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    Vampire Weekend’s New Album Goes Underground and All Over

    Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon MusicVampire Weekend recently released its fifth album, “Only God Was Above Us.” From the band that got started nearly two decades ago at Columbia University but now resides in Los Angeles, it’s an LP that ponders hitting 40, the lessons of history, generational legacies, myths and memories of New York City and Vampire Weekend’s own peculiar status as both an indie-rock success story and an arty pop outlier. It’s also the band’s noisiest album — and perhaps its kindliest.On this week’s Popcast with the guest host Jon Pareles, three critics discuss Vampire Weekend’s latest conundrums, counterpoint, sonic extremes and hidden jam-band core — and its fascination with tunnels.Guests:Amanda Petrusich, staff writer at The New YorkerMatthew Strauss, deputy managing editor of 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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    It’s Drake vs. Everybody … Who’s Winning?

    Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTubeThis week’s episode of Popcast (Deluxe), the weekly culture roundup show on YouTube hosted by Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli, includes segments on:The tensions brewing among hip-hop’s biggest stars, beginning with Kendrick Lamar’s sideways lyrics about Drake, which have led to a full-scale recalibration of genre alliancesDrake’s leaked response to LamarHow other artists like Future, the Weeknd and Rick Ross have jumped in the fray, all lining up against DrakeHow hip-hop’s recent squabbles are a life raft for late-career artistsWhether the “Big 3” — how people once referred to the grouping of top hip-hop stars Drake, Lamar and J. Cole — was ever really as stable as advertisedSongs of the week from Peso Pluma featuring Arcángel, Sky Ferreira and NLE ChoppaSnack 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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    Beyoncé, ‘Cowboy Carter’ and Filling in History’s Gaps

    Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon MusicLast month, Beyoncé released “Cowboy Carter,” an album that tackles the whole of American music, using country, roots and Americana as jumping off points for explorations of race and power and the implicit politics that come with them. It is currently the No. 1 album in the country, with the biggest debut week of the year so far.On the heels of “Renaissance,” her 2022 album that served as a primer and commentary on the history of queer Black dance music, “Cowboy Carter” takes a parallel approach, unearthing and underscoring the Black history and influence behind genres that have, especially since the mid-20th century, been whitewashed.On this week’s Popcast, a conversation about what Beyoncé is attempting to achieve on “Cowboy Carter,” the way the album has been received and where she is likely to turn next.Guests:Marcus K. Dowling, country music reporter at The TennesseanJulianne Escobedo Shepherd, who writes about music for Pitchfork 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): Listening to Beyoncé & Future (and the Discourse)

    Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTubeThis week’s episode of Popcast (Deluxe), the weekly culture roundup show on YouTube hosted by Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli, includes segments on:Beyoncé’s new album, “Cowboy Carter,” and how it faces the genre battle head-on by playing with decades of country and rock signifiers, plus how the conversation about its specifics can obscure the conversation about its qualityThe new album by Future & Metro Boomin, “We Don’t Trust You,” which marks a return to form for Future and includes a verse from Kendrick Lamar (and some lyrics from the host) seemingly aimed at Drake, potentially reigniting a hip-hop cold warSongs of the week from Camila Cabello featuring Playboi Carti and Oliver Anthony MusicSnack 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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    Lil Jon: The Popcast (Deluxe) Interview

    Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTubeThis week’s episode of Popcast (Deluxe), the weekly culture roundup show on YouTube hosted by Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli, features an interview with the hip-hop and EDM legend Lil Jon in conversation about:Behind the scenes at Usher’s 2024 Super Bowl halftime show, in which Lil Jon was the musical director and a performerThe peak of Lil Jon’s pop fame in the early to mid-2000s, with hits as a performer and producer and sketches on “Chappelle’s Show”The making of the song “Lovers & Friends”Lil Jon’s early days as a D.J., and stories about concerts by the Notorious B.I.G. and Ol’ Dirty BastardAtlanta bass music and “So So Def Bass All-Stars”Early Atlanta punk and skateboarding scenesThe connections between crunk and EDM and drillHis connection to PitbullLil Jon’s introduction to the EDM scene, including Steve Aoki and the Electric Daisy CarnivalGetting healthy later in life and learning about meditationThe fate of his Crunk Ain’t Dead chainSnack of the week: Lil Jon rates Girl Scout cookiesConnect 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 Justin Timberlake Conundrum

    Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon MusicJustin Timberlake’s sixth solo album, “Everything I Thought It Was,” has been met with a rather unusual amount of critical dismissal as well as weaker than usual sales, becoming his first solo release to miss No. 1 since “Justified” in 2002. Timberlake, once the most prominent male star in American pop music, has become something of a musical afterthought in recent years.That is connected to his musical choices, to be sure, but also to a larger social-cultural backlash in the wake of public re-evaluations of his relationship with Britney Spears, and how he navigated the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show incident that sent Janet Jackson into exile and largely left him unscathed.On this week’s Popcast, a conversation about the state of Timberlake’s music career, the long stretch of time during which he left his roles in the Jackson incident and Spears relationship publicly unexamined, and what, if any, paths forward remain for him musically and beyond.Guests:Steven J. Horowitz, senior music writer at VarietyJoshunda Sanders, an author and former columnist at the San Francisco ChronicleConnect 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): Is Reality TV in a New Golden Age?

    Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTubeThis week’s episode of Popcast (Deluxe), the weekly culture roundup show on YouTube hosted by Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli, includes segments on:Season six of “Love Is Blind,” and the ways that the show’s episode rollout was interwoven with the TikTok and social media postgame that became its best promotionSeason two of the U.S. edition of “The Traitors,” which pits reality TV alums against each other in a game of deceptionSeason 46 of “Survivor” and its current casting conundrum of superfans and emotionally charged playersSnack 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): What’s an Industry Plant Anyway? Plus: Ariana Grande

    Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTubeThis week’s episode of Popcast (Deluxe), the weekly culture roundup show on YouTube hosted by Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli, includes segments on:Popcast’s win at the 2024 iHeartPodcast Awards for best music podcastThe 2024 Oscars, including Ryan Gosling’s performance of “I’m Just Ken” and Diane Warren’s reported meltdownThe quick ascent of the downtempo R&B singer 4batz and what the “industry plant” conversation that he’s triggered gets wrongThe new Ariana Grande album, “eternal sunshine,” and how it’s an impressive and modest comeback in advance of her star turn in the upcoming film adaptation of “Wicked”Reports from the opening nights of the Olivia Rodrigo tour and the Zach Bryan tourNew songs from Yung Lean and Yaya BeySnack 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