OTR: Olive Klug, Singer-Song writer and TikTok Sensation

Olive Klug sings and plays guitar at their Cat in the Cream concert.

Photo by Abe Frato

Arts and Culture Editor

Olive Klug, a contemporary folk singer-songwriter, performed at the Cat in the Cream last Sunday. Klug played some new, unreleased songs as well as fan favorites. Klug released singles in the spring and summer of 2021 after their TikTok videos singing the songs gained positive attention. Since then, Klug joined Jukebox the Ghost on tour for two weeks and has performed with other artists such as Semler, Mal Blum, and Henry Jamison. Klug continues to post on TikTok to their over 140,000 followers and has recently signed with a label. Klug shared with the Review their thoughts behind their music, journey, and social media.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Honestly it was terrible, but in a lot of ways, it was really great for me — I majored in psychology, and I was on the path to grad school, working at a rehab facility, so that was really intense. I was burned out already after only working in the field for three months, and I was like, “I don’t know if I want to do this. This is a lot to commit to for an entire career.” The pandemic kind of forced me to take a step back and figure out what I really wanted and just gave me a lot of time to think and actually get to know myself outside of the context of school or working. Yes, it sucked and it was really depressing for a lot of it, but I learned a lot about myself.

I think one of my favorite songs I’ve written is called “Parched,” which I wrote probably a year ago, but it’s not out yet. It’s about a relationship that I was in that I knew was bad for me, but I stayed in it and I knew that I was giving more than the other person was giving back. I wrote a song about it and I really liked the lyrics, but I also added this new layer of production, and we added piano and this really cool electronic melodica thing. There’s a portion at the end where I am doing really messy harmonies purposely, and adding that layer has been so fun and has brought a new light to the song that I love. I’m really excited to release it. three months to get everything together. Now, we’re setting release dates and it’s all six weeks apart. So, I’m releasing six singles, six weeks apart, and then the full album. I think there are a few songs I’m releasing that I will have written two years before they get released, which is really funny.

I think so. I don’t know if you listen to Lucy Dacus, but a line in one of her songs, “In five years I hope the songs feel like covers” — they do end up feeling like covers sometimes, my really old songs. I’m not emotionally attached anymore. It literally feels like somebody else wrote it and is playing it. Then, there are songs that I wrote more recently and I really like and feel are still relevant. But with “Raining in June,” which is one of my more popular songs, I’m like, “I didn’t write this, what?” every time I play it, because I wrote it three years ago.

It’s a really good tool to figure out what I’m feeling. Sometimes I’m feeling obvious turmoil, but I don’t know what it’s about. Then, I start writing a song and I figure out what I’m feeling through that, which is really cool. That’s why it’s been a difficult transition to go from music being this thing that I use to process my emotions to being a job. Because sometimes, it’s just not conducive. It’s more like, “I’m having inner turmoil, let me figure it out through writing a song.” But I don’t feel that every day — I can’t force myself to write something good.

It stresses me out. I love the performing aspect of it. Last night I went back to my hotel and thought, “This is so cool that I just get to do this and get paid for it.” But producing content constantly is really stressful for me. Especially because we live in the TikTok world. I thought that was great for me at first, but now that I’m expected to make a TikTok a day, I can’t be original. I can’t keep people interested. I wouldn’t wanna watch someone every day. Why would I expect people to watch me every day? The constant production of new content is a lot.

It’s different with every song, for sure. But I recently signed to a label, which is exciting and means that I have support, but it also means that they are on a very specific schedule with releases. I had to be boarded onto the label, which took a couple of months. That started in June, and then it took about

I remember in high school I listened to Mal Blum, who is now my friend, which is so weird. There were not a lot of queer people making singer-songwriter folk music. I think there was King Princess, and that wasn’t even high school, that was when I first got to college. There was also Tegan and Sara

Olive Klug plays piano at the Cat in the Cream. Photo by Abe Frato

Olive Klug looks out over their audience.

Photo by Abe Frato

and some pop music that was openly queer, but not a lot of singer-songwriter folk music that was vulnerable. I was playing a show with Kevin Atwater a couple of weeks ago, and his music is so vulnerable and so much about the queer experience. I started crying while he was playing because I realized that we are making music that didn’t exist a couple years ago. There was such a lack of that back in 2015 when I was in high school.

