Pop Pantheon

Grab tix to Main Pop Girls on Oct. 3 at Parkside Lounge

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Was There a Song of Summer? Sep 04, 2025

Show notes

Louie and Russ look back on 2025's wonky summer of pop music, discuss whether there was any true song of summer this year, and look at Billboard's definitive rankings before sifting back through their bets from this spring to see who got the most right about Song of Summer 2025.

Grab tix to Gorgeous Gorgeous on Sept. 12 at The Sultan Room

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Sabrina Carpenter's Man's Best Friend + Taylor’s Getting Married! (Patreon Preview) Sep 01, 2025

Show notes

In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode, Louie and Russ talk briefly about the engagement news of the century before digging into Sabrina Carpenter's 7th (!!)— although for all intents and purposes, sophomore— studio album, Man's Best Friend, which dropped on Friday.

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Pop Pantheon Live! Tortured Poets & the State of Taylor Mania (with Hunter Harris, Brittany Spanos, & Nora Princiotti) (Originally aired 4/23/24) Aug 28, 2025

Show notes

Pop Pantheon will return with new episodes next week! In the meantime, enjoy a taste of our Patreon channel, Pop Pantheon: All Access, with this live show about Taylor Swfit's The Tortured Poets Department from back in April of '24.

If you enjoy this and want to 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. You can also subscribe for the audio only directly in the Apple Podcasts app.

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Justin Bieber's Purpose 10 Years Later (with The Wall Street Journal's Myles Tanzer) (Patreon Preview) Aug 25, 2025

Show notes

In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode, The Wall Street Journal's Myles Tanzer returns to Pop Pantheon ahead of the 10-year anniversary of Justin Bieber's fourth studio album, Purpose, to unpack the blockbuster record. Louie and Myles touch down on Justin's recent album Swag, discuss Purpose's trio of number one hits, "Love Yourself," "Sorry" and "What Do You Mean?," and talk about Justin's approach to pop stardom over the years.

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SECOND SPIN: CYNDI LAUPER (with Rob Harvilla) Aug 21, 2025

Show notes

Pop Pantheon is off until September but we didn't want to leave you high and dry! This episode on Cyndi Lauper from back in January 2022 is one of Louie's favorites. If you missed it or are new to the pod, this is great gem from the back catalog. If you've heard it before, we hope you enjoy revisiting the career, work, and legacy of this early MTV era icon.

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Is Miley Cyrus' Bangerz a Classic Without Its Singles? (Patreon Preview) Aug 18, 2025

Show notes

In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode, Louie and Russ revisit Miley Cyrus' divisive 2013 blockbuster Bangerz, her most successful pop star era but one loaded to the brim with controversy and worse. To do so, they go track-by-track on the album but skip it's three enduring hits— "We Can't Stop," "Wrecking Ball," and "Adore You"— to decide if this explosive, chaotic record many deem some kind of "classic" stands on it's own two feet without them.

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Listen to our Kylie Minogue Essentials Playlist

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KYLIE MINOGUE: PART 4 (with Owen Myers, Sam Murphy, Michael Cragg, Joan Summers, & Katherine St. Asaph) Aug 14, 2025

Show notes

To conclude our epic four-parter, the time has come to rank Kylie Minogue in the official Pop Pantheon! Louie and Russ convene an international gay summit with friends of the pod Owen Myers and Sam Murphy to break down one of the toughest tier rankings in Pop Pantheon history. Do we rank Kylie differently in different territories? Try to come up with a global ranking? How do we make sense of such an enigmatic career that played out so differently across different regions of the world? Panelists from the series Michael Cragg, Joan Summers, and Katherine St. Asaph all weigh in as well before Louie makes the final call!

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Revisiting Doechii's Alligator Bites Never Heal (with Lakin Imani Starling) (Patreon Preview) Aug 11, 2025

Show notes

In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode, writer and producer Lakin Imani Starling joins Pop Pantheon ahead of the first anniversary of Doechii's mixtape Alligator Bites Never Heal to talk about how the project turned Doechii into a breakout star. Lakin and Russ dig into Doechii's origins in Florida, her early years as a rapper and musician and early hits like "Yucky Blucky Fruitcake" and "What It Is" that helped set the stage for her massive mainstream breakthrough. From there, they discuss how Doechii uses Alligator Bites to challenges notions of genre and, ultimately, to tell her own story.

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Listen to our Kylie Minogue Essentials Playlist

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KYLIE MINOGUE: PART 3 (with Katherine St. Asaph) Aug 07, 2025

Show notes

Katherine St. Asaph makes her Pop Pantheon debut for the third in our four-part series on Kylie Minogue. Louie and Katherine discuss Kylie's life-changing cancer diagnosis and the celebratory record that followed her public battle with the disease 2007's X. Then they tackle Kylie’s later era run of records, from 2010’s Aphrodite through to 2020's Disco, when led into her third moment in the American zeitgeist with "Padam Padam" nearly 40 years into her career.

Join us next week for part 4, in which we’ll debate Kylie’s ranking in The Official Pop Pantheon.

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Gorgeous Gorgeous NYC on August 8