It's Been a Minute

Welcome to the third annual IBAMMYs Culture Awards Show, where we reflect and honor the best and worst cultural moments of the year.

Brittany is joined by Sam Sanders, host of KCRW's The Sam Sanders Show, and Tre'vell Anderson, host of The Seated podcast. All three nominated a person or moment for each of the four categories. NPR's Culture Committee then voted on a winner. Today, we reveal the winners and losers of 2025 and run through the moments we want to remember or forget.

This year's categories & nominees are:

Word of the Year:
"Slop"
"Clock it"
"Labubu"

Villain of the Year:
Sydney Sweeney
Glinda the Good Witch
Billionaires

The Candle in the Dark:
PinkPantheress
One of Them Days
Liniker

Not-on-My-Bingo Card:
KPop Demon Hunters
Yolanda Adams
Katy Perry

Who will win?

(0:00) How will you look back on 2025?
(2:30) The Word of the Year: Slop, Clock It, or Labubu?
(7:51) Villain of the Year: Sydney Sweeney, Billionaires, Wicked Glinda?
(18:07) What brought you joy this year?
(23:23) Not-on-my-Bingo Card: Kpop Demon Hunters, Yolanda Adams, Katy Perry

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Heated Rivalry - the hit HBO Max series - has it all: scintillating romance, hot guys, sports (kind of), and, most importantly, portrayals of gay love and sex that don’t hold back.

Steamy, sensual TV shows aren’t new, but the Canadian series has captured the public's attention in a way that a show hasn’t in a while. So, what’s behind its cultural resonance? What does it mean that this gay romance was written by a woman? And why are straight women and gay men equally into the sex scenes?

Michel Ghanem, TV critic and columnist of “Appointment Viewing” for The Cut, and Glen Weldon, co-host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour, join the show to get into why we’re all waiting for every new episode with bated breath.

(0:00) What is Heated Rivalry really about?
(2:40) How successful is the gay TV show?
(6:05) Why are straight women into gay romance?
(9:25) Why all audiences see something new in the sex scenes
(12:12) Can straight actors play queer characters?
(18:30) "Wait, What?!" A Pop Culture Trivia Game

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Are we spending too much on other people’s weddings?

Going to a friend's weddings can be so fun and meaningful… but it can also really hurt your wallet. A survey by LendingTree found that 31% of people who had been to a wedding in the past five years had accrued debt to attend. So what’s driving up the cost of weddings for guests? And what makes it so hard to say no to these expenses?

Brittany breaks it down with Allyson Rees, senior analyst at trend forecasting firm WGSN, and Annie Joy Williams, assistant editor at The Atlantic.

(0:00) For hosts AND guests, weddings are getting really expensive
(2:22) How much it costs to attend someone's wedding
(4:58) Men are spending just as much as women
(7:30) Weddings, social media, and "main character" energy
(11:32) Is this the one night we get to pretend we're ultra rich?
(13:42) How to say no to a friend's wedding
(17:00) Do weddings prove who your friends really are?

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More women than ever are choosing to raise their children by their self. Is it time to hit reset on what we mean by "family" in America?

America has some deeply held prejudices toward single moms, but some studies show that 40% of babies in the U.S. are born to unmarried women. In this episode Brittany looks into the joy and challenges these women face - from freedom and agency to affordability and loneliness.

Brittany is joined by Pallavi Gogoi, NPR's Chief Business Editor, and Danielle Elliot, writer and a single mother. You can read Pallavi's reporting here.

(0:00) Hitting reset on the definition of "family" and "single mom"
(5:42) The power & agency of being a single mom
(7:30) Does your child need a present father?
(15:11) The struggles of being a single parent
(18:29) Tips for raising a kid by yourself

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Some say we're entering the Woke 2.0 era. Is that real or imagined?

From declining Target sales to Mamdani's election, some folks online are feeling a vibe shift. Is that feeling...woke? And if so, does that mean woke is back in style?

To answer those questions - and to dissect whether or not woke ever left - Brittany is joined by Constance Grady, senior correspondent at Vox, and Tyler Austin Harper, staff writer at The Atlantic and co-host of the podcast, Time to Say Goodbye.

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(0:00) When did Woke end?
(4:22) Why Woke doesn't work when racism is still on the rise
(8:50) Target, Sydney Sweeney, and America's appetite for racism
(12:08) The rise of "Dark Woke" & will it work?
(13:51) Is Zohran Mamdani a sign of a new kind of Woke?
(15:40) How MAGA made the blueprint for Woke 2.0

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Is location tracking building relationships? Or ruining them?

Four in ten U.S. adults share their locations with at least one person. But while it’s convenient – is it a violation of privacy? And who really needs to know where you are? We're getting into how location sharing became a norm, the pros and cons, and how to turn it off without making things weird.

Brittany breaks it all down with Gina Cherelus, New York Times styles reporter and writer of their Third Wheel dating column, and Tatum Hunter, internet culture reporter at The Washington Post.

(0:00) Who shares their location and why?
(3:21) Sharing with your friends vs. your boyfriend
(5:27) How location sharing became a social norm
(9:30) What are the benefits of sharing your location?
(14:21) What do companies get from knowing your location?
(15:40) Why it can be damaging to share location with people
(17:20) The awkwardness of stopping sharing location
(19:29) How location sharing is redefining "privacy"

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What does it mean to be an independent adult?

More young adults live with their parents than in the past, and are also delaying the traditional markers of independent adulthood like marriage and childbirth. Roughly nine-in-ten parents say it’s extremely or very important to them that their children be financially independent when they are adults, but are our cultural notions of financial independence changing? And are today’s young adults prepared to handle the emotional challenges of adult life?

To find out, Brittany is joined by Nancy Hill, Professor of Education and Developmental Psychologist at Harvard University, and Kathryn Jezer-Morton, writer for New York Magazine and The Cut.

(0:00) What does it mean to be an adult?
(4:46) Is Gen-Z "failing to launch" into adulthood?
(10:32) The myths of unpaid dues

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It's an incredibly painful thing to do, so why are some kids cutting their parents out of their lives?

27% of Americans are estranged from at least one family member, and the term "no contact" is increasingly being used to describe estrangement between adult children and their parents. But is estrangement happening more often, or are we just more open to talking about it? And is our culture around family shifting?

Brittany sits down with journalist Kui Mwai and Whitney Goodman, licensed marriage and family therapist and the host of the Calling Home podcast, to find out.

This episode originally aired on December 17, 2024.

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Fighting with your family doesn’t have to be a holiday tradition.

The majority of Americans will celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow. And while it’s meant to be a time of family togetherness… sometimes, this holiday can make you never want to see your family again. To go or not to go? To fight or not to fight? Well, our friends at NPR’s Life Kit have tips for how to answer these questions. Marielle Segarra, host of Life Kit, speaks with experts and identifies 12 strategies to keep your family dinner peaceful this year.

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Can you afford to pay two rents?

Families across the country are asking that same question when it comes to childcare, as the yearly costs for daycare are becoming comparable to a year's rent in many places. How did childcare become so expensive, and how might everyone benefit if the government provided more support to parents? Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Jessica Calarco, and Senior Fellow at the Think Tank Capita Elliot Haspel are here to help Brittany find out. 

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