This isn’t about music directly, but I have never been into fashion. I’ve just always worn whatever. When I started having to present myself more publicly, I had to ask myself, “How do I want to do this?” I feel so uncomfortable wearing dresses, but I also don’t want to wear super formal menswear. I just had to figure out how I wanted to present myself. That is also how I process my own gender identity, which is really cool. I avoided thinking about presenting myself to the world for so long; now I have to think about this.

Editor-in-Chief

A Turk and an Indian walked into a punchline in a bar on Main Street and asked the barkeep for a pint of Guinness each. Sitting down to nurse their much needed draughts of life-giving barley juice, the two best friends poured out the tragedies of their lives. As the pints drained away, conversation turned to the most pressing problem:

KK: How can I tell if someone is flirting with me?

AA: I don’t know, but if you ever find out, let me know.

So, in a state not nearly inebriated enough to warrant such an idea, this moderately unhinged pair agreed to write an article. They set out to demystify the cruel and treacherous waters of Oberlin flirtations.

AA: Let’s get real for a hot second. Does anyone really know how to flirt? What even is flirting? My experience so far of flirting with people has been mainly just being weird. If they match your level of weirdness, there you go, you found yourself an Obie. Probably. Maybe. I wouldn’t trust myself; you shouldn’t either.

KK: I should interject to say I don’t trust you, and it sounds very much like you can’t flirt worth a dime. I should also say your conduct is embarrassing, but I’m constantly going out to dinner either unaware it’s a date, or worse, wrongly assuming it is. Honestly, the genuinely mortifying part of all of this is: we’re not the only ones!

AA: This campus is so bad at flirting that there have been several dating apps developed by students to compensate for this incompetency. Not only apps, but also Instagram accounts! Paire, obieconfessions, and even the College felt so bad for us that Mudd Center brought back blind dates! Yo, wanna elaborate on that, editor boy?

KK: Well, if we’re spilling state secrets — yes, I went on a blind date once. It was on Zoom. The Grape both orchestrated and published an article about it. My parents and brother read that article and laughed at my immaculate “moves.” Tragically, I wore my date-night sweater with a shawl collar and elbow patches, and I like to think I looked spiffy … my words, on the other hand, were a travesty.

AA: You know what else is causing these flirting failures? Intimidation. It is hard to just walk up to someone and make it clear that you like them. Playing with hair, caressing their arm, laughing at even the dumbest of jokes, giggling, complimenting them, putting your hand on their back, making them feel like they are the center of the room, and in general making yourself vulnerable and leaving yourself at their mercy all sounds very romantic and flirty until the other person goes, “Not interested, bud.” Boom! That didn’t actually happen, but the fear and the possibility are real.

Is flirting dead? Are we only left with “wyd”s? But who am I to judge — I’m the most oblivious person ever and have attachment issues enough for the entire campus!

KK: The romantic disasters that Obies are, even when we do hit it off with someone during a night on the town, we can’t seem to help but stumble carelessly into the friendzone. Every time a couple walks through the Arb I can just imagine a shadowy outline on the horizon claiming two new souls for the FZ. Inevitably though, Oberlin is so small that you will either fall for a friend or just flounder through a tinder date with someone who will eventually become your lab partner.

AA: A friend of mine once went on a Tinder date to Kim’s. They came back all confused and said, “I don’t think this was a date, I think it was one of those friend things. Although his friends did act weird when they saw us together, they made innuendos, I think. My date got flustered and shooed them away.” All at once, the rest of us screeched, “And you don’t think that was a date?” The friend continued, “I mean, I don’t think he was flirting with me. Personally, I didn’t know how. I just made eye-contact — unlike daily life.” Oh, honey, he was flirting with you, which is probably why he got flustered. But to be fair, I’ve been there.

KK: Unfortunately, it’s also possible to swing too far in the other direction, and assume too much.

AA: A different friend of mine said to me, “Well … we were supposed to watch this animated series that he likes very much, so I went to his place. Everything was ready, the laptop and the popcorn were on his bed. I was putting my backpack down and taking off my coat when I realized he went silent. I turned back to see what was up with him, until I realized nothing was. He was naked. No sight of either the laptop nor the popcorn. And I thought, ‘Welp, I guess we are not watching the show.”

