Jake Shane Is In His Pop Star Era

Being a pop star is a dream that most kids leave behind as they get older, but not Jake Shane. At 25, the content creator and Therapuss podcast host is fresh off his live tour and making his musical dreams come true with the release of his first-ever comedy album, Puss & Poems.

For Shane, it’s about connecting with others. “A pop star is someone who's willing to be vulnerable publicly and share it with people,” he tells me. “Anyone can be a pop star.”

We’re sitting on the couch in Alexander 23’s home studio a week before the album’s release for an intimate discussion about each track, plus a live acoustic version of one of the songs they plan to perform for Shane’s fans, the Pussies, a few days later. This studio is where the TikToker and musician and producer Alexander 23 worked on the album together for the last eight months. You can sense they feel comfortable getting back into the space they’ve worked so hard in, like they’re ready to start on a new project.

When I first found out I’d be visiting Alexander 23’s studio, I pictured a corporate building in Downtown LA or West Hollywood where musicians like Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter might stop by to lay some tracks on their latest record. I completely forgot that nowadays, with the right equipment, you can build your own studio at home.

Of course, Alexander 23’s place in the trendy Silver Lake neighborhood of LA, right around the corner from an Erewhon, was anything but a makeshift studio. The setup on the second floor was cozy and ‘70s-inspired, with earthy tones, a boho chic rug, and potted plants above a fireplace blocked by a keyboard. As much as I admired the decor and sloth plushie sitting in the corner, it’s the gorgeous view of LA’s downtown skyline that immediately caught my eye.

With musical instruments off in the corner and a candle lit on the table, it’s a space open for creativity and collaboration, which is exactly what happened between Shane and Alexander 23. The idea of Puss & Poems started in February when the 29-year-old, known for working with Olivia Rodrigo, Reneé Rapp, and Tate McRae, was a guest on Shane’s March 27 episode.

“He came on my podcast and I was like, ‘Will you bring your guitar so we can sing one of my poems that I write?’ And we sang ‘JetBlue,’” says Shane of the poem-turned-song he wrote after his luggage was lost last summer. It’s the first track Shane wrote with Alexander 23, and it has a singer-songwritery vibe like Oasis’ “Wonderwall.”

I became genuinely delusional at times.

The two, who met at Rapp’s Snow Angel after-party just a year ago, initially joked about making a full-length album. “It just gradually became like, ‘Oh, wait. We're actually making this,’” Alexander 23 says. When the two finally got in the studio together, Shane brought in another poem he had written — this one about his infamous beef with the sushi restaurant Sugarfish, after they refused to give him a side order of rice.

Most of the Puss & Poems tracks are inspired by viral moments Shane has shared online with varying melodies that take inspiration from different artists like Rodrigo, McRae, and Charli XCX.

Listening to the album, I could tell there’s a song on the record for everyone who had a pop princess darling in their Spotify Wrapped. There’s “Things I Hate” that feels like Rodrigo’s “All-American B*tch,” “Pharmacist” is a McRae-like bop about a time CVS didn’t have his meds, and “Denim on Denim,” about a date gone wrong. The latter is actually my favorite from the album, and the one Shane says Swifties, like myself, will appreciate the most. “It tells a proper story.”

Shane was heavily inspired by the Grammy-winning songwriter while working on Puss & Poems. Not only was Swift was one of his many musical inspirations growing up, but he also borrowed a few of her go-tos for writing in the studio.

“You put the laptop up Taylor-style,” Alexander 23 says about Shane’s process of recording behind-the-scenes content while working. He also sent voice memos to his producer at odd hours of the night, which is something Swift is known to do with her collaborators. “Before I write it down, I just text Alexander a voice note because sometimes you can't hear the rhyme scheme over pen and paper. I just say it into a voice note and send it to him,” Shane says.

Stepping into Swift’s shoes and following her process is all part of the act Shane says you have to play if you want to make a record. “I became genuinely delusional at times.”

I literally just called up Snooki as we were recording the song.

Alexander 23 likens getting into the studio to “method acting.” You have to act and think like a pop star in order to become one. There must be something about having a keyboard, guitars, and microphones in front of you that really does feed into those delulu thoughts, because Shane and Alexander 23 were making me believe I could also write an album as fun as Puss & Poems.

“Seriously. Anyone can,” Shane says. “I'm just lucky that I had a super producer to do it with me.” But he isn’t giving himself enough credit. Alexander 23 chimes in, “Jake was coming in with fire melodies. He definitely was in the driver's seat, and I was just there to support and shape it.”

Something else that Shane has? A long list of celebrity friends willing to support his pop star dreams. Puss & Poems features stars like Joe Jonas, McCrae, Jack Schlossberg, and Snooki in comedy skits between tracks. “Alexander got Jack, we both asked Joe and Tate, and I literally just called up Snooki as we were recording the song,” Shane says. “I was like, will you send me a voice note of you doing this really quickly? It was very easy.”

Having a roster of celebs to call up is one thing, but A-listers down to appear on your first-ever album is something only Shane can do. And as Alexander 23 says, the whole process was “stunningly easy.” But the duo isn’t finished.

“We're already talking about the Deluxe version of Puss & Poems. I sent Alexander my ideas for it last night — I sent him two voice notes,” Shane says.

“It's just going to be better and better and better,” Alexander 23 adds.

They also have plans to work on another project. “I can't imagine not doing a second album,” Alexander 23 says. As far as a tour goes, the TikToker doesn’t have plans for that just yet, as he’s been performing songs off Puss & Poems at his live podcast shows.

At the end of my time with them in the studio, the two rehearsed an acoustic version of “JetBlue,” which they later performed at Shane’s Therapuss show in LA a couple of days later. “I don't know how I'm going to do that in front of a live audience,” Shane says. “I'm kind of panicking.” (Spoiler alert: I attended the show and he killed it, with a sold-out audience clapping and singing along.)

He also didn’t need to worry about the success of Puss & Poems. His streaming milestones for the album were “100,000 streams on the overall album” in its first year. That’s something Shane achieved less than 24 hours after it was released.

After spending the day in the studio, it’s never been clearer to me that one should never give up on their pop star dreams — especially if their name is Jake Shane.