In 2023, several hits from years ago—sometimes decades—made it to No. 1 on Billboard’s pop charts after falling short the first time: Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer.” The Weeknd’s “Die for You.” Miguel’s “Sure Thing.” And, most improbably but delightfully, Brenda Lee’s 65-year-old holiday bop “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.”

What’s going on here? A lot of it has to do with the ways streaming, YouTube and TikTok have changed the charts. But the truth is, the second-chance hit is as old as the charts themselves

From David Bowie to Prince, Sonny and Cher to Guns n’ Roses, the Miracles to the Moody Blues, there are certain songs the music biz won’t give up on. To say nothing of all those holiday perennials, from “Monster Mash” to “Last Christmas.”

Join Chris Molanphy as he explains why certain songs keep coming back and counts down a dozen favorite second-chance hits. If it first they don’t succeed, chart, chart again.

Podcast production by Kevin Bendis.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fast-fashion titan Shein is preparing for its initial public offering, even as questions of sustainability and labor practices linger. 

Guest: Jordyn Holman, business reporter covering the retail industry and consumerism for The New York Times

If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In recent years, several states and localities have passed “crown” laws, statutes that keep employers from discriminating against African Amercans for wearing their hair in natural styles. That’s because, historically, having straight hair has often been a requirement for professional advancement for Black women in particular. But there is more science emerging that connects chemical relaxers with cancer. In today’s episode of A Word, reporter and cancer survivor Victoria St. Martin speaks with host Jason Johnson about the dangers of formaldehyde in hair relaxers, the history of marketing toxic cosmetics to African Americans, and consumer efforts to raise awareness.

Guest: Victoria St. Martin, Inside Climate News reporter 

Podcast production by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola

You can skip all the ads in A Word by joining Slate Plus. Sign up now at slate.com/awordplus for $15 for your first three months.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Brittany Luse (host of NPR’s’ It’s Been a Minute) joins Prudie (Jenée Desmond-Harris) to answer letters from readers who are dealing with friends who hold grudges when their sexual advances are rejected, unsupportive coffee shop bosses, and people who keep tracking fleas into their homes.

If you want more Dear Prudence, join Slate Plus, Slate’s membership program. Jenée answers an extra question every week, just for members. 

Go to Slate.com/prudieplus to sign up. It’s just $15 for your first three months. 

Podcast production by Se’era Spragley Ricks and Daisy Rosario, with help from Palace Shaw.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the free-speech controversies that are roiling college campuses since the war in Gaza began; the questions related to Trump cases that the U.S. Supreme Court will answer; and the latest high-profile abortion case coming out of Texas that has real-life and political consequences. 

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Hannah Natanson and Susan Svrluga for The Washington Post: Harvard President Claudine Gay to remain after antisemitism testimony

Michelle Goldberg for The New York Times: At a Hearing on Israel, University Presidents Walked Into a Trap

Elad Simchayoff @Elad_Si on X 

Danielle Allen for The Washington Post: We’ve lost our way on campus. Here’s how we can find our way back.

David French for The New York Times: What the University Presidents Got Right and Wrong About Antisemitic Speech

Santul Nerkar and Jonah E. Bromwich for The New York Times: How the Israel-Hamas War Tore Apart Public Defenders in the Bronx

Michael Barbaro and Nicholas Confessore for The Daily: Antisemitism and Free Speech Collide on Campuses

Zah Montague and Tracey Tully for The New York Times: Education Dept. Is Investigating Six More Colleges Over Campus Discrimination

Mark Sherman and Eric Tucker for AP: Special counsel Jack Smith asks the Supreme Court to rule quickly on whether Trump can be prosecuted and Mark Sherman: Supreme Court will hear a case that could undo Capitol riot charge against hundreds, including Trump

Bob Dylan on YouTube: Bob Dylan – Idiot Wind (Official Audio)

Robert Legare and Robert Costa for CBS News: Investigators accessed Trump White House cellphone records and plan to use them at trial, special counsel says

Sabrina Tavernise for The Daily: The Woman Who Fought the Texas Abortion Ban

Carter Sherman for The Guardian: US abortion rates rise post-Roe amid deep divide in state-by-state access

Kate Zernike for The New York Times: Texas Judge Says Doctors Can Use ‘Good Faith Judgment’ in Providing Abortions

Here are this week’s chatters: 

John: One Line A Day: A Five-Year Memory Book and James Barron for The New York Times: Bob Dylan Sings, and Talks, on These Tapes From 62 Years Ago 

Emily: Sydney Lupkin and Danielle Kurtzleben on All Things Considered: The Supreme Court will decide the fate of abortion pill mifepristone

David: Paul Schwartzman for The Washington Post: With sports teams primed for move to Va., downtown D.C. frets its future and City Cast: Work with us.

