GOOD EVENING!

This is the POP CULTURE CHEAT SHEET, your weekly intel to fuel your water cooler conversations, delivered to your inbox every Monday. If someone forwarded you this email, be sure and subscribe here. 

LUNCH BREAK

five quick consumption recs for the time between meetings

1. LI-DUA-RY COMMENTARY Dua Lipa sits down with Mark Ronson to discuss the DJ’s autobiographical recount of nightlife in 90’s NYC. (A note that the whole podcast is worth a binge – Dua has a real knack for literary dialogue).

2. POP THEORY. A dissection of flops, icons, and the gradient in between. 

3. FAILURE TONY LAUNCH. Puck’s media team talks through the rocky start to the new era of CBS Evening News.

4. HOT-BUTTON MEME. We actually don’t feel like explaining this one ♥️.

5. RE-CLASSIFIED. NY Mag’s Classifieds are back – huge for snoopers and earnest purveyors alike.

can hollywood reckon with podcasts?

Last night’s Golden Globes made for a solid show: Nikki Glazer clocked in with a great monologue, and we got enough fashion spectacle and heartfelt speeches to fill any would-be dead air at the top of Monday morning Zoom calls. And, with somewhat modest fanfare, a newcomer ushered in a new era for the entertainment industry: the category of Best Podcast made its debut as the first recognition of the medium by a major awards ceremony.  

This moment – while major – felt more overdue than groundbreaking. Podcasts have been a tender of cultural currency for years, shaping information diets, political identities, and daily routines on a scale that beats out most of the medium’s more traditional counterparts. 

Familiar names like Joe Rogan and Theo Von were in the nomination pool, but the two were ultimately cut from the shortlist. Their initial inclusion gestures at undeniable cultural influence, but their dismissal from final considerations points to a tension at the heart of this category’s debut: podcasting as it actually exists versus podcasting as legacy entertainment is comfortable celebrating.

Amy Poehler’s podcast Good Hang ultimately took the award home. Amy is mother and the show is excellent (we’ve spotlighted several episodes on this very newsletter), but it’s a safe choice for a should-be disruptive category. The show is fairly clean, professionally-produced, and celebrity-fronted – in short, incredibly reminiscent of establishment entertainment. In her acceptance speech, Poehler described the show’s mission as rooted in “love and laughter” – framing that sits awkwardly alongside podcasting’s actual cultural impact.

Podcasts uniquely platform voices that – for better or worse – don’t jive with the filter of traditional media. The hosts whose hot-button conversations most frequently escape their original platforms to become cultural artifacts clipped, debated, and weaponized across the internet can be tough to square with awards-season respectability. Figures like Rogan and Von, who were charged with shaping political sentiment enough to sway elections (only to backpedal in recent months) embody a kind of unruly influence that institutions can’t reward without endorsing its messy fallout.

This raises a question that will grow louder in the years to come: can podcasting be institutionally recognized without stripping away certain qualities that make it so culturally dominant in the first place?

This year’s answer seems to be no – or at least, not yet. Podcasting has arrived at the awards show venue, but it’s been politely asked to check its sharpest edges at the door.

TREND RAPPORT

viral vocab of the week 

MOTHER (n.) –  An iconic, influential woman. The term denotes utmost respect and appreciation for the object’s contributions to the culture. 

LOWKENUINELY (adv.) –  A portmanteau of ‘lowkey’ and ‘genuinely’. Used to qualify a sentiment the speaker thoroughly stands by – but in a super chill, understated way.

SEE YOU NEXT MONDAY!

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