In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode, the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Wicked is a smash hit, raking in $114 million dollars during its first weekend and earning rave reviews from critics and fans alike. One of its two leads, pop diva Ariana Grande, is also earning plaudits in her first headlining film role, even including some serious Oscar buzz. But while many pop stars have attempted a Hollywood crossover, very few— even those with a successful film or two u...
Nov 25, 2024•12 min
Michael Cragg returns to Pop Pantheon for the second installment in our two-part series on the grande dame of contemporary pop, Adele. Michael and Louie discuss Adele’s sabbatical following her breakout blockbuster success with 21 , during which she crafted her comeback album, 2015’s 25 . They dissect the album, from the booming piano ballad “Hello” to Adele’s collaboration with big pop producers like Max Martin, and her continued mega success. Finally, they tackle her most recent album, 30 , he...
Nov 21, 2024•1 hr 33 min
The New York Times Senior Staff Editor Leah Greenblatt joins Pop Pantheon for the first in a two-part series on the mega diva of her generation, Adele. Leah and Louie explore Adele’s origin story, from her brief MySpace era to her official debut single which she wrote at just 16, “Hometown Glory.” From there they discuss her first album, 2008’s 19 , which made her a star in the U.K., and “Rolling in the Deep,” which set the stage for her global takeover. Next, they tackle 21 , a breakup album so...
Nov 14, 2024•1 hr 51 min
In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode, Louie and Russ react to Friday's Grammy Nominations and score their predictions from last week's episode. Then, they play a game of "Step Up, Step Down" about post-Sweat Tour Troye Sivan, Lady Gaga's "Disease", The Weeknd's new era and more. To hear the rest of the this episode plus receive weekly bonus episodes of Pop Pantheon, gain access to our Discord channel and so much more, subscribe to Pop Pantheon: All Access at the Icon Tier...
Nov 11, 2024•11 min
Katy Perry's latest album 143 lit the internet ablaze for all the wrong reasons when it dropped earlier this year, mostly because of how wrong it got nearly everything and how hard it underperformed as a result. 143 was a capital-F flop in the classic sense of the term. But what exactly does the moniker "flop" mean when it comes to pop music? What constitutes a true flop? How do pop fans use it? Where did it originate and how has it morphed over time into a term of endearment for diehards, espec...
Nov 07, 2024•59 min
In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode, America is making it's most critical decision this week: who will be nominated for Grammys! Louie and Russ each share their predictions for which of your favs (and less favs) will get nominated in the Big Four categories ahead of the official announcement this Friday Nov. 8. To hear the rest of the this episode plus receive weekly bonus episodes of Pop Pantheon, gain access to our Discord channel and so much more, subscribe to Pop Pan...
Nov 04, 2024•11 min
Variety ’s Steven J. Horowitz returns to Pop Pantheon to unpack the maddeningly underrated Kelis, who spent most of her career ahead of the curve and helped to carve out a new lane for alt-pop stardom in the 2000s. Louie and Steven dig into Kelis' origin story, from meeting The Neptunes as a teenager to her debut, 1999’s futuristic pop fantasia Kaleidoscope . From there, they unpack her success across the pond with 2001’s Wanderland and 2003’s ultra eclectic and masterful Tasty , which produced ...
Oct 31, 2024•1 hr 56 min
In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode, Louie and Russ are here to fight about Lady Gaga's new single, "Disease", the first offering from her forthcoming album, "LG7". They then dive into Addison Rae's new single "Aquamarine" and ponder Halsey's latest record, The Great Impersonator, which dropped last Friday. To hear the rest of the this episode plus receive weekly bonus episodes of Pop Pantheon, gain access to our Discord channel and so much more, subscribe to Pop Pantheo...
Oct 28, 2024•14 min
We put out a call for our audience's most unpopular pop opinions: hot takes you have that no one else seems to agree with but you know in your heart to be true. And boy, did we get some! Rolling Stone 's Larisha Paul joins Louie and Russ to field unpopular pop opinions about I Am... Sasha Fierce , Charli XCX, Glee Cast Versions, Speak Now , Britney's talents, Ed Sheeran and so much more. And in the process, they each reveal some fairly unpopular pop opinions of their own... Join Pop Pantheon: Al...
Oct 24, 2024•1 hr 17 min
Shaad D’Souza returns to Pop Pantheon for the conclusion of our three-part series on Charli XCX. Shaad and Louie unpack Charli’s 2020 lockdown album, the DIY How I'm Feeling Now , and 2022’s Crash , which ditched the outré experimentation of her PC Music era in favor of open gestures at the pop charts. From there, they discuss Charli’s return to the Hot 100 with “Speed Drive” and her most recent record, brat , which fuelled her unexpected rise from Niche Legend to the most talked about pop star ...
Oct 17, 2024•1 hr 45 min
In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode, Brat Summer becomes Brat Autumn as Charli XCX drops a completely reimagined version of her blockbuster album from earlier this year, Brat and it's Completely Different but Also Still Brat . Reanna Cruz joins Louie and Russ to break down Charli's latest addition to the Bratoverse and how it transcends the pitfalls of the cliche modern pop superstar remix, providing new twists, depth and dimension to the OG material with an all-star lin...