Listener chatter from Margaret in Jersey City: Chair Watch on Facebook

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, David, John, and Emily talk about Why Are So Many American Pedestrians Dying at Night?by Emily Badger, Ben Blatt, and Josh Katz for The New York Times and Why pedestrian deaths in the US are at a 40-year high by Marin Cogan for Vox. See also Political Gabfest: “The World Is Burning” Edition and Vision and night driving abilities of elderly driversby Nicole Gruber, Urs P Mosimann, René M Müri, and Tobias Nef.

In the next Gabfest Reads, John talks with Brad Stulberg about Master of Change: How to Excel When Everything Is Changing – Including You.

Email your chatters, questions, and comments to [email protected]. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth 

Research by Julie Huygen

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode: a longtime listener writes in hoping for some bedtime guidance. Their kindergartener is a night owl, and a big reader — but now that sleepless nights are impacting his daytime hours, our listener needs help getting him to sleep.

We also go over our week in triumphs and fails, and then, if you’re sticking around for Slate Plus: cooking recommendations for a listener, and their newly-un-allergic-to-wheat daughter.

Elizabeth recommends: The Complete Cookbooks for Young Chefs from America's Test Kitchen, and No Knead Bread 

Jamilah recommends: Kids Cooking

Zak recommends: The best cookie recipe but sub in brown butter. Millionaire’s Shortbread. Homemade noodles. Watch: Junior Bakeoff

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 an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows—you’ll also be supporting the work we do here on Mom and Dad are Fighting. Sign up now at slate.com/momanddadplus to help support our work.

Podcast produced by Maura Currie and Rosemary Belson.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kate Cox’s fight to abort her pregnancy and save her fertility in Texas says a lot about America’s post-Roe, fractured approach to reproductive rights.

Guest: Selena Simmons-Duffin, health policy correspondent at NPR.

If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Robert Mapplethorpe was one of the most famous photographers in the world—and one of the most controversial. When his work came to Cincinnati in 1990, it would be at the center of a vicious fight over obscenity and the First Amendment, one that threatened the future of art in America.

This episode of One Year was written by Evan Chung, One Year's senior producer. It was produced by Kelly Jones and Evan Chung, with additional production by Olivia Briley.

It was edited by Josh Levin, One Year’s editorial director, with Joel Meyer and Derek John, Slate’s executive producer of narrative podcasts. Merritt Jacob is our senior technical director.

Join Slate Plus to get a special behind-the-scenes conversation at the end of our season about how we put together our 1990 stories. Slate Plus members also get to listen to all Slate podcasts without any ads.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For this week’s episode of Working Overtime, hosts June Thomas and Isaac Butler discuss the need to keep good health as a creative person. Both June and Isaac have had their health scares, June in the dental world, and Isaac with his back. We’ve all been enchanted by the chain-smoking, heavy-drinking, sleepless poet, but the truth is that mistreating your body can catch up with you and eventually impede your creative output.

Do you have a question about creativity? Reach out at (304) 933-9675 or email us at [email protected]. 

Podcast production by Kevin Bendis and Cameron Drews.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Meshell Ndegeocello has been a working musician since she was a teenager. She’s probably best known for her biggest hit to date, “Wild Night,” a Van Morrison cover she recorded with John Mellancamp back in 1994. Meshell is 55 now and just put out her 11th solo album, “The Omnichord Real Book,” her first in five years. The album started as a kind of personal pandemic project before she decided to share it with the world, and it’s now been nominated for a Best Alternative Jazz Album Grammy award.

When Anna spoke with Meshell, she was just back from a quick European tour, and they talked about what it was like for her to grow up in the 70s and 80s in the Washington D.C. area, surrounded by music, and how she found the bass, her main instrument, by chance (and with a little help from Prince.) In this episode, Meshell shares how her life with music has evolved through the years, what she’s learned to let go of – as a performer, as a mother and a daughter – and how the ‘musical transmissions’ that she receives help her stay grounded and present to who she really is, moment to moment.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.