Pop Pantheon

For this week's B-Side, DJ Louie is joined by his bffs Steven, Omri and Lala to debrief their night at the Los Angeles Dodger Stadium stop of Lady Gaga's epic, years-in-the-making Chromatica Ball World Tour. They talk all aspects of the show- from the stage to the setlist to the fashion to Gaga's presence, dancing and voice- how it stacks up against past LG tours, where they'd rank Chomatica against her previous records, what it felt like to finally hear "Rain on Me" amongst 52,000 other Little Monsters and finally, the girlies have a knock-down-drag-out-take-no-prisoners fight about whether GaGa belongs in Tier 1 or 2 of the Pop Pantheon. Paws up! Come See Louie DJ at Gorgeous Gorgeous in DTLA on 9/23Buy Pop Pantheon's New "Niche Legend" Dad Hat!Take the Pop Pantheon Listener SurveyJoin the Pop Pantheon Discord!Follow DJ Louie XIV on InstagramFollow DJ Louie XIV on TwitterFollow Pop Pantheon on InstagramFollow Pop Pantheon on TwitterFollow Omri Rolan on Twitter

Author of Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop and host of The Ringer podcast Black Girl Songbook, Danyel Smith, joins DJ Louie to explore the work, impact and legacy of the Queen of Disco, Donna Summer. Louie and Danyel begin with Donna’s early life as the eccentric Black girl in her Boston community during the 1950s and ‘60s, her move to Germany in 1968 to star in the musical Hair which eventually led to a star-crossed meeting with producers Giorgio Morodor and Pete Bellotte who would go on to be her primary collaborators, and their breakthrough with the radically orgasmic disco anthem “Love to Love You Baby” in 1975. Louie and Danyel then cover Donna, Giorgio and Pete’s ambitious run of concept albums through the mid ‘70s, their seismic innovations on 1977’s “I Feel Love”, considered the first electronic dance song, Donna’s status as the poster child for both the music and aesthetics of the disco movement thanks in part to her role in the film Thank God It’s Friday and its luscious Oscar-winning smash “Last Dance”, her magnum opus, 1979’s Bad Girls which set the template for the modern pop event album, and how she managed to outrun the sudden decline of disco thanks to 1983’s economical new-wave anthem “She Works Hard for the Money”. They conclude with Donna’s commercial decline in the latter 1980s, her Born-Again Christianity and controversial statements about the AIDS Epidemic and the gay community, her absolutely massive impact on the sound and look of pop stardom and how her legacy- and that of the movement she defined- has evolved over time. Finally, Louie and Danyel rank Donna Summer in the official Pop Pantheon. Come See Louie DJ at Gorgeous Gorgeous in DTLA on 9/23Buy Pop Pantheon's New "Niche Legend" Dad Hat!Take the Pop Pantheon Listener SurveyBuy Danyel's Book Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in PopCheck out Louie's Donna Summer Essentials Playlist on SpotifyJoin the Pop Pantheon Discord!Follow DJ Louie XIV on InstagramFollow DJ Louie XIV on TwitterFollow Pop Pantheon on InstagramFollow Pop Pantheon on TwitterFollow Danyel Smith on Twitter

For this week’s B-Side, DJ Louie is joined by Chair of the The Clive Institute of Recorded Music, Jason King, to talk the history, culture, ethos and aesthetics of disco music. Louie and Jason lay out the elements of a disco song, what the word meant as a cultural movement, its roots as a queer black artform and unique platform for black women’s voices, what made the “disco diva”, the genre’s trajectory through the 1970s as a fast burning phenomenon that crashed just as quickly by the turn of the 1980s and the key artists, songs and moments of its prime years. Finally, Louie and Jason discuss whether disco ever really died, how it’s continued to be revived again and again in pop music, and Jason shares some of his favorite disco deep cuts. Come See Louie DJ at Gorgeous Gorgeous in DTLA on 9/23Buy Pop Pantheon's New "Niche Legend" Dad Hat!Check out Louie's Disco Essentials Playlist on SpotifyJoin the Pop Pantheon Discord!Follow DJ Louie XIV on InstagramFollow DJ Louie XIV on TwitterFollow Pop Pantheon on InstagramFollow Pop Pantheon on TwitterFollow Jason King on Twitter

We did it! We finally made merch!Please welcome to the stage: The Pop Pantheon "Niche Legend" Dad Hat! Be the Carly Rae Jepsen you want to see in the world by purchasing this gorgeous black and hot pink baseball cap! It reads "Niche Legend" on the front and "Pop Pantheon" on the back.  This hat is a celebration of both our favorite Niche Legend pop girlies AND, most importantly, the Niche Legend in all of us!!Enjoy <3

