pplpod

Trapped in pandemic isolation, Beyonce responded not with a somber acoustic record but with a glittering, sweat-drenched dance album. This episode explores Renaissance, a 2022 work of cultural reclama...

2 Jul 19min

Search for a specific person on the world's largest encyclopedia and sometimes you hit a complete digital ghost town. This episode takes a forensic look at that void, unpacking the exact text and hidd...

2 Jul 20min

How does a pop star deemed legally incapable of hiring her own lawyer simultaneously release albums, judge a hit TV show, and generate hundreds of millions in a Las Vegas residency? This episode unpac...

2 Jul 19min

They became the biggest pop phenomenon in the world, shattering records and pulling in billions in ad revenue, then found themselves banned from making music, sued for millions, and testifying before ...

2 Jul 17min

Told by her own parents that her dreams were impossible because "no Latinas did that," a young woman slept in a dance studio office to survive, then became the first woman to simultaneously top the US...

2 Jul 19min

How does a single two-word phrase connect a 1937 Hollywood film, a jazz album, a pro wrestler, and a children's graphic novel franchise? This episode tracks the cultural DNA of "bad guy," exploring ho...

2 Jul 15min

At 23, finally recording the mainstream English album she had dreamed of since childhood, she was murdered by the president of her own fan club. This episode dives into Selena Quintanilla-Perez, the A...

2 Jul 22min

Britney Spears was raised in the conservative Louisiana Bible Belt, trained through gymnastics camps and the all-new Mickey Mouse Club, and exploded into stardom when Baby One More Time sold 10 millio...

2 Jul 19min