Alle afleveringen
420 afleveringen, van nieuw naar oud
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Taylor Swift's Midnights (with The Ringer's Rob Harvilla)
26 oktober 2022 · 1 uur 7 min
Host of the Podcast 60 Songs That Explain the '90s, The Ringer's Rob Harvilla, is back with DJ Louie to break down Taylor Swift's 10th studio album, Midnights, which dropped this past Friday. Louie and Rob set up Taylor's career and discography heading into this record before breaking down the lyrical motifs, recurrent themes and production choices on the album, what's working and not working for each of them, whether this record marks the end of one phase, the beginning of a new one, or some sort of static transitional moment, the Jack Antonoff of it all and so much more. Lees meer
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SPICE GIRLS (with Owen Myers)
20 oktober 2022 · 1 uur 51 min
Music journalist Owen Myers is back with DJ Louie to discuss the career and legend of British super girl group, Spice Girls. First, Louie and Owen talk through the history of girl groups and how various waves helped form the foundation for the Spice Girls’ ethos, before getting into the band’s journey from prefab answer to the UK boy band wave of the era to self-possessed girl-gang in control of their own destiny. Louie and Owen then discuss what made the Spice Girls and their explosion so singular with their debut album, 1996’s Spice, which cleverly fused American R&B tropes with a European pop sheen to create accessible music with edge, the ways they embodied their message of female friendship and solidarity above all else in their music and presentation and the vibe of fun, goofiness and sexiness which rendered them wholesome without ever seeming pandering. Next, Louie and Owen discuss Spice Girls’ second album and its accompanying movie, 1997’s Spice World, how the record expanded their sonic palette and the film, along with a panoply of endorsement deals, doubled down on their commercial prowess but also lent to burn out both on the part of the public and girls, how member Geri Halliwell’s sudden and explosive departure from the group in 1998 ended their brief imperial phase, the ways they’ve sured up their legacy over the last couple of decades and how the true meaning of Girl Power has reverberated through the pop that’s come after them. Finally, Louie and Owen rank Spice Girls in the official Pop Pantheon. Lees meer
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GEORGE MICHAEL (with Jezebel's Rich Juzwiak)
13 oktober 2022 · 1 uur 57 min
Senior Writer for Jezebel Rich Juzwiak joins DJ Louie once again to discuss the formidable work and legacy of the iconic George Michael. Louie and Rich discuss George’s early life, his chance middle-school meeting with Andrew Ridgely which lead to the formation of his breakthrough musical endeavor- the duo Wham!- the group’s two albums, 1983’s Fantastic and 1984’s blockbuster Make It Big, and how both Wham!’s well-executed appropriation of canonically Black musical aesthetics and its pervasive critical derision set the table for Michael’s solo career. Then then breakdown Michael’s era-defining magnum-opus, his debut solo record 1987’s Faith, how it showcased his meticulous craftsmanship as a producer, songwriter, performer and purveyor of Pop Stardom, his struggles with his sexual identity and why they may have lead him to retreat from the spotlight on its much more low-key follow-up, 1990’s Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1, and how the tragic death from AIDS of his first true love, Anselmo Feleppa, along with a drawn-out lawsuit with his record label created a nearly six-year gap between Listen and 1996’s Older, his bold and devastating 3rd album that all but revealed Michael’s sexuality to the world. Next, Louie and Rich discuss Michael’s 1998 arrest for cruising in a public restroom, how he cannily used it as an opportunity to come out to the world once and for all and why, unfortunately, his post-closet life ultimately ended in tragedy with his untimely death in 2016 at the age of 53. Finally, they debate Michael’s enduring legacy as both a consummate pop figure, a lynchpin in the broader narrative of gay male pop stars and rank George Michael in the official Pop Pantheon. Lees meer
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Listener Mailbag! Britney, Bowie, Flops, Divas and More!!
6 oktober 2022 · 1 uur 19 min
It's listener mailbag time! DJ Louie and Russ are here to tackle questions from across the Pop Pantheon extended universe. Who is the greatest British pop star of all time? Is Nicki BACK?! Are "Flop Eras" actually good?! Can DJs be Pop Stars??!! How does dying young affect your Pop Pantheon ranking?!!! How can Janet reach Tier 1??!! And so much more. Lees meer
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BTS (with Tamar Herman)
29 september 2022 · 1 uur 38 min
Senior Culture Reporter for the South China Morning Post and author of the book BTS: Blood Sweat and Tears, Tamar Herman, joins DJ Louie for a deep-dive on K-Pop phenom boyband BTS. First, Louie and Tamar lay out some of the contours and history of the K-Pop scene and music industry before diving into BTS’ story, how they were initially put together in 2010 by producer Bang Si-Hyuk as a socially-conscious rap outfit on their “Skool Trilogy” in 2013 and 2014, and Bang’s vision for a boy band that broke K-pop norms by giving each member more agency in creating a distinct persona and shaping the group’s music. They then get into the group’s pivot to a more overt pop-oriented sound with mid-2010s output like the "Youth Trilogy", Wings, and the Love Yourself suite, all of which continued the group’s message-forward music while expanding their sound into EDM, R&B, Moombahton and more to massive success in Asian marketplaces and eventually, in the English-speaking world as well. Later, Louie and Tamar discuss just how BTS were able to fully cross-over into the biggest boy band in the world in the later 2010s, breaking into mainstream U.S. popular culture in a way no K-pop act had even whiffed at prior with their Map of the Soul albums, 2020’s BE, as well as on massive English-language hits like “Dynamite” and “Butter”, the unique pressure K-pop “Idols” are under in terms of how the present themselves in public, and how BTS and their success have changed the pop landscape both in their home country, stateside and across the globe. Finally, Louie and Tamar rank BTS in the official Pop Pantheon. Lees meer
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Lady Gaga's Chromatica Ball (with Steven Avalos, Omri Rolan & Lala Thompson)
22 september 2022 · 1 uur 10 min
For this week's B-Side, DJ Louie is joined by his bffs Steven, Omri and Lala to debrief their night at the Los Angeles Dodger Stadium stop of Lady Gaga's epic, years-in-the-making Chromatica Ball World Tour. They talk all aspects of the show- from the stage to the setlist to the fashion to Gaga's presence, dancing and voice- how it stacks up against past LG tours, where they'd rank Chomatica against her previous records, what it felt like to finally hear "Rain on Me" amongst 52,000 other Little Monsters and finally, the girlies have a knock-down-drag-out-take-no-prisoners fight about whether GaGa belongs in Tier 1 or 2 of the Pop Pantheon. Lees meer
Paws up!
