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    Zach Bryan Begins Building His Village

    Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon MusicA few weeks ago, Zach Bryan released his self-titled second major label album, which went to the top of the Billboard album chart — his first time doing so. It contained a duet with Kacey Musgraves that also topped the Hot 100. Then, not long after, he released a new EP, “Boys of Faith,” that includes collaborations with Bon Iver and Noah Kahan.Bryan is working hard, and on his own terms — he releases music seemingly at will, and is finding a path to collaborators that hews tightly to his own taste profile. Even his recent arrest, for interfering with a traffic stop in Oklahoma, felt signature, with footage from the arrest showing him to be both stubborn and apologetic, following his own moral code more closely than the law.On this week’s Popcast, a conversation about Bryan’s post-politics approach to stardom, his dogged work ethic, and how he’s partnering up with fellow dissidents to build a coalition of artists who are ordinarily resistant to coalitions.Guests:Elamin Abdelmahmoud, host of the CBC’s “Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud”Tom Breihan, senior editor at StereogumConnect With Popcast. Become a part of the Popcast community: Join the show’s Facebook group and Discord channel. We want to hear from you! Tune in, and tell us what you think at popcast@nytimes.com. Follow our host, Jon Caramanica, on Twitter: @joncaramanica. More

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    Popcast (Deluxe): Doja Cat’s Rap Renaissance + Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce

    Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon MusicThis week’s episode of Popcast (Deluxe), the weekly culture roundup show on YouTube hosted by Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli, includes segments on:The emergent relationship between Taylor Swift and the NFL star Travis KelceThe new album by Doja Cat, “Scarlet,” its relationship to hip-hop from the 1990s and 2010s, and its uniqueness in relationship to the rest of the women who are dominating contemporary hip-hopThe recent New Yorker exposé of the comedian Hasan Minhaj, and how he strategically deployed misdirection and composite narratives to amplify his humorNew songs from Headie One & K-Trap featuring Clavish, and Jean Dawson featuring SZASnack of the weekConnect With Popcast. Become a part of the Popcast community: Join the show’s Facebook group and Discord channel. We want to hear from you! Tune in, and tell us what you think at popcast@nytimes.com. Follow our host, Jon Caramanica, on Twitter: @joncaramanica. More

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    Popcast (Deluxe): Ice Spice’s Munchkin Drink + Jann Wenner Backlash

    Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon MusicThis week’s episode of Popcast (Deluxe), the weekly culture roundup show on YouTube hosted by Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli, includes segments on:The Ice Spice Munchkin Drink from Dunkin’, our snack of the week and a quick-turnaround marketing collaboration for the Bronx rapper who broke out last year with the hit “Munch (Feelin’ U)” — and whose fans are called Munchkins.The recent offensive comments by Jann Wenner, the founder of Rolling Stone magazine, about Black and female performers that got him removed from the board of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, an institution he helped create.The new album from Sean Combs, a.k.a. Puff Daddy, a.k.a. Diddy, a.k.a. Love, and behind-the-scenes anecdotes from the recent profile of him in The New York Times.Creatively cringey TikToks from Harry Daniels and DJ Mandy, and a striking use of music on Apple’s “The Morning Show.”Connect With Popcast. Become a part of the Popcast community: Join the show’s Facebook group and Discord channel. We want to hear from you! Tune in, and tell us what you think at popcast@nytimes.com. Follow our host, Jon Caramanica, on Twitter: @joncaramanica. More

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    Popcast (Deluxe): Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Guts,’ Part 2

    Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Amazon MusicThis week’s episode of Popcast (Deluxe), the weekly culture roundup show on YouTube hosted by Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli, includes segments on:“Guts,” the new album by Olivia Rodrigo, who two years ago catapulted from midlevel Disney teen star to pop supernova with her single “Drivers License.” Rodrigo has become part of pop’s elite, and her new album reckons with what that means, for her and for everyone watching her.Zach Bryan, whose new self-titled album is currently the No. 1 album in the country, and who has carved out an idiosyncratic path through country, bar rock and roots music. He was also arrested last week for interfering with a police investigation in connection with a traffic stop.The rapper Cam’ron’s rebirth as a risqué sports podcaster on his show with Mase, “It Is What It Is”New songs from Emilia, and Lil Peep & iLoveMakonnenSnack of the weekConnect With Popcast. Become a part of the Popcast community: Join the show’s Facebook group and Discord channel. We want to hear from you! Tune in, and tell us what you think at popcast@nytimes.com. Follow our host, Jon Caramanica, on Twitter: @joncaramanica. More

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    Olivia Rodrigo’s Songs About Growing Pains

    Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Amazon MusicOlivia Rodrigo just released her second album, “Guts,” which is, at least in some ways, an extension of her 2021 debut album, “Sour.” She plays with similar musical approaches, splitting her time between piano balladry and punkish pop-rock. (She is still working with the same producer, Daniel Nigro.)But in other ways, it’s an evolution. Before, she was a young performer just out of the Disney ecosystem singing about teen heartbreak. Now, she’s got two years of pop stardom under her belt, and she’s experienced all of the lows that come with fame (and presumably some of the highs, too). That exposure has deepened her songwriting, and made her a prominent pop skeptic operating in the heat of the spotlight.On this week’s Popcast, a conversation about Rodrigo’s rapid rise, and the ways in which she’s chosen to reflect on it in her songs; her playfulness with genre and vocal style; and the potential futures in front of her.Guests:Caryn Ganz, The New York Times’s pop music editorLindsay Zoladz, a pop music critic for The New York Times and writer of The Amplifier newsletterConnect With Popcast. Become a part of the Popcast community: Join the show’s Facebook group and Discord channel. We want to hear from you! Tune in, and tell us what you think at popcast@nytimes.com. Follow our host, Jon Caramanica, on Twitter: @joncaramanica. More

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    Popcast (Deluxe): ‘Bottoms,’ ‘Hard Knocks’ & Uncovering Rap History

    Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Amazon MusicThis week’s episode of Popcast (Deluxe), the weekly culture roundup show on YouTube hosted by Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli, includes segments on:The queer teen horror-comedy “Bottoms,” the second film from Emma Seligman, which stars Ayo Edibiri and Rachell Sennott, and sends up both teen raunch comedies of the 1980s and 2000s as well as conventional coming-of-age stories. Also discussed: the links between “Bottoms” and the summer blockbuster “Barbie,” and also the Netflix Sandler-family vehicle “You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah.”The summer in reality television, including “Hip Hop Treasures,” “Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the New York Jets,” and the social media storytelling that’s accompanied Deion Sanders’s arrival as coach of the football team at University of Colorado Boulder.Recent books about hip-hop mixtapes and fashionCaroline Calloway’s “Scammer,” which turns several waves of viral infamy into a feisty memoirSnack of the weekConnect With Popcast. Become a part of the Popcast community: Join the show’s Facebook group and Discord channel. We want to hear from you! Tune in, and tell us what you think at popcast@nytimes.com. Follow our host, Jon Caramanica, on Twitter: @joncaramanica. More

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    Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Speed Round, Part 2

    Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Amazon MusicThe first leg of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour has come to a close, with the pop superstar having performed in stadiums across North America for several million people.A few of those people are friends of Popcast. This week and next, we’ll speak with a few of them about their experiences at the show.On this week’s Popcast, conversations about Swift’s relationship to the broader hierarchy of celebrity, the tour date as destination event, how fans dressed up for the show, and ways in which Swift is extremely deliberate in the manner that she deploys sexuality.Guests:Caryn Ganz, The New York Times’s pop music editorVrinda Jagota, a freelance writer for Pitchfork and othersJosh Duboff, a freelance writer for Vanity Fair and othersConnect With Popcast. Become a part of the Popcast community: Join the show’s Facebook group and Discord channel. We want to hear from you! Tune in, and tell us what you think at popcast@nytimes.com. Follow our host, Jon Caramanica, on Twitter: @joncaramanica. More

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    Popcast (Deluxe) Mailbag: Selena Gomez, BTS and Doja Cat!

    Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Amazon MusicThis week’s episode of Popcast (Deluxe), the weekly culture roundup show on YouTube hosted by Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli, is comprised completely of viewer and listener questions, and includes segments on:The sub rosa pop superstardom of Selena Gomez, who has been proximate to many of the biggest ideas in pop over the past decade, but never quite at their centerThe phases of BTS’s American success, both before and after it began anticipating how its music would be received in this countryThe sudden rise of Renee Rapp, actress turned TikTok pot-stirrer turned would-be pop starThe persistence of Doja Cat, an unconventional pop star who seems immune to the frailties of ordinary pop stars, who aren’t allowed to deviate from their carefully crafted imagesThe idiosyncratic career choices of Earl Sweatshirt, who has rejected the conventions of rap stardom at every turn and instead continued to make advanced-placement hip-hop on his own termsSongs of the week, including “Making Noise for the Ones You Love,” a new song from the Chicago band Ratboys, and “Ticking,” a track from the new self-titled album by the country-folk singer Zach BryanSnacks of the weekConnect With Popcast. Become a part of the Popcast community: Join the show’s Facebook group and Discord channel. We want to hear from you! Tune in, and tell us what you think at popcast@nytimes.com. Follow our host, Jon Caramanica, on Twitter: @joncaramanica. More