Practically Pop

A brand new, happier era awaits on Charlie Puth’s fourth album, Whatever’s Clever!

Though the drama hasn't stopped yet, we're now approaching a new dawn on Charlie Puth's self-titled third record, CHARLIE!

In this surprise bonus episode, we’re rewinding 40 years back to the moment the world was introduced to a deeply soulful album that quickly became a legendary staple in music during the quiet storm era of the 80s: Rapture by Anita Baker.

I don’t know if I should call these the “happy chapters”, but there was definitely a slightly brighter era that came after Voicenotes and before the CHARLIE era, which was captured in these specific 2019-2020 singles, “Cheating On You”, “Girlfriend”, and “Mother”, but it still came with its own brand of messiness, which I felt was the starting point of the Charlie Puth’s third album journey.

This week, we explore the intricate messiness that encapsulated Charlie's sophomore record, Voicenotes!

In part one of our very first Practically Pop: The Sessions series, we deep dive into the beginning parts of the central relationship told in select tracks from Charlie Puth's hit pop-R&B debut, Nine Track Mind (Deluxe Edition)!

TRIGGER WARNING: some of the topics discussed in today’s episode deal in topics such as suicidal ideation and self-harm. Please proceed with caution when listening, if you choose to. If you or anyone you know are struggling with any of the issues addressed, use the following resources:

Call/text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 (or chat at 988lifeline.org)

Go to findtreatment.gov (or call 1-800-662-HELP (4357))

Visit https://www.cdc.gov/mental-health/caring/index.html for more info

Yesterday marked the five-year anniversary of the darkest record I’ll probably ever listen to in my life: Life Support by Madison Beer. A devastatingly real album, based around Madison’s mental struggles and toxic relationships, it is an incredibly hard album to listen to. However, being brave enough to share the moments of darkness within Life Support with the world to help other people who have also experienced it or are experiencing it is also what makes this such a beautiful record.

For someone who is one of the kindest musicians of our generation, Tate McRae is a definite savage with her lyricism. And in our first Song Highlights episode of season 3, we open with the most heartless song in her catalog: “ANYTHING BUT LOVE”.

I only have one thing to say: YES! YES! YES!!! Cue the party horns because TML is OVER! Okay, I know I seem overly excited, but that's really only because of one thing/character I'm not going to miss (you know who). However, I'm really proud of how this show was one of the most unique television experiences ever, and truly, huge congrats to all the cast and crew for an outstanding three seasons!

On today's bonus, I will be breaking down my thoughts from this TOTES CRAY-CRAY series finale, just having watched it a few minutes before recording this episode, so expect a whirlwind of emotions.

Divorces are never an easy thing to go through, much less write about, but Kelsea Ballerini handled it with a graceful poise that truly changed the trajectory of her future music. On her critically-acclaimed EP and definitely her best work to date, Rolling Up The Welcome Mat takes the listeners through the beginning, middle, and end of her five-year marriage, full of the most vulnerable emotions Kelsea has ever tapped into on any record she wrote before this one.