The Slate Music Club returns, in this special year-end edition of Hit Parade’s The Bridge! Host Chris Molanphy joins New York Times pop music critic Lindsay Zoladz, and Julianne Escobedo Shepherd of Hearing Things in a critics’ roundtable led by Slate’s own Carl Wilson. They discuss their favorite albums and singles, as well as the trends that shaped music in 2025.

Among this year’s big musical questions: Have we reached peak Bad Bunny yet? Did those animated Demon Hunters reinvent K-pop? Are Geese the saviors of rock, or just muppets with guitars? Is hip-hop ready to move on from Kendrick and Drake? Plus: Rosalia, Water for Your Eyes, Gaga, Wednesday—and of course, Taylor Swift.

Note: Slate Plus members can hear this special episode in full. Ad-supported listeners will hear the first half. Want to hear the whole discussion? Sign up for Slate Plus! Unlock monthly early-access episodes, bonus episodes of “The Bridge,” and ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Visit slate.com/hitparadeplus to get access wherever you listen.

Podcast production by Kevin Bendis.

Don’t miss the rest of this year’s Slate Music Club episode! Become a Slate Plus member! Join for monthly early-access episodes, bonus episodes of "The Bridge," and ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe directly from the Hit Parade show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/hitparadeplus to get access wherever you listen.

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If you need confirmation of Hollywood’s vast influence on mass culture, look no further than the pop charts. From the 1937 classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs through this year’s KPop Demon Hunters, soundtracks have launched hits, defined genres—and sometimes even eclipsed the films that inspired them in the first place. Rock classics, funk jams, rap bangers, even Christmas standards: all became hits because we heard them first at the cinema.

Join Chris Molanphy as he unspools nearly a century of hit movie music, from Simon & Garfunkel’s groundbreaking ode to “Mrs. Robinson,” to the, ahem, titanic tin whistle of “My Heart Will Go On.”

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On today’s encore episode, hosts Candice Lim and Kate Lindsay are joined by Slate staff writer Aymann Ismail to discuss the controversial YouTube channel, Jubilee. A video of political commentator Mehdi Hasan debating 20 far-right republicans has gone viral, but as Ismail argues in his piece for Slate, it also crossed a line. When political disagreement becomes content and extremism is rewarded with clicks, everybody loses. 

This podcast is produced by Daisy Rosario, Vic Whitley-Berry, Candice Lim, and Kate Lindsay.

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After thinking it was lost to the sands of internet time, our team uncovered a 2013 gem from the archives. In the “The Abstract Noun Edition,”  your favorite Gabfesters talk about how we talk. Steve, Dana, and Julia discuss the elements of language: vocabulary, conversation, and voice. In paroxysms of polysyllables, they invoke their favorite writers—and their least favorite linguistic tics—to probe the best and worst of the English language. Why should you eschew the word “eschew”? What does “shibboleth” really mean? And where is the line between a strong voice and self-parody?

Speaking of self-parody, check out these very on-brand 2013 Endorsements:

Dana: The Sounding Joy, a CD collection of folk carols, collected by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings and performed by Elizabeth Mitchell. (Now available on streaming.)

Julia: Creating an iTunes playlist of all songs you’ve played more than 10 times and then shuffling them. You’ll rediscover old gems like “The Size of Our Love” by Sleater Kinney.

Steve: The mind-bending “Monty Hall problem,” as originally described by Marilyn vos Savant in Parade Magazine.

If you’re in New York on January 5, don’t miss some real life vocabulary, conversation, and voice when Steve joins Booker Prize-finalist Ben Markcovits for a conversation about The Rest of Our Lives — details here.

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Cohabitation can be bliss—except when it comes to your partner's incompatible approach to household tasks. Bonnie likes things clean, organized, and prompt. Vince, on the other hand, is a classic procrastinator. On this episode of How To!, Carvell Wallace brings on self-described “human glitterbomb” Jackie Kelley to offer up some practical “marriage rules” designed to improve everyday communication with the love of your life.

If you liked this episode check out:

How To Build a Marriage That Lasts 

How To Have a Fight That Actually Helps Your Relationship

How To Save Your Marriage

Do you have a problem that needs solving? Send us a note at [email protected] or leave us a voicemail at 646-495-4001 and we might have you on the show. Subscribe for free on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen.

The show is produced by Rosemary Belson and Sophie Summergrad. Our technical director is Merritt Jacob and our supervising producer is Joel Meyer.