Music writer and Assistant Professor at Syracuse University, Rawiya Kameir, is back on the show to discuss the career and confessions of the great Usher. DJ Louie and Rawiya break down Usher’s musical origins singing in the church, the failed boy band he fronted in the early ‘90s, Nu Beginnings, and how his deal with the storied LaFace Records and subsequent “flavor camp” with Sean “Puff Daddy’ Combs set the stage for his self-titled debut record in 1994. They then dive into his breakthrough sophomore album, 1997’s My Way, how it solidified Usher’s persona as a smooth, sensitive, emotionally-conflicted lover boy as well as one of the most dexterous R&B singers of his generation, its blockbuster follow up, 2001’s 8701, which furthered Usher’s thematic fascination with the complexities of and distress caused by love and sex and of course, his magnum opus, 2004’s Confessions, a hit-packed concept album about the aftermath of infidelity that sold over 20 million copies worldwide and stands today as Usher’s signature artistic and commercial achievement. Next, Louie and Rawiya debate Usher’s latter period output, from swings at trendiness on 2008’s Here I Stand and 2010’s Raymond Vs. Raymond to more rewarding experiments on 2012’s Looking 4 Myself and 2016’s Hard II Love. Finally they rank Usher in the official Pop Pantheon. Check out Louie's Usher Essentials Playlist on SpotifyJoin the Pop Pantheon Discord!Follow DJ Louie XIV on InstagramFollow DJ Louie XIV on TwitterFollow Pop Pantheon on InstagramFollow Pop Pantheon on TwitterFollow Rawiya Kameir on Twitter

The MTV Video Music Awards will air this Sunday, August 28 2022, from the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ but does anybody care? For this week’s Pop Pantheon B-Side, Dunzo’s Troy McEady is back to discuss the history of the once-must-watch award show with DJ Louie, what made them the most raucous and exciting live event around at their peak, how grabbing a VMA headline could change a pop star’s career forever and what’s gone wrong with the show in recent years. Then, Louie and Troy count down their favorite “VMA Moments” in history. Listen to Louie and Troy's episode on MTV's TRL Join the Pop Pantheon Discord!Follow DJ Louie XIV on InstagramFollow DJ Louie XIV on TwitterFollow Pop Pantheon on InstagramFollow Pop Pantheon on TwitterFollow Dunzo on Instagram

Music critic Shaad D’Souza joins DJ Louie to talk about one of modern pop’s most captivating, divisive and perplexing figures, Miley Cyrus. Louie and Shaad open with a break down of Miley’s emergence on the smash Disney show, Hannah Montana, how the character’s own double life as a pop star and a “normal girl” mirrored Miley’s own, and the chaste image and anodyne pop-rock empowerment anthems on which Miley-as-Hannah made her name and, later in career, had to torch. They next dive into Miley’s various, often bold but almost always awkward attempts to break out of the Hannah Montana box, first with her calculated pivot towards sexed-up dance pop on 2010’s nonstarter Can’t Be Tamed and much more effectively on 2013’s Bangerz, a fascinating, garish record that repositioned the former Disney kid as a freewheeling, hip hop-obsessed party monster, a brazen and un-self-aware culture vulture and, for the first and perhaps only time in her a career, a trendsetting pop star. Louie and Shaad debate the record’s prescient centering of trap in mainstream pop, as well its table-setting fusion of rap and country, how we view Miley’s egregious cultural appropriation through a contemporary lens, and whether the album’s whirlwind of controversy obscured some of the record’s delicate, honest songwriting and virtuoso vocal performances. Later, they discuss how Miley squandered a lot of remaining good will with her next two projects, 2015’s utterly bizarre Wayne Coyne-collabo Miley Cyrus and Her Dead Petz and 2017’s middle-of-the-road country-pop-leaning Younger Now, and if Miley has effectively repositioned herself in recent years with a series of well-received live performances and covers and a turn towards rock homage on her 2020 album Plastic Hearts. Finally, Louie and Shaad rank Miley Cyrus in the official Pop Pantheon. Read Shaad's review of Plastic Hearts in Pitchfork Check out Louie's Miley Cyrus Essentials Playlist on SpotifyJoin the Pop Pantheon Discord!Follow DJ Louie XIV on InstagramFollow DJ Louie XIV on TwitterFollow Pop Pantheon on InstagramFollow Pop Pantheon on TwitterFollow Shaad D'Souza on Instagram

