Two Very Different Records Reviewed: Raye's 'This Music May Contain Hope' & Robyn 'Sexistential' w/ HTHAZE

Robyn returned with Sexistential, her first album in eight years - nine hard-hitting tracks of pure melody and zero filler, picking up where Body Talk and Honey left off. No messing around. Just Robyn delivering straight-up emotion in the most direct way she knows how.Then there's RAYE, who exercised no such restraint. This Music May Contain Hope stretches over 70 minutes across 17 songs - orchestrals, narrative, Hans Zimmer, Al Green - an epic that dares you to sit with it.Sam is joined first by YouTuber HTHAZE to unpack This Music May Contain Hope. Then producer Jono, who caught Robyn live on release night, joins to dig into Sexistential.Don't forget to subscribe to The Pop Pod if you're enjoying the podcast.

Sam and Jono go deep on one of music's most overlooked arts — the album opener. Does it need to be a banger? A ballad? The lead single? A two-minute intro that sounds like a church service colliding with a rave? Turns out, the answer is all of the above, and none of the above.This week they break down Jono's four-type framework for what makes a great opener (dramatic, undeniable banger, sonic statement, or storytelling intro), why Sam thinks the first lyric does more heavy lifting than any production choice ever could, and what actually separates a great opener from a great closer.The Best Album Openers Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4nRg6D5VUmw8sqnxJxAJJE?si=10ce4ea359114775&pt=0e6ef5cacdc49c23c4dfbd9ec87cc361If you're enjoying the podcast, make sure you're subscribed so you never miss an episode. And if you want to support the show, leaving a review goes a long way. We read every single one.

Singer-songwriter Lucy Dacus joins us to talk about stepping back into her solo career after the phenomenon that was Boygenius - what changes, what stays the same, and why going it alone hits differently the second time around. We dig into the classic pop albums that wired her musical brain, delibarate on the perfect pop song, and talk about new music that may be coming soon.If you love The Pop Pod, hit subscribe. New episodes in your feeds on Thursdays and Saturdays.

Britney Spears has one of the greatest pop discographies of all time. This week on The Pop Pod, we're ranking her top 10 singles and making the case for where each one belongs.We get into which singles genuinely hold up, which ones are more nostalgia than quality, and why Britney's run from 1998 through the mid-2000s was almost impossible to touch. We also dig into the underrated tracks that deserved way more credit than they got and, we see if we agree on the #1 spot.Subscribe to The Pop Pod for weekly pop music deep dives, rankings, and takes worth arguing about.

2026 has been a bit of a weird year for albums so far. Big artists like Harry Styles, Bruno Mars and Charli XCX have dropped records but they have all been divisive. Meanwhile, great albums by smaller artists have been few and far between. On this episode, we bop or flop the most recent album drops.Discordhttps://discord.gg/QEw9se7yAmSend voicenotes or [email protected]'s New Music Friday Playlisthttps://open.spotify.com/playlist/1FDLtpOHeFvrzesTKQ5Qhb?si=78c15e3dfa05462a

Rihanna might be the greatest singles artist of the 21st century...at least that's the hypothesis I went into this episode with. I work chronologically through her singles to make sense of one of the most varied careers in pop music. What is your fave Rihanna single?Come and chat with us in the Discord:https://discord.gg/QEw9se7yAmSend voicenotes or questions to:[email protected]'s New Music Friday Playlist:https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1FDLtpOHeFvrzesTKQ5Qhb?si=78c15e3dfa05462a

Harry Styles is gearing up for the release of a new album 'Kiss All The Time, Disco Occasionally' so we thought it was time to go through his past singles. Sam and Jono duke it out to come up with the best and worst Harry singles with a few major points of difference.Come and chat with us in the Discord:https://discord.gg/QEw9se7yAmSend voicenotes or questions to:[email protected]'s New Music Friday Playlist:https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1FDLtpOHeFvrzesTKQ5Qhb?si=78c15e3dfa05462a

I have been a fan of Holly Humberstone for years. I had her debut album ‘Paint My Bedroom Black’ on repeat and am fired up for the release fo her second album ‘Cruel World’ in April. She sat down with me on The Pop Pod to talk about her own music as well as the pop classics that have influenced her from Madonna and Prince to Lorde and Lana Del Rey. Let me know who you want on the podcast next!Come and chat with us in the Discord:https://discord.gg/QEw9se7yAmSend voicenotes or questions to:[email protected]'s New Music Friday Playlist:https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1FDLtpOHeFvrzesTKQ5Qhb?si=78c15e3dfa05462a

It is the morning after the Grammys and we are collecting our thoughts in the midst of the Grammys hangover. Bad Bunny, Kendrick Lamar, Billie Eilish and Olivia Dean took home the main awards but who were the real winners?Come and chat with us in the Discord:https://discord.gg/QEw9se7yAmSend voicenotes or questions to:[email protected]’s New Music Friday Playlist:https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1FDLtpOHeFvrzesTKQ5Qhb?si=78c15e3dfa05462a

It is Grammys week, which means it's finally time to place bets on who is going to take home the awards. On this episode, we go through the main categories as well as the pop ones. We also review the new Harry Styles single 'Aperture'. Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the.poppod/Come and chat with us in the Discord: https://discord.gg/QEw9se7yAm Send voicenotes or questions to: [email protected] PopSamCam's New Music Friday Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1FDLtpOHeFvrzesTKQ5Qhb?si=78c15e3dfa05462a