Ryan laughed. “I mean, yes.”
“Sellout.” And I elbowed her.
But she whipped off two songs—“Whiskey and Wine” and “Candy Girl”—when we got back to the studio.
Reddit user u/candygrrrl_1997
I’m sorry but it’s so obvious to me that Kylie’s model friends did something to Ryan. Ryan took Kylie from them, she got with a lot of their boyfriends, she made a lot of enemies. I mean, these girls were mega powerful. You don’t think they could have paid someone off to take her out and hush it up? Ur kidding yourself.
#RescueRyan
Helladonna,New York–based pop artist
I dunno, I always steered clear of Ryan Holding. Sure, she’s prolific. She’s worked hard. I’ll be the first to say that her output is insane—like, the girl must betired. Ryan is a lot, in every sense of the word.
But here’s the thing: She never struggled. Not like the rest of us.
Sure, everyone has their own journey, whatever, but I’ve never seen anyone shoot to fame as fast as she did. Ryan worked hard, but time and again, sheneverfaced rejection. Open doors at every turn. You want to learn the banjo? Boom, here’s an instrument and lessons every week. You want to travel around the country playing festivals? Boom, we can afford that. Move to Texas for a record contract?Boom, no problem, sweetie, we’ll just uproot our entire lives so you can follow your dreams.
I worked at the bodega down the street to buy my first Casio keyboard. My parents thought music was not only a phase but a terrible career path. I was scrapingpenniestogether. I played late-night bar shows forever and got total radio silence back from my demo tapes before I clawed my way into the industry. You’re talking to Victor!a for this project, right? I know for afactthat she went home to Ohio after two years of trying to make it in LA. Just went home and gave up and got a job at Kohl’s before she got a call back from her agent.
Artists like Victor!a and me, we earned our spot here.
But then here comes Ryan Holding, all sweet and perfect, beloved by all. Okay. And I did my best to be open minded, but you know what? I think she thinks she’s better than us.
In fact, Iknowshe does, wherever she is. Even now. The first time I met her at a party, she was gushing all over me,Oh wow, it’s so cool to meet you, I can’t believe I’m actually talking to Helladonna!And I was like, okay, we’re laying it on a little thick. But whatever, she was young and eager.
And then later that night, I’m walking back from the bathroom and what do I overhear? Ryan’s talking to her friend Mary or Martha or whoever and thinks no one’s listening, and she’s like, “Oh, Helladonna? No, I haven’t heard any of her albums, you know I don’t listen to pop. But you’ve gotta pretend to be a fan of everyone around here if you know what’s good for you.”
Yeah. The two of them laughed their heads off like it was the funniest thing they’d ever heard. And just a few years later she’s callingherselfa pop star?
You’ll excuse me if I’m underwhelmed.
She always had that big goofy grin on her face, acting all polite and interested at parties—until she’d drop it and roll her eyes when she thought no one was watching, usually after talking to those modelgirls. Like, that’s venomous. I’m not saying I could stand those catty bitches any more than she could; they’d put me down too. Plenty. Said my themed shows and costumes were tacky and I looked like a clown in all my stage makeup.
Which, by the way—you know I did all that first, right? I was here creating elaborate productions in sold-out stadiums before anyone knew Ryan Holding’s name. My Candy Wonderland tour grossed $52 million in 2012, way before Ryan started up on her derivative vaudeville bullshit. I just think it’s ...interestinghow some of our ideas have overlapped.
Anyways. Just don’t befake, you know? Don’t act like you think someone is the shit and then turn around and mock me to your little hick friend from Massachusetts.
I got the sense she felt she wasn’t “like other girls.” We know the ones, these days—they call them pick-me girls. I mean, Ryan’s whole second album had all these songs about being different, being the one the guy wassupposedto be with instead of his mean-ass girlfriend, right?
Not a girl’s girl. Not in that era.
With the party stuff, though—you don’t want to imbibe? No pressure. Everyone can do what makes them comfortable. But Ryan was like this, this almost comical Southern belle,Oh my me, I couldn’t have a seltzer! I’m not of age!Give me a break. We’re all drinking, we’re being shitty youths, you’re not special because you—I kid you not, she actually fucking did this once—you brought acrosswordto ahouse partyand sat down on the couch while everyone did shots around you.
I mean, just don’t come if you don’t want to be there?
I don’t know, man. I’m sorry that whatever happened to her happened to her. My grandma always said not to speak ill of the dead, and ... I mean, do we know for sure she’s still earthside? Did they ever arrest that McCarthy guy?
They’ll slander me for that, but it’s good for my engagement. Keep it coming, Ryde-or-Dies.
She wasn’t my cup of tea.
Nick Hoffmann,songwriter and guitarist of Socket Plug
I did first meet Ryan at a party. It was in Vegas, a particularly rowdy one. I was playing a show there when she was touring for her first album, and a buddy of mine was dating someone in Kylie Cameron’s crowd, so I tagged along.
It was in a suite that someone rented out at the top of the MGM Grand, overlooking the city. We took the elevator up, and you could hear the music pumping before the door even opened.