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DONNA SUMMER (with Black Girl Songbook's Danyel Smith)
15 september 2022 · 1 uur 47 min
Author of Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop and host of The Ringer podcast Black Girl Songbook, Danyel Smith, joins DJ Louie to explore the work, impact and legacy of the Queen of Disco, Donna Summer. Louie and Danyel begin with Donna’s early life as the eccentric Black girl in her Boston community during the 1950s and ‘60s, her move to Germany in 1968 to star in the musical Hair which eventually led to a star-crossed meeting with producers Giorgio Morodor and Pete Bellotte who would go on to be her primary collaborators, and their breakthrough with the radically orgasmic disco anthem “Love to Love You Baby” in 1975. Louie and Danyel then cover Donna, Giorgio and Pete’s ambitious run of concept albums through the mid ‘70s, their seismic innovations on 1977’s “I Feel Love”, considered the first electronic dance song, Donna’s status as the poster child for both the music and aesthetics of the disco movement thanks in part to her role in the film Thank God It’s Friday and its luscious Oscar-winning smash “Last Dance”, her magnum opus, 1979’s Bad Girls which set the template for the modern pop event album, and how she managed to outrun the sudden decline of disco thanks to 1983’s economical new-wave anthem “She Works Hard for the Money”. They conclude with Donna’s commercial decline in the latter 1980s, her Born-Again Christianity and controversial statements about the AIDS Epidemic and the gay community, her absolutely massive impact on the sound and look of pop stardom and how her legacy- and that of the movement she defined- has evolved over time. Finally, Louie and Danyel rank Donna Summer in the official Pop Pantheon. Lees meer
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Disco: Past & Present (with The Clive Davis Institute's Jason King)
8 september 2022 · 58 min
For this week’s B-Side, DJ Louie is joined by Chair of the The Clive Institute of Recorded Music, Jason King, to talk the history, culture, ethos and aesthetics of disco music. Louie and Jason lay out the elements of a disco song, what the word meant as a cultural movement, its roots as a queer black artform and unique platform for black women’s voices, what made the “disco diva”, the genre’s trajectory through the 1970s as a fast burning phenomenon that crashed just as quickly by the turn of the 1980s and the key artists, songs and moments of its prime years. Finally, Louie and Jason discuss whether disco ever really died, how it’s continued to be revived again and again in pop music, and Jason shares some of his favorite disco deep cuts. Lees meer
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MERCH ALERT!
7 september 2022 · 1 min
We did it! We finally made merch! Lees meer
Please welcome to the stage: The Pop Pantheon "Niche Legend" Dad Hat!
Be the Carly Rae Jepsen you want to see in the world by purchasing this gorgeous black and hot pink baseball cap! It reads "Niche Legend" on the front and "Pop Pantheon" on the back.
This hat is a celebration of both our favorite Niche Legend pop girlies AND, most importantly, the Niche Legend in all of us!!
Enjoy <3
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USHER (with Rawiya Kameir)
1 september 2022 · 1 uur 47 min
Music writer and Assistant Professor at Syracuse University, Rawiya Kameir, is back on the show to discuss the career and confessions of the great Usher. DJ Louie and Rawiya break down Usher’s musical origins singing in the church, the failed boy band he fronted in the early ‘90s, Nu Beginnings, and how his deal with the storied LaFace Records and subsequent “flavor camp” with Sean “Puff Daddy’ Combs set the stage for his self-titled debut record in 1994. They then dive into his breakthrough sophomore album, 1997’s My Way, how it solidified Usher’s persona as a smooth, sensitive, emotionally-conflicted lover boy as well as one of the most dexterous R&B singers of his generation, its blockbuster follow up, 2001’s 8701, which furthered Usher’s thematic fascination with the complexities of and distress caused by love and sex and of course, his magnum opus, 2004’s Confessions, a hit-packed concept album about the aftermath of infidelity that sold over 20 million copies worldwide and stands today as Usher’s signature artistic and commercial achievement. Next, Louie and Rawiya debate Usher’s latter period output, from swings at trendiness on 2008’s Here I Stand and 2010’s Raymond Vs. Raymond to more rewarding experiments on 2012’s Looking 4 Myself and 2016’s Hard II Love. Finally they rank Usher in the official Pop Pantheon. Lees meer
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MTV VMAs: Past, Present & Our Favorite Moments (with Dunzo's Troy McEady)
25 augustus 2022 · 1 uur 5 min
The MTV Video Music Awards will air this Sunday, August 28 2022, from the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ but does anybody care? For this week’s Pop Pantheon B-Side, Dunzo’s Troy McEady is back to discuss the history of the once-must-watch award show with DJ Louie, what made them the most raucous and exciting live event around at their peak, how grabbing a VMA headline could change a pop star’s career forever and what’s gone wrong with the show in recent years. Then, Louie and Troy count down their favorite “VMA Moments” in history. Lees meer
Listen to Louie and Troy's episode on MTV's TRL
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MILEY CYRUS (with Shaad D'Souza)
18 augustus 2022 · 1 uur 46 min
Music critic Shaad D’Souza joins DJ Louie to talk about one of modern pop’s most captivating, divisive and perplexing figures, Miley Cyrus. Louie and Shaad open with a break down of Miley’s emergence on the smash Disney show, Hannah Montana, how the character’s own double life as a pop star and a “normal girl” mirrored Miley’s own, and the chaste image and anodyne pop-rock empowerment anthems on which Miley-as-Hannah made her name and, later in career, had to torch. They next dive into Miley’s various, often bold but almost always awkward attempts to break out of the Hannah Montana box, first with her calculated pivot towards sexed-up dance pop on 2010’s nonstarter Can’t Be Tamed and much more effectively on 2013’s Bangerz, a fascinating, garish record that repositioned the former Disney kid as a freewheeling, hip hop-obsessed party monster, a brazen and un-self-aware culture vulture and, for the first and perhaps only time in her a career, a trendsetting pop star. Louie and Shaad debate the record’s prescient centering of trap in mainstream pop, as well its table-setting fusion of rap and country, how we view Miley’s egregious cultural appropriation through a contemporary lens, and whether the album’s whirlwind of controversy obscured some of the record’s delicate, honest songwriting and virtuoso vocal performances. Later, they discuss how Miley squandered a lot of remaining good will with her next two projects, 2015’s utterly bizarre Wayne Coyne-collabo Miley Cyrus and Her Dead Petz and 2017’s middle-of-the-road country-pop-leaning Younger Now, and if Miley has effectively repositioned herself in recent years with a series of well-received live performances and covers and a turn towards rock homage on her 2020 album Plastic Hearts. Finally, Louie and Shaad rank Miley Cyrus in the official Pop Pantheon. Lees meer
Read Shaad's review of Plastic Hearts in Pitchfork
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Billboard's Hot 100: Hits, History and Kinks (with Hit Parade's Chris Molanphy)
11 augustus 2022 · 1 uur 14 min
Every episode of Pop Pantheon contains at least some mention of the Billboard's iconic singles chart, the Hot 100. So for this week's B-Side, DJ Louie is joined by chart analyst, cultural critic and host of Slate's podcast Hit Parade to talk the 60 year history of the chart, the way its metrics have evolved over time, what role having hits on the Hot 100 plays in a pop star's mythology and legacy, whether or not we can compare current hits like this week's #1 "Break My Soul" to past ones given how Billboard's methodology has been altered to fit new data and music-consuming ecosystems, some weird kinks that have prevented massive hits like "I'm a Slave 4 U" from reaching to the top of the charts, and what fixes Chris might make to improve the Hot 100, still our best tool for measuring a hit record. Lees meer
Listen to Chris Molanphy's podcast Hit Parade
Check out Chris' last appearance on Pop Pantheon, discussing The Supremes and Diana Ross
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BEYONCÉ'S RENAISSANCE (with The New Yorker's Doreen St. Félix)
4 augustus 2022 · 1 uur 5 min
Beyoncé’s seventh studio album and her first in over six years, Renaissance, is finally upon us! Lees meer
For the fourth and final episode of our series on Queen B, DJ Louie is joined by The New Yorker’s Doreen St. Félix to discuss the new record. Louie and Doreen share gut-check reactions, break down Renaissance's themes of bacchanalia and sexual freak-dom and how they register through Beyoncé’s signature meticulousness, its lush, dynamic sonic palette which runs the gamut from house to disco to afrobeat, this weekend’s controversy with Kelis and whether an artist of B’s stature’s can celebrate other artists and sub-cultures- like ballroom- without subsuming them, and why this may be a superlative pandemic record, a manifestation of Beyoncé’s delayed adolescence and of a superstar’s fantasy of what life is like for people who, unlike her, can actually go to a club.
