Pop Pantheon had it's first live show ever last night at the Crawford Auditorium in Pasadena, courtesy of LAist! In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode, USC's Jason King, Beyond the Blinds ' Troy McEady and Gloss Angeles ' Kirbie Johnson were all on stage with DJ Louie to discuss all things Britney: her new memoir, The Woman in Me , her legacy as a pop star and musician, why she mattered and continues to impact the world of pop and generations of stars who came after her, a...
Nov 03, 2023•13 min
Back in August, Lizzo was sued by a number of her former dancers for creating a hostile work environment, with allegations including racial and sexual harassment, disability discrimination, illegal retaliatory termination and assault, and more. This flew directly in the face of her brand, which champions positivity, inclusivity and authenticity above all else (including even her music). The Sunday Times ' Megan Agnew and journalist and culture critic Hanna Phifer join DJ Louie to break down how ...
Nov 02, 2023•53 min
Stereogum’s Tom Breihan returns to Pop Pantheon to dissect the career of pop history’s greatest mimic, Bruno Mars. Louie and Tom dive into how Bruno spent his childhood impersonating greats like Elvis and Michael Jackson, his failed start on Motown and early work for other artists, including via his production group The Smeezingtons. Then they discuss his tightly-stitched 2010 debut, Doo-Wops and Hooligans , 2012’s pop history grab-bag, Unorthodox Jukebox, and the cultural sensation of his 2014 ...
Oct 26, 2023•1 hr 53 min
There are more pop artists than ever but very few of them seem to be able to grab a serious foothold at the top of the heap. Billboard's Elias Leight has been covering this topic extensively lately and for this week's B-side, he joins DJ Louie to break down why it's become nearly impossible to ascend to pop's A-List in the Tik Tok era, how various factions— from artists, to labels, to fans— are reacting to this and how each may need to adjust expectations for what a successful pop career means i...
Oct 19, 2023•44 min
In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode, Troye Sivan released his third album, Something to Give Each Other , on Friday and Louie and Russ got together to dig into the music and world of this record. The two had very differing interpretations of the themes, mood and production choices here which led to a dynamic conversation about Troye, Something and how the continued paucity of queer pop stars puts inordinate amounts of pressure on each release to be everything to everyone...
Oct 17, 2023•12 min
Beyond The Blinds’ Troy McEady joins Pop Pantheon for a double header on a pair of TRL-era pop princess sisters, Jessica and Ashlee Simpson. Louie and Troy track Jessica and Ashlee’s upbringing in Texas, Jessica’s failed attempts at teen stardom via Disney and Christian music and her breakthrough with 1999’s “I Wanna Love You Forever” and Sweet Kisses . Then they discuss 2001’s robotic Irresistible and the surprising vehicle for Jessica’s biggest success, MTV’s Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica , wh...
Oct 12, 2023•1 hr 58 min
There's been a record-breaking trend this year of country music dominating the top of the Billboard Hot 100. But it's not just any country music. These hits by artists like Morgan Wallen, Jason Aldean, Oliver Anthony & Luke Combs— all cis white men— are each employing identity politics and tapping into broader socio-political conflict in the US, either implicitly or explicitly, to help power their rise to pop dominance. So for the first segment of today's show, The Atlantic 's Spencer Kornha...
Oct 05, 2023•1 hr 10 min
In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode, journalist and author Michael Cragg joins Louie for a discussion of Kylie Minogue's sixteenth studio album, Tension , which dropped a couple weeks ago. Tension arrives amidst a heightened level of interest on Kylie following the viral success of its lead single "Padam Padam", which was a gay club anthem in the US and a bonafide hit around the world, including becoming her first top ten in the UK in more than a decade. Louie and Michae...
Oct 02, 2023•11 min
In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode, Rawiya Kameir joins the show in a companion piece to this week's main feed episode on Doja Cat. Here, Louie and Rawiya are talking all things Doja's fourth studio album, Scarlet , which dropped this past Friday. This is a very different type of Doja album: rap-heavy, combative and very very long. Louie and Rawiya are sharing all their thoughts on the record: what's working, what's not, whether Doja has effectively answered to her crit...
Sep 29, 2023•12 min
Rolling Stone ’s Larisha Paul joins Pop Pantheon to dissect the career of one of the most enigmatic, eccentric talents working in pop today: Doja Cat. As Doja releases her fourth studio album, Scarlet , Larisha and Louie dig into her origin story, connection to controversial super-producer Dr. Luke, rise on Soundcloud and the laid-back stoner R&B of her 2014 debut EP Purrr! . They then tackle Doja's first full-length LP, 2018’s Amala , the strange breakout success of the novelty track and vi...
