Slate Culture Feed

Latest Episodes:

What Next: TBD | 2025: The Meme of the Year Dec 28, 2025

Show notes

With so much online content, it can be hard for a meme to stay in the collective consciousness for more than a few days. But one meme this year managed to capture seemingly everyone’s attention - and challenge the definition of a meme altogether.

Guest: Kate Lindsay, host of Slate’s ICYMI podcast.

If you want to support more of this reporting, in 2026 and beyond, consider signing up for Slate Plus. You’ll enjoy ad-free listening across the Slate network, early access to tickets for live events, and you’ll never hit the paywall on the site.

We’re on a mission to get 100 people to join Slate Plus before the new year—and we’re even offering a 50-percent-off deal to folks who join us right now. Visit Slate.com/whatnextplus and use the code TBD50 to get a year of Slate Plus for $59.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

ICYMI | Our Year of Brain Rot and Tech Dystopia Dec 27, 2025

Show notes

On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by internet culture writer Kat Tenbarge to break down the most important internet moments of 2025. But not just any internet moments—specifically, the moments that fall under the three key themes that emerged in online culture over the past twelve months: brain rot, surveillance, and big tech dystopia. These themes not only defined how we lived life online in 2025, but have set the stage for what to expect in 2026. Were we wrong about the Astronomer CEO debacle? Will TikTok ever get banned? Is 6-7 finally over?

This podcast is produced by Vic Whitley-Berry, Daisy Rosario, and Kate Lindsay, with help from AC Valdez.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

ICYMI - Our Year of Brain Rot and Tech Dystopia Dec 27, 2025

Show notes

This podcast is produced by Vic Whitley-Berry, Daisy Rosario, and Kate Lindsay, with help from AC Valdez.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia - The Bridge: Slate’s Music Club 2025 Dec 26, 2025

Show notes

The Slate Music Club returns, in this special year-end edition of Hit Parade’s The Bridge! Host Chris Molanphy joins New York Times pop music critic Lindsay Zoladz, and Julianne Escobedo Shepherd of Hearing Things in a critics’ roundtable led by Slate’s own Carl Wilson. They discuss their favorite albums and singles, as well as the trends that shaped music in 2025.

Among this year’s big musical questions: Have we reached peak Bad Bunny yet? Did those animated Demon Hunters reinvent K-pop? Are Geese the saviors of rock, or just muppets with guitars? Is hip-hop ready to move on from Kendrick and Drake? Plus: Rosalia, Water for Your Eyes, Gaga, Wednesday—and of course, Taylor Swift.

Note: Slate Plus members can hear this special episode in full. Ad-supported listeners will hear the first half. Want to hear the whole discussion? Sign up for Slate Plus! Unlock monthly early-access episodes, bonus episodes of “The Bridge,” and ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Visit slate.com/hitparadeplus to get access wherever you listen.

Podcast production by Kevin Bendis.

Don’t miss the rest of this year’s Slate Music Club episode! Become a Slate Plus member! Join for monthly early-access episodes, bonus episodes of "The Bridge," and ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe directly from the Hit Parade show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/hitparadeplus to get access wherever you listen.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia - Hooked to the Silver Screen Edition Part 2 Dec 26, 2025

Show notes

If you need confirmation of Hollywood’s vast influence on mass culture, look no further than the pop charts. From the 1937 classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs through this year’s KPop Demon Hunters, soundtracks have launched hits, defined genres—and sometimes even eclipsed the films that inspired them in the first place. Rock classics, funk jams, rap bangers, even Christmas standards: all became hits because we heard them first at the cinema.

Join Chris Molanphy as he unspools nearly a century of hit movie music, from Simon & Garfunkel’s groundbreaking ode to “Mrs. Robinson,” to the, ahem, titanic tin whistle of “My Heart Will Go On.”