With the Guinness knocked back, and the bar on Main Street shuttering its doors, these world-wisened writers wondered why their flirting was altogether so appalling. Why did it seem like everyone around them was so equally hopeless? Casting these thoughts aside, the two knew what to do next: leave the bar and head home.

AA: By the way Kar, wyd tonight ;)

Emily Vaughan Opinions Editor

Last Tuesday, it was revealed that Ned Fulmer, formerly one-quarter of YouTube’s now-trio The Try Guys, had cheated on his wife, with whom he shares two children. This came as a shock to many, given Fulmer’s long-standing reputation as the Try Guy who was constantly talking about his wife. But for others, this was not a shock for the exact same reason.

This isn’t the first time that a man who publicly shares (almost to the point of excess) how much he loves his partner has been discovered to have been cheating on them. In late 2021, actor Anthony Ramos, who constantly spoke about his fiancée and behaved in an unrelentingly loving manner, was discovered to be cheating on her. These “wife guys,” as they have been dubbed by the internet, have made a brand out of their commitment to their partners, never missing an opportunity to mention how much they love them. A significant part of Fulmer’s online personality was being a man who loved his wife. Much of the content that he shared and created online centered around his personal life and family.

Any and all cheating in a romantic relationship is disgraceful and inexcusable. In Fulmer’s case, though, the cheating was made even worse by the fact that the person he had an affair with was a younger employee of his company. Despite Fulmer’s claims that he engaged in a “consensual workplace relationship,” Kelsey Darragh, a former friend and coworker of Fulmer’s, stated in an Instagram story that, in her opinion, “there’s no such thing as a consensual workplace environment when there is a dynamic of power involved.”

This was partly confirmed in a video released by The Try Guys’ official YouTube channel titled “what happened,” in which the remaining members of the group, Eugene Lee Yang, Keith Habersberger, and Zach Kornfeld, confirmed that Fulmer had been released from the company following an internal investigation. In the video, Yang said, “We were acutely aware of just how contrary this was to the values of the company we’ve built and those of everyone who works here.”

It is very concerning that a man who made loving and respecting his wife so much of his online persona is the same man who cheated on her with someone over whom he held significant power in the workplace. This affair goes against what Fulmer stood for publicly. It creates reason to question Fulmer’s morals, values, and public statements about respect and relationships. Fulmer often spoke in interviews and videos about his relationship and gave relationship advice. In one such interview, he told the interviewer that “mutual admiration and respect, as well as communication” is the secret to a great relationship. Cheating on his wife shows a clear lack of respect and communication, as does engaging in a secret workplace relationship with an employee.

Additionally, the majority of the Try Guys’ audience is made up of young women. He was respected and admired by many viewers for his unrelenting love for and commitment to his wife and how public he was about his marriage. Though he did admit that some aspects of this were played up a bit for show, he maintained that his attitude and behavior were genuine. Fulmer had a longstanding reputation outside of his primary audience as “the Try Guy who loves his wife and kids.” When I told one of my friends that he had cheated on his wife with an employee of his, their response was along the lines of, “Ned? The one who’s obsessed with his wife?”

While it might not make a lot of sense to place a large amount of faith and trust into a man on the internet, the news of Fulmer cheating was deeply disappointing to many fans. Fulmer has had an online presence since 2014, and many people have grown up watching him wax poetic about his relationship and his wife. He set an example of what a healthy marriage looked like and profited off of that image. He and his wife even had a podcast together in which they talked about relationships and parenting. Now his commitment has been called into question as his actions behind closed doors have come to light.

We have yet to see what will happen with Fulmer’s marriage following his egregious behavior. What is certain is that he threw away a career and a trusting audience for an inappropriate relationship. Dating one’s employee is never acceptable, regardless of the relationship status of the parties involved. This also serves as a warning to the general public: don’t trust a “wife guy.” It might just be a front.