Oct 14, 2024•12 min
Senior Editor at Pitchfork Anna Gaca returns to Pop Pantheon for the second in our three-part series on Charli XCX. Anna and Louie look back on Charli’s early link-ups with "hyperpop" innovator Sophie, starting with 2016’s Vroom Vroom EP, which began Charli's pivot from an also-ran on the pop charts into the genre’s savviest alternative auteur. From there, they chart her adventurous new creative direction, her work with frequent creative partner A.G. Cook on her 2017 mixtapes, the sugar-rush Num...
Oct 10, 2024•1 hr 48 min
For the first in our new three-part series on Charli XCX, i-D ’s Owen Myers returns to Pop Pantheon to chart the start of Charli’s iconoclastic and unlikely trail through pop. Owen and Louie trace Charli’s roots in England, starting when she was a teenage songwriter posting demos to MySpace and performing at raves in London. Then they discuss her charmingly DIY unreleased debut album, 14, her first brush with success with the surprise hit “I Love It,” her 2012 mixtapes, Heartbreaks and Earthquak...
Oct 03, 2024•1 hr 48 min
In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode, last night live in Los Angeles, DJ Louie gathered with HeidiWorld 's Molly Lambert, And Introducing 's Molly Mary O'Brien, The Los Angeles Times ' Mikael Wood & writer Jaelani Tuner-Williams to break down Katy Perry's new record 143 , Lady Gaga's new record Harlequin and just how these two superlative millennial divas are navigating the awkward period of their careers between trend-setter and legacy act. To hear the rest of the th...
Oct 01, 2024•14 min
Buy Tickets to Pop Pantheon Live! Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and the Millennial Diva Conundrum on 9/30 at Dynasty Typewriter in LA Buy Tickets to Pop Pantheon Presents Main Pop Girls Dance Party on 10/4 at Parkside Lounge in NYC Billboard is currently rolling out their list of the 25 Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century and we couldn't resist participating in the fun! Rich Juzwiak and Sam Murphy join DJ Louie to share each of their respective top tens before the three duke it out to settle on their...
Sep 26, 2024•1 hr 32 min
Don't forget to grab tickets to our live show, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and The Millennial Diva Conundrum this Monday 9/30 at Dynasty Typewriter in LA! We'll be talking 143 , Harlequin , and so much more! In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode, Louie and Russ each had the true pleasure of seeing Charli XCX and Troye Sivan's Sweat Tour in New York City and Toronto respectively and they got together to break down the entire surreal and joyous experience. To hear the rest of the ...
Sep 25, 2024•11 min
Buy Tickets to Pop Pantheon Live! Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and the Millennial Diva Conundrum on 9/30 at Dynasty Typewriter in LA (DISCOUNT BEGINS AT 12AM on 9/20!) Buy Tickets to Pop Pantheon Presents Main Pop Girls Dance Party on 10/4 at Parkside Lounge in NYC In a SUPERSIZED episode of Pop Pantheon , critic, writer and NPR 's Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast host Aisha Harris returns to unpack the astonishing symmetry of two of the biggest boy bands in history, Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC. Aisha and...
Sep 19, 2024•2 hr 28 min
Buy Tickets to Pop Pantheon Live! Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and the Millennial Diva Conundrum on 9/30 at Dynasty Typewriter in LA Buy Tickets to Pop Pantheon Presents Main Pop Girls Dance Party on 10/4 at Parkside Lounge in NYC Sure, we're all listening to a podcast called "Pop Pantheon". But what exactly is the Pop Pantheon? This is a question Louie hasn't addressed in detail since the show's earliest days. So, Russ and he got together to reintroduce the Pantheon, break down all its individual tier...
Sep 12, 2024•1 hr 12 min
Buy Tickets to Pop Pantheon Live! Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and the Millennial Diva Conundrum on 9/30 at Dynasty Typewriter in LA Buy Tickets to Pop Pantheon Presents Main Pop Girls Dance Party on 10/4 at Parkside Lounge in NYC Who Weekly ’s Lindsey Weber and Bobby Finger return to Pop Pantheon to discuss one of pop’s most perplexing but enduring workhorses, Meghan Trainor. Louie, Lindsey and Bobby chart Meghan’s origins in Nantucket, her early self-produced teenage albums, and her breakthrough with...
Sep 05, 2024•2 hr 2 min
In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode, Disney-star-turned-"Drivers License"-third-wheel-turned-ascendent-pop-girlie Sabrina Carpenter has been on quite a roll lately. Her most recent two singles have been smashes and her sixth studio album, Short 'n Sweet , arrived last Friday among a swirl of expectations even she probably couldn't have imagined a few months ago. So does it meet the moment? Louis and Russ gather to break down everything about Sabrina's latest batch of son...