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

ICYMI | Encore: Jubilee Is Making Debating Worse Dec 24, 2025

Show notes

On today’s encore episode, hosts Candice Lim and Kate Lindsay are joined by Slate staff writer Aymann Ismail to discuss the controversial YouTube channel, Jubilee. A video of political commentator Mehdi Hasan debating 20 far-right republicans has gone viral, but as Ismail argues in his piece for Slate, it also crossed a line. When political disagreement becomes content and extremism is rewarded with clicks, everybody loses.

This podcast is produced by Daisy Rosario, Vic Whitley-Berry, Candice Lim, and Kate Lindsay.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

ICYMI - Encore: Jubilee Is Making Debating Worse Dec 24, 2025

Show notes

This podcast is produced by Daisy Rosario, Vic Whitley-Berry, Candice Lim, and Kate Lindsay.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Culture Gabfest - We Found Our Archives: The Abstract Noun Edition Dec 24, 2025

Show notes

After thinking it was lost to the sands of internet time, our team uncovered a 2013 gem from the archives. In the “The Abstract Noun Edition,” your favorite Gabfesters talk about how we talk. Steve, Dana, and Julia discuss the elements of language: vocabulary, conversation, and voice. In paroxysms of polysyllables, they invoke their favorite writers—and their least favorite linguistic tics—to probe the best and worst of the English language. Why should you eschew the word “eschew”? What does “shibboleth” really mean? And where is the line between a strong voice and self-parody?

Speaking of self-parody, check out these very on-brand 2013 Endorsements:

Dana: The Sounding Joy, a CD collection of folk carols, collected by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings and performed by Elizabeth Mitchell. (Now available on streaming.)

Julia: Creating an iTunes playlist of all songs you’ve played more than 10 times and then shuffling them. You’ll rediscover old gems like “The Size of Our Love” by Sleater Kinney.

Steve: The mind-bending “Monty Hall problem,” as originally described by Marilyn vos Savant in Parade Magazine.

If you’re in New York on January 5, don’t miss some real life vocabulary, conversation, and voice when Steve joins Booker Prize-finalist Ben Markcovits for a conversation about The Rest of Our Lives — details here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How To! | Create ‘Marriage Rules’ as a Couple Dec 23, 2025

Show notes

Cohabitation can be bliss—except when it comes to your partner's incompatible approach to household tasks. Bonnie likes things clean, organized, and prompt. Vince, on the other hand, is a classic procrastinator. On this episode of How To!, Carvell Wallace brings on self-described “human glitterbomb” Jackie Kelley to offer up some practical “marriage rules” designed to improve everyday communication with the love of your life.

If you liked this episode check out:

Do you have a problem that needs solving? Send us a note at howto@slate.com or leave us a voicemail at 646-495-4001 and we might have you on the show. Subscribe for free on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen.

The show is produced by Rosemary Belson and Sophie Summergrad. Our technical director is Merritt Jacob and our supervising producer is Joel Meyer.

Get more of How To! with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of How To! and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the How To! show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/howtoplus for access wherever you listen.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Death, Sex & Money | The Chaste Sexiness and Fantasy of Hallmark Holiday Rom-Coms Dec 23, 2025

Show notes

When screenwriter Russell Hainline first moved to L.A., his goal was to write high-budget monster movies and thrillers. Then one day, he was prompted to write a Hallmark holiday rom-com, and something clicked.

In this special holiday episode, Russell talks about his breakout Netflix hit Hot Frosty and how he found his groove writing movies for the Hallmark Channel. He also gets to the heart of why people connect to these movies and explains how he’s able to convey steamy sexual tension between chaste TV movie characters.

This episode was produced by Cameron Drews.

Death, Sex & Money is now produced by Slate! To support us and our colleagues, please sign up for our membership program, Slate Plus! Members get ad-free podcasts, bonus content on lots of Slate shows, and full access to all the articles on Slate.com. Sign up today at slate.com/dsmplus. Use the promo code DSM50 for half off through the end of the year!

And if you’re new to the show, welcome. We’re so glad you’re here. Find us and follow us on Instagram and you can find Anna’s newsletter at annasale.substack.com. Our new email address, where you can reach us with voice memos, pep talks, questions, critiques is deathsexmoney@slate.com.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected