We're back one last time with a bittersweet symphony to close out season 3 of the B-Sides.

In this mailbag episode, we're answering a flurry of questions, reading listeners' (almost exclusively Taylor Swift-related) comments, and ending with a favorite quote about how music sneaks up on us — and changes us.

Doing this podcast for the past four years in community with you all has changed us for the better. We love you and we thank you. <3

To stay with us beyond the podcast feed, make sure to follow us on insta: instagram.com/listentothebsides and join us on discord here. 

And our episode archive isn't going anywhere, so find us everywhere you find your podcasts! Including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

On today's episode we talk about nepo-siblings. Who are they? And what creates a power imbalance?

Nepo-siblings are a rare breed. Being a nepo-sibling pair relies on talent from both siblings – what level of talent separates each sibling we’ll get into in today's ep. It also relies on a hustle from the “lesser” famous sibling – putting themselves on reality shows, trapping themselves in an elevator, and lip syncing on SNL.  Join us for a discussion on three sets of siblings (Ariana/Frankie, Beyonce/Solange, & Jessica/Ashlee).

Links mentioned:

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There are moments in pop culture where an artist makes a choice - and there’s no turning back.

Those moments, those inflection points, remind us that nothing is inevitable or predetermined, and we are all a part of history.

Join us to unpack 4 inflection points in detail and name a buncha others. 

Here are some links we mentioned:

Thank you for subscribing and leaving a review! 

Make sure to follow us on insta: instagram.com/listentothebsides and join us on discord here. 

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Consider joining us on Patreon! You’ll receive one bonus episode a month and behind-the-scenes content. 

And find us everywhere you find your podcasts! Including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Buy B-Sides merch on TeePublic here. 

So sorry, but: Why'd she have to go and make things so complicated? 

Avril is such a rare artist. She made a splash right away with Let Go, which had a rebellious yet old soul sort of vibe to it. And her early eras and albums are still so special to so many of us. She changed the moment, she was the moment, and, in some ways, she always will be. She opened doors almost immediately into 2000s alt rock and pop punk sub-genres in what used to be a far more monocultural world.

And yet, she hasn't evolved much herself as an artist over the last two decades. Instead, she regressed in some ways — at least from what we can see and hear and understand. The chaotically cool poetry in motion of Avril's Let Go and Under My Skin eras — the lyrics, sound, music videos, live performances, and core of who we thought she was — dwindled into something else later on. Her trajectory as an artist brings up all sorts of questions.

Questions about what artists can mean to us at a formative age; the validity of our expectations of them, consciously or not, as we all grow up; ageism, misogyny, the idea of a sellout and a label’s role in that; what makes a good gateway artist; what makes a good post-9/11 cultural void artist; what makes a conspiracy theory take off; can someone ever be cool again after marrying and divorcing the lead singer of Nickelback, even if she married and divorced the lead singer of Sum 41 first; and more. Join us as we pull on some of these threads...

Article and TV citations:

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Now for something a little different: on today's podcast Mimi, Hannah and Becky take listeners through a few artists they're excited about. Getting yourself, or others, to listen to new artists can sometimes be a challenge. Our brains are literally hardwired to replay stuff we like and know. So let us do the hard work introduce you to some new artists including Renee Rapp, Omar Apollo, and Ethel Cain. Press play, sit back, and enjoy.

Listen to a playlist featuring all the artists on today's pod (shuffle or don't!)!

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Make sure to follow us on insta: instagram.com/listentothebsides and join us on discord here.

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Join us on Patreon! You’ll receive one bonus episode a month and behind-the-scenes content.

And find us everywhere you find your podcasts! Including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Buy B-Sides merch on TeePublic here.

First thing's first: Go birds; E-A-G-L-E-S; and Fly, Eagles, Fly. 

Whew, okay. Here we find ourselves again at the intersection of music and sports. We're getting into the NFL's dreadful politics, we're gabbing about the iconic Super Bowl halftime shows of yore, we're speculating not-so-wildly about Rihanna's upcoming performance, and so much more.

Here in the show notes, we're also correcting the record: Lady Gaga *caught* the football at the end of her 2017 halftime show. Good for her. And if you're wondering why this note is here, listen on!

Thank you for subscribing, and consider leaving a review!