Read Louie's review of Renaissance in Buzzfeed
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BEYONCÉ PART 3: AMERICAN ICON (with Yale University's Dr. Daphne A. Brooks)
28 juli 2022 · 1 uur 50 min
Part 3/4! Beyoncé’s latest solo album, Renaissance, drops on July 29th so to get everyone prepared, Pop Pantheon will be releasing a series of four episodes on the work and legacy of Queen Bey, each with a different guest! Lees meer
In our third installment, DJ Louie is joined by author of Liner Notes for the Revolution: The Intellectual Life of Black Feminist Sound, Yale University’s Dr. Daphne A. Brooks, to discuss the latest decade of Beyoncé’s solo career. Louie and Dr. Brooks begin with the quagmire that pop stars- and particularly black female pop stars- face as they enter their mid 30s in the fickle, ageist pop cultural landscape and how various icons of the genre like Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Tina Turner and Janet Jackson have re-engaged audiences during this period of their lives and careers. They then discuss Beyoncé’s culturally transformative 2013 self-titled 5th studio album, how the surprise release and inclusion of visual components for each song solved the problem of finding a hit single, created a singular shared cultural experience, and forever changed the way pop stars would release music, the rich musical textures which filtered black musical tradition through mordern electro-R&B, and the ways in which this record depended Beyoncé’s artistry and self-revelation, as well as her feminism and activism. They then unpack her 2016 single “Formation”, its confrontational video and performance at the 2016 Super Bowl, and how the song functions as both a call to action and certified rump shaker for the ages, before diving into her masterwork of that same year, her sixth album, the audiovisual magnum opus Lemonade. Louie and Dr. Brooks break down how Lemonade reimagined the feminist ideal of the “personal as political”, using Beyoncé’s own story of domestic disruption to narrate a broader story about American history, how it effectively reclaimed genres like rock ‘n roll and country for Black women, and the innovative ways Beyoncé mined her own pain to radical…
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BEYONCÉ PART 2: SOLO SUPERSTAR (with Julianne Escobedo Shepherd)
21 juli 2022 · 1 uur 59 min
Part 2/4! Lees meer
Beyoncé’s latest solo album, Renaissance, drops on July 29th so to get everyone prepared, Pop Pantheon will be releasing a series of four episodes on the work and legacy of Queen Bey, each with a different guest!
In our second installment, DJ Louie is joined by author and journalist Julianne Escobedo Shepherd to discuss the first decade of Beyoncé’s solo career. Louie and Julianne begin with Beyoncé’s first steps outside of Destiny’s Child, including her film appearances in 2001’s MTV’s Carmen: A Hip Hopera and 2002’s Austin Powers in Goldmember, as well as on record with “Work It Out” and, most importantly, her feature on future-husband Jay-Z’s smash 2002 hit “‘03 Bonnie and Clyde”. They then discuss the major themes of the first period of Beyoncé’s solo music: ecstatic monogamous love, betrayal and infidelity, wealth accumulation and imbalanced gender dynamics and how they’re all represented on Beyoncé’s first solo album, 2003’s blockbuster Dangerously in Love and amplified on her second, 2006’s funky, terse fan-favorite, B’Day. They then dig into how B’Day’s harder edge and relative commercial underperformance-- and the attention her co-star Jennifer Hudson swept up from under Beyoncé in the film adaptation of the musical Dreamgirls-- led to the more widely-appealing, if less singular, I Am… Sasha Fierce in 2008, and, after firing her father Mathew as manager, how Bey began to shape a new phase of career with 2011’s languid, lowkey 4, in which she was no longer beholden to trends or hit-chasing, expanding her impact into something much greater than conventional pop stardom and providing the platform for the thrilling audio-visual projects which would both define the next decade of her career and change the music industry forever.
Stay tuned for next week’s installment, in which we’ll dive into 2013’s BEYONCÉ the visual album, 2016’s Lemonade, 2018’s Everything is Love, 2019’s Homecoming and 2020’s Black is King!
Check out Louie's Beyoncé Essentials…
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BEYONCÉ PART 1: DESTINY'S CHILD (with Rolling Stone's Brittany Spanos)
14 juli 2022 · 1 uur 51 min
Part 1/4! Lees meer
In the first of four episodes in our new series covering the work and career of pop titan Beyoncé, DJ Louie is joined by Senior Writer at Rolling Stone, Brittany Spanos, to discuss the group that started it all: Destiny’s Child. Louie and Brittany begin with a broad history of black R&B girl groups, specifically the ‘90s wave of which DC was a part, and the ever-evolving way black women have presented themselves in the pop space. They then discuss Beyoncé’s early life, how she and her father Mathew Knowles helped form Destiny’s Child with the initial lineup including Kelly Rowland, LaTavia Roberson and Letoya Luckett, their 1998 self-titled debut and it’s surprise #3 hit, the remix of their ballad “No No No”, “No No No Pt. 2” featuring Wyclef Jean which showcased Beyoncé’s signature singing-rapping hybrid. Next, they dive into their smash sophomore album, 1999’s The Writing’s on the Wall and its innovative singles, all of which featured the groups virtuosic harmonies, a sharp pop feminist perspective that often traded in the role money plays in gender dynamics, and futuristic staccato R&B production courtesy Darkchild and others, before diving into all the tea on how, at the peak of their success, the initial line-up very messily and publicly gave way to a new trio: Beyoncé, Kelly and new member Michelle Williams. Louie and Brittany then cover DC’s blockbuster third album, largely an answer to the negative press of the group shake-ups, 2001’s Survivor and its attendant hits, the member’s various solo endeavors, and how Beyoncé returned to the group following her solo success for one final chapter, 2004’s Destiny Fulfilled. Finally, Louie and Brittany rank Destiny’s Child in the official Pop Pantheon.
Stay tuned next week for our next episode, Beyoncé Pt. 1, which will cover the first half of Beyoncé’s solo career from 2003’s Dangerously in Love through 2011’s 4!