Every episode of Pop Pantheon contains at least some mention of the Billboard's iconic singles chart, the Hot 100. So for this week's B-Side, DJ Louie is joined by chart analyst, cultural critic and host of Slate's podcast Hit Parade to talk the 60 year history of the chart, the way its metrics have evolved over time, what role having hits on the Hot 100 plays in a pop star's mythology and legacy, whether or not we can compare current hits like this week's #1 "Break My Soul" to past ones given how Billboard's methodology has been altered to fit new data and music-consuming ecosystems, some weird kinks that have prevented massive hits like "I'm a Slave 4 U" from reaching to the top of the charts, and what fixes Chris might make to improve the Hot 100, still our best tool for measuring a hit record.Listen to Chris Molanphy's podcast Hit ParadeCheck out Chris' last appearance on Pop Pantheon, discussing The Supremes and Diana Ross Tickets to DJ Louie's Pop Party, Gorgeous Gorgeous, on 8/12 in Downtown Los Angeles!Join the Pop Pantheon Discord!Follow DJ Louie XIV on InstagramFollow DJ Louie XIV on TwitterFollow Pop Pantheon on InstagramFollow Pop Pantheon on TwitterFollow Chris Molanphy on Twitter

Beyoncé’s seventh studio album and her first in over six years, Renaissance, is finally upon us! For the fourth and final episode of our series on Queen B, DJ Louie is joined by The New Yorker’s Doreen St. Félix to discuss the new record. Louie and Doreen share gut-check reactions, break down Renaissance's themes of bacchanalia and sexual freak-dom and how they register through Beyoncé’s signature meticulousness, its lush, dynamic sonic palette which runs the gamut from house to disco to afrobeat, this weekend’s controversy with Kelis and whether an artist of B’s stature’s can celebrate other artists and sub-cultures- like ballroom- without subsuming them, and why this may be a superlative pandemic record, a manifestation of Beyoncé’s delayed adolescence and of a superstar’s fantasy of what life is like for people who, unlike her, can actually go to a club. Read Louie's review of Renaissance in Buzzfeed Tickets to DJ Louie's Pop Party, Gorgeous Gorgeous, on 8/12 in Downtown Los Angeles!Check out Louie's Beyoncé Essentials Playlist on SpotifyJoin the Pop Pantheon Discord!Follow DJ Louie XIV on InstagramFollow DJ Louie XIV on TwitterFollow Pop Pantheon on InstagramFollow Pop Pantheon on TwitterFollow Doreen St. Félix on Twitter

Part 3/4! Beyoncé’s latest solo album, Renaissance, drops on July 29th so to get everyone prepared, Pop Pantheon will be releasing a series of four episodes on the work and legacy of Queen Bey, each with a different guest!In our third installment, DJ Louie is joined by author of Liner Notes for the Revolution: The Intellectual Life of Black Feminist Sound, Yale University’s Dr. Daphne A. Brooks, to discuss the latest decade of Beyoncé’s solo career. Louie and Dr. Brooks begin with the quagmire that pop stars- and particularly black female pop stars- face as they enter their mid 30s in the fickle, ageist pop cultural landscape and how various icons of the genre like Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Tina Turner and Janet Jackson have re-engaged audiences during this period of their lives and careers. They then discuss Beyoncé’s culturally transformative 2013 self-titled 5th studio album, how the surprise release and inclusion of visual components for each song solved the problem of finding a hit single, created a singular shared cultural experience, and forever changed the way pop stars would release music, the rich musical textures which filtered black musical tradition through mordern electro-R&B, and the ways in which this record depended Beyoncé’s artistry and self-revelation, as well as her feminism and activism. They then unpack her 2016 single “Formation”, its confrontational video and performance at the 2016 Super Bowl, and how the song functions as both a call to action and certified rump shaker for the ages, before diving into her masterwork of that same year, her sixth album, the audiovisual magnum opus Lemonade. Louie and Dr. Brooks break down how Lemonade reimagined the feminist ideal of the “personal as political”, using Beyoncé’s own story of domestic disruption to narrate a broader story about American history, how it effectively reclaimed genres like rock ‘n roll and country for Black women, and the innovative ways Beyoncé mined her own pain to radically heal herself, her marriage, her people and the nation through this project. Finally, Louie and Dr. Brooks dive into Beyonce’s latest three side projects, 2018’s collaboration with Jay-Z Everything is Love, 2019’s live concert film Homecoming and 2020’s Lion King companion-piece Black is King, all of which have helped enrich and deepen her artistry and activism and served as a victory lap for her storied career and what, when we look back on it in 50 years or more, Beyoncé’s enduring legacy will be as the greatest and most important pop figure of the 21st century thus far. Stay tuned for next week’s installment, in which we’ll be giving first reactions to Beyoncé’s new record Renaissance, her seventh studio album and first in over six years! Tickets to DJ Louie's Pop Party, Gorgeous Gorgeous, on 8/12 in Downtown Los Angeles!Buy Dr. Daphne A. Brooks' book, Liner Notes for the Revolution: The Intellectual Life of Black Feminist SoundCheck out Louie's Beyoncé Essentials Playlist on SpotifyJoin the Pop Pantheon Discord!Follow DJ Louie XIV on InstagramFollow DJ Louie XIV on TwitterFollow Pop Pantheon on InstagramFollow Pop Pantheon on Twitter