Sep 28, 2023•1 hr 55 min
For the conclusion of our three-part series on Prince, writer and critic Miles Marshall Lewis joins Pop Pantheon to discuss the final swing of Prince's career, beginning with his tumultuous battle with Warner Bros in the early 1990s, which saw him change his name to an unpronounceable symbol and perform with “slave” written on his face. Louie and Miles then tackle the ups and downs of Prince’s wildly prolific latter career, including 1991’s genre-spanning Diamonds and Pearls , his commercial dec...
Sep 21, 2023•1 hr 32 min
For the second in our three-part series on Prince, Pot Psychology 's Rich Juzwiak joins the show to unpack Prince’s imperial years, starting with one of the best-selling albums of all time, 1984’s Purple Rain . Louie and Rich discuss all the music from this blockbuster record as well as the accompanying Oscar-winning film, which together made Prince a cultural phenomenon for the ages, before tackling his swerve into kaleidoscopic psychedelia on 1985's Around the World in a Day , his second swing...
Sep 14, 2023•2 hr 4 min
In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode , Streogum' s Tom Breihan joins DJ Louie to break down Olivia Rodrigo's sophomore album Guts, which dropped Friday: What's working (more rock!), what's not, the major themes and sounds and what it all says about Olivia's place in the pop star firmament of 2023. To hear the rest of the this episode plus receive at least three episodes of the show per month, gain access to our Discord channel and so much more, subscribe to Pop Pantheon: ...
Sep 13, 2023•12 min
For the first of our three-part series on the High Priest of Pop, Prince, the University of Minnesota's Dr. Elliott H. Powell joins the show to discuss the rise of perhaps pop history’s greatest enigma. Louie and Elliot unpack Prince’s upbringing in Minneapolis, his impressive 1978 debut, For You, on which he played every instrument, and mainstream breakthrough with his self-titled sophomore album in 1979 and its smash "I Wanna Be Your Lover". Then they tackle how 1980’s filthy, carnal Dirty Min...
Sep 07, 2023•2 hr 11 min
Buy Tickets to Pop Pantheon Live: Britney's Memoir, Music & Legacy on 11/2 In Pasadena A little about the live show: She’s so lucky, she’s a star. But Britney Spears has charted one of the most challenging, complex paths through the music business since the dawn of pop. Following the release of Britney’s new memoir, The Woman in Me , Pop Pantheon podcast host DJ Louie XIV (he/him) has gathered an all-star panel of guests to discuss Britney’s life and music LIVE. Louie will be joined onstage ...
Aug 31, 2023•59 min
Mitch Therieau, author of the piece Dream of Antonoffication: Pop Music's Blandest Prophet which was published last month in The Drift, joins the show to talk pop music's super producer du-jour Jack Antonoff. Jack is known for his work a wide variety of female artists from Taylor Swift to Lana Del Rey, Lorde, Clairo, St. Vincent and countless others. To many, he is a hero, the anti-Dr. Luke who is happy to play a supporting role to his collaborators and work around their skills to produce idiosy...
Aug 24, 2023•1 hr 7 min
Billboard’s Leila Cobo joins the show to help trace the utterly unique path Jennifer Lopez blazed through popular culture. Leila and Louie chart Jennifer’s rise as a backup dancer, her star-making turn as Selena Quintanilla-Pérez in 1997’s Selena and her debut album, 1999's On The 6 . Then they tackle her cultural saturation after the turn of the millennium and her streak of red-hot rap collaborations that helped define the sound of the 2000s. Finally, Louie and Leila discuss JLo’s forays into S...
Aug 17, 2023•1 hr 51 min
Pop punk is the midst of a revival at the top of the charts so for this week's B-Side, Louie and writer for Alternative Magazine and other pubs, Ryan Piers, break down the history of the genre, how the iconoclasm of punk music and the commercialism of pop music have a strange but fruitful synergy, pop punk's first wave in the mid-90s through the early 2000s with Blink 182, Green Day, Sum 41, Avril Lavigne and others, how it's fallen in out and of fashion since, and the characteristics of its rec...
Aug 10, 2023•55 min
In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode , Service 95's Brennan Carley joins DJ Louie to discuss Carly Rae Jepsen's new album, The Loveliest Time , which dropped last week and serves as a companion piece to 2022's The Loneliest Time. Louie and Brennan dig into Carly's aesthetic stasis in recent years, the swings-and-misses from Loneliest' s attempts to find new avenues for her music, and how Loveliest presents her loosest and most exciting batch of songs in a very long time, ...
Aug 07, 2023•14 min
For part two of our Gwen Stefani series, NPR Music editor Hazel Cills returns to Pop Pantheon to tackle Gwen's solo career. Louie and Hazel discuss Gwen striking out on her own via collaborations with Moby and Eve, then parse through her certifiably bonkers, extraordinarily controversial, hit-stacked solo debut, 2004’s Love Angel Music Baby – undoubtedly one of the mid 2000’s biggest blockbusters. Then they consider her 2006 follow-up, The Sweet Escape , and solo return a decade later, 2016’s Th...
