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Is “Kidz Bop: It’s the Devil” the song of the summer? Sep 05, 2025

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KPop Demon Hunters, or as Brittany's mom keeps mistakenly calling it "Kidz Bop: It's the Devil," is dominating the music charts. And, thank god! These bombastic bangers are a welcome reprieve after a summer full of sad songs.
We need to talk about those bangers, but we also need to talk about the void KPop Demon Hunters is filling. This summer was lacking a true shiny, shimmering song of the summer. Where were the bops? Where were the ubiquitous, undeniable culture uniting hits? It's disappointing we don't have an anthem to point to – but it's also telling.
Brittany sits down with Stephen Thompson, host for NPR Music and co-host of Pop Culture Happy Hour, to discuss what we had instead of songs of the summer – and what that tells us about how our musical landscape has changed.
To find out Brittany's song of the summer follow her on Instagram: @bmluse
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The lessons I learned from 'Alligator Alcatraz' Sep 03, 2025

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The Florida detention center, "Alligator Alcatraz," may close, but what can you learn from its short but impactful run?
First, the name echoes old Southern American racist tropes and adapts them for a modern audience. Second, its casually playful name is a blueprint for other detention centers popping up across the United States. But what does this all add up to?
In this episode, Brittany, freelance journalist Asher Elbein, and Miami Herald race and identity reporter Raisa Habersham unpack the racist trope of alligators in Florida and how the joke-ified name of the facility dehumanizes its inmates.
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Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce need your attention Sep 01, 2025

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It's official: Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce posted one of the most liked Instagram photos of all time. Also, they're officially engaged.
Swift and Kelce are no strangers to the spotlight, but we still know very little about their relationship aside from what they are willing to share. And Molly McPherson, a public relations expert, says that's no accident.
In this episode, Brittany returns to a conversation she had with Molly back when Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce first started dating, and Brittany and Molly discuss why Swift and Kelce need your attention to fuel the business of their relationship and meet stakeholders's (from fans to the NFL) wants and needs. Plus, Brittany and Molly get into how you can use Swift and Kelce's strategy in your own life.
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Did Trump bet wrong? Americans are flip-flopping. Aug 29, 2025

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Have Americans changed their minds? Polling on immigration suggests a seismic shift in public opinion.
According to Gallup, 79% of Americans now say immigration is a good thing for the country, which is a record high. Plus, the share of Americans who want lower rates of immigration has dropped from 55% in 2024 to 30% this year. And it's not just this poll showing a shift in how we think about immigration. But why has this change happened? And where might we see reverberations of this in our culture? Brittany digs into the data and the consequences for the Trump administration with Jasmine Garsd, NPR senior immigration correspondent, and Christian Paz, political correspondent at Vox.
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"George Bush doesn't care about Black people" 20 years later Aug 27, 2025

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On September 2, 2005, on a telethon to raise money for victims of Hurricane Katrina, Kanye West went off script and said, "George Bush doesn't care about Black people." 20 years later, would those words have the same impact today?
In this episode, Brittany, NPR music correspondent Rodney Carmichael, and Code Switch's Leah Donella revisit that moment and dissect why those words rippled through the nation. They investigate how race and politics intersected decades ago and how those words still cast a shadow over American politics now...from what celebrities are willing to say to power and why or why not.
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'Poverty porn' in the digital age Aug 25, 2025

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Social media is full of images of unhoused people that's either meant to make you angry or laugh. For Leah Goodridge, this content is a new form of 'poverty porn.'
'Poverty porn' used to refer to charity commercials showing malnourished children to evoke empathy from sympathetic viewers. But according to New York City attorney and tenant advocate Leah Goodridge, that kind of imagery has shifted into something more: rage bait. With the center of that rage being homeless people.
Leah Goodridge joins Brittany to get into how social media, our legal system, and societal narratives around homelessness create a culture that punishes and mocks people in need.
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Inside the White House meme factory Aug 22, 2025

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We need to talk about the memes your tax dollars paid for. What is the federal government trying to communicate with them?
The social media accounts of the White House and the Department of Homeland Security have been chock-full of memes: memes that mock people being deported, memes that are aimed at recruiting new ICE agents, even a meme that seemingly references a book by a white supremacist. To get into who these memes are speaking to and what story they’re trying to tell, Brittany sits down with NPR correspondent Shannon Bond and Joan Donovan, assistant professor of journalism and emerging media studies at Boston University and founder of the Critical Internet Studies Institute.
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Cringe culture says stop. We say lean in. Aug 20, 2025

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Has online hate ever been this cruel?
Brendan Abernathy is a singer-songwriter who went viral earlier this year for an earnest performance of his song "married in a year." The backlash was immediate, and one word popped up over and over again in the comments: "cringe."
Brittany and Ramtin Arablouei, co-host of NPR's Throughline, get into the rise of cringe culture: where it comes from, how it's hurting us, and how leaning into cringe is good for art. And Ramtin talks with Brendan about how to cope with the criticism, and Brendan debuts a new song about his experience. Brendan's new album is out September 26th.
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The newest influencers? Porn stars. Aug 18, 2025

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Sex sells. So does outrage. That's why these sex workers are making rage bait.
In the past few months, UK and Australian-based OnlyFans creators like Bonnie Blue and Annie Knight made headlines for their extreme sex stunts, most notably for sleeping with over 100 men in one day. But in addition to these stunts, they also appear on controversial podcasts to gain traction, or do day in the life vlogs - much like your average everyday influencer. And they're making bank. So how did we get to this point?
Brittany wanted to know more, and find out why this matters for those of us who don't consume this content. So, she sat down with New York Magazine writer Rebecca Jennings and writer and author Charlotte Shane to discuss the blurry lines of sex work, influencing, and rage bait. For handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPR’s Pod Club newsletter at npr.org/podclub.
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What really counts as "cheating?" Aug 15, 2025

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Are you scared of being cheated on? You're not alone.
There are apps and social media groups dedicated to outing a cheater. But is our paranoia about cheating actually hurting our relationships? And on top of that, definitions of "cheating" vary widely. How do you decide for yourself what really counts as cheating? And what's really fueling our fear of being cheated on?
Brittany is joined by Kathryn Jezer-Morton, writer of the Brooding column from The Cut, and Shannon Keating, freelance culture journalist, to answer these questions and get to the bottom of why fear of infidelity haunts our culture and our dating lives.
For handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPR’s Pod Club newsletter at npr.org/podclub.
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