In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode, NME's Kyann-Sian Williams joins Russ to discuss Tinashe's brand new seventh studio album Quantum Baby – the second in a trilogy of albums she's rolling out. Can she capitalize on the virality of "Nasty"? Or is that even on her mind? And is Tinashe expanding her artistry or letting us in on this new record? Russ + Kyann-Sian break it all down. To hear the rest of the this episode plus receive weekly bonus episodes of Pop Pantheon, gain access to our Discord channel and so much more, subscribe to Pop Pantheon: All Access at the Icon Tier. You can also subscribe for the audio only directly in the Apple Podcasts app. 

Ahead of the release of Tinashe’s seventh studio album, Quantum Baby, The Cut’s Cat Zhang joins Pop Pantheon to discuss Tinashe’s rollercoaster career. Cat and DJ Louie dig into Tinashe’s upbringing in Lexington, Kentucky, her work as a child actor on Two and a Half Men and the girl group she was briefly in with fellow pop star Hayley Kiyoko, The Stunners. From there, they unpack her early mixtapes, explosion into the public consciousness with the sultry club banger “2 On,” her moody major label debut in 2014, Aquarius, and her years in label purgatory, during which she managed to release a return-to-roots mixtape, 2016’s Nightride, and 2018’s Joyride. Next they tackle Tinashe’s reinvention back into the bedroom artist she began as and how she blazed a new trail as an independent artist with 2019’s expansive and lush Songs For You and 2021’s critically-lauded 333. Finally, they rank Tinashe in the Official Pop Pantheon. Read Cat's Profile of Tinashe in the CutListen Pop Pantheon's Tinashe Essentials Playlist on SpotifyBuy Tickets to Pop Pantheon Live! Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and the Millennial Diva Conundrum on 9/30 at Dynasty Typewriter in LAJoin Pop Pantheon: All Access, Our Patreon Channel, for Exclusive Content and MoreShop Merch in Pop Pantheon's StoreCome to Gorgeous Gorgeous: Los Angeles at Los Globos on 8/17Come to Gorgeous Gorgeous: New York at Sultan Room on 9/13Follow DJ Louie XIV on InstagramFollow DJ Louie XIV on TwitterFollow Pop Pantheon on Instagram

In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode, When Paris Hilton released her debut album, 2006's Paris, the world largely saw it as a joke. Despite it's lead single "Stars Are Blind" becoming a top 20 hit, the album tanked, was savaged by critics and Paris never released another one. Now, on the eve her long-awaited sophomore effort Infinite Icon, due September 6, Troy McEady joins DJ Louie to look back on Paris. Is it as vapid and meritless and critics thought back in the aughts? Or a misunderstood classic of sorts? Louie and Troy bring fresh ears to album that, love it or hate, was prescient about the future of pop stardom. To hear the rest of the this episode plus receive weekly bonus episodes of Pop Pantheon, gain access to our Discord channel and so much more, subscribe to Pop Pantheon: All Access at the Icon Tier. You can also subscribe for the audio only directly in the Apple Podcasts app. 

We thought 2024 was going to be dominated by a waterfall of new releases from Old Guard Superstars like Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Ariana Grande and Dua Lipa. But while they've each had success, the main story of the last 12 months has been the auspicious establishment of a new generation of pop divas led by Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter, but also featuring Ice Spice, Gracie Abrams, Victoria Monet and more. For this week's B-Side, DJ Louie is joined by LA Times Pop Critic Mikael Wood and Vulture's Jason P. Frank to discuss how this new group of girlies has coalesced and taken ahold of the zeitgeist, before ranking ten newly-minted Queens of Pop in the ultimate New Pop Girl Power Ranking. Who's got the juice to turn this hot streak into a career and who will be forgotten by next summer? Louie, Jason and Mikael are here to answer all those questions and place their bets. Read Mikael's Piece "Sabrina, Chappell and Charli are Suddenly Stars: Why Now?" Buy Tickets to Pop Pantheon Live! Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and the Millennial Diva Conundrum on 9/30 at Dynasty Typewriter in LAJoin Pop Pantheon: All Access, Our Patreon Channel, for Exclusive Content and MoreShop Merch in Pop Pantheon's StoreCome to Gorgeous Gorgeous: Los Angeles at Los Globos in Silver Lake on 8/17Follow DJ Louie XIV on InstagramFollow DJ Louie XIV on TwitterFollow Pop Pantheon on Instagram

