What began as a queer hockey drama has grown into a cultural phenomenon that took Splash, and Baton Rougeans, by storm this past weekend.
On Saturday, Feb. 7, Splash Nightclub threw a “Heated Rivalry” inspired rave, showcasing the music, quotes and edits that have made the show a powerhouse loved by millions worldwide.
Centered on Connor Storrie’s Ilya Rosanov and Hudson William’s Shane Hollander, the HBO Max series is about two professional hockey rivals who spark a steamy romance.
“Heated Rivalry” hit the ground running from its first episode, and it has only grown in popularity since the premiere. In its debut, the show accumulated 30 million streaming minutes; by the time the finale aired, the entire program had been streamed for over 324 million minutes.
From hockey fans who exclusively consume sports media to romance lovers who have never heard of the Stanley Cup trophy, the series has garnered attention from many different demographics. For some audiences, it provided a space to feel represented and understood.
“As a queer person, it’s always nice to see more queer representation in media,” sophomore English major Emma Lockeby said. “Seeing a genuine love story between queer people being normalized is so healing as someone who grew up thinking being queer was wrong.”
Experiencing a sense of belonging was a crucial aspect of Lockeby’s decision to attend the event.
“I knew there would be a lot of other queer people there,” Lockeby said. “I was hoping to meet people with common interests.”
For others, “Heated Rivalry” presented the opportunity to learn about struggles they don’t experience.
“As a straight woman, I had no idea what gay [people] went through when coming out,” senior philosophy major Bailey Hummel said. “I knew it had to be nerve-wracking but never like that — this show really opened my eyes.”
Outside of its personal impacts, the story made cultural waves.
Over the course of six episodes totaling to a 294 minute runtime, the drama became known for its energetic, synthy soundtrack, with hits including “All The Things She Said” by Harrison and “My Moon My Man” by Feist. In fact, the former has seen a streaming increase of over 100,000 percent since it first appeared in the show, despite having been released four years ago.
Given how synonymous “Heated Rivalry” has become with its tantalizing tracks, the music was precisely what many were looking forward to when they entered Splash.
“Everyone was excited to hear specific songs and see edits on the big screen,” political science junior Penelope Pagoaga said.
On TikTok, #HeatedRivalry currently has over half a million posts, with a majority of the videos being edits. Social media assisted in mobilizing the show; now, specific edits have gained renown on a scale nearly as large as the entire HBO story.
One of these is known in the fandom as the “Google Drive edit,” which earned its title after it got removed from TikTok for showing graphic content; fans going forward can now only watch the edit through a Google Drive link.
Just as Pagoaga expected, Splash followed the lead of several clubs across the country in projecting popular edits throughout the night. Perfectly in sync with the music, the edits would grab the attention of the audience sporadically, with many attendees yelling and cheering when their favorite videos began playing.
The Google Drive edit in particular took the cake for most audience engagement throughout the night. Because of its acclaim, guests on the dance floor and around the bar alike stopped in their tracks to sing along to “Big Ole Freak” by Megan Thee Stallion, cheering when standout scenes were included.
During quieter moments when fan edits didn’t take the spotlight, the TVs played the show with closed captions. From almost every corner of the club, attendees watched their favorite scenes, such as Kip and Scott’s meet cute and the infamous club scene between Shane and Ilya, which felt very meta in the smoky setting of Splash.
Though many guests were locked in on the screens, the spectacle of Splash’s “Heated Rivalry” night didn’t remain stagnant in 2D.
Drag queens Champagne Pop and Miss Thing headlined the entertainment with their drag shows centered on musical feuds throughout pop culture history. The pair finished off the night with a Taylor Swift and Charli XCX battle, bringing the recently-famed online beef to the stage.
Lockeby described the night as one for the books from start to finish.
“The DJ showed up and showed out,” Lockeby said. “The drag shows were so good, as always, and I had the time of my life with my friends.”
Despite most of the night being directly inspired by the moody show, Splash closed the event with line dances “Flex” and “Cowgirl Trailride,” drawing most of the crowd to the dancefloor before the night came to an end.
“Heated Rivalry” night was an undeniably successful party. Splash may not be Shane’s cottage, but the club provided a hat trick of fantastic music, spirited fandom and close community.
“I went in with no expectations and was speechless when I walked out,” Hummel said.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source lsureveille.com ’
