Zach Sang Show

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Finn Wolfhard on the End of ‘Stranger Things,’ Directorial Debut, and New Album ‘Happy Birthday’ Jun 06, 2025

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Still only 22 Finn Wolfhard is a prolific polymath. An actor, musician, screenwriter, director — he wears all these hats with ease, curiosity and enthusiasm. He first came to prominence playing Mike Wheeler in the much beloved Stranger Things, which wrapped filming last year after five seasons.

The Vancouver-born multi-hyphenate talks grieving the end of the series that has taken up half his life, that final day, the special bond with the cast (particularly fellow actor and musician Joe Keery), and what mementos he took from set. Not to mention what he learned, which he took into writing, directing, and starring in his A24 slasher-comedy Hell of a Summer, which was six and a half years in the making, alongside friend, co-director, co-star, and co-writer Billy Bryk.

Wolfhard has previously released music as part of the band The Aubreys and Calpurnia, but now he’s striking out on his own with his debut LP, Happy Birthday, a compendium of catchy, lo-fi indie-pop. A solitary, instinctual project recorded entirely to tape, we talk about that too. Not to mention working with Jesse Eisenberg, anxiety, decision paralysis, seeking community and coming of age in art, digital versus analogue, big budgets versus indie films, and so much more.

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Julia Michaels Talks Getting Engaged, New EP, and Working with Britney Spears & Tate McRae Jun 04, 2025

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Julia Michaels is unquestionably one of the finest songwriters of her generation. She’s penned hits for everyone from Bieber to Selena to Sabrina to One Direction to Dua Lipa… the list goes on. And on. But in 2017, when she emerged with the raw, gut-wrenching ‘Issues,’ she also established herself as a solo star with a distinct voice all her own.

Since then the six-time Grammy-nominated star has released a debut LP, 2021’s Not in Chronological Order, and now she’s back with her new EP Second Self — her first released under the own label GFY.

She opens up about this transition and taking control of her career in a new way, plus the songs on her EP, including her second collab with Maren Morris, and the biting lyrics of ‘Time.’

She also opens up about what it was like to work with Tate McRae, Britney Spears, and how she approaches songwriting. And the 31-year–old is newly engaged! So we get the skinny on her French tattoo-artist fiance Mat Rule.

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Jon Bellion Talks "Why" ft. Luke Combs, Writing Hits for Bieber and Jungkook, and New Album Jun 02, 2025

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He’s one of the key architects of modern pop music who’s written smashes for everyone from Justin Bieber to Jungkook to Miley to Eminem to Maroon 5, while simultaneously launching a successful solo career (two full-lengths, four mixtapes). But at the height of his solo fame, the Long Island native took stock of his situation and his label contract and dipped, deciding to spend his most recent years writing for others. It’s been seven years since his second album Glory Sound Prep, and as long since we had him in the studio.

Finally he’s back with a new, third record Father Figure, that pulls as much from legends like J Dilla, as his own canny ear for melody and cadence. He talks about why he stepped away for so long, the impact of becoming a father to three boys, the brass tacks of being a songwriter, and why he’s back and doing it on his own terms with his label Beautiful Mind Records. We dive into his new album collabs with Pharrell Williams and Luke Combs, buying himself out of his contract, his views on success and so much more.

Plus he plays us the initial demos — with his vocals on it — for songs like ‘Ghost’ and ‘Holy’ which went on to be hits for Justin Bieber, and what it was like to work with Jungkook on ‘Seven’ featuring Latto which broke the record for the fastest song in history to surpass one billion streams on Spotify.

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Jordan Firstman on Hooking Up with Ugly Guys, Dark Room Experiences, and Debut Album 'Secrets' May 28, 2025

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As Zach rightfully quips in his intro, Justin Firstman is a TV writer-turned-center of attention. While the Long Island-born 33-year-old became a viral smash seemingly out of nowhere with his Instagram impressions series in the early months of the pandemic (biggest hit an impression of banana bread’s publicist), Firstman had been honing his craft for a minute, writing and starring in whip-smart, subversive shorts like Men Don’t Whisper and Call Your Father, as well as working as a writer on the acclaimed, five-season run of the series Search Party.