BUY YOUR TICKETS HEREThe rollout for Katy Perry’s seventh studio album, 143, has been a disaster. Sixteen years into her pop career, Katy’s facing a textbook struggle for a pop star more than a decade into her career: irrelevance. By contrast, Katy’s pop peer Lady Gaga has charted a very different second act, swerving into acting and rebranding herself as an old school all-around entertainer. On September 30, DJ Louie XIV will be joined by Los Angeles Times pop critic Mikael Wood and And Introducing podcast host Molly Mary O’Brien at Dynasty Typewriter in L.A. to discuss 143, Gaga’s reemergence with Joker: Folie à Deux and the promise of LG7 and how these two superlative millennial pop divas are navigating the awkward period of their careers between trendsetter and legacy act.

Professor of Ethnomusicology at Julliard Dr. Fredara Hadley joins Pop Pantheon for the culmination of our four-part series on the King of Pop. In the final installment, DJ Louie and Dr. Hadley tackle Michael Jackson’s music post-Thriller, starting with the signature ‘80s blockbuster Bad (1987) and 1991’s successful pivot toward New Jack Swing, Dangerous. From there, Louie and Dr. Hadley unpack Michael’s personal and public decline, including the sexual abuse allegations made against him in 1993. Next they discuss his later period work, 1995's combative HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book 1 and 2001’s underperforming Invincible, and reckon with his unbelievably complicated legacy and enduring and seismic impact on pop music and stardom. Finally, they rank Michael Jackson in the Official Pop Pantheon. Listen to Michael Jackson Pt. 1: The Jackson 5 (with Emily Lordi)Listen to Michael Jackson Pt. 2: The King of Pop Rises (With Joseph Vogel)Listen to Michael Jackson Pt. 3: Thriller (with Tom Breihan)Listen to Pop Pantheon's Episode "Do You Still Listen to Michael Jackson and Kanye West? (with Tre Johnson & Kemi Olivia Alemoru)"Listen to Pop Pantheon's Michael Jackson Essentials PlaylistJoin Pop Pantheon: All Access, Our Patreon Channel, for Exclusive Content and MoreShop Merch in Pop Pantheon's StoreBuy Tickets to our Dance Party Pop Pantheon Present: Main Pop Girls of '24 in NYC on August 2!Come to Gorgeous Gorgeous: Los Angeles at Los Globos in Silver Lake on 8/17Follow DJ Louie XIV on InstagramFollow DJ Louie XIV on TwitterFollow Pop Pantheon on Instagram

In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode, Ice Spice just dropped her debut record Y2K, an under 25 minute tour through drill beats, Jersey club and Ice's signature puerile humor and nonchalant flow. How does it work as her first official album statement? Who is this music playing to? And does it sound like 2000 at all? Writer Nadirah Simmons is here to break it all down with Louie and Russ.To hear the rest of the this episode plus receive weekly bonus episodes of Pop Pantheon, gain access to our Discord channel and so much more, subscribe to Pop Pantheon: All Access at the Icon Tier. You can also subscribe for the audio only directly in the Apple Podcasts app. 

