All Episodes
Displaying episodes 1 - 30 of 187 in total
NIRVANA (with Bandsplain's Yasi Salek)
Bandsplain’s Yasi Salek joins DJ Louie to trace Nirvana's brief, iconoclastic trail through pop's mainstream in the early 1990s. Louie and Yasi unpack the group's orig...
Listener Mailbag! Taylor, Pop Pet Peeves & a *Very* Special Guest
It's listener mailbag time!Louie and Russ are answering all your questions about their expectations for Taylor's The Tortured Poets Department, their personal pop pet ...
BRANDY (with Naomi Zeichner)
Critic and writer Naomi Zeichner joins Pop Pantheon to explore the career of the “vocal bible,” Brandy. Louie and Naomi unpacked Brandy’s self-titled 1994 debut, relea...
Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter is a Genre Explosion (with Danielle Amir Jackson) (Patreon Preview)
In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode, Beyoncé eighth studio album, Cowboy Carter, dropped last Friday. Once perceived as a foray into country m...
Beyoncé, Black Country & the Long Road to Cowboy Carter (With Dr. Francesca Royster & Taylor Crumpton)
Tonight, Beyoncé will drop her eighth studio album, Cowboy Carter, her first explicit full-length foray into country music. As with every Bey project, there's a ton of...
Finding Bliss in Existentialism on Kacey Musgraves' Deeper Well (with Jewly Hight) (Patreon Preview)
In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode, music critic Jewly Hight joins DJ Louie for a wide-ranging discussion about Kacey Musgraves' fifth studio...
CALVIN HARRIS & DAVID GUETTA (with Lina Abascal)
Culture writer and author Lina Abascal returns to Pop Pantheon to revisit the fleeting early 2010s moment when EDM DJs utterly consumed American popular music via two ...
Britney and Janet Aren’t Justin Timberlake’s Only Problem (with Vox's Kyndall Cunningham) (Patreon Preview)
In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode, Justin Timberlake put out his sixth studio album, Everything I Thought It Was, last Friday. But is it pos...
Do You Still Listen to Kanye West and Michael Jackson? (with Tre Johnson & Kemi Olivia Alemoru)
Host and culture writer for Dazed, Vogue and more, Kemi Olivia Alemoru, and writer on race, culture and politics and author of the upcoming book Black Genius, Tre John...
The Novel & Familiar Thrills of Ariana Grande's Eternal Sunshine (with Bustle's Nolan Feeney) (Patreon Preview)
In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode and as a capstone to our latest series on Ariana Grande, Bustle's Nolan Feeney joins DJ Louie to discuss A...
ARIANA GRANDE: PART 2 (with Pitchfork's Anna Gaca)
For part two of our Ariana Grande series, Pitchfork senior editor Anna Gaca is here to discuss the aesthetic pivot of 2018’s Sweetener, the superstar's first album fol...
ARIANA GRANDE: PART 1 (with the LA Times' Mikael Wood)
Pop music critic at the LA Times, Mikael Wood, joins Pop Pantheon for our first ever full re-examination of the first ever artist we ever ranked in the official Pop Pa...
NYC Live Show! Talking Taylor at the Bellhouse on 4/22
When was the last time a single pop star dominated culture like Taylor Swift? From her blockbuster re-recordings, which brought a new generation of fans into the Swift...
JLo, Beyoncé & the Surprisingly Long History of the Visual Album (with Sydney Urbanek)
Jennifer Lopez might not have stopped the world when she released her new self-financed visual album, This is Me... Now: A Love Story, last week. But she certainly dru...
Can We Justify Justin Timberlake's Justified? (with Rachel Brodsky) (Patreon Preview)
In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode, as we gear up for Justin Timberlake's sixth studio album Everything I Thought I Was, due in March, DJ Lou...
SHERYL CROW (with Natalie Weiner)
Writer Natalie Weiner joins Pop Pantheon to unpack Sheryl Crow’s “winding road” to pop superstardom. Natalie and Louie trace back Sheryl’s early days in the music busi...
Beyoncé's Surprise Singles + Usher's Halftime Show + New Music Speed Round (with Variety's Steven J. Horowitz) (Patreon Preview)
In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode, Beyoncé dropped two singles plus announced her new album! Usher performed at the Super Bowl Halftime Show...
Second Spin: USHER (with Rawiya Kameir)
In anticipation of Usher's Super Bowl Halftime performance on Sunday, we're re-sharing our episode on him from September 2022. Music writer and Assistant Professor at ...
N*cki, M*gan & Why it's Time to Rethink Stan Culture (with Rolling Stone's Mankaprr Conteh)
The long-simmering beef between Nicki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallion recently exploded from our streaming services with the release of their respective diss tracks "Big...
The Grammys Still Have a Problem with Black Women (with Variety's Chris Willman) (Patreon Preview)
In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode, it’s been 25 years since a Black woman won Album of the Year. If neither Beyonce or SZA can do it, who ca...
FERGIE (with Julianne Escobedo Shepherd)
For part two of our Black Eyed Peas series, writer and critic Julianne Escobedo Shepherd returns to Pop Pantheon to dissect the brief but remarkable reign of the Duche...
THE BLACK EYED PEAS (with The Ringer's Rob Harvilla)
Ringer music critic and host of 60 Songs That Explain the '90s Rob Harvilla returns to Pop Pantheon to discuss one of the most derided – and successful – pop acts of t...
How Dua Lipa's Future Nostalgia Made Her a Main Pop Girl (with Pitchfork's Anna Gaca) (Patreon Preview)
In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode, when it came out in 2020 at the height of Covid19 lockdown, Dua Lipa's sophomore album Future Nostalgia m...
Why Can't Pop Stars Score Two Hits Off One Album? (with Andrew Unterberger & Eric Bennett)
Olivia Rodrigo's Guts, Harry Styles' Harry's House, Lizzo's Special, Adele's 30, Miley Cyrus' Endless Summer Vacation. What's one thing all of these albums have in com...
Ariana Returns! Plus New Music from Lil Nas X & Jennifer Lopez (Patreon Preview)
In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode, the year is major pop star releases kicked off late last week with three singles from three stars of thre...
DEMI LOVATO (with Molly Mary O'Brien)
Host of the And Introducing podcast Molly Mary O'Brien returns to Pop Pantheon to discuss the often harrowing and sometimes triumphant life and career of Demi Lovato. ...
What Pantheon Rankings Did I Get Wrong in 2023?: Shakira, The Simpson Sisters, Lana & More!
Before we launch all our exciting new content for 2024, Louie and Russ look back on every single Pop Pantheon ranking from 2023 and discuss whether we got it right or ...
Hard Candy is a Sweet Spot in Madonna's Late Period (with Miles Marshall Lewis) (Patreon Preview)
In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode, Louie and guest Miles Marshall Lewis look back Madonna's 11th studio album, 2008's Hard Candy, an album w...
How Has Lady Gaga's Chromatica Held Up? (with Matthew Perpetua & Molly Mary O'Brien) (Patreon Rerun)
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! In a rerun of an episode from Pop Pantheon: All Access published back in May, Fluxblog's Matthew Perpetua & host of the And Introduci...
Pop Stars We Lost This Year: Sinéad O'Connor, Tony Bennett & Tina Turner (with Annie Zaleski, Brian Newman & Melissa Vincent)
Louie and a series guest look back on the career, work and legacies of some pop greats we lost in 2023: Sinéad O'Connor, Tony Bennett & Tina Turner. Join Pop Pantheon:...