Aug 03, 2023•1 hr 43 min
And Introducing host Molly Mary O’Brien joins the show for part one of a double-header on Gwen Stefani! This week, Molly and Louie discuss No Doubt, a local SoCal ska band that improbably morphed into one of the world’s biggest pop rock bands and then served as a launching pad Gwen’s solo career as one of the important big-tent dance pop stars of her generation. The two dig into what made Gwen a inevitable superstar even before she took her place as the band’s front-woman, No Doubt’s feel-good, ...
Jul 27, 2023•1 hr 51 min
In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode , Who? Weekly 's Bobby Finger joins Pop Pantheon: All Access to revisit Robyn's most recent album, 2018's long-awaited Honey . Bobby and Louie dig into the album's central themes of grief and loss, how it pivots from the catharsis and gratification of classic Robyn songs towards something more amorphous and even frustrating, its deconstruction of dance music genres, the journey of the title track from Girls soundtrack curio to undulati...
Jul 24, 2023•15 min
Louie and Russ are answering listener questions about what's next for Charli XCX, how Dua Lipa fits into the broader trend of cult-of-personality pop stars, whether The Idol will tank The Weeknd's career, why Luke Comb's "Fast Car" is such a hit, how a Canadian Pop Pantheon might differ from the American one, a slew of Niche Legends, how they make the show and so much more. Join Pop Pantheon: All Access, Our Patreon Channel, for Exclusive Content and More Shop Merch in Pop Pantheon's Store Follo...
Jul 20, 2023•1 hr 3 min
Hit Parade host Chris Molanphy returns to discuss one of the defining pop stars of the late 1980s, Paula Abdul. Louie and Chris discuss the virtuosic choreography that snatched Paula a ticket to pop superstardom, her three year run of signature hits beginning with 1988’s blockbuster Forever Your Girl through 1991's Spellbound, her contributions to the MTV music video boom, why her final album, 1995’s Head Over Heels, flopped, and her second act as a TV personality. Finally, they rank Paula Abdul...
Jul 13, 2023•1 hr 49 min•Ep. 67
In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode , Host of the Ringer's Every Single Album podcast Nora Princiotti is back on the show to talk all things Speak Now ! Taylor Swift released the third in her series of album re-recordings, Speak Now (Taylor's Version), last Friday, so Louie and Nora are deep-diving on the album, its major themes and aesthetics, where it sits in the narrative arc of Taylor's career, its highlights and lowlights and reception at the time of its original re...
Jul 12, 2023•12 min
We’re planning a mailbag episode that's dropping very (and we mean mean VERY) soon + we want your questions! Curious what Louie thinks of a recent trend in pop? Want to know what he thinks is coming next for a certain pop star? Or what goes on behind the scenes at Pop Pantheon? Have burning questions about upcoming album rollouts, historical pop quandaries or Louie + Russ’s personal lives? Hit us up! We want to hear from you! Voicenotes are best, simply record yourself with your phone + send the...
Jul 08, 2023•45 sec
On the eve of the third installment of Taylor Swift's re-recording project of her first seven studio albums, Speak Now (Taylor's Version) , Switched on Pop 's Charlie Harding, Rolling Stone' s Larisha Paul and Every Single Album 's Nora Princiotti join DJ Louie to break down how this singularly ambitious endeavor has gone so far. Has it achieved its commercial goals? What about its aesthetic ones? What are the differences? When it comes to Fearless (Taylor's Version) and Red (Taylor's Version) ,...
Jul 06, 2023•1 hr 18 min
Steven J. Horowitz returns to Pop Pantheon to discuss the career of contemporary pop’s sexiest studio rat, Charlie Puth. Louie and Steven tackle Charlie’s oddball career in pop music, from his rocket into mainstream consciousness singing the saccharine hook on “See You Again” to his personality-less debut album, 2016’s 9 Track Mind . They examine the critical reevaluation he received following his criminally underrated sophomore album, 2018’s Voice Notes , his latest self-titled album, Charlie P...
Jun 29, 2023•1 hr 42 min
In a preview of this week's Patreon episode, Vulture 's Jason P Frank joins PP:AA to discuss Kim Petras' first major label studio album, Feed the Beast , which dropped Friday. Louie and Jason address the album's shortcomings as it attempts to find a broader audience for Kim, the few things that work on the record, how Kim's music has ended up in this disappointing place, and what they hope the failure of this record on a commercial and critical level might mean in terms of a reset for Kim's care...
Jun 27, 2023•12 min
In the final installment of our pride series, Assistant Professor of English at Toronto Metropolitan University and author of the journal article "Diva Worship and the Sonic Search for Queer Utopia" Dr. Craig Jennex joins the show to unpack the relationship between queer men and pop divas. Louie and Craig discuss how this relationship developed over the last hundred years, from the time of opera singers to Judy Garland, Diana Ross, Madonna, Britney, Gaga, Beyoncé and all the way through the pres...
Jun 22, 2023•57 min