But just before the pandemic his life fell apart, the TV project he’d been working on collapsed as did his long-term relationship, and then he was trapped inside like the rest of us. Which is when he started churning out his impressions series, which blew up, in part, because Ariana Grande started reposting his skits.

We discuss all this, plus his debut album Secrets, a genre-jumping comedy record that grew out of an appeal to his followers to confess their secrets which he would then post anonymously. And people would spill the wildest, most out of pocket tidbits. The record features everyone from Rufus Wainwright to Julia Fox to the dude from the Bloodhound Gang. We delve into the songs and also discuss his coming out, his theory on being a slut-soul, his sexual awakening at legendary Berlin club Berghain, and his complicated relationship with both the internet and the transactional town that is LA.

Plus he educates Dan on dark rooms, talks TV show English Teacher (in which he’s a recurring character), and discusses working with his friend Rachel Sennott on her new upcoming show. Not to mention sex party etiquette and starring in the Sebastián Silva-directed art house film Rotting in the Sun, in which he took part in unsimulated on-screen sex. And that’s just the, ahem, tip, of the iceberg.

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Ryan Cabrera Talks 'On The Way Down' 20th Anniversary, "True," and the Early 2000s May 23, 2025

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Early-Aughts mainstay Ryan Cabrera first hit the pop culture consciousness as Ashlee’s boyfriend on The Ashlee Simpson Show, but he was grinding as a musician way before Simpson’s dad Joe plucked him from obscurity, performing at a Hard Rock Cafe in Dallas, Texas. He joined us in the studio for the first time to reminisce about his beginnings, his experience on The Ashlee Simpson Show, 20 years of his breakthrough, Johnny ‘Goo Goo Dolls’ Rzeznik-produced debut LP Take It All Away, and coming of age (and fame) without cellphone photography, while intrusive paparazzi and toxic bloggers (hai Perez Hilton!) were on the rise.

The 42-year-old, uber-friendly artist also lifts the lid on how reality TV works now versus then, along with insights into his trademark hair, the Pop 2000 Tour, owning one of Elvis’s rings, recreating proms, and his meet-cute with wrestling icon Alexa Bliss — with whom he shares a daughter. Did Courtney Love really try to make out with him? What he actually thinks about Y2K fashion, and so much more.

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Michael Cimino Talks ‘Motorheads,’ ‘Love, Victor,’ Upcoming Album, and 'Never Have I Ever' May 21, 2025

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It’d be easy to assume Michael Cimino was an overnight success — he’s been everywhere the past five years. First as the titular character in coming of age (and coming out) series Love, Victor, then as the (not-so-bright) bad boy Ethan Morales in Never Have I Ever, and now he stars in Prime Video’s Motorheads, playing Zac Torres. The series follows Zac and his twin Caitlyn as they move to the small town where their parents first met. Here they navigate new relationships, rivalries, their father's mysterious past, while falling in with a crew of high school outsiders who bond over street racing.

In fact it took the 25-year-old, Las Vegas-born actor 10 years from starting acting classes till he booked his first job, but he kept grinding, finally snagging a role in 2017 horror movie Annabelle, which changed his life.

Cimino joins us in the studio for the first time to discuss Motorheads and his own car collection, we go deep on his formative acting roles, his nascent music career, and the female pop stars he thinks are killing it in the game.

Plus he tells us about the great advice he got from Rebel Wilson, his workout regimen, getting bit in the face by a dog, what it’s like playing a heatthrob, his gritty upcoming film Street Smart directed by Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight), and that one time he got punched in the face and mugged in London.

Watch Motorheads Here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0F3GHQGQY/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r

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grentperez Talks Debut Album, Cherry Wine, Mouth Trumpets and Being a Hopeful Romantic May 19, 2025

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Thanks to his brother and sister grentperez — the Aussie-Filo singer born Grant Perez — first appeared on YouTube singing covers at just five-years-old, but while his siblings eventually left singing behind (beyond family karaoke, obviously), the 23-year-old multi-instrumentalist became a full blown bedroom tender-pop sensation.