Ned Fulmer has been removed from the Try Guys after engaging in an extramarital relationship with an employee. Photo Courtesy of OtakuKart

President Ambar and Dean Quillen speak in Finney Chapel. Photo By Abe Frato

Conservatory Editor

The Oberlin Conservatory Orchestra, along with a number of Oberlin choirs, will be heading to New York City’s Carnegie Hall twice in the upcoming months. On Dec. 2, they will perform three selections — Beethoven’s “Ninth Symphony,” Rachmaninoff’s “Piano Concerto No. 2,” and Adolphus Hailstork’s “Fanfare on Amazing Grace” — for a closed audience of U.N. General Assembly members.

On Jan. 20, during Winter Term, Oberlin’s choirs and orchestra will play a concert for a general audience at Carnegie Hall. This program will feature Robert Nathaniel Dett’s oratorio “The Ordering of Moses,” Iván Enrique Rodríguez’s Metaphor for Power,” and Brahms’ “Tragic Overture.” Students from the Oberlin Gospel Choir, Oberlin College Choir, Oberlin Musical Union, and Conservatory voice students will be performing.

Dett’s 1932 oratorio “The Ordering of Moses” tells the biblical story of Moses being called by God to liberate his people, the Israelites, from slavery in Egypt as a metaphor for the plight of Black Americans. Composed for his senior thesis at the Eastman School of Music in 1932, Dett’s work combines the classical elements of composers like Beethoven and Handel with the work of Black musicians, including his grandmother, who inspired his incorporation of Black spirituals in the composition.

The Conservatory’s U.N. performance is an extension of a joint collaboration between Oberlin College and Conservatory, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, and the Global Foundation for the Performing Arts. The collaboration will use the theme of joy as a unifying message for the U.N. performance.

Brass students auditioned for the second Carnegie Hall tour during the spring semester. For string players, to determine placement were conducted Sept. 10.

The Conservatory originally planned to inform students of their inclusion in the Carnegie Hall tour Sept. 19, but ultimately delayed the announcement until Sept. 29. In addition to the confusion about the dates, students are also unsure as to why there are discrepancies between the rosters for the U.N. and the rosters for the general audience.

Evan Beechy, a second-year Conservatory trombonist, was concerned that the process would give the wrong impression for students who were not selected.

“It’s really good for me because I have very little experience playing in really big halls and doing really cool things with an orchestra, but it’s kind of bittersweet because a lot of the other people didn’t get to go,” Beechy said. “We’re all good at what we do, but it’s almost alienating those who didn’t get to go. The entire chorus gets to go twice, but other sections really only get to go once. I’m glad I’m going, but it’s really a weird situation.”

However, Beechey’s thoughts were not universally shared among is Conservatory peers. For second-year Conservatory cellist Michael Bridges, the chance to perform at Carnegie Hall is really exciting.

“I’ve heard from my friends that the music is quite hard, but I’m still so excited to just have the opportunity to go to New York City and play in that beautiful hall,” Bridges said.

President Carmen Twillie Ambar addressed the orchestra and choir during the campus-wide power outage on Monday evening and she implored them to remember the unique position they are in. Previously, the U.N. has mostly only hired professional orchestras, so the inclusion of Oberlin in the U.N. program represents a departure from precedent.

Planning both of these trips has not been without challenges. Because the first trip will take place during the semester, the Oberlin Conservatory administration has had to carefully plan how exactly they will carry out this mission.

“It happens, of course, during the regular semester, which creates a lot of logistical issues because … classes are going on,” Conservatory Orchestral Conductor Raphael Jimenez said. “We need to make this happen around everything going on — classes and lessons.”

Yet the importance of the performances has not been lost on Jímenez.

“What I am the most excited about is that both programs give us the opportunity to address some of the most wonderful desires and rights for people — the right to freedom and the right to be happy,” Jimenez said.

Students hoping to hear pieces from the Winter Term performance can tune in Oct. 13 at 7:30 p.m. for a concert in Finney Chapel, which will also be live streamed through Oberlin Conservatory Productions.

Walter Thomas-Patterson Conservatory Editor

Italian Opera met American Jazz this past Tuesday with the return of Rhiannon Giddens, OC ’00, as part of Oberlin Conservatory’s Artist Recital Series. Giddens played alongside multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi and bass player Jason Sypher. The trio performed pieces from their Grammy-award winning album, They’re Calling me Home. The concert cannot be easily categorized, for it contained genres including classical arias, folk songs, Black spirituals, and jazz, all of which were layered together in Giddens’ voice.

