Throughout the years, Black women have defined Pop music with genre-blending hits that we all know and love!
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Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, Tina Turner, Donna Summer, Mariah Carey, and many more have paved the way for this generation’s megastars like Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Nicki Minaj. Moreover, the next generation of pop powerhouses are very promising. Lizzo, Victoria Monet, Doja Cat, Chlöe Bailey, Tinashe, Normani, and Bree Runway are all making music on their own terms.
We gathered a few podcast episodes that discuss the lives and careers of Black women in Pop, both past and present. Listen to these five in-depth conversations.
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Acting Up - In Defense of Whitney Houston
Acting Up host Cortney Wills sits down with fellow entertainment journalist Gerrick Kennedy, who released his highly anticipated book Didn't We Almost Have It All: In Defense of Whitney Houston earlier this year. The remarkable project from the music expert and lifelong fan invites us to examine Houston’s biggest moments, greatest successes, and most devastating losses, almost ten years after her tragic death.
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Still Processing - We, Tina
HBO’s Tina documentary, released last year, explores Tina Turner’s tremendous triumphs. Still Processing hosts Wesley Morris and Jenna Wortham discuss how Turner’s entire career was an act of repossession: Taking back her name, her voice, her image, her vitality and her spirituality made her one of the biggest rock stars in the world, even in her ‘50s.
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Broken Record - Sam Sanders on Janet Jackson’s Legacy
In the late ‘80s and ‘90s, Janet Jackson was one of the biggest stars! To commemorate the recent anniversary of Jackson's Control album, Broken Record shares an episode from NPR’s Sam Sanders. Sanders takes a look back on Jackson’s first hit album that helped redefine all of Pop music, and establish star producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.
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Spout Podcast - Chloe Bailey
As one half of the GRAMMY-winning group, Chloe and Halle, the 23-year-old artist is not new to fame. On this episode of the Spout Podcast, Chloe Bailey talks about her upcoming debut solo album, the advice Beyoncé and Jay-Z gave her, owning her sexiness and the critics who say she is doing “too much.”
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Popcast - The Many Lives of Doja Cat
The Popcast has a deep conversation about Doja Cat, a superstar in the making. “It is not the path that we have historically come to understand as a pop star path. But it may be how pop stars are made now,” says New York Times’ music critic and host Jon Caramanica. Music and culture writer Lakin Starling also joins the podcast as a guest host.
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