There are albums. And then there’s Thriller. For the third installment of our four-part series on the King of Pop, Stereogum’s Tom Breihan returns for Pop Pantheon’s first ever A-Side devoted to a single album: Michael Jackson’s definitive 1982 pop blockbuster, Thriller. DJ Louie and Tom dig into every aspect of the best-selling album of all time, from iconic performances to choreography, fashion, and MJ’s radical reimagining of the then-nascent music video format. They also tackle all of the album’s genre-obliterating smash hits – seven top 10s and two number ones to be exact – and go deep on Thriller-mania, the album’s long-lasting impact on pop, its enduring legacy and how it made Michael Jackson a the biggest kind of pop legend.Join us next week for our final installment of our Michael Jackson series, in which we discuss Bad, Dangerous, Michael’s later-era work and his complicated legacy.Listen to Michael Jackson Pt. 1: The Jackson 5 (with Emily Lordi)Listen to Michael Jackson Pt. 2: The King of Pop Rises (With Joseph Vogel)Listen to Pop Pantheon's Episode "Do You Still Listen to Michael Jackson and Kanye West? (with Tre Johnson & Kemi Olivia Alemoru)"Listen to Pop Pantheon's Michael Jackson Essentials PlaylistJoin Pop Pantheon: All Access, Our Patreon Channel, for Exclusive Content and MoreShop Merch in Pop Pantheon's StoreBuy Tickets to our Dance Party Pop Pantheon Present: Main Pop Girls of '24 in NYC on August 2!Come to Gorgeous Gorgeous Lincoln Center on 7/20 FOR FREE!Come to Gorgeous Gorgeous: Los Angeles at Los Globos in Silver Lake on 7/26Follow DJ Louie XIV on InstagramFollow DJ Louie XIV on TwitterFollow Pop Pantheon on Instagram

In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode, Olivia Horn reviewed Chappell Roan's debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, in Pitchfork when it dropped last September. Back then, she was a fringy pop upstart with some nice critical notices and a small cult audience. Now, she's one of the biggest new pop superstars of the year in the midst of a zeitgeisty swirl the likes of which we haven't seen for a new pop girlie in years. So how does the actual music hold up? Olivia joins DJ Louie to dig into the record as well as why Chappell's became 2024's "femininomenon". To hear the rest of the this episode plus receive weekly bonus episodes of Pop Pantheon, gain access to our Discord channel and so much more, subscribe to Pop Pantheon: All Access at the Icon Tier. You can also subscribe for the audio only directly in the Apple Podcasts app. 

Joe Vogel, author of Man in the Music: The Creative Life of Michael Jackson, joins Pop Pantheon for the second in our four-part series on the King of Pop. DJ Louie and Joe dig into MJ’s early solo work, from his 1972 debut Got to Be There to his first solo number one, “Ben,” his changing voice as grew older and his final Motown album, 1975’s Forever Michael – released when Michael was just 16. From there, they discuss Michael’s starring role as Scarecrow in the 1975 cult classic The Wiz and his creative partnership with Quincy Jones, which produced the glorious, effervescent 1979 masterpiece  Off the Wall, the album that single-handedly turned Michael Jackson into a true solo superstar and set his course to the top of the Pop Pantheon.   Join us next week for Part 3, which will focus entirely on Michael’s stratospheric, game-changing blockbuster, 1982’s Thriller.Listen to Michael Jackson Pt. 1: The Jackson 5 (with Emily Lordi)Listen to Pop Pantheon's Episode "Do You Still Listen to Michael Jackson and Kanye West? (with Tre Johnson & Kemi Olivia Alemoru)"Buy Joseph Vogel's Book Man in the Music: The Creative Life and Work of Michael Jackson Listen to Pop Pantheon's Michael Jackson Essentials PlaylistJoin Pop Pantheon: All Access, Our Patreon Channel, for Exclusive Content and MoreShop Merch in Pop Pantheon's StoreBuy Tickets to our Dance Party Pop Pantheon Present: Main Pop Girls of '24 in NYC on August 2!Come to Gorgeous Gorgeous Lincoln Center on 7/20 FOR FREE!Come to Gorgeous Gorgeous: Los Angeles at Los Globos in Silver Lake on 7/26Follow DJ Louie XIV on InstagramFollow DJ Louie XIV on TwitterFollow Pop Pantheon on Instagram