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Check out Louie's Des…
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Song of the Summer: History, Favs and Predictions (with Billboard's Jason Lipshutz)
7 juli 2022 · 50 min
In this week's B-Side episode, Executive Director of Music at Billboard Jason Lipshutz joins DJ Louie to discuss the Song of the Summer! Louie and Jason dig into the history of the concept and Billboard's SOTS Chart, discuss the most recent winners and what makes for the ideal Song of the Summer, whether having a SOTS can meaningfully change the trajectory of pop star's career, and then each name their favorite Songs of the Summer of all time. Lees meer
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DURAN DURAN (with Annie Zaleski)
30 juni 2022 · 1 uur 39 min
Journalist and author of the 33 ⅓ book Duran Duran’s Rio, Annie Zaleski, joins DJ Louie for a deep-dive into ‘80s British pop-rock band and seminal music video-pioneers, Duran Duran. First, Louie and Annie parse the various music scenes-- glam rock, new wave, “The New Romantics”-- from which Duran Duran emerged before discussing the band’s formation in Birmingham in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, their deal with storied label EMI, and what factors lead their 1981 self-titled debut, a prescient blend of rock and dance music, to become a smash overseas but fail to impact here in America. They then move on to the band’s second record, 1982’s blockbuster Rio, their groundbreaking and trendsetting videos for singles like “Rio” and “Hungry Like the Wolf”, the latter of which won the inaugural Best Music Video prize at the 1984 VMAs, how the group cleverly broke onto American radio thanks to their then-novel use of dance remixes, and how their massive success with teenage girls led them to be dismissed as fluff by the rockist critical establishment. Louie and Annie then lay out Duran Duran’s continued success with albums like 1983’s Seven and the Ragged Tiger and 1986’s Nile Rodgers-produced Notorious, why the band quickly fell out of favor with mainstream audiences during the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, how they made one of the most unlikely comebacks in pop history with 1993’s Duran Duran (The Wedding Album) featuring two of their definitive hits, “Ordinary World” and “Come Undone”, and what their recent induction into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame means for their legacy. Finally, Louie and Annie rank Duran Duran in the official Pop Pantheon. Lees meer
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Bey-Side: Beyoncé's "Break My Soul" and Renaissance Predictions
22 juni 2022 · 53 min
In an emergency B-Side (Bey-Side??), DJ Louie, along with Pop Pantheon producer Russ, break down everything about Beyoncé's latest single, the '90s house-nodding club anthem "Break My Soul", which dropped last night. Louie and Russ lay out where Beyoncé's commercial and artistic trajectory stands leading into this new era, from which genres, songs and artists "Break My Soul" draws, whether or not it's any good, pontificate on whether Bey can score a radio hit in the third decade of her in her career, what the song might portend for the rest of her forthcoming solo album, Renaissance Pt. 1, her first in 6 years, and what they each hope the album sounds like. Lees meer
Listen to Louie's appearance on Eat, Pray, Britney
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Father's Day Special (with my dad)
17 juni 2022 · 56 min
My dad, Tim, is not only the biggest Pop Pantheon fan who loves to share his many opinions on all the episodes, but is also a music fanatic and entertainment attorney who specializes in music. As such, I had the privilege of growing up in a household where the two of us bonded over our mutual love of pop and often got to experience it together. His passion for it all was (obviously) formative to my own identity, career and life. Lees meer
For this bonus episode of Pop Pantheon, in honor of Father's Day this Sunday, I invited him on the show to talk a little about his own musical journey, a lot about our shared pop memories (including him taking me to see Alanis Morissette at Roseland Ballroom when I was 7, playing me "...Baby One More Time" for the first time in the car and screaming "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" at The 1989 Tour together), all of his opinions on the episodes and rankings, and of course, whether he thinks his fav pop girlie of all time, Taylor Swift, is in Tier 1 or Tier 2 of the Pop Pantheon.
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KELLY CLARKSON (with Legends Only's Bradley Stern)
16 juni 2022 · 1 uur 47 min
This week, DJ Louie is joined by music journalist and co-host of the podcast Legends Only, Bradley Stern, to discuss the original American Idol, Kelly Clarkson! First, Louie and Bradley discuss Kelly’s legendary run on Idol, from being deemed “forgettable” by Simon Cowell to winning the show and America’s hearts in a landslide victory, her display of down-home affability and incredible versatility on the show, equally adept at Motown as she was at rock, show-tunes and pop ballads, her first album, 2003’s Thankful, which played up her chameleonic and powerful vocal talent but played down her singular personality to middling results, how she fought tooth and nail to take more control of her artistry on her juggernaut second album, 2004’s more rock-oriented classic Breakaway, and calcified her on-record scorned-by-resilient persona on its signature hit, the iconic kiss-off anthem “Since U Been Gone”. Louie and Bradley then cover Kelly’s legendary and very public battle with label-boss Clive Davis over her third record, 2007’s largely self-penned My December, her mea-culpa for that defiance, 2009’s All I Ever Wanted, how Kelly eventually reached a detente with the powers that be in the 2010s and unlocked a very successful second decade of her pop career, and how all the qualities that made us fall in love with her twenty years ago as a cocktail waitress with a big voice and a dream on Idol lead to a third wave of her career as a beloved daytime talk show host, as well as to her viral covers series, “Kellyoke”. Finally, Louie and Bradley rank Kelly Clarkson in the official Pop Pantheon. Lees meer
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Bloghouse (with Lina Abascal)
9 juni 2022 · 1 uur 13 min
Bloghouse has come up a number of times in episodes of Pop Pantheon, from Robyn to Kesha to Scissor Sisters. So for this Week’s B-Side, DJ Louie is joined by Lina Abascal, author of the book Never Be Alone Again: How Bloghouse United the Internet and the Dancefloor, to discuss the late aughts micro-movement and how it influenced mainstream pop. Louie and Lina dig into what exactly bloghouse was, how the internet, innovations in music software and dance music trends came together to bring it into being, the major artists and songs of the era, how it evolved for its five year run, and how it influenced a generation of pop stars like Lady GaGa, Robyn, Kesha, Marina and The Diamonds, Kanye West, Katy Perry, Charli XCX, Calvin Harris, Britney Spears, Rina Sawayama, Dua Lipa, and more. Finally, Louie and Lina share some of their favorite classics of the era. Lees meer
Check out Louie's Bloghouse Essentials Playlist on Spotify
Check out Lina's book, Never Be Alone Again: How Bloghouse United the Internet and the Dancefloor
LA Niche Legends! Grab tix for DJ Louie's Queer Pop Party, Gorgeous Gorgeous: Pride Edition, Friday, June 10 at Resident in DTLA!
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SCISSOR SISTERS (with Fluxblog's Matthew Perpetua)
2 juni 2022 · 1 uur 44 min
Happy Pride! To celebrate Pride Month, Fluxblog's Matthew Perpetua joins DJ Louie to talk one of the most iconic gay pop acts of the century, Scissor Sisters. Louie and Matthew talk the history of queer men in mainstream pop, Scissor Sisters' formation in the downtown NYC electroclash scene of the late '90s and early '00s, their fluke first hit, a BeeGees-esque cover of "Comfortably Numb", how their 2004 self-titled debut album played like a expertly made, fun-loving tour through gay music history, why they exploded as pop stars in the UK but remained a cult phenomenon here in America, and how they presaged artists like Robyn and Charli XCX by carving out a space for alternative pop stars stateside. They then talk about their second album, 2006's Ta-Dah, it's myriad of slightly obscure pop historical references, the smash hit and their signature song, "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'", their turn towards more sex-forward music on their 2010 Stuart Price-produced masterpiece, Night Work, and Louie shares a bit about what the record meant to him in his personal journey with his sexuality. Next, Louie and Matthew discuss their final album, 2012's Magic Hour, how they mainstreamed the word "kiki" on their gay club hit "Let's Have a Kiki" and the impact they've had on future queer pop stars like Mika, Sam Smith and Lil Nas X, as well as on campier American pop icons who followed in their footsteps like Lady GaGa and Katy Perry. Finally, Louie and Matthew rank Scissor Sisters in the official Pop Pantheon. Lees meer
Read Matthew's review of Night Work in Pitchfork
Check out Louie's Scissor Sisters Essentials Playlist on Spotify
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Best Pop Music of 2022 So Far (with Who? Weekly's Lindsey Weber)
26 mei 2022 · 1 uur 29 min
We’re halfway through 2022 so for this week’s Pop Pantheon B-Side, DJ Louie is joined by Who? Weekly's Lindsey Weber to talk all their favorite pop songs and albums of the year so far, any trends they're spotting (short songs, short albums, and where are the main girlies??!!) and finally, Louie and Lindsey go through 15 buzzy new bottom tier Whos and decide whether they have a shot at top tier Themdom. Lees meer
LA Niche Legends! Grab tix for DJ Louie's Queer Pop Party, Gorgeous Gorgeous: Pride Edition, Friday, June 10 at Resident in DTLA!
