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Pop Pantheon — Music
Pop Pantheon

The podcast where DJ Louie XIV and guests completely overanalyze all your favorite pop stars, then rank them in the official Pop Pantheon.

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Copyright: © 741598

Latest Episodes:

MADONNA: PART 1 (with Inside The Groove's Edward Russell) Jan 05, 2023

Show notes

For the first of our new three-part series on the Queen of Pop, Madonna, host of the podcast Inside the Groove Edward Russell joins DJ Louie to discuss Madge’s early years as an upstart pop-provocateur-turned-auteur. Louie and Edward begin with her early life and how her mother’s death from breast cancer, her strained relationship with her father and the family’s devout catholicism informed her path and future work before moving to the mythology of how she ended up in New York City, first to pursue a career in dance and later as a singer. They then discuss each of her first three albums, her self-titled 1983 debut, 1984’s explosive Like a Virgin and 1986’s seminal blockbuster True Blue and how each expanded the scope and depth of Madonna’s artistry while simultaneously mapping the blueprint for pop stardom. Along the way, Louie and Edward touch on iconic moments like 1984 VMA’s performance, the medium-defining “Material Girl” music video and so much more.

Join us next week for Part 2 which will cover Like a Prayer, “Vogue”, Erotica and Bedtime Stories!

Check out Edward's Podcast on Madonna's music, Inside the Groove

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Listen to Madonna PT II

Listen to Madonna PT III

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Check out Pop Pantheon's Madonna Essentials Playlist on Spotify

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Taylor Swift's Reputation (with Rolling Stone's Brittany Spanos) (Patreon's Version) Dec 29, 2022

Show notes

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

As a little Xmas treat, we're posting this episode which was originally published on our Patreon, Pop Pantheon: All Access, a deep-dive with Rolling Stone's Brittany Spanos into Taylor Swift's misunderstood 2017 album Reputation. Largely derided upon its release in 2017, Reputation is an album that's worthy of a re-appraisal, especially given its connections to Taylor's current blockbuster success with Midnights. As a special bonus for our Patrons, Louie's tackling work by an artist not yet ranked in the Pantheon – he even teases his thoughts on Taylor's legacy as a pop icon.

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KATY PERRY: PART 2 (with Variety's Daniel D'Addario) Dec 22, 2022

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Chief Television Critic at Variety Daniel D’Addario is back with DJ Louie for part two of our series on Purposeful Popstress Katy Perry! Louie and Dan kick off this installment by talking about the long tail of Teenage Dream and how Katy's highly-publicized divorce from comedian Russell Brand informed both the deluxe edition's hit singles as well as the setting into which she delivered her much-anticipated fourth album, 2013's Prism. They then parse about Prism's disjointed mix of Dream-styled pure pop confections aimed at uplift and more earnest ruminations on the dissolution of her relationship, as well its mixed commercial reception with certain singles like "Roar" and "Dark Horse" topping the charts while a slew of other songs failed to connect, how her celebrated Super Bowl halftime show represented her last moment of monocultural dominance, the career nadir of her 2017 flop Witness which tried and failed at both deepening Katy's on-record persona and updating her sound for a new era without the help of long-time partner Dr. Luke, and how her career as centrist pop figure never recovered, yet her legacy as an emblem of the most unfettered iteration of Pop Stardom lives on. Finally, Louie and Dan rank Katy Perry in the official Pop Pantheon.

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KATY PERRY: PART 1 (with Variety's Daniel D'Addario) Dec 15, 2022

Show notes

Chief Television Critic at Variety Daniel D’Addario joins DJ Louie for a long-awaited and sprawling two-parter about Rick Caruso’s favorite pop star, Katy Perry! In Part 1, Louie and Dan begin with Katy’s cloistered early life as the daughter of two Pentacostal ministers who was denied access to most popular culture, her teenaged forays into Christian rock, eventual pivot to secular music and myriad false starts as a pop star, including dalliances with Alanis Morrisette producer Glen Ballard, a short stint fronting the artist project for production team The Matrix and series of failed record deals. They then lay out how everything finally clicked thanks to Capitol Records and, most importantly, her collaboration with super-producers Max Martin and Dr. Luke who helped craft the soft-serve controversy of her breakthrough smash, 2008’s “I Kissed a Girl”, parse apart the pop-rock leanings and pert poses of her hit second album, One of the Boys, later that year, before going long on her seminal third album, 2010’s technicolor pure-pop juggernaut Teenage Dream, only the second album in history to produce five #1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100.

Join us next week for Part 2 where Dan and Louie will explore 2013’s Prism, 2017’s Witness, 2020’s Smile and rank Katy Perry in the official Pop Pantheon!

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Imperial Phases: What Are They, Who's Had One and Do They Still Exist? (with Tom Ewing) Dec 08, 2022

Show notes

The concept of an "Imperial Phase"- a short-lived period of a pop star's career where artistic revelation meets commercial saturation and everything they touch turns to gold- comes up quite a bit on Pop Pantheon. Originally coined by Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant, the term gained purchase in our pop music discourse thanks to Tom Ewing's taxonomy of the phrase in his classic 2010 Pitchfork piece, "Imperial".

For this week's B-side, Tom joins DJ Louie to discuss Imperial Phases past, present and future. Louie and Tom get into the history of the term and the details of how to spot one when it's happening, before turning to the careers of individual pop stars- Frank Sinatra, The Beatles, Diana Ross, Prince, Madonna, Lady GaGa, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift and more- to figure out who's had one, who hasn't and when exactly they've had happened (or not) for each.

