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In a SUPERSIZED episode of Pop Pantheon, critic, writer and NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast host Aisha Harris returns to unpack the astonishing symmetry of two of the biggest boy bands in history, Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC. Aisha and Louie track their strikingly similar origins, their first brushes with success in Europe and their explosions stateside, which helped solidify the teen pop boom of the turn of the century. They then dig into their self-titled debuts, from Backstreet’s blockbuster 1996 effort to *NSYNC’s launch the next year, their short-lived runs as commercial supernovas with Millennium (1999) and No Strings Attached (2000), their diverging sounds and ambitions, final hits, intertwined legacies and finally, Aisha and Louie rank Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC in the Official Pop Pantheon.

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In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode, The 40th Annual MTV Video Music Awards were held last night and featured marquee performances from It Girls like Sabrina Carpenter, GloRilla, Lisa & Chappell Roan while presenting their prestigious Video Vanguard award to Katy Perry. But with MTV flailing, music videos in their flop era and most old guard superstars MIA, did the VMAs justify their continued existence or live up to their storied history? Louie and Russ ponder these questions, recap all the major performances and awards, and generally talk their sh*t about last night's show.

To hear the rest of the this episode plus receive weekly bonus episodes of Pop Pantheon, gain access to our Discord channel and so much more, subscribe to Pop Pantheon: All Access at the Icon Tier. You can also subscribe for the audio only directly in the Apple Podcasts app.

Buy Tickets to Pop Pantheon Live! Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and the Millennial Diva Conundrum on 9/30 at Dynasty Typewriter in LA

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Sure, we're all listening to a podcast called "Pop Pantheon". But what exactly is the Pop Pantheon? This is a question Louie hasn't addressed in detail since the show's earliest days. So, Russ and he got together to reintroduce the Pantheon, break down all its individual tiers and what constitutes each, and how their ideas about the Pantheon have been altered during the three and half of years of podcast's run.

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Buy Tickets to Pop Pantheon Live! Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and the Millennial Diva Conundrum on 9/30 at Dynasty Typewriter in LA

Buy Tickets to Pop Pantheon Presents Main Pop Girls Dance Party on 10/4 at Parkside Lounge in NYC

Who Weekly’s Lindsey Weber and Bobby Finger return to Pop Pantheon to discuss one of pop’s most perplexing but enduring workhorses, Meghan Trainor. Louie, Lindsey and Bobby chart Meghan’s origins in Nantucket, her early self-produced teenage albums, and her breakthrough with 2014’s sleeper hit turned number one record turned peak thinkpiece fodder, the big booty anthem “All About That Bass.” From there, they discuss Meghan’s 2015 number one debut album, Title, which produced the triple platinum “Dear Future Husband”, the TRL-era R&B homage of 2016’s Thank You and Meghan’s unlikely later-era TikTok hits, including 2022's viral smash “Made You Look.” Finally, they rank Meghan Trainor in the Official Pop Pantheon.

Listen to Pop Pantheon's Meghan Trainor Essentials on Spotify

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In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode, Disney-star-turned-"Drivers License"-third-wheel-turned-ascendent-pop-girlie Sabrina Carpenter has been on quite a roll lately. Her most recent two singles have been smashes and her sixth studio album, Short 'n Sweet, arrived last Friday among a swirl of expectations even she probably couldn't have imagined a few months ago. So does it meet the moment? Louis and Russ gather to break down everything about Sabrina's latest batch of songs.

To hear the rest of the this episode plus receive weekly bonus episodes of Pop Pantheon, gain access to our Discord channel and so much more, subscribe to Pop Pantheon: All Access at the Icon Tier. You can also subscribe for the audio only directly in the Apple Podcasts app.

Buy Tickets to Pop Pantheon Live! Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and the Millennial Diva Conundrum on 9/30 at Dynasty Typewriter in LA

Happy Labor Day Weekend! Louie is still off on vacation so as a treat, we're republishing our Patreon review of Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter from back in April.

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Enjoy!

Episode Description: Beyoncé eighth studio album, Cowboy Carter, dropped last Friday. Once perceived as a foray into country music, this sprawling 80 (!!) minute epic turned out to be so much more than that and, as with any Bey project, begs for some serious unpacking. DJ Louie, Russ and Oxford American's Danielle Amir Jackson are here to do just that, breaking down the music, themes, references, history and breadth of the expansive second installment in Beyoncé's unfurling new trilogy.

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Louie and Russ gather to answer YOUR questions! We're talking all our fantasy Brat remixes and a VH1 Divas Live revival, playing out thought experiments about Beyoncé and Rihanna and Louie gets personal about his career and vocab tics.

Buy Tickets to Pop Pantheon Live! Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and the Millennial Diva Conundrum on 9/30 at Dynasty Typewriter in LA

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In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode, NME's Kyann-Sian Williams joins Russ to discuss Tinashe's brand new seventh studio album Quantum Baby – the second in a trilogy of albums she's rolling out. Can she capitalize on the virality of "Nasty"? Or is that even on her mind? And is Tinashe expanding her artistry or letting us in on this new record? Russ + Kyann-Sian break it all down. To hear the rest of the this episode plus receive weekly bonus episodes of Pop Pantheon, gain access to our Discord channel and so much more, subscribe to Pop Pantheon: All Access at the Icon Tier. You can also subscribe for the audio only directly in the Apple Podcasts app.