The Popcast is hosted by Jon Caramanica, a pop music critic for The New York Times. It covers the latest in popular music criticism, trends and news.
Oct 27 2014
38mins
Dec 09 2016
53mins
Mar 10 2017
43mins
Jul 10 2015
1hr 10mins
Ms. Swift plays a different game on her sixth album — making pop music that directly competes with the rest of the field’s dominant players.
Nov 14 2017
1hr 11mins
Jun 16 2017
55mins
Nov 12 2016
52mins
Mar 27 2015
26mins
May 19 2017
39mins
Aug 25 2016
52mins
Apr 28 2017
46mins
Oct 15 2016
26mins
Jan 22 2016
29mins
Music's big awards show is trying to make big changes. So what do these nominations tell us? Guests: The New York Times's Jon Pareles. Joe Coscarelli and Caryn Ganz
Dec 08 2018
47mins
Nov 25 2016
53mins
Mar 17 2017
56mins
The rapper behind one of the summer’s biggest hits has made swift moves in the music industry, and is making waves in the fashion world, too.
Sep 15 2017
55mins
SoundCloud rap is a raw, rowdy, rebellious movement fueled by young rappers looking outside the genre for inspiration.
Jun 23 2017
1hr 5mins
Breaking down the sounds, the themes, the obscure (and not-so-hidden) messages and more on her seventh album. Guests: Joe Coscarelli, Caryn Ganz and Jon Pareles.
Aug 27 2019
1hr 16mins
A Coachella set stunning in scope and execution. The first Pulitzer Prize winner who isn’t from classical or jazz. A conversation about the two artists’ triumphs.
Apr 25 2018
1hr 16mins
Lizzo, Billie Eilish and Lil Nas X lead the way. But has the Recording Academy’s relationship to pop changed? Guests: The full New York Times pop music team.
Nov 22 2019
52mins
Are artists responsible when their fan armies can be weaponized? Guests: Joe Coscarelli and Lindsay Zoladz.
Nov 20 2019
1hr 10mins
Netflix’s “Rhythm + Flow” is the most recent example of the reality-TV business trying to get into the hip-hop business. Guests: Complex's Frazier Tharpe and Stereogum's Tom Breihan.
Nov 11 2019
57mins
Gospel music insiders on the rapper’s turn to religious music and how his album relates to contemporary holy hip-hop. Guests: Root's Hasan James and The Journal of Gospel Music's Robert Marovich.
Oct 30 2019
1hr 4mins
The year’s most consistent new hip-hop star combines intense rhymes with online savvy. Guest: Joe Coscarelli.
Oct 19 2019
1hr 14mins
Nashville has long marginalized female performers, songwriters and producers. But a wave of artists is fighting back. Guests: Jada Watson and Natalie Weiner.
Oct 11 2019
1hr 3mins
One of the year’s most unlikely breakthroughs is a duo that makes disorienting, genre-jumbling music. Guests: Eli Enis and The Fader's Larry Fitzmaurice.
Oct 05 2019
1hr 5mins
Collaborations have flourished in the wake of “Despacito,” some sounding natural, some sounding forced. Guest: Remezcla's Eduardo Cepeda.
Sep 29 2019
1hr 4mins
A conversation about his rapid rise and the questions — about genre and race — glossed over along the way. Guests: Pitchfork's Jayson Greene and The New York Times Magazine's Jonah Weiner.
Sep 22 2019
59mins
One of the decade’s most copied rappers finally reached No. 1 on the album chart, years after his aesthetic rubbed off on hip-hop. Guest: Andrew Nosnitsky.
Sep 07 2019
1hr 9mins
What was once a large canvas for grand statements is now a tiny digital mark. Guest: Chips's Teddy Blanks.
Aug 29 2019
55mins
Breaking down the sounds, the themes, the obscure (and not-so-hidden) messages and more on her seventh album. Guests: Joe Coscarelli, Caryn Ganz and Jon Pareles.
Aug 27 2019
1hr 16mins
Conversations about his songwriting, his struggles and his striking sweetness outside of music. Guests: Jeff Johnson; The New Yorker's Amanda Petrusich; and Nick Weidenfeld.
Aug 16 2019
1hr 15mins
The Hot 97 D.J. and the hip-hop disrupter shared the wildest interview of the year. Guests: Rolling Stone's Charles Holmes and Pitchfork's Alphonse Pierre.
Aug 02 2019
1hr 10mins
There’s more data about music consumption than ever before. That doesn’t mean we understand who’s the most popular. Guests: The New York Times's Joe Coscarelli and Ben Sisario.
Jul 26 2019
1hr
A look back at the Brazilian musician’s innovations as one of the genre’s primary architects. Guest: Ben Ratliff
Jul 19 2019
55mins
Critics who were writing about the band at the peak of its fame look back at how the group became so bitterly divisive. Guests: Jim DeRogatis and Danyel Smith.
Jul 08 2019
53mins
The superstar complained that the powerful manager acquired her master recordings, setting off a debate that divided the industry. Guest: The New York Times's Joe Coscarelli
Jul 03 2019
1hr 4mins
“Cracked Rear View” catapulted the band to superstardom. But the group made great music long before — and after — anyone paid attention. Guest: former A&R representative Tim Sommer
Jul 01 2019
57mins
From “Rocketman” to “Her Smell,” “Blaze” to “Vox Lux,” the film industry seems to think all musicians have the same ups and downs. Guests: The New York Times's A.O. Scott; Vanity Fair's K. Austin Collins; Kristen Yoonsoo Kim.
Jun 21 2019
1hr 14mins