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
Yesterday
Did Donald Trump Just Save Filmmaking in America?
Matt is joined by Film USA cofounders Tony Armer and Katie Pryor to discuss President Trump’s public endorsement of a federal tax credit for film production in the United States, how this could reshape filmmaking in America, how it could transform the filmmaking industry, how the ... Show More
35m 45s
Aug 28
Disney's Biggest Swings and Misses, Plus Iger vs. Eisner—With the Acquired Guys
Matt is joined by the hosts of the Acquired podcast, Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal, to discuss their two-part series on the history of The Walt Disney Company; what surprised them the most during their deep research; Disney's most precarious investments, biggest missteps, and b ... Show More
41m 43s
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