Finally, Louie and Tom discuss whether it's become more difficult to achieve an Imperial Phase in the streaming and social media era, how we need redefine the term in the context of cult-of-personality pop stardom and who of the new generation seems primed to achieve one in the coming years.
Read Tom's piece "Imperial" in Pitchfork

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The Best (and Worst) Pop Music of 2022 (with NPR's Hazel Cills) Dec 01, 2022

Show notes

Editor at NPR Music Hazel Cills joins DJ Louie for a thorough rundown of pop music in the year 2022. They talk Beyoncé, Rosalia, Taylor, Muna, Drake, Charli, Kendrick, Bad Bunny, Harry Styles, Lizzo, shifting musical trends (welcome back, dance music!), wonky rollouts, more Beyoncé (of course), list their favorite and least favorite pop albums and songs of the year, and more.

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Listen to a Spotify Playlist of Louie and Hazel's Favorite PopMusic of 2022

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AMY WINEHOUSE (with Sasha Frere-Jones) Nov 23, 2022

Show notes

Musician and Writer Sasha Frere-Jones joins DJ Louie to discuss the tragically short career and life of the great British soul singer, Amy Winehouse. Louie and Sasha begin by discussing how an early death, perhaps before a pop star has even reached their peak, affects their legacy before diving into Amy’s story, how she grew up on the music of jazz greats like Dinah Washington and Sarah Vaughn and ‘90s American hip hop superstars like Nas and Lauryn Hill and the ways that marriage formed the aesthetic of her debut album, 2003’s Frank. They then discuss how a painful breakup led Amy both down a dangerous path with drugs and alcohol but also inspired her breakthrough sophomore album, 2006’s modern classic Back to Black, a meticulously constructed throwback to ‘50s and ‘60s soul and girl group aesthetics made in collaboration with producers Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi. Louie and Sasha lay out the ways in which that album juxtaposed backwards-looking production with Amy’s utterly singular and thoroughly-modern perspective on love, heartbreak and substance abuse, how Black’s massive and expected success only exacerbated her problems, the toxicity of celebrity press coverage in the late 2000s, and how it all ultimately helped lead to Amy’s untimely passing from alcohol poisoning in 2011. Lastly, Louie and Sasha discuss the long shadow of Amy Winehouse’s legacy in pop culture, before ranking her in the official Pop Pantheon.

Read Sasha's piece following Amy's death in The New Yorker

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Listen to Pop Pantheon's Amy Winehouse Essentials Playlist on Spotify

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Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me and the State of the Pop Doc (with New York Magazine's Rachel Handler) Nov 17, 2022

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New York Magazine's Rachel Handler joins DJ Louie to discuss both Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me, the recently-released doc about the pop star on Apple TV+, and the broader state of the pop star documentary. Rachel had the opportunity to sit down with Selena and director Alek Keshishian to talk about the film, so Louie and Rachel first get into what Selena was like as interview before diving into My Mind & Me, what it tells us about Selena, and how it fits into the broader of narrative of pop docs historically, beginning with Keshishian's seminal 1991 film Madonna: Truth or Dare. Rachel and Louie then attempt to contextualize My Mind & Me in a recent wave of pop docs that began with Justin Bieber's Never Say Never in 2011, and includes films like Katy Perry's Part of Me, Beyoncé's Life is But a Dream, Lady Gaga's Five Foot Two, Taylor Swift's Miss Americana, Demi Lovato's Dancing With The Devil, and more, parsing apart what binds them all together, what separates them from one another and whether they are effective, either as revelations or machiavellian PR moves.

Read Rachel's Interview with Selena and Alek in Vulture

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BELINDA CARLISLE, DEBBIE GIBSON, TIFFANY & TAYLOR DAYNE: Forgotten Ladies of the 1980s (with Stereogum's Tom Breihan) Nov 10, 2022

Show notes

We’re shaking things up a bit this week!

The ‘80s were formative for our ideas of modern pop stardom but it’s not just Madonna, Prince, Michael, Janet, George and the gang that deserve credit for shaping that legacy. So in this episode, Senior Editor at Stereogum Tom Breihan joins me to break down the careers and legacies of four more erstwhile women who hit high highs during this decade, with smash singles and multi platinum albums, then fell off the charts just as the decade turned over to the 1990s: Belinda Carlisle, Debbie Gibson, Tiffany and Taylor Dayne. Tom and I first lay out why the ‘80s were such an important decade for our conceptions of the pop star and pop music, before turning to each woman’s story individually, where they came from, how they rose to fame, what made them click, why they all eventually fell off, and the important contributions each made to pop culture- whether it be songs (“Heaven is a Place on Earth”! “Only in My Dreams”! “Tell it to My Heart”!), tropes, music videos, or otherwise. Finally, Tom and I rank Belinda Carlisle, Debbie Gibson, Tiffany and Taylor Dayne in the official Pop Pantheon.

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Check out our Forgotten Ladies of the 1980s Spotify Playlist!

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The Joys & Terrors of Stan Culture (with The New York Times' Joe Coscarelli) Nov 03, 2022

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Pop Music Reporter for The New York Times, Joe Coscarelli, returns to the podcast to dig into the origins, agony and ecstasy of internet stan culture. DJ Louie and Joe discuss how classic fandoms morphed into internet stan armies, the difference between being a "fan" in the old sense of the word and a modern "stan", who often wraps their entire identity around a pop star, how these armies are weaponized by the star they worship and serve as powerful promotional arms and also, more worryingly, attack dogs against anyone who they perceive as slighting them. Louie and Joe also discuss the connection between pop star stan armies and the broader pervasive of grievance culture in politics and other areas, the positive aspects of these armies, which help like-minded, often queer individuals find community and sometimes organize for good, what gets lost artistically and developmentally in the blind devotion practiced many of these groups, and so much more.

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Read Joe's Piece, "How Pop Music Fandom Became Sports, Politics, Religion and All-Out War" in The New York Times

Buy Joe's New Book, Rap Capital: An Atlanta Story

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