Sep 02, 2024•12 min
Buy Tickets to Pop Pantheon Live! Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and the Millennial Diva Conundrum on 9/30 at Dynasty Typewriter in LA Happy Labor Day Weekend! Louie is still off on vacation so as a treat, we're republishing our Patreon review of Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter from back in April. If you like this episode and want to hear more like it, you can subscribe to Pop Pantheon: All Access for weekly bonus episodes of the show and so much more. You can also subscribe for the audio only direction in the A...
Aug 29, 2024•1 hr
Louie and Russ gather to answer YOUR questions! We're talking all our fantasy Brat remixes and a VH1 Divas Live revival, playing out thought experiments about Beyoncé and Rihanna and Louie gets personal about his career and vocab tics. Buy Tickets to Pop Pantheon Live! Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and the Millennial Diva Conundrum on 9/30 at Dynasty Typewriter in LA Join Pop Pantheon: All Access, Our Patreon Channel, for Weekly Bonus Episodes and More Shop Merch in Pop Pantheon's Store Come to Gorgeous...
Aug 22, 2024•57 min
In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode, NME's Kyann-Sian Williams joins Russ to discuss Tinashe's brand new seventh studio album Quantum Baby – the second in a trilogy of albums she's rolling out. Can she capitalize on the virality of "Nasty"? Or is that even on her mind? And is Tinashe expanding her artistry or letting us in on this new record? Russ + Kyann-Sian break it all down. To hear the rest of the this episode plus receive weekly bonus episodes of Pop Pantheon, gain...
Aug 20, 2024•9 min
Ahead of the release of Tinashe’s seventh studio album, Quantum Baby , The Cut’s Cat Zhang joins Pop Pantheon to discuss Tinashe’s rollercoaster career. Cat and DJ Louie dig into Tinashe’s upbringing in Lexington, Kentucky, her work as a child actor on Two and a Half Men and the girl group she was briefly in with fellow pop star Hayley Kiyoko, The Stunners. From there, they unpack her early mixtapes, explosion into the public consciousness with the sultry club banger “2 On,” her moody major labe...
Aug 15, 2024•1 hr 46 min
In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode, When Paris Hilton released her debut album, 2006's Paris , the world largely saw it as a joke. Despite it's lead single "Stars Are Blind" becoming a top 20 hit, the album tanked, was savaged by critics and Paris never released another one. Now, on the eve her long-awaited sophomore effort Infinite Icon , due September 6, Troy McEady joins DJ Louie to look back on Paris . Is it as vapid and meritless and critics thought back in the aug...
Aug 12, 2024•11 min
We thought 2024 was going to be dominated by a waterfall of new releases from Old Guard Superstars like Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Ariana Grande and Dua Lipa. But while they've each had success, the main story of the last 12 months has been the auspicious establishment of a new generation of pop divas led by Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter, but also featuring Ice Spice, Gracie Abrams, Victoria Monet and more. For this week's B-Side, DJ Louie is joined by LA Times Pop Critic Mikael Wood and Vultu...
Aug 08, 2024•1 hr 36 min
BUY YOUR TICKETS HERE The rollout for Katy Perry’s seventh studio album, 143 , has been a disaster. Sixteen years into her pop career, Katy’s facing a textbook struggle for a pop star more than a decade into her career: irrelevance. By contrast, Katy’s pop peer Lady Gaga has charted a very different second act, swerving into acting and rebranding herself as an old school all-around entertainer. On September 30 , DJ Louie XIV will be joined by Los Angeles Times pop critic Mikael Wood and And Intr...
Aug 06, 2024•2 min
Professor of Ethnomusicology at Julliard Dr. Fredara Hadley joins Pop Pantheon for the culmination of our four-part series on the King of Pop. In the final installment, DJ Louie and Dr. Hadley tackle Michael Jackson’s music post- Thriller , starting with the signature ‘80s blockbuster Bad (1987) and 1991’s successful pivot toward New Jack Swing, Dangerous . From there, Louie and Dr. Hadley unpack Michael’s personal and public decline, including the sexual abuse allegations made against him in 19...
Aug 01, 2024•2 hr 24 min
In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode, Ice Spice just dropped her debut record Y2K , an under 25 minute tour through drill beats, Jersey club and Ice's signature puerile humor and nonchalant flow. How does it work as her first official album statement? Who is this music playing to? And does it sound like 2000 at all? Writer Nadirah Simmons is here to break it all down with Louie and Russ. To hear the rest of the this episode plus receive weekly bonus episodes of Pop Panthe...
Jul 29, 2024•10 min
There are albums. And then there’s Thriller . For the third installment of our four-part series on the King of Pop, Stereogum’s Tom Breihan returns for Pop Pantheon’s first ever A-Side devoted to a single album: Michael Jackson’s definitive 1982 pop blockbuster, Thriller . DJ Louie and Tom dig into every aspect of the best-selling album of all time, from iconic performances to choreography, fashion, and MJ’s radical reimagining of the then-nascent music video format. They also tackle all of the ...
Jul 25, 2024•2 hr 11 min
