This Valentine’s Day, Drake launched his first new album since earlier than his 2024 feud with Kendrick Lamar modified every thing about his profession outlook and total narrative — the PartyNextDoor full-length team-up $ome $exy $ongs 4 U. Whereas the ultimate verdict on the album and what it would (or may not) do for Drake’s total trajectory continues to be out, the set and its early reception each make it clear that Drake’s time as a serious mainstream act is much from over — but additionally that he nonetheless has an excellent quantity of labor to do in getting again to the place he was as a pop star at his 2010s peak.
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On this week’s episode of the Best Pop Stars podcast, we provide Drake some steering in recapturing his outdated greatness, by placing him on our first-ever Pop Star Efficiency Enchancment Plan. Host Andrew Unterberger and common visitor Kyle Denis every provide three motion objects for Drake to observe, within the hopes of getting his efficiency stage again as much as firm customary. Ought to he steer clear of sure pattern sources? Ought to he enlist some new collaborators? Ought to he simply go away altogether for a time frame? We focus on all these concepts and extra, to be able to help our No. 4 Best Pop Star of the twenty first Century in getting again on observe for the again half of the 2020s.
We additionally hop across the pop panorama to cowl what was yet one more busy weekend on the earth of pop stardom. We focus on a number of the best pop star moments (and largest missed alternatives) from the 2 cultural occasions that dominated the weekend — the NBA’s All-Star Weekend, and NBC’s prolonged celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of Saturday Night time Dwell — and in addition shortly share ideas on the brand new deluxe version of Sabrina Carpenter’s Quick n’ Candy and first style from the lately introduced collaborative album between Selena Gomez and producer fiancé Benny Blanco. And naturally, you may’t have a dialogue about pop stardom in early 2025 with out some Kendrick Lamar speak, so we cowl our Best Pop Star of 2024‘s massive weekend — one he dominated with out really even doing that a lot.
Test it out above — together with a YouTube playlist of a number of the most memorable moments from the packed weekend in pop stardom, all of that are mentioned within the podcast — and subscribe to the Best Pop Stars podcast on Apple Music or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts) for weekly discussions each Thursday about all issues associated to pop stardom!
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Transgender Legislation Heart
Trans Lifeline
Gender-Affirming Care Fundraising on GoFundMe