Check out a playlist of Louie and Lindsey's 2022 Favs
Listen to Louie and Lindsey's previous Pop Pantheon Episode on Carly Rae Jepsen
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SHANIA TWAIN (with Kate Dries)
19 mei 2022 · 1 uur 43 min
Executive Editor of Dwell, Kate Dries, joins DJ Louie to talk the Queen of Country Pop, Shania Twain. First, Kate lays out some of the scant historical examples of country icons who have managed to crossover into mainstream pop stardom like Dolly Parton and explains a bit about why Nashville has been a hermetically-sealed ecosystem, resistant to change, outsiders and country artists who have ambitions beyond its traditional scope. Next, Louie and Kate discuss Shania's upbringing in Canada, surviving abject poverty, a household rife with domestic abuse, and the untimely death of both of her parents by writing, singing and performing in local bars beginning when she was just 8 years-old. They then move on to Shania's discovery performing at a resort in Canada which lead to her record deal Mercury Nashville, her flop first album, 1993's Shania Twain, her chance meeting with rock super-producer Robert "Mutt" Lange who quickly became her partner in both music and life through her massive run of success from the mid '90s-early '00s, and the genre-busting sound the pair developed on her blockbuster sophomore release, 1995's The Woman in Me. Louie and Kate also dive into Shania's third record, 1997's legendary Come On Over, which stands to this day as one of the biggest selling albums in history and provided the platform for Shania to make the leap from country legend to mainstream pop icon, parse apart how smashes like "You're Still the One", "That Don't Impress Me Much" and "Man! I Feel Like a Woman" displayed Shania's unique combo of girl-next-door approachability, '90s middle-finger-up feminist attitudes and an infectious sense of carefree joy and fun, how her flair for presenting herself visually and sartorially in music videos was both integral to her crossover and forever seared her into pop cultural memory, her globe-trotting fourth album, 2002's Up!, the dissolution of her marriage to Mutt and her subsequent loss of her ability to sing, her comeback Vegas residenc… Lees meer
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MTV's Total Request Live (with Dunzo's Troy McEady)
12 mei 2022 · 1 uur 17 min
In this week's B-Side episode, host of the podcasts Dunzo and Beyond The Blinds, Troy McEady, joins DJ Louie to discuss Millennial pop cultural touchstone, MTV's Total Request Live. Inspired by a Zoomer in the Pop Pantheon Discord who, following last month's Christina Aguilera episode, revealed they didn't know what TRL was, Louie and Troy attempt to explain the show's history and format, how its' interactive vibe served as the turn-of-the-century pop fan's precursor to social media, lay out the major players from host Carson Daly to signature stars like Britney, Good Charlotte and Eminem and attempt to illustrate the power MTV had over their generation. They also wax poetic on some of their favorite forgotten songs, videos and artists from the "TRL Era", reflect on the show's top ten videos of all time and share a bit about why TRL meant so much to each of them as burgeoning pop fanatics. Lees meer
Listen to Louie and Troy talking about Rihanna's Anti on Dunzo a few months ago
Check out Louie's TRL Essentials Playlist on Spotify
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BILLIE EILISH (with Molly Lambert)
5 mei 2022 · 1 uur 38 min
Writer and host of the new podcast Heidi World: The Heidi Fleiss Story, Molly Lambert, joins DJ Louie to break down the spectacular emergence of Gen Z's most paradigm-shifting star, Billie Eilish. First, Molly, who profiled Billie last year for the cover of Elle, shares insights into what it was like spending time with her, how she's relating to her newfound megastardom, as well as her fans on social media and out in the world, and why she doesn't consider herself a "pop star" at all. Louie and Molly then discuss how unlikely 2010s breakouts like Lorde, Halsey and Lana Del Rey softened the ground for idiosyncratic, insular-sounding bedroom artists to become mainstream pop stars. Next, they track Billie's career origins, along with her brother and collaborator Finneas, on Soundcloud, how their viral hit "Ocean Eyes" lead to a record deal with Interscope when Billie was just 15, and how her debut EP, 2017's Don't Smile At Me, presented a new kind of teen idol who leaned into, rather than glossed over, the alienation, depression and anxiety of being a young person in the internet era, thus endearing her to a new generation of pop fans who craved less-aspirational and more relatable pop figures. They also dive into she and Finneas' far-ranging aesthetic influences from horror movies to trip hop, Gorillaz, Lil Peep, Bjork, Garbage and even Frank Sinatra, before laying out her explosion into the mainstream with her debut album, 2019's Grammy-sweeping When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, how that record expanded the duo's musical palette but also perhaps garnered Billie an unwanted and unintentional level of fame, how she went about addressing all of that on her sophomore album, 2021's more low-key masterpiece Happier Than Ever, how she's uniquely positioned to bring large swaths of the pop-consuming public along with her singular, strange musical instincts, and where she might go next. Finally, Louie and Molly rank Billie Eilish in the official Pop Pantheon. Lees meer
Check …
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One Year of Pop Pantheon: Reassessing All the Rankings
28 april 2022 · 1 uur 5 min
In this week's B-Side episode, DJ Louie reflects on a year of Pop Pantheon, shares how the podcast got started and offers a refresher on all of the tiers, how they work and if they've changed or been refined as the show has progressed. He then goes through all of the 31 artists ranked so far, decides if he still agrees with his ranking or if any artist's standing in the Pop Pantheon has shifted since the episodes originally aired. Lees meer
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ABBA (with Carl Magnus Palm)
21 april 2022 · 1 uur 47 min
ABBA Scholar and author of 8 (!!!!) books on ABBA, Carl Magnus Palm, joins DJ Louie for an epic deep dive into the Swedish pop legends. First, Louie and Carl discuss the history of pop and "schlager" in Sweden and how the country's musical traditions helped form ABBA's music before tracing the pre-ABBA careers of the four members, Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, through the 1960s and how the group came together in the early 1970s, both as bandmates and romantic couples. Louie and Carl then break down how the "ABBA Sound" developed from the group's early recordings and their obsession with Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound" and The Beach Boys' vocal-layering, ABBA's unique international ambitions, how the glam-rock nodding, Eurovision-winning "Waterloo" changed their career, the ways they continued to refine and expand their singular aesthetic on subsequent hits like "Mamma Mia" and "SOS", the darker and more wistful lyrical themes that began to surface on mid-period hits like "Fernando", the majestic ebullience of "Dancing Queen", their canny techniques for incorporating numerous pop subgenres into their work without ever losing their essential ABBA-ness, the powerful interplay of light and dark in their work, how the dissolution of the group's two romantic couples informed their more emotionally-complex latter period hits like "The Name of the Game" and "The Winner Takes It All", how the band came apart in the early 1980s, and how their legacy has evolved and changed over the last 40 years thanks to their greatest hits album ABBA Gold and the jukebox musical and film, Mamma Mia!. Finally, Louie and Carl rank ABBA in the official Pop Pantheon. Lees meer
LA Pop Pantheon Girlies! Get Info for Louie's New Queer Pop Party, Gorgeous Gorgeous, on 4/22 at Resident in DTLA!
