The B-Sides

Latest Episodes:

27. Our #GirlBoss Vanguard Award Goes To (& Grammys Recap) Mar 17, 2021

Show notes

On today's podcast, Becky, Mimi and Hannah talk Sunday's Grammys from the Jack Antonoff memes to the Weeknd's critical decision to shut out the award show for good. The hosts briefly discuss the storied history of the Grammys and debate what place awards show hold in our society. Stay listening for the FIRST EVER B-SIDES AWARDS! Who left the biggest void in music this year? Who won the #GirlBoss vanguard award? Tune in to find out!

Thank you for subscribing and leaving a review! Make sure to follow us on insta: instagram.com/listentothebsides and join the facebook group: bit.ly/bsidesfbgroup

You can now leave us a voicemail! Click here to record a voicemail for us.

Join our Patreon!

And find us everywhere you find your podcasts! Including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

26. It's Dolly Parton's World ft. Jacob Heath Henriquez Feb 03, 2021

Show notes

And we're lucky to live in it.

We’re on a break! (*Extreme Ross Gellar voice.) We will be back in March 2021, don’t miss us too much.

We know that Dolly Parton is not only a brilliant songwriter and vocalist, but has had a huge impact on our world for the better. So, we break down that impact. We talk about how Dolly has influenced specific artists, public health, and just might have secretly executive produced your favorite 90s TV show…

Thank you SO MUCH to our lovely guest for this conversation, Jacob Heath Henriquez. Find Jacob at instagram.com/jacobheathhenriquez. On this episode, find out why Dolly is important to Jacob, and also find out why a swarm of wasps couldn’t come between him and his support for Ms. Parton.

Thank you for subscribing and leaving a review! Make sure to follow us on insta: instagram.com/listentothebsides and join the facebook group: bit.ly/bsidesfbgroup

You can now leave us a voicemail! Click here to record a voicemail for us.

Join our Patreon!

And find us everywhere you find your podcasts! Including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

25. Money Can't Buy You Class, But Can It Buy You a Pop Song? Jan 21, 2021

Show notes

Buckle up, we're taking a wild ride down Real Housewives road. We're talking about housewives turned pop stars (and a few pop stars turned housewives) and what they signal about the music world. You don't want to be tardy for this party.

Thank you for subscribing and leaving a review! Make sure to follow us on insta: instagram.com/listentothebsides and join the facebook group: bit.ly/bsidesfbgroup

You can now leave us a voicemail! Click here to record a voicemail for us.

Join our Patreon!

Buy our KOOZIES!

And find us everywhere you find your podcasts! Including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

24. What Did 2020 Do to Music? Jan 06, 2021

Show notes

Happy New Year! Let's immediately dive back into 2020 to examine what it did to music, okay? We're talking about recording, performance, and consumption. We're looking at changes and continuities in method and content. We're meeting at the intersections of 1. individual and collective reckonings 2. never logging off & 3. pop music.

We'll also share a few wishes for the year ahead.

What do you think of the episode? How did your experiences of music in 2020 match up with ours? What do you predict or wish for in 2021? Leave us a voicemail! Click here to record a voicemail for us.

Thank you for subscribing and leaving a review! Make sure to follow us on insta: instagram.com/listentothebsides and join the facebook group: bit.ly/bsidesfbgroup

Join our Patreon!

And find us everywhere you find your podcasts! Including Apple Podcasts and Spotify

23. A Tale of Two Girl Groups: Little Mix and Blackpink ft. Victor Carlesi Dec 23, 2020

Show notes

Shoutout to our Lovesick Girls! Little Mix in your Area! And it’s called Blackpink Magic! Ok we’ll stop now.

These are two of the biggest bands of all time - and yet, so much of the U.S. audience still knows so little about these superstars.

This week we are BLESSED to welcome our special guest, Victor Carlesi. Find him on instagram at instagram.com/victor_car_bakes to enjoy more of his hot pop takes and comedy stylings.

What is it about Little Mix and Blackpink that just *works*? We break down each band and draw some larger conclusions about pop music today.

As promised, here was the “homework” we did for each band before we recorded.

BLACKPINK:

How you like that music video
The "dance performance" for How You Like That
Ice Cream with Selena Gomez
The girls react to the trailer for their Netflix doc

LITTLE MIX: VICTOR’S HOMEWORK FOR US

Balingna
So since Jesy recently quit Im gonna add some videos specific to her and her issues shes dealt with since being in the band. There’s also a whole doc she made called Odd One Out
Super cute and bubbly honest interview from 2015 after Black Magic promoting their album Get Weird
Black Magic (their first US hit) inspired by the film The Craft (also Perrie wears a Pittsburgh Pirates cap in this which is where im from/live)
This music video and song is from the album Glory Days 2016 which they promoted alongside ariana grande on her Dangerous woman tour (its a fairly political video for a girl group! Featuring drag queens willam, courtney Act and Alaska Thunderfuck)
LM5 2018 was randomly a flop??? This was the biggest moment from it, a Nicki feature for basically a god is a woman rip off. They injected themselves into the cardi and nicki beef. Of course this album has a ton of great pop, they experimented with a ton of new sounds this era. Their song Wasabi also popped off on tiktok which ended the era strong in 2019
Sweet Melody from their most recent album, Confetti. Needs no explanation, if you love pop you'll love this song and vid
This just shows how much they ACTUALLY love each other after years of being together
This is so cute: their Elle song association

Thank you for subscribing! Follow us on insta and join the fb group.

