Taylor Swift’s new album is taking the pop music world by storm—what’s new? But each year fewer and fewer new pop stars are cracking the top 10 according to Billboard. Matt is joined by Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw to discuss the fracturing of the pop music landscape, TikTok’s influence of music discovery, the role of the music label, and the dilution of monocultu ... Show More
Today
What Netflix's Exec Purge Means for Its Movies and TV
Matt is joined by Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw to discuss the big executive shakeup at Netflix, which included the firings of chief content officer Bela Bajaria and head of film Dan Lin. They break down why this happened now, what to expect from new chief content officer Peter Rice, ho ... Show More
37m 10s
Oct 13
Five Narratives That Could Swing the 2026 Awards Season
Matt is joined by Kyle Buchanan, former New York Times journalist and host of The Kyle Buchanan Show, to discuss the biggest narratives heading into awards season this year. They discuss if 'The Odyssey' is already a lock to win Best Picture, if Inde Navarrette can win Best Actre ... Show More
37m 51s
May 2025
Where Are The Thinkers? Why Pop Culture Feels Doomed Right Now
Currently trending on TikTok, FKA Twigs is going viral for an interview in which she asks the host and the crowd - "Where are the thinkers?"While internet users raise eyebrows at her question, one that ignores the socioeconomic conditions that affect our ability to create, this w ... Show More
34m 5s
Aug 2024
Charli XCX, Chappell Roan, and the Unstable Hierarchy of Pop
“ ‘BRAT’ summer”—so named for the Charli XCX album that’s become the soundtrack of Kamala Harris’s Presidential run—has given pop fans much to discuss, from Charli’s own flirtation with mainstream stardom to the meteoric rise of Chappell Roan. On the first in a series of Critics ... Show More
50m 54s
Jun 2022
So your song went viral on TikTok. What’s next?
On TikTok, pop stars — Halsey, FKA Twigs, and Florence Welch among them — have been complaining a lot lately about their labels forcing them to make TikToks. As people spent the early part of the pandemic staring at their phones instead of flocking to concerts, the short-form-vid ... Show More
33m 5s