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Charli XCX's Crash (with Owen Myers)
14 april 2022 · 52 min
Freelance Music Journalist for the New York Times, Pitchfork, The Guardian and more, Owen Myers, joins DJ Louie to tackle Charli XCX's recently released 5th studio album, Crash, which Owen recently reviewed for Pitchfork. Louie and Owen discuss Charli's assertion of this album cycle as her "main pop girlie era" and whether that's really come to fruition, how Charli shrewdly draws on '80s titans like Janet Jackson, Cameo, New Order and Eurythmics as well as novelty '90s dance songs like September's "Cry For You" to create the sonic palette for the album, wonder where her true career ambitions lie between her avant-garde instincts and her desire to play in the mainstream, her prickly relationship to writing personal songs, break down The Crash Tour, and rank Crash in the Charli canon. Lees meer
Read Owen's Review of Crash in Pitchfork
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CHRISTINA AGUILERA (with Evan Ross Katz)
7 april 2022 · 1 uur 39 min
Writer and podcaster Evan Ross Katz joins DJ Louie for a wide-ranging discussion about TRL-icon-turned-pop-iconoclast, Christina Aguilera. First, Louie and Evan discuss the teen pop boom of the late '90s and early '00s, how it presented young stars as both wholesome and over-sexualized, and the factory-style, scientifically-perfect-if-personality-less music that defined the era. They then cover Christina's emergence on The Mickey Mouse Club as the "little girl with the big voice", her breakthrough singing the Mulan theme song "Reflection", how Britney Spears' explosion helped shape her first album, 1999's Christina Aguilera, how the massive success of that record both launched Christina to superstardom and put her in an uncomfortable box that obscured her unique talents, how she re-wrote the script with her iconic sophomore album, 2002's Stripped, her penitent for massive sonic and visual reinventions on subsequent albums like 2006's Back to Basics and 2010's Bionic, the latter of which helped usher the word "flop" into common parlance and also recast Christina as a underdog and gay icon, and how her singular career choices and trajectory has influenced recent pop stars and is deserving of a modern reassessment. Finally, Louie and Evan rank Christina Aguilera in the Pop Pantheon. Lees meer
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NORMANI (with Keep It! Host Ira Madison III)
1 april 2022 · 41 min
APRIL FOOLS!!! Lees meer
Keep It! host Ira Madison III returns to Pop Pantheon for a very special (and silly) episode on the glacially unfurling career of former Fifth Harmony member and aspiring pop starlet, Normani. Louie and Ira talk about why people fell in love with Normani as the clearest talent in 5H before debating the conditions that have allowed Normani to release only seven songs in the last five years before diving into her multiple attempts at getting her solo career off the ground. They begin with her two hit Spotify-core duets, 2018's "Love Lies" and 2019's "Dancing with a Stranger" with Khalid and Sam Smith respectively, before moving through her erstwhile Calvin Harris collabs, her apparent lift-off with 2019's banger Beyonce-referencing "Motivation" and its' break-the-internet music video showcasing her formidable dancing talents followed by her perplexing disappearance from music for two years, and finally her two recent underperforming "comeback" singles, the Aaliyah-sampling slinky R&B groover "Wild Side" and her latest non-event, "Fair". Finally, Louie and Ira place Normani in the official Pop Pantheon (SPOILER ALERT: she's Tier 5....).
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Grammys Special! (with Rolling Stone's Brittany Spanos)
31 maart 2022 · 1 uur 10 min
The Grammy Awards are this Sunday April 3 and to get you ready for the big show, Senior Writer for Rolling Stone Brittany Spanos is back with DJ Louie to talk all things Grammys! Louie and Brittany break down what the problems have been for the Grammys over the last few years before dissecting each of the four major categories, how the Grammys did this year, who's nominated and why, who they each think should and will win each award, who got snubbed and debate whether or not Olivia Rodrigo will just sweep the whole damn thing. Lees meer
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KESHA (with Pitchfork's Cat Zhang)
24 maart 2022 · 1 uur 43 min
Assistant Editor at Pitchfork Cat Zhang joins DJ Louie for a deep dive into the career and music of misunderstood, resilient 2010s trash pop queen, Kesha. First, Louie and Cat break down the hip-hop-dance-pop party music of the mid-late aughts- a hedonistic period fueled in part by a desire for escapism during The Great Recession- and discuss artists like Fergie, Gwen Stefani and others who set the stage for the uptempo rap/EDM hybrid that would become Kesha's calling card. Next, they lay out Kesha's biography, growing up poor with a single mom who wrote country songs for artists like Dolly Parton, her initial connection to superstar producer/songwriter Dr. Luke, what made Luke such a prolific hitmaker in the 2000s, and finally how a chance appearance on the hook of Flo-Rida's "Right Round" provided the launching pad for Kesha's breakthrough debut album, Animal. Louie and Cat go long on Animal, breaking down it's unique, gaudy sonic landscape and Kesha's singular perspective as an anti-materialistic, dumpster-diving party animal who proudly flew in the face of respectability on hits like "Tik Tok", "Blah Blah Blah" and "Take It Off", the way the album inverted pop gender politics and drew on far-ranging influences from Daft Punk to the Beastie Boys to Bloghaus, the fine lines Kesha's rapping walked in terms of cultural appropriation, and the borderline-experimental ways Kesha and Luke found true heart and personality in the maximalist machinery of modern pop. They then chronicle the contentious creation of Kesha's follow-up album, 2012's Warrior, and how she and Luke's diverging artistic visions presaged greater rifts in their relationship, how the album's sole hit "Die Young" was pulled from radio following the school shooting at Sandy Hook, the moment Kesha filed lawsuits against Luke for sexual assault, battery, sexual harassment, and emotional abuse, how those lawsuits derailed her career for five years, her comeback with her radically different third album, 20… Lees meer
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LISTENER MAILBAG!: Answering Your Questions on Dua, Beyonce, Kylie, Charli, Kacey and.... Ava Max!
17 maart 2022 · 56 min
In a special mailbag episode, DJ Louie answers listener questions about the "Levitating" lawsuit, the greatest pop comebacks of all time, Kylie Minogue's placement in the Pop Pantheon, Charli XCX's new album, what Beyonce should do next, how artists are selected for the podcast, relatability vs. virtuosity in pop stardom, Christina Aguilera's signature song and more! Lees meer
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DIANA ROSS PT. 2: THE SOLO YEARS (with Hit Parade's Chris Molanphy)
10 maart 2022 · 1 uur 16 min
Pop critic, chart analyst, writer of Slate's "Why Is This Song No. 1?", and host of the podcast Hit Parade, Chris Molanphy, joins DJ Louie once again for the second part of our series on Diana Ross. This episode, Louie and Chris discuss Diana's initially rocky transition from lead singer for The Supremes into solo superstar and how she finally scored a solo #1 with an unexpected, avant-garde cover of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" in 1970. They then discuss her spotty track record through the early-mid '70s, sometimes scoring massive hits with mostly adult-contemporary ballads like "Touch Me in the Morning" and "Do You Know Where You're Going To", but just as often releasing records that made little impact, all while pursuing a secondary career as a movie star most notably in her Oscar-nominated performance as Billie Holiday in 1972's Lady Sings the Blues. Louie and Chris then chronicle various pop movements that coincided with and affected Diana's career in this '70s- the racial segregation of radio, the birth of the female pop singer-songwriter like Carole King and Joni Mitchell, innovative R&B artists like Roberta Flack and Chaka Khan- Diana's third wind as a disco queen, beginning with 1976's smash "Love Hangover", 1979's "The Boss" and eventually, her blockbuster, career-defining collaboration with Chic's Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards, 1980's Diana and it's legendary singles, "I'm Coming Out" and "Upside Down". Finally, Louie and Chris debate what allowed Diana to beat the odds, defying pop's ageist bent with hits across three decades and what exactly makes Diana one of the ultimate Tier 1 Icons in the official Pop Pantheon. Lees meer
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DIANA ROSS PT. 1: THE SUPREMES (with Hit Parade's Chris Molanphy)
3 maart 2022 · 1 uur 25 min
Pop critic, chart analyst, writer of Slate's "Why Is This Song No. 1?", and host of the podcast Hit Parade, Chris Molanphy, joins DJ Louie for the first of a two-part series on American Icon, Diana Ross. First, Louis and Chris set the stage by discussing how the phrases "pop" and "pop star" came into form in the late 1950s, the establishment of the teenager as a target market group for music and the birth of the "teen idol". They then discuss Diana Ross' backstory growing up in the burgeoning Detroit music scene, how the formation of the predecessor to The Supremes, The Primettes, dovetailed with the creation of her future-label-boss-turned-husband Berry Gordy's Motown Records, why Motown and "the Motown Sound" were so transformational in the pop music landscape in the late '50s and early '60s, and how a popular wave of pre-Supremes girl groups like The Shangri-Las and The Marvelettes functioned as musicians and stars in this period. Next, Louie and Chris walk through The Supremes signing with Gordy, their flop first album and Diana being promoted to permanent front-woman, their historic collaboration with storied producers and songwriters Holland-Dozier-Holland, their smash second album, Where Did Our Love Go? and subsequent astounding run of hits through the middle and end of the '60s, how their music evolved with the times, the inherent radicalism of a group of black women becoming the most popular pop act in the world, what makes Diana's star quality and voice to singular, and how Gordy positioned her for eventual solo stardom, often at the expense of the other girls in the group. Lees meer
Join us next week for Part 2, which will cover Diana's solo career!