“Cherry Wine” popped off in 2021 and after releasing four tantalizing EPs, now we have his eclectic, silky-smooth debut LP Backflips in a Restaurant. It’s a record that blends 90s R&B, bossanova, a pinch of indie-pop, and a lot of romanticism. Hanni from New Jeans keeps covering his songs and Rex Orange County is also a fan.

He joins us in the studio for the first time for a wide-ranging conversation that takes in driving simulators, anime, how his girlfriend of five years introduced him to stick n poke and public transport (!), and we course out his album — see what we did there? Plus his mullet, Toyotas, living with his parents, the fact that he’s actually incredible at drawing, his fave kind of SPAM, and how excellent he is at imitating a trumpet, saxophone, or any brass instrument you care to name… with just his mouth.

P.S. Has anyone seen B.o.B?

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Japanese Breakfast Talks Moving To Korea, Jubilee and New Album ‘For Melancholy Brunettes…’ May 17, 2025

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Michelle Zauner — aka the creative powerhouse known to the world as Japanese Breakfast — joins us in the studio for the first time ever to talk about her fourth, Blake Mills-produced LP, For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women). A florid and fantastical record, it’s peppered with literary references and sharp observances with regards to both the world and Zauner’s own experiences achieving her wildest dreams in 2021. It was the year both her third album, Jubilee, became a critical and commercial smash, while her memoir Crying in H Mart, chronicling the loss of her mother to cancer, became a New York Times bestseller. (The film adaptation is currently on ice, sadly.)

We discuss all this plus, Zauner moving to Korea to immerse herself in the culture and learn the language for an entire year, her romance and marriage to her guitarist Peter, anxiety, work ethic, and rigor, incels and the manosphere, reconnecting with her estranged dad, and the art of reading the room.

Plus stay tuned to find out more about that one time her and her pal auditioned for The Amazing Race, and why cold mozzarella sticks were involved.

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Maren Morris & The Office Spinoff May 15, 2025

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There have been some tectonic shifts in Maren Morris’ life since her last album in 2022: she released her EP Intermission, contributed a couple songs to The Wild Robot, not to mention finalizing her divorce, coming out as bisexual, and exploring dating — and dating apps — and all the experiences that come with that; all of which we discuss.

Singing since she was in her teens, the 35-year-old Arlington, Texas-born artist also talks about her early years in the business, auditioning for various reality TV talent shows before going her own way, making it big first in the country space with 2016’s “My Church,” and then becoming a crossover star with songs like Zedd’s 2018 smash “The Middle” and her own “The Bones.”

Returning with her fourth LP Dreamsicle — where she worked with the likes of Naomi McPherson from MUNA, Jack Antonoff, and Joe Little to name a few — she opens up about the life changes that inspired this new batch of songs, such as the cheeky “Bed No Breakfast,” plus healing mushroom trips, reparenting her inner child, Dolly Parton, The Highwomen (her supergroup with Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, and Amanda Shires), the crazy backstory behind “The Middle,” and so much more.

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Tucker Wetmore Talks "Wind Up Missing You," Blondes vs. Brunettes, & Debut Album 'What Not To' May 13, 2025

Show notes

It’s been a wild 18 months for Tucker Wetmore, a former college football star turned country hopeful who moved to Nashville hoping to make it… and then he actually did, and in a big, big way, to the tune of roughly eight million monthly Spotify listeners. Before last year he’d never even played live, and how he’s hitting the road with Thomas Rhett.

The 25-year-old joins us in the studio for the first time to fill us in on how a small-town, Pacific-Northwest-born, grandson of a pastor wound up turning from sports to music (it involves a leg broken in three places), and how writing songs almost every day from 2019 to 2024 finally paid off.

We also find out the meaning of “looking like wine in a truckbed,” why whiskey and women (blonde or brunette, 5’5”) remain abiding sources of inspiration, collaborating with his friends, and the story behind the vulnerable title track from his debut LP What Not To. Plus we tackle the big question about hats and whether Zach should grow a mullet.

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