- Lil Jon: The Popcast (Deluxe) Interview
- The Justin Timberlake Conundrum
- Popcast (Deluxe): Is Reality TV in a New Golden Age?
- Popcast (Deluxe): What’s an Industry Plant Anyway? Plus: Ariana Grande
- Tate McRae, Dua Lipa and the Fight to Be ‘Main Pop Girl’
- girl in red: The Popcast (Deluxe) Interview
- Popcast (Deluxe): Is TikTok Done? 4 Crises Holding the App Back
- Remembering Toby Keith and His Complexities
- Popcast (Deluxe): Pop Stars vs. the Attention Economy
- Covering the Rise of Tracy Chapman
- Popcast (Deluxe): Usher, Beyoncé and Ye Lead a Busy Week in Pop
- How Usher Arrived at the Super Bowl Halftime Show
Will Pop Music of the Future Rely on Actual Musicians, or Avatars?
The pandemic has sped up how digital look-alikes are reshaping stardom.
Hosted by Jon Caramanica. Produced by Pedro Rosado.
The pandemic has upended how musicians interact with their fans in unprecedented fashion. There is no more gathering — in person, at least. So in coordination with technology companies, artists have been trying new things: a Travis Scott concert in Fortnite, a 100 gecs show in Minecraft, a virtual gig by the Weeknd on TikTok.
Emerging companies are also developing ways to connect artists and their fans, including compressing avatars of stars into tiny packages that devotees can include in their own social media posts. In other words, avatars are working harder than ever, and perhaps setting a blueprint for how the pop stars of the future will handle the work of fame, outsourcing some of the labor to digital look-alikes.
On this week’s Popcast, a conversation about how the future of the music industry will and won’t rely on actual musicians.
Guest:
Alyssa Bereznak, staff writer at The Ringer
The Rise of TikTok
“Being labeled a “yapper” on TikTok isn’t necessarily a compliment, but on a platform built on talk, it isn’t an insult either.
“Who TF Did I Marry?!?,” the TikTok user Reesa Teesa’s account of her relationship with her ex-husband, is a story for grown-ups in their midlife crisis era.
Return fraud is a rampant problem for both shoppers and retailers — and the mishaps often make for viral videos on TikTok.
The Pink Stuff, a home cleaning paste, went from total obscurity to viral sensation — and Walmart staple — thanks to one “cleanfluencer” and her legion of fans.
Have we reached the end of TikTok’s infinite scroll? The app once offered seemingly endless chances to be charmed but in only a few short years, its promise of kismet is evaporating, our critic writes.
The TikTok creator known as “Tunnel Girl” has been documenting her attempt to build an emergency shelter under her home. She is not the only person with an off-the-books tunnel project.
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