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When screenwriter Russell Hainline first moved to L.A., his goal was to write high-budget monster movies and thrillers. Then one day, he was prompted to write a Hallmark holiday rom-com, and something clicked.

In this special holiday episode, Russell talks about his breakout Netflix hit Hot Frosty and how he found his groove writing movies for the Hallmark Channel. He also gets to the heart of why people connect to these movies and explains how he’s able to convey steamy sexual tension between chaste TV movie characters. 

This episode was produced by Cameron Drews.

Death, Sex & Money is now produced by Slate! To support us and our colleagues, please sign up for our membership program, Slate Plus! Members get ad-free podcasts, bonus content on lots of Slate shows, and full access to all the articles on Slate.com. Sign up today at slate.com/dsmplus. Use the promo code DSM50 for half off through the end of the year!

And if you’re new to the show, welcome. We’re so glad you’re here. Find us and follow us on Instagram and you can find Anna’s newsletter at annasale.substack.com. Our new email address, where you can reach us with voice memos, pep talks, questions, critiques is [email protected].

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Hosts Alex Kirshner, Lindsay Gibbs, and Ben Lindbergh look back on 2025, picking their top sports stories from each month—from the Luka trade and torpedo bats to a Trumpy Ryder Cup and OKC’s championship. It's been a year!

On the bonus episode available exclusively for Slate Plus members, the panel unpacks Trump’s proposed Patriot Games.

January - April (3:51): CFP - Rory

May - August (26:58): Coco Gauff - Belichick

September - December (50:43): Ryder Cup - Puka Nacua

(Note: time codes are only accurate for Slate Plus members, who listen ad-free.)

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You can email us at [email protected].

Podcast production and editing by Kevin Bendis, with production assistance from Ben Richmond.

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On this episode: Lucy Lopez, Elizabeth Newcamp, and Zak Rosen are drinking, crafting, and answering listener questions. Find out how to make a Gin Snowball, learn Elizabeth’s surprisingly easy paperbag snowflake method, and learn who Ray Keith is. While getting festive, they talk about toys of yore that changed their lives, ponder how necessary Santa is to Christmas magic, and throw out ideas for teen stocking stuffers. 

Watch us on YouTube!

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth. Video production by Micah Phillips. 

Join us on Facebook and email us at [email protected] to ask us new questions, tell us what you thought of today’s show, and give us ideas about what we should talk about in future episodes. You can also call our phone line: (646) 357-9318.

If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get to hang out with us on the Plus Playground every week for a whole additional grab-bag of content — and you’ll get an ad-free experience across the network. And you’ll also be supporting the work we do here on Care and Feeding. Sign up now at slate.com/careplus – or try it out on Apple Podcasts.

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On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by comedian and writer Youngmi Mayer to talk about a controversy that’s divided TikTok: How should Asian people feel about white people in Asian grocery stores? That’s the question creator Madeline Qi didn’t even mean to ask when she posted her now-viral video, which resulted in call-outs, doxxing, and, ultimately, a conversation too nuanced for TikTok. Youngmi’s attempts to make sense of the discourse on her Substack ended up going viral on Instagram, so she came on the show to share what people misunderstand about the controversy, and how her own experience being mixed white and Asian contributes to her perspective.

This podcast is produced by Vic Whitley-Berry, Daisy Rosario, and Kate Lindsay, with help from AC Valdez.

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On this episode: Lucy Lopez, Elizabeth Newcamp, and Zak Rosen have been trying to stay on top of the news…but they’re getting bogged down and worried about it impacting their kids. Luckily What Next host Mary Harris’s literal job is keeping up on the news, and she’s got kids of her own. So, they all sit down to talk about how much to share with the kids, how to stay informed but still show up for the kids, ways to moderate your own anxiety, and so much more. 

But first, they share their latest triumphs and fails. Mary comes in with a win during the college admission process; Lucy almost crashes a birthday party (but she DOESN’T…so it’s a win); Zak takes his daughter to roller derby; and Elizabeth says yes to a choral concert. 

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth. Video production by Micah Phillips. 

Join us on Facebook and email us at [email protected] to ask us new questions, tell us what you thought of today’s show, and give us ideas about what we should talk about in future episodes. You can also call our phone line: (646) 357-9318.

If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get to hang out with us on the Plus Playground every week for a whole additional grab-bag of content — and you’ll get an ad-free experience across the network. And you’ll also be supporting the work we do here on Care and Feeding. Sign up now at slate.com/careplus – or try it out on Apple Podcasts.

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