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Bonus: Louie and Rich Juzwiak on the Janet Jackson Documentary
24 februari 2022 · 22 min
In a special bonus minisode, Jezebel's Rich Juzwiak joins DJ Louie to discuss Benjamin Hirsch's documentary Janet Jackson, which aired in January on A&E and Lifetime. With Janet's active participation, this doc was billed as the historically cagey superstar baring all about her formidable career and legacy, as well as various controversies which have swirled around her including the Super Bowl "wardrobe malfunction" and the child sexual abuse allegations leveled at her brother Michael. Louie and Rich break down how while the documentary presented some riveting new behind-the-scenes footage of Janet at her peak, it failed to adequately re-establish her unfairly tarnished legacy and to provide real insight into some of the more opaque elements in her celebrity narrative. Lees meer
Read Rich's review of the Janet doc on Jezebel
Rich Rich's assessment of the original Super Bowl incident and the fallout on Gawker
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NICKI MINAJ (with Keep It! Host Ira Madison III)
17 februari 2022 · 1 uur 38 min
Keep It! Host Ira Madison III joins DJ Louie for a deep dive into the Queen of Rap, Nicki Minaj. Louie and Ira begin with a discussion of the first golden era of female rappers in late ‘90s and early ‘00s, how stars like Lil Kim and Missy Elliott blurred the lines between rapper and pop star, and speculate a bit about why many of the preeminent female MCs of this period disappeared from the charts in the mid-late aughts. They then break down what made Nicki such an exciting and dynamic force on her early mixtapes like Beam Me Up Scotty, her first run of head-spinning hit features, attempt to parse apart all of her different on-record personas, and discuss the formation of her formidable and foundational stan army, The Barbz. Next, Louie and Ira mull over the pressures Nicki faced in creating her smash debut album, Pink Friday, as the first commercially viable female rapper in years, her keen instincts to craft a sound that appealed to both rap fans and a broader pop audience and how that affected her artistry and cred for better and worse, the surprise success of “Super Bass”, her bonkers sophomore album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, why Nicki functions so well as perhaps the greatest, most versatile featured artist of all time, how she sometimes struggled to show true vulnerability on albums like 2015’s The Pinkprint, and lay out the impact she’s had on both pop and rap over the last nearly 15 years. Finally, Louie and Ira rank Nicki Minaj in the official Pop Pantheon. Lees meer
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Super Bowl Halftime Show Extravaganza! (with Jezebel's Rich Juzwiak)
10 februari 2022 · 1 uur 8 min
Just in time for this weekend's big performance from Dr. Dre & Friends, Jezebel's Rich Juzwiak returns to Pop Pantheon to talk about a crowning moment in any pop star's career: The Super Bowl Halftime Show. First, DJ Louie and Rich explain the ever-evolving nature of the halftime show and how it crystalized into its modern form, which types of stars gets chosen for this prestigious slot, and what makes these performances work when they're good or flop when they're... not. They then each share their top 5 favorite Halftime performances of all time as well as a few of their least favorites, before giving a brief comment on every single show from 1991 to the present day. Finally, Louie and Rich discuss which pop stars they'd like to see headline the show in the future. Lees meer
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NELLY FURTADO (with Bianca Gracie)
3 februari 2022 · 1 uur 28 min
Entertainment journalist Bianca Gracie joins DJ Louie to discuss 2000s quirky Canadian singer-songwriter turned unlikely dance pop diva, Nelly Furtado. First, Louie and Bianca lay out the ecosystem of alternative female pop stars in the late 90s and early 00s before turning to Nelly’s emergence, first on Toronto’s alternative hip hop scene and later as the earnest, genre-melding breakout star of her Grammy-winning debut album, 2000’s Whoa, Nelly!. After breaking down what made that record and it’s lead single, “I’m Like a Bird”, play like canny counter-programming to the early aughts teen pop boom and her prescient appearance on the remix of Missy Elliott’s 2001 hit “Get Ur Freak On”, Louie and Bianca ponder what made Nelly’s follow-up, 2003’s Folklore, a failure with both critics and fans, how she effectively rebooted her career in 2006 with an assist from Missy-collaborator Timbaland on her 2006 record, Loose, the sexist, rockist discourse of the mid 2000s around the idea of “selling out”, Nelly’s less commercially fruitful but perhaps creatively intriguing records of the 2010s and what they’d like to see her do next. Finally, Louie and Bianca rank Nelly Furtado in the official Pop Pantheon. Lees meer
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CYNDI LAUPER (with The Ringer's Rob Harvilla)
20 januari 2022 · 1 uur 30 min
Senior Staff Writer for The Ringer Rob Harvilla joins DJ Louie for a deep dive into foundational early MTV-era icon, Cyndi Lauper. First, Louie and Rob parse what made the early 1980s such a crystallizing moment for The Pop Star as we know it today and particularly the role MTV played in taking pop stardom 360°, making it a visual endeavor as much as a musical one. They then breakdown Cyndi’s rough-and-tumble upbringing in Queens and how it established her distinct star persona and voice, her stint as a cover band front-woman honing her skills as a canny interpreter of other people’s songs, and her first breakout attempt as the lead singer of erstwhile new wave band, Blue Angel. Next, they consider her seminal solo debut album, 1983’s She’s So Unusual, how she remade cover songs in her own image, the towering success of her first single “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” which both solidified her place in the pop canon but potentially became an albatross around her neck, as well as the versatility she displayed on her second hit, quintessential ‘80s power-ballad “Time After Time”’. Next, Rob and Louie examine Cyndi's successful sophomore album, 1986’s True Colors, how it cemented both her more overt activist bent and her status as an LGBTQIA+ icon, Cyndi’s third record, 1989’s A Night To Remember, which she’s since referred to as “A Night To Forget”, how she struggled to regain her commercial footing through the ‘90s and ‘00s despite releasing some of her best music and finally, her surprising late-career renaissance as the Tony-Award winning composer of the hit Broadway musical, Kinky Boots. Finally, Louie and Rob rank Cyndi Lauper in the official Pop Pantheon. Lees meer
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SELENA GOMEZ (with The New York Times' Joe Coscarelli)
6 januari 2022 · 1 uur 40 min
On the premiere episode of 2022, DJ Louie first wraps up last year’s cliffhanger by finally placing Rihanna in the official Pop Pantheon. Then, Pop Music Reporter for The New York Times, Joe Coscarelli, joins Louie to talk Disney-Princess-turned-peculiar-pop-figure, Selena Gomez. First, Louie and Joe dig into just who Selena Gomez’s fans are, how Disney stars have transitioned into pop stars over the last two decades, and Selena’s rise to fame on her Disney show, Wizards of Waverly Place. They then break down the neutered “pop punk” aesthetic of Selena, Miley, and Demi’s music in the late aughts, Selena’s… um…. “band”, Selena Gomez and the Scene, and how their eventual turn towards synthetic dance pop led to her first crossover hit, 2011’s “Love You Like a Love Song”, and both Selena’s canny pivot towards adult stardom with her role in Harmony Korine’s controversial film, Spring Breakers, and her less successful one with her 2013 solo debut, Stars Dance. They then track how she eventually found a musical aesthetic following the one-two punch of the Lorde-and-Lana-fication of pop in the mid aughts along with her link up with songwriting duo Michaels and Tranter, the artistic revelation of her 2015 sophomore album, Revival, how she functions as a featured artist on late ‘10s hits like “It Ain’t Me” and “Taki Taki”, and each give their takes on her most recent record, 2019’s Rare. Finally, Louie and Joe debate Selena’s position in the official Pop Pantheon. Lees meer