Join our Patreon!

Evermore: The E(mergency)-Sides Dec 13, 2020

Show notes

Wreck. Our. Plans.

Taylor surprised-dropped her 9th studio album this week, and 2nd of the year. Folklore's sister, Evermore has much in common with its folksy sibling, but stands out on its on in so many ways.

In this E-Sides, we go through our reactions to Evermore by discussing:

Our overall reactions - 1:14
Specific songs, track-by-track - 21:20
A quick Evermore v. Folklore ranking - 1:10:30

And if you love easter eggs, we go through just enough to satisfy our curiosity, without falling down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole. Is Dorothea about Selena Gomez? What does the last song have to do with 1830? And the most important question we've ever asked on The B-Sides: has Taylor Swift ever sat on a bench in Coney Island?!

What did you think of Evermore and this episode? What had you yelling into your headphones because you disagreed with our take? We love to hear from you. Leave us a voicemail! Click here to record a voicemail for us.

Thank you for subscribing and leaving a review! Make sure to follow us on insta: instagram.com/listentothebsides and join the facebook group: bit.ly/bsidesfbgroup

Join our Patreon!

And find us everywhere you find your podcasts! Including Apple Podcasts and Spotify

22. She’s Just Being Miley Dec 02, 2020

Show notes

Today’s podcast is about our childhood friend Miley Cyrus. Ok, fine, she’s not actually our real life friend, but she sure feels like it.

We explore why Miley’s the perfect white privilege celebrity, what this new era of Plastic Hearts means for her and her future, and if she cleaned up the mess she left behind from that one time she came in like a wrecking ball.

Thank you for subscribing and leaving a review! Make sure to follow us on insta: instagram.com/listentothebsides and join the facebook group: bit.ly/bsidesfbgroup

You can now leave us a voicemail! Click here to record a voicemail for us.

Join our Patreon!

And find us everywhere you find your podcasts! Including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

21. The Chicks Are All Punk Nov 18, 2020

Show notes

Did you know that the act formerly known as the Dixie Chicks is the most punk band of all time? If you're not convinced already, you should be by the end of this episode...

While on tour in 2003 for their third smash album, frontwoman Natalie Maines spoke out against President Bush's decision to invade Iraq - all while much of America was subsumed in a post-9/11 fog of blind patriotism. In short order, The Chicks went from the top of the country music charts to public enemy no. 1, and never turned back. What ensued was the most pervasive, violent backlash to a pop artist in decades followed by a spiritually punk, sonically country-pop comeback album so immaculate we almost didn't deserve it. And then 14 years later, we got another one.

As we now move through this dangerous little post-2020 election moment, with a sociopathic autocrat still in the White House and a harm-reducing but still imperialist administration on the way, Mimi, Hannah, and Becky take a beat to appreciate the forever unwavering moral intuition and otherworldly harmonizing of The Chicks. Some artists truly do have it all, and punk's not dead.

To everyone who contributed thoughts to this episode and walked with us through several inflection points in The Chicks' career - thank you so much! Let the conversation continue...

Thank you for subscribing and leaving a review! Make sure to follow us on insta:instagram.com/listentothebsides and join the facebook group: bit.ly/bsidesfbgroup

You can now leave us a voicemail! Click here to record a voicemail for us.

Join our Patreon!

And find us everywhere you find your podcasts! Including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

20. Our Positions on "Positions" Oct 26, 2020

Show notes

Today, we’re switching up positions for you. Hannah, Becky and Mimi take you through Ariana Grande’s newest single and music video "Positions" and how it falls a little flat just 10 days before one of the most consequential elections of our lifetimes.

Ari - arguably one of the more politically progressive pop stars of our time - dips into the trap of corporate feminism, perpetuating the myth of #GirlBoss. It’s not all bad though: we are looking forward to the inevitable God is a Woman + Positions remix.

What did you think of Positions? We love to hear from you. Leave us a voicemail! Click here to record a voicemail for us.

Thank you for subscribing and leaving a review! Make sure to follow us on insta: instagram.com/listentothebsides and join the facebook group: bit.ly/bsidesfbgroup

Join our Patreon!

And find us everywhere you find your podcasts! Including Apple Podcasts and Spotify

19. Why it's Sexist to Hate Pop Music Oct 14, 2020

Show notes

It’s not always sexist to hate pop music.

But more often than not, criticism of pop music is rooted in misogyny, and we’re sick of it.

In our Season 2 premiere, Hannah, Becky, and Mimi unpack 4 common criticisms of pop music that are rooted in sexism, which are:

lack of sophistication or meaning
undervaluing of the fanbase
(in)authenticity
and perceived lack of talent of the artists

Next time you hear a (probably cishet dude) person telling you why they hate pop music, ask yourself if their hatred is just thinly-veiled misogyny. And then: sic Taylor Swift’s live performance of "Cornelia Street" on them and run far away.

Subscribe to 730DC! 730DC is a daily newsletter that connects Washingtonians to their city, to its communities, and to one another.

Thank you for subscribing and leaving a review! Make sure to follow us on insta: instagram.com/listentothebsides and join the facebook group: bit.ly/bsidesfbgroup

You can now leave us a voicemail! Click here to record a voicemail for us.

Join our Patreon!

Buy our MERCH!

And find us everywhere you find your podcasts! Including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

We love each and every one of you, and we can't wait for an awesome Season 2.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected