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Rebecca Black sits down with me to talk about her new album Age of the Exhibitionist, surviving "Friday" to become a cult DJ, and staying independent without a label — this is Proto Pop. We get into making the album with zero major label backing, opening for Katy Perry's arena tour, why DJing funds her music videos, and the meaning behind "Anaheim Star," "Visions Again," and "Corsetry." We also talk stan culture, post-truth internet discourse, and her pop star Mount Rushmore (Fergie made the cut). Proto Pop is co-produced by Zachary Hourihane & FWB Talent, edited by Tyler Murphy, and styled by Michael Kirreh, with research by Bianca Brock.

Welcome to Proto Pop: my new long form interview series about what it actually means to be a pop artist right now...not just charts and drama, but the systems, risks and careers underneath it. In Episode 1, ‪@Lizzo‬ sits down with me for an hour‑long conversation about what really happened with B*TCH, flopping in public, and why pop is broken in 2026: If you care about the art (and science) of how pop music works beyond the brain dead stan wars (particularly how it’s marketed, measured and lived in real time) Proto Pop was made for you. This first episode is Lizzo using her own era as a case study in how the machine works (and doesn’t work) anymore.

Olivia Rodrigo finally sat down for her first real podcast interview — and she had a lot to say. In this emergency reaction, I break down her NYTimes PopCast conversation about new album You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love, the Taylor Swift feud that won't die, and the moment she bristled at being called the villain.  Olivia gets candid about songwriting credits, the "frost" with Taylor, why she's stopped caring about internet conspiracies, and the baby doll dress controversy that had Gen Z in a chokehold. I bring my journalist lens to the parts the hosts missed — and the parts Olivia clearly didn't want to touch.

Justin Bieber. Taylor Swift. Ed Sheeran. Dua Lipa. Katy Perry. I sat down and gave them all my most brutal, unsolicited career advice... and none of them asked for it!  In this episode, I break down exactly what 12 of the biggest pop stars in the world need to hear right now: whether they should retire, rebrand, or get completely weird. Some of these verdicts are kind. Some of them aren't. This is MY pop star career audit :)

The lead single is the highest-stakes move in pop music. One song decides if you get to level up  or if the entire era dies on arrival.I ranked every level of lead single from Career Killers to Origin Myths — and some of these placements will start a fight. From Katy Perry's "Woman's World" (the textbook Career Killer) to Olivia Rodrigo's "drivers license" (the cultural Rorschach test that hard-coded an entire archetype) — this is a complete breakdown of what a lead single actually does to an artist's career. Not chart performance. Not quality. The chessboard moves. Featuring: Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, Charli XCX, Dua Lipa, Adele, Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Lorde, Lana Del Rey, Ariana Grande, Britney Spears & more.

THEEEEE rodrigologist is BACK! Before you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love drops, I ranked every single Olivia Rodrigo song from drivers license to drop dead.. and it got brutal, pun intended!! From SOUR to GUTS, every era, every deep cut, every skip. this is the definitive Olivia Rodrigo worst to best ranking before the new album changes everything.

GET TICKETS TO MY TOUR: https://www.evolutionofasnake.com  I sat down with Anthony Fantano (The Needle Drop) for one of the most honest conversations about what it actually means to be an internet music critic in 2026…the perks, the pressure, and the parts nobody talks about. We get into everything: how algorithms have reshaped the way critics make decisions, whether paid promotions have poisoned music journalism, and what happens when artists push back. Hard. Plus: the Vince Staples story. The Charlie Puth DMs. Anthony’s revised Addison Rae opinions. Sombr mess. What Charli XCX’s rock album might sound like. Why Taylor Swift’s next move is important, and  whether anyone can still be a true gatekeeper in the age of TikTok. If you've ever wondered whether your favorite music reviewer is actually being honest with you,  this is the conversation.

The New York Times just named Taylor Swift one of the 30 Greatest Living Songwriters. I watched the full Taylor Swift interview and I have some professional thoughts on her process, her claims, and the reality of her current work. In this episode, I’m breaking down the most revealing moments from the Taylor Swift New York Times piece. We look at her early influences, her approach to storytelling, and the big question: Is the "genius" label still earned? We also dive into Taylor Swift Life of a Showgirl and why that specific era feels like a shift from songwriting to branding. Is she still the writer we fell in love with, or has the scale of her fame changed the music? Let’s look at the evidence…

Manon didn't just leave Katseye. She exposed the system every girl group runs on and it's been running since Destiny's Child. Every girl group has one. The member who doesn't quite fit the mould. The one the label didn't bet on. The one who gets quietly moved to the edge until leaving feels like her idea.  In this episode, I'm breaking down the five archetypes that every girl group needs to function — and why one of them is always built to be sacrificed. We're going from Destiny's Child and TLC to Little Mix, Fifth Harmony, and Katseye — and what every single one of these groups has in common is the same story playing out in different costumes.  The "sisterhood" you're sold at the press junket is a marketing tool. The reality is a cast, not a family. Manon Bannerman's departure from Katseye isn't a drama. It's a pattern. And once you see it, you can't unsee it.

Olivia Rodrigo's "drop dead"  is the best thing I've heard in 2026 — and I'm not being hyperbolic. I'm breaking down everything: the full song reaction, a deep dive into the lyrics, the music video analysis, and why this single proves Olivia Rodrigo has no real competition in pop music right now. We talk about how "Drop Dead" signals a completely new sonic era — less Alanis Morissette, more Robert Smith and The Cure.  How Dan Nigro might be the Jack Antonoff of his generation. Why Olivia disappearing to London was the smartest career move she's made. And why her refusal to chase algorithms or TikTok trends is exactly what makes her dangerous. This is not a fluke...it's a PATTERN! SHE'S A STAR!

Carolyn Bessette Kennedy did not die in a tragedy. She died in a crash that was preventable, predictable, and the direct result of her husband's decisions. Ryan Murphy's Love Story on FX doesn't reckon with that. It romanticizes it. This is an episode about what that choice costs and what it says about who we still protect.

The Chappell Roan discourse is loud, exhausting, and almost entirely beside the point. There are two versions of this story circulating right now. One casts her as a brave boundary-setting folk hero. The other casts her as a thin-skinned upstart who can't handle what she signed up for. I think both of those readings are lazy, and the reason they keep winning says more about us than it does about her. In this episode, I break down Chappell's full arc: the meteoric 2024 rise, the boundary-setting era, and the three flashpoints — the VMAs, Paris Fashion Week, and the Brazil affair — that flipped public opinion. I look at why Charli XCX, Billie Eilish, Lady Gaga, and Lorde publicly backed her. I compare her treatment to Chris Brown, Morgan Wallen, and Justin Bieber. And I bring in Susan Faludi's Backlash and the Dixie Chicks because this script has been running for decades. Chappell is clumsy, sometimes strategically terrible, and occasionally sets herself on fire to make a point that didn't require self-immolation. But there's a meaningful difference between critique and the kind of moral prosecution that seems to activate specifically when a woman stops performing pleasantries on command.  If the sight of a woman being imperfect in public activates an impulse to morally grandstand in you, my beloved, it's time for you to look inside.

In 2021, I foolishly ranked all of Taylor Swift's studio albums. Let's just say that things have changed since then...we have THREE new albums to discuss: Midnights, The Tortured Poets Department, and, as of 2025, The Life of a Showgirl as well. Make sure to head over to YouTube to check out my original ranking as well!

Everybody in pop music is trying to look busy right now. Sabrina Carpenter. Tate McRae. The new industry logic is: more output, more presence, more proof of life — or the algorithm forgets you exist. Olivia Rodrigo made two albums in five years, disappeared between them, and just headlined Glastonbury to 1.6 million people. I don't think that's a coincidence. In this video I'm making the case that Olivia Rodrigo is quietly building one of the most intentional careers in modern pop — not by being everywhere, but by going still long enough to actually have something to say. We're talking Sour, the Guts era, why she didn't rebrand when every label playbook said she should, and what all of it tells us about OR3 and where she's actually going. She took a poetry class at Berklee. She estimates only 10% of what she writes is usable. She and Dan Nigro spent 10 months on Guts. She headlined the biggest festival in the world without a new album out. She's 22. The comparison to early Taylor Swift isn't the one you think it is. It's not about sound. It's not about Swifties or Taydaughters or who influenced who. It's about a specific strategic patience — the kind that turns a debut into a decade.With OR3 on the way, now feels like the right time to ask: is Olivia Rodrigo the only pop star who still knows how to wait?

Zara Larsson is one of the most commercially consistent pop acts in Europe and has never once managed to translate that into a moment that felt culturally urgent. That's interesting on its own. But this episode isn't really about her discography. It's about the pattern — the controversies she's walked into, the positions she's staked out publicly, the moments where she's had an opportunity to say something smart and chosen instead to say something that made everyone uncomfortable. And specifically, the moment that made me say something about it and why I'm not walking it back. This is a conversation about accountability, about what we expect from pop stars who brand themselves as outspoken, and about why "I said what I said" is sometimes the only honest answer.