I was a bit startled by Giddens’ presentation at first. She was barefoot on a rug, which is something I had not seen in a musical performance before. She maintained a physical embodiment of and involvement in the music throughout the performance.

Despite the grand setting of Finney Chapel, the atmosphere of the concert was not so much formal as it was whimsical. There was no program, and although it had been announced that Giddens would perform pieces from her album, she moved far beyond that. She reached parts of my musical consciousness that were previously unknown to me — amytaste shaped so rigidly by the strict Classicism of Beethoven and baroque fugues of Bach — that Giddens’ performance was almost destabilizing. While I was genuinely surprised by how many peopIe came out to see a matinee performance on a quiet Tuesday afternoon, I could not help but notice just how unaffected Giddens seemed by all of it.

The musical chemistry between Giddens and Turrisi was palpable throughout the performance. Turrisi, at times gently strumming his banjo or improvising jazz tunes on the piano, always maintained a deep connection with Giddens, as she sang. Soft-spoken and gentle, Turrisi was educated at the Hague Conservatory in the Netherlands in American jazz piano with a minor in early music but explored blues and other genres post-graduation. You could sense that they could feel each other’s musical souls at an intrinsic level.

As much as she was a performer, Giddens was also a musicologist, sojourning through swaths of musical history buried and forgotten by mainstream audiences in each piece she performed. Giddens sought to shed light on pieces that had been lost in the riddle of history. Particularly, she was aware of the way jazz and blues songs written by Black artists in the early 20th century had been co-opted by white musicians to be used for racist minstrel shows.

What struck me most about Giddens’ work was how she related musical and historical performance. Embedded in each of her performances was a recognition that performing music must involve a deep understanding of the period it emerges from.

Michael Takahashi holds a plaque from a chess tournament. Courtesy of Michael Takahashi

This August, Conservatory third-year Michael Takahashi became the fourth Iowan and second Oberlin student to pass the 2200 rating threshold and become a Chess National Master after his second-round win at the 2022 Minnesota International Chess Festival. This is a title that less than 1 percent of all competitive chess players achieve in their career. Hailing from Iowa City, Iowa, he is currently studying Percussion Performance.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

I started playing chess in January 2010, when I was seven. My parents always tried to give me opportunities to do different things, so I was in the exploration phase of my life. I came to chess and it really just stuck with me. I remember being very excited when my dad announced to me that he was getting me a United States Chess Federation membership, and that’s really where it all began. Eight-year-old Michael said that was the best day of his life.

I’ve had two incredible parents who are the reason I am here. My mom worked long hours at the VA, 8–12 hour shifts, and would come home and work with me on a chess book. She would take her own vacation days to take me to national events. My mom is an incredible mother, and it almost gives me chills thinking about the sacrifices she made for me to help me achieve my dream. My mentors have been the two best teachers because they’ve helped me not only with chess but also with finding my identity in life. Now, being a teacher myself, I’m asking, “Can I give back those same opportunities I received as a kid and help somebody else achieve their dream?” For me, that’s the most fulfilling thing.

What really stood out to me in being the second Oberlin student and fourth Iowan is that I had a very different path than other people. Walker Griggs, OC ’17, came into Oberlin already a National Master, and a lot of my friends clinched National Master when they were 14–18, whereas I clinched it when I was 20. For me, it goes full circle because I’ve had to endure a lot of adversity with my ADHD, which made it challenging for me to focus. The first thing I thought of was what made my journey unique. I didn’t clinch National Master when I was 12, and maybe that was the right path for me. I just feel blessed and grateful.

National Master has always been a goal for me. Aside from the name recognition, it’s a big deal because when you become much better at chess, you can lose perspective on just how much you have grown. I look back now and think, “Wow, this was actually a tough ride.” The fact that less than 1 percent of U.S. players earn this title means a lot to me because it shows the sacrifices myself and others have made for me to have pursued and earned this title.

