placing pre-conceived ideas about your identity onto you. It’s a dream world of the future, but a good goal to aim for.
This aspirational look at who we are as people can be, I think, surmised in the changing names of the episodes of The Love Bomb. In season 1, Nico titles the episodes: “A Man I Love Named…”, “A Girl I Love…” or “A Couple I Love…”. By the end of the season, Nico has realised something. That we are all human. We are all people and applying a term to someone, even causally or unintentionally, serves to limit them and place them in a box of your choosing. So, for season 2, each episode is “A Human I Love Named…”.
The Love Bomb is entertaining, funny, inciteful and loving, all great things to strive for and a beacon of hope during a difficult year.
5 favourite episodes of The Love Bomb
There have been almost 40 episodes of Nico’s The Love Bomb so far, here are 5 of our favourite episodes (but they are all so good):
- S1E1: A Girl I Love Named Bethany — Nico sits down with his life love Bethany Meyers to talk about who they are to each other.
- S1E7: A Renaissance Man I Love Named Eric — Nico is joined by Eric Rutherford to talk about sobriety, modelling and his heart wrenching story of adoption.
- S1E20: Twins I Love Named Coco And Breezy — Nico speaks to Coco and Breezy about a lack of labels, their fashion brand and the differences as twins.
- S2E9: A Human I Love Named Janeane — “Nico sits down with comedy legend Janeane Garofalo to talk all things sobriety, industry, inspiration, feminism, asexuality, and cynicism vs pragmatism.”
- S2E12: Humans I Love Named Ja’asriel And Patrick — Nico is joined by Ja’asriel Bishop and Patrick Turner to hear their amazing story of falling in love, poetry, making sacrifices, Guyanese culture, and living in New York City.”
