Answering Your Pop Music Questions: Taylor Swift, Geese, The Beatles & More

Answering Your Pop Music Questions: Taylor Swift, Geese, The Beatles & More

Author: The New York Times June 18, 2026 Duration: 1:15:24
Summer is upon us, and it’s time for the semiannual Popcast mailbag, in which the most burning questions of viewers and listeners are answered, definitively. This round, the inquiries were sizzling, and on a wide range of topics: whether Geese is the Joe Biden of rock, Maroon 5 as a pop-rap gateway drug, what band had the most transformative decade-long run of albums, Adele’s (purported) laziness, the growing use of artificial intelligence in popular music, and whether a Swiftie and a Twizzy can ever truly understand each other.

Hosted by The New York Times pop music critic Jon Caramanica, Popcast digs into the conversations that define what we listen to now. This isn't just a rundown of new releases; it's a thoughtful dissection of the forces shaping popular music, from underground shifts to mainstream explosions. Each episode feels like a lively, insightful debate you'd have with the most knowledgeable friend in the room, blending sharp criticism with a genuine curiosity about where sound and culture collide. You'll hear interviews with artists, producers, and industry thinkers that go beyond the usual promotional talk, alongside regular discussions that unpack trends, controversies, and the occasional forgotten gem. The Popcast provides context and argument, offering a deeper understanding of why a song or artist resonates-or fails to-at a particular moment in time. It’s essential listening for anyone who wants to move past the playlist and into the ideas driving the music. As a production of The New York Times, this podcast brings the same level of rigor and reporting you'd expect from their journalism, applied directly to the ever-evolving world of pop.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Popcast
Podcast Episodes
Reacting to the Diddy Verdict [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:26
A conversation, immediately following the jury's decision on Wednesday, about how and why the music mogul was acquitted of the most serious charges at his sex trafficking trial.
Remembering Sly Stone & Brian Wilson [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:03:48
A wide-ranging conversation about two pop visionaries whose lives, careers and legacies only grew more complex over time.