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      Jessie Ware Is Dancing Into Her Second Act

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      Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Amazon MusicThe fifth Jessie Ware album, “That! Feels Good!,” is a robust, richly sung neo-disco manifesto, among the most vibrant music the singer has released. It marks a solidification of Ware’s second phase, following her early years making restrained club-soul and adult-contemporary R&B.This second phase was made possible at least in part by the success of “Table Manners,” the podcast she hosts with her mother, which has become central to Ware’s public flowering as a relatable celebrity. Now, she is making music that’s playful and untethered, but just as crisply delivered as ever.On this week’s Popcast, a conversation about midcareer sonic switches, the importance of fantasy in music making, and how freedom outside of one’s music career can lead to liberation within it.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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      Jai Paul Emerges From the Shadows, Somewhat

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      Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Amazon MusicWhen a collection of Jai Paul demos leaked online in 2013, it had the makings of a celebration, not a catastrophe. Paul had previously released two rapturously received singles, and anticipation for his music was high. The songs on that collection were shared widely, and beloved. But rather than capitalize on the good will generated by the unintended release, Paul retreated, making almost no public noise or appearances for the following decade.This year, he returned — first, with a pair of performances at Coachella, and then a pair of smaller headlining concerts in New York. He was shy and a little awkward onstage, but the music he played was sure-footed. Whether it was the conclusion of his prior arc, or a prelude to a new era, wasn’t clear.On this week’s Popcast, a conversation about Paul’s anti-career trajectory, the persistence of fan enthusiasm for him even in his absence, and how mystery on the internet has changed over the past couple of decades.Guests:Lindsay Zoladz, a pop music critic for The New York Times and author of The Amplifier newsletterJia Tolentino, a staff writer at The New YorkerConnect 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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      How Fred again.. Jolted Dance Music

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      Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Amazon MusicThe most rapid ascent in dance music over the past three years belongs to the British producer and songwriter Fred again.., a protégé of Brian Eno and a onetime songwriter for Ed Sheeran and others who has built a formidable catalog using found vocals — from YouTube, Instagram or regular conversation — as the skeleton for high-energy club-pop.Fred’s main innovations aren’t necessarily musical, though. They’re his open-eared and arms-outstretched approach to production, which has made room for a wide range of collaborators, and his sense of live whimsy — whether announcing a last-minute rave with Skrillex and Four Tet at Madison Square Garden, or playing a peculiarly intimate set on NPR’s Tiny Desk series.On this week’s Popcast, a conversation about dance music’s new wave of big-tent ambition, how Fred again.. turns unlikely source material into catchy pop, and how far interpersonal good will can go as a music-making tool.Guest:Foster Kamer, the editor in chief of Futurism, who writes for New York magazine, The New York Times 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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      A Spree of Country Music Divorce Albums

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      Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Amazon MusicIn February, Kelsea Ballerini released a surprise EP, “Rolling Up the Welcome Mat,” a set of songs inspired by her recent divorce from another country singer, Morgan Evans. It was her freshest recent work, thematically and musically, and also a reminder that for the past few years, several female country singers have found freedom in divorce-inspired music.In 2021, Carly Pearce put out “29,” an EP, and later “29: Written in Stone,” a full-length project, inspired by her divorce from the singer Michael Ray. That same year, Kacey Musgraves released “Star-Crossed,” which followed her split from the singer Ruston Kelly. (Men have traveled this path as well — Kelly has just released an album of his own, and in 2016, both Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert reacted to their divorce with new albums.)On this week’s Popcast, a conversation about how the women of country have navigated divorce as subject matter, how Nashville appears to encourage the overlap of professional obligations and personal entanglements, and the ways that personal liberation might be connected to musical liberation.Guest:Marissa R. Moss, author of “Her Country: How the Women of Country Music Became the Success They Were Never Supposed to Be”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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      The Friendship Harmonies of boygenius

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      Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Amazon MusicIn 2018, the rising indie rock singers Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus teamed up to form boygenius, a collaborative side project that quickly took on outsized importance. For fans, it reinforced the characteristics that made each singer so appealing individually, and also created a new layer of lore.The debut boygenius EP was released in 2018, but it wasn’t until last week that the group released its first full-length project, “The Record.” It continues the group’s familiar combination of emotionally acute songwriting, rich harmonies and inside-joke banter.On this week’s Popcast, a conversation about how the music of boygenius overlaps with the solo work of its three members, the ways in which friendship can be rendered in musical terms and how even the most beloved artists can be subject to a backlash cycle.Guests:Jon Pareles, The New York Times’s chief pop music criticCat Zhang, an associate editor at PitchforkConnect 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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      How Taylor Swift Shapes the Story of Her Eras

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      Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Amazon MusicTaylor Swift’s Eras Tour began this month in Glendale, Ariz., and will continue through early August in stadiums throughout the United States. The performance is grand-scaled: almost four dozen songs over more than three hours.It is the first major Swift tour since her dates supporting “Reputation” in 2018, and even though it touches on tracks from each of her 10 albums, it focuses heavily on her last four: “Lover,” “Folklore,” “Evermore” and “Midnights.” Those are vastly different albums, and the segments of the concert devoted to them varied very widely.On this week’s Popcast, a conversation about how Swift translates her music for a live audience, how she reconciles the different categories of her catalog and the persistent fervor of the fans who support her.Guest:Joe Coscarelli, The New York Times’s pop music reporterConnect 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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      The Inevitability of Ice Spice

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      Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Amazon MusicIt was only last August — seven months ago! — that Ice Spice became seemingly ubiquitous with “Munch (Feelin’ U),” a casually devastating burn of a would-be suitor. Then an emerging rapper from, or more accurately adjacent to, the Bronx drill scene, she’s had a rapid ascent to a contemporary version of pop stardom. She’s now in the Top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Boy’s a Liar Pt. 2,” a collaboration with the equally TikTok-friendly PinkPantheress. And she recently released her debut EP, “Like..?”It seems like Ice Spice demand is outstripping supply — thanks to the omnipresence of her music on TikTok in recent weeks, she’s become eminently consumed even as she has released just a limited amount of music. But modern celebrity is built on this kind of shareability, and her ease in these spaces is a primary driver of her success, in addition to a writing style that’s highly conversational and accessible.On this week’s Popcast, a conversation about the rise of Ice Spice, how her music-making moves in lock step with the TikTok and Instagram meme universe, and the bottom-up approach to stardom that’s likely to define the future of pop.Guest:Jeff Ihaza, a senior editor at Rolling StoneConnect 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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      The Return of Morgan Wallen (Who Never Went Away)

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      Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Amazon MusicThe third album by the country music superstar Morgan Wallen, the 36-song “One Thing at a Time,” just debuted at the top of the Billboard album chart, with the equivalent of 501,000 units. It is the fifth biggest streaming debut, behind only releases by Taylor Swift and Drake. Its success is an extension of the dominance of his earlier work, especially the 2021 release “Dangerous: The Double Album,” which has been the emblematic and most popular country album of the 2020s.Wallen’s success still comes under the cloud of the 2021 incident in which he was caught on tape using a racial slur. Though he was briefly removed from country radio at the time, he has since been restored, and he remains a touring force.On this week’s Popcast, a conversation about the nature of Wallen’s fame and the scope of his punishment; the ways in which he — perhaps inadvertently — weaponizes culture war; and the outsized meaning behind his light experimentation with genre.Guest:Kelefa Sanneh, a staff writer at The New YorkerConnect 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