Make sure to follow us on insta: instagram.com/listentothebsides and join us on discord here.

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It’s our 50th episode!! We are so proud of US! <3 

So - let’s reflect.

We’ll stare directly at the sun but never in the mirror…until today.

Join us on a trip down memory lane. We talk about how pop music has changed since we launched in 2019, revisit our old takes (find out which ones did not age well!), reflect on some pop stars we thought were on the rise and now, simply, aren’t, and play a B-Sides quiz game.

We reference a bunch of our own episodes! Here’s most of them, in order of when we discuss them in the podcast:

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Make sure to follow us on insta: instagram.com/listentothebsides and join us on discord here.

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Consider joining us on Patreon! You’ll receive one bonus episode a month and behind-the-scenes content.

And find us everywhere you find your podcasts! Including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Buy B-Sides merch on TeePublic here.

It's September 4, 2002. You're ten years old. You're huddled around your parents' TV, quickly dialing on your landline for vote for Kelly Clarkson. She is crowned the winner of American Idol. Hot tears are falling out your eyes. Kelly is belting a moment like this. You're wondering if like will ever be the same (it won't).

On today's podcast, we're talking about the one and only, Kelly Clarkson. We discuss how she's managed to stay America's golden girl, the men who have tried to f*ck her over, and her evolving style (fedora hat and all). We hope you'll break away from your daily life and see what's behind those hazel eyes. 

Thank you for subscribing and leaving a review!

Make sure to follow us on insta: instagram.com/listentothebsides and join us on discord here.

You can now leave us a voicemail! Click here to record a voicemail for us.

Consider joining us on Patreon! You’ll receive one bonus episode a month and behind-the-scenes content.

And find us everywhere you find your podcasts! Including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Buy B-Sides merch on TeePublic here.

When 10 people died at Travis Scott’s Astroworld festival in November of 2021, it was incredibly difficult and painful to make sense of the news. Over a year later, we are here to pull lessons learned from the tragedy.

TRIGGER WARNING for this episode: mass casualty events, substance use

Part 1. Overview

Part 2. The fallout for Travis and the Kardashian-Jenners

Part 3. How crowds and artists *usually* protect each other

Part 4. Six human errors that led to this tragedy

Citations:

Join us on discord here, where we share pre-reading for each episode a few days before release.

Thank you for subscribing and leaving a review!

Make sure to follow us on insta: instagram.com/listentothebsides and

You can now leave us a voicemail! Click here to record a voicemail for us.

Consider joining us on Patreon! You’ll receive one bonus episode a month and behind-the-scenes content.

And find us everywhere you find your podcasts! Including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Buy B-Sides merch on TeePublic here.

This week we've got just one more review for you, and then we'll move on to our not-reviewing-a-new-album-or-film-every-episode programming.

We watched Selena Gomez's new documentary, "My Mind & Me," and now it's time to share some thoughts on the fallacies of celebrity activism, great expectations, managing relationships within pop stardom and child stardom, passing bills through Congress, and more — including the ever-present soulless enterprise we all know as capitalism. Here's a quote we read aloud on the pod and said we'd post here, from A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things by Raj Patel and Jason Moore:

“Often in visualizations of the spread of capitalism, the image that offers itself is an asteroid impact or the spread of a disease, which starts at ground or patient zero and metastasizes across the planet. Capitalist frontiers require a more sophisticated science fiction. If capitalism is a disease, then it’s one that eats your flesh — and then profits from selling your bones for fertilizer, and then invests that profit to reap the cane harvest, and then sells that harvest to tourists who pay to visit your headstone. But even this description isn’t adequate. The frontier works only through connection, fixing its failures by siphoning life from elsewhere. A frontier is a site where crises encourage new strategies for profit.”

We promise that the episode is both connected to this quote and somehow fun at times. It contains multitudes!

--

Thank you for subscribing and leaving a review!

Make sure to follow us on insta: instagram.com/listentothebsides and join us on discord here.

You can now leave us a voicemail! Click here to record a voicemail for us.

Consider joining us on Patreon! For $5 a month, receive one bonus episode a month,  a 10-song playlist to accompany one of our episodes, and behind-the-scenes content.

And find us everywhere you find your podcasts! Including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Buy B-Sides merch on TeePublic here.