Read Joe's Profile of Selena in The New York Times
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RIHANNA PT. 2 (with Julianne Escobedo Shepherd)
16 december 2021 · 1 uur 38 min
Former Editor-in-Chief of Jezebel and famed author of The Rihanna RihPort, Julianne Escobedo Shepherd, Is back with DJ Louie for part two of their discussion about the newly anointed Queen of Barbados, Rihanna. Louie and Julianne pick up with Rihanna's 5th album, 2010's Loud, her commercial pop peak and a celebration following the thornier, darker Rated R the previous year. They then analyze what made "We Found Love" the emblematic EDM-pop song and Rih's biggest hit to date, the way she drew from female rappers on salacious hits like "Cockiness (Lick It)" and "Birthday Cake", the alluring fatigue of 2012's sprawling Unapologetic, how she became the superlative celebrity Instagrammer, and her subversive choice to re-unite on record with Chris Brown. Rounding out her career, they consider Rihanna's artistic peak, 2016's startlingly insular Anti, how she's recently applied The Rihanna Thing in non-musical ventures like her lingerie and makeup lines, and her impact on contemporary pop stars, before each sharing their ranking of Rihanna albums. Finally, Louie and Julianne have a lengthy and heated debate about whether Rihanna has ascended to (*gasp*) Tier 1 in the official Pop Pantheon. Lees meer
Ready Julianne's column, The Rihanna RihPort, in Jezebel
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RIHANNA PT. 1 (with Julianne Escobedo Shepherd)
2 december 2021 · 1 uur 30 min
Former Editor in Chief of Jezebel and famed author of The Rihanna RihPort, Julianne Escobedo Shepherd, joins DJ Louie for part one of a two-part discussion about one of the biggest and most dynamic pop icons of the 21st Century, Rihanna. Louie and Julianne get into detail about what exactly the ethereal "Rihanna Thing" is and what allows her to be so versatile with genre before discussing the state of pop and R&B prior to her emergence in 2005 and breaking down the dancehall and reggaeton explosion of the mid-aughts. They then trace Rihanna's discovery by Evan Rogers, her famed audition for Jay-Z, her breakthrough smash with "Pon De Replay", and how her artistry and persona came into full-form on her second and third albums, 2006's A Girl Like Me and 2007's Good Girl Gone Bad. Louie and Julianne dive into Rihanna's penchant for songs about love as tragedy, why her voice was distinctly suited to deliver on the promise of "Umbrella" and what makes it so instantly addictive and recognizable, how she began to establish her singular personal style, the abuse she faced at the hands of then-boyfriend Chris Brown, and the ways she dealt with that on her fourth studio album, 2009's hip hop, rock, and dubstep-inflected Rated R. Lees meer
Join us in two weeks for part two of this discussion, where Louie and Julianne cover the second half of Rihanna's career, rank all of her albums, and debate whether she belongs in Tier 1 of the Pop Pantheon!
Ready Julianne's column, The Rihanna RihPort, in Jezebel
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ONE DIRECTION (with Rolling Stone's Brittany Spanos)
18 november 2021 · 1 uur 19 min
Rolling Stone Senior Writer Brittany Spanos joins DJ Louie for a conversation about British boyband, One Direction. First, Louie and Brittany break down how generational waves of boybands have riffed on a similar formula in their performance styles, musical tropes, and teen fandemonium over the last 50 years. They discuss how One Direction both stands in that lineage and break from it, beginning with their formation on the reality show X Factor, use of newly emergent social media platforms to galvanize their massive stan army, The Directioners, and their aesthetic reliance on rock signifiers rather than American r&b. Louie and Brittany then tackle all of One Direction's albums, the culture of Directioner-ism, trace the heavily referential nods they makes towards moments in rock 'n roll history, common subjects of their songs, the bombshell departure of Zayn Malik, and their impact on both boyband and pop history. Finally, Louie and Brittanny rank One Direction in the official Pop Pantheon. Lees meer
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MINISODE: Answering Your Questions on Charli, Charli, More Charli, Hailee Steinfeild's Career, Katy and Tinashe, Girl Groups and ME!
11 november 2021 · 24 min
DJ Louie answers a slew of listener questions about Charli XCX: When will she have her next hit? What does her new single "New Shapes" tell us about the sound of her new record? Who are Louie's dream future collaborators for Charli? And more! He then gives some quick fire answers on Hailee Steinfeild, Katy Perry, Tinashe, Girl and Boy Groups as Pop Stars and one question that's a little more.... personal. Lees meer
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CHARLI XCX (with Switched on Pop's Charlie Harding and Nate Sloan)
4 november 2021 · 1 uur 24 min
Charlie Harding and Nate Sloan of the podcast Switched on Pop join DJ Louie to talk one of pop’s great agitators, Charli XCX. Charlie, Nate and Louie parse out the dueling instincts in Charli’s career between her chart-topping ambitions and her impulse to disrupt the boundaries of pop. They situate her debut album True Romance amongst a slew of early ‘10s records treading the line between indie rock and pure pop while tracking what makes her first hit as a writer and feature, Icona Pop’s EDM masterpiece “I Love It”, such a quintessential example of Charli’s strengths as a songwriter, performer and student of popular music. They then ponder why Charli’s second album Sucker underperformed commercially while she simultaneously topped the charts with her A Fault in Our Stars OST single “Boom Clap” and her feature on Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy”, discuss what makes Charli such a great fit in the world of PC Music, how her established pop persona affected the aesthetics of hyperpop, what makes her ongoing collaboration with A.G. Cook and others from his collective singular, and where her new single “Good Ones” signals she may go next. Finally, Charlie, Nate and Louie rank Charli XCX in the official pop pantheon. Lees meer
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POST MALONE (with Larry Fitzmaurice)
21 oktober 2021 · 1 uur 17 min
Editor, writer and author of the newsletter Last Donut of the Night, Larry Fitzmaurice, joins DJ Louie as the two attempt to understand “pop’s most suffocating presence”, Post Malone. First, Larry and Louie break down Post’s emergence with his debut hit, the post-Drake lament “White Iverson'', his incoherent and often baffling dismissal of criticisms that he appropriates Black musical signifiers and icky attempts to distance himself from the hip hop sounds on which he made his name. They then discuss Post’s ascent to the top of the streaming ecosystem with his blockbuster second record, Beerbongs and Bentleys, how his genreless dirge of music has come to define this era of pop and effectively ended the idea of The Album, his secret strengths as an emo rock, grunge, and nu-metal practitioner, how exactly this unlikely superstar became one of the most listened to artists in the modern pop ecosystem, and whether or not Post Malone actually has fans. Louie and Larry then rank Post in the official Pop Pantheon. Lees meer
Read Larry's Piece "How Post Malone Became Pop's Most Suffocating Presence" in Vice
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