In terms of goals, my current goal is to keep improving. Of course I’m trying to do the best I can and become Grand Master, but instead of any particular title, the goal for me is to be the best player I can be. Something I always like to say is, “Focus on your improvement, and the rating will follow.” If I can do the right things in my training and continue what got me to National Master, I can keep improving and win more titles. Aside from any title, my goal in chess is to have people remember me not as a National Master but as someone who worked hard, played the game the right way, gave back to his community, served the people, and helped others achieve their dreams. What speaks to me more than titles is what I’ve contributed and what I’ve done.

I have trouble focusing for longer periods of time, which hurts me in the sense that I can lose the thread really easily when I’m doing tactics or calculations. Executive functioning and staying focused are a little more challenging for me. I think it does contribute to my success because I have to come up with other solutions to problems I face with my autism and ADHD. I feel it’s made me more creative, resourceful, and resilient. I’ve had to deal with a lot, but when I have a tough tournament, I remind myself that I’ve gone through many tough things, and I can get through this too. I always try to make my ADHD and autism my superpower as much as I can, but I also use them as inspiration.

Continued from page 16

the entirety of the match to hype up the crowd with fan favorites like Noon, Pau, and Yeo Baby! Denison won’t know what’s coming. BEAT BIG RED!

VERDICT: Oberlin.

Suit: Suits are pretty hot, both attraction-wise and heat-wise.

Polo: In elementary school, there was a boy who wore a black-and-white striped polo shirt to school almost every day and refereed soccer and lacrosse games during recess. I think he’s doing okay now, so I guess it works? — Kayla

Athletic gear: It’s the most comfortable out of the three. Who wouldn’t want to be in sweats coaching a game?

VERDICT: Athletic.

It’s so obvious — the alumni have more years under their belt. They will always be more experienced, whether they just graduated or are retired from their corporate professions.

VERDICT: The answer is always yes.

Contributing Sports Editor

Last weekend, both tennis teams played their final matches of the fall season at the Ashland University Doubles Invitational. While the men’s team struggled, the women’s team, which won third place in the 2021–22 North Coast Atlantic Conference tournament, continued to excel, setting a high bar for the spring season.

Doubles partners first-year Lydia Zafeiri and fourth-year captain Dina Nouaime won four out of their five matches, their only loss a tantalizingly close match against Saginaw State Valley University, which ended 9–8 (7–5). One of their wins was against fellow NCAC school The College of Wooster. Their performances were a vast improvement from their winless finishes at the Kenyon Invitational a couple weeks prior.

Despite the long periods of play and inclement weather, Zafeiri focused on supporting her teammates and being in the moment.

“In every match, I was going in focused … and forgetting about the previous match, trying to play my best tennis, and cheering for my teammates,” Zafeiri said. “As an athlete, I was always focused on playing point by point, so then I’m not influenced about something that didn’t go well because then you continue to [make] mistakes. I just isolate myself and just focus on what I have to do.”

Marta Laska and Anna Pastore compete together.

Courtesy of Oberlin Athletics

Oberlin’s second doubles pair, second-years Anna Pastore and Marta Laska, came off of a successful first season in which they earned All-NCAC honors. In addition, Laska won against last year’s NCAC player of the year and Pastore won the team’s Most Valuable Player award.

During the match, Pastore and Laska were able to finish 4–2, and just like Nouaime and Zafeiri, they also snagged a victory against Wooster, beating Charitha Patlolla and Kim Nguyen 8–2. For Laska, this is an accomplishment she is especially proud of since a match against the Wooster pair last year went into a tiebreak. Despite the lack of doubles experience before coming to Oberlin, Laska credits the duo’s contrasting playing styles and personalities, and sees it as an important asset for their future matches.

“Anna is more emotional and energetic, whereas I always try to stay calm on court,” Laska wrote in an email to the Review. “We’re also different players, [while] I like to be safe (I can play a few minute points with a lot of lobbying and slicing), Anna is more aggressive and is brave enough to take risks. This year we had a chance to play better teams, and we now can learn how to lose and how to fight even when your opponents are better than you. So, this weekend helped me to understand that there’s a lot of room for further improvement.”

While there are only four active members on women’s tennis right now, the full team will reconvene for the spring season.