ICYMI

On today’s episode, Rachelle Hampton is joined by  Alexia Fawcett,  a PhD candidate in linguistics at UC Santa Barbara and  Kendra Calhoun , an assistant professor of linguistic anthropology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Calhoun and Fawcett wrote a presentation titled, “ They edited out her nip-nops: Linguistic innovation as textual censorship avoidance on TikTok ,” which explor...

On today’s episode, Rachelle Hampton is joined by  Jane Marie , the host of  the award-winning podcast The Dream  which recently released it’s highly-anticipated third season all about life coaches. The two discuss the rise of life coaching and it’s connection to the MLM universe, how the internet has accelerated the life coach boom and what exactly the American Dream has to do with any of this. T...

On today’s episode, Rachelle Hampton and Candice Lim are joined by  Jane Friedman , author of  The Business of Being a Writer   and the publisher of  Hot Sheet , a newsletter about the publishing industry. The three discuss Friedman’s recent battle with AI-generated books that were being published and sold under her name on Amazon. Friedman published a blog about the saga titled “ I Would Rather S...

On today’s show, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton are joined by Slate business and tech writer Nitish Pahwa to describe his recent piece on  the deranged world of vintage fast-food training videos . In the depths of Youtube, videos from companies like McDonald’s, Hardee’s, and Jack in the Box depict a bygone era where employees were trained by animated burgers and celebrity cameos. This podcast is...

On today’s episode, Rachelle and Candice field a listener question about Bloom, the green powder nutrition company that’s popping up all over TikTok. They’re joined by health and wellness writer Julia Craven to talk about Bloom’s virality and what we should know before jumping on the green powder bandwagon. But first, they break down Tinder’s latest villain: the Tabi Swiper. This podcast is produc...

On this week’s episode brought to us by Slate’s  The Waves , Tory Lanez has been sentenced for  shooting Megan Thee Stallion , and we have THOUGHTS. Scamfluencers co-host and former BuzzFeed reporter  Scaachi Koul  is joined by Refinery29 deputy director  Kathleen Newman-Bremang  to unpack why so many people turned against Megan despite Tory Lanez being a wasteman. They explain what exactly is a “...

On today’s episode, Rachelle and Candice are joined by sustainable stylist and fashion educator  Lakyn Carlton  to discuss TikTok Shop — a new feature that lets users purchase products without ever leaving the app. TikTok Shop is a modern day QVC, where merchants can shell products they’ve made — or are authorized to resell — in live videos with products tagged on screen. In the age of Amazon Stor...

As an end of summer treat, Rachelle Hampton and Candice Lim dive deep into the drama that engulfed BookTok earlier this August. Over the spring and early summer, hockey-themed romance novels enjoyed a rise in the BookTok charts, a rise that led to an influx of new fans into the hockey community. One team in particular, the Seattle Krakens,  became the unofficial team of BookTok , with Swedish play...

On today’s show, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton walk through Addison Rae’s quest for Hollywood stardom. They run through her moments of flop before the release of  AR , a collection of Rae’s leaked music from her “lost album.” Then, Candice and Rachelle are joined by Pitchfork associate editor Cat Zhang to break down her bold and delicious  review  of “I Got It Bad.” This podcast is produced by...

On today’s episode, Rachelle Hampton and Candice Lim are joined by Slate staff writer Luke Winkie to discuss  his recent profile of  Critical Role’s  Matthew Mercer . Launched by Mercer and his friends in 2015,  Critical Role  is undoubtedly a megahit, boasting  over 600 million views on YouTube . As Winkie wrote in his profile, “A 2021 data leak out of Twitch confirmed that  Critical Role  is one...

On today’s episode, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton dive deep into the mystery shrouding Lil Tay, a 14-year-old influencer who went viral in 2018 for being the “youngest flexer of the century.” In the years since her arrival onto the scene, Lil Tay has been hounded by controversy concerning her parents custodial battle, allegations of abuse and suggestions of exploitation. When rumors started swi...

On today’s show, Candice Lim is joined by Slate producer Cheyna Roth to dissect the recent troubling events that happened on  Below Deck: Down Under . Two crew members were fired after separate filmed incidents of sexual harassment and misconduct, and viewers have been praising several cast members for stepping up and doing the right thing. The underappreciated spinoff is now being heralded as the...

On today’s show, Candice is joined by Vivian Yoon, the writer and host of  K-Pop Dreaming . They dissect the hype surrounding K-pop viral sensation NewJeans, talk about the musical influences that make them stand out, and share their own experiences growing up with K-pop. This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Rachelle Hampton, Candice Lim and Daisy Rosario, with special thanks to Emil...

On today’s episode, Candice Lim and Daisy Rosario give their takes on Doja Cat’s latest controversy:  hating her fans . They trace her long-documented and problematic history with the internet, then ask how much a fandom can endure before the unstanning process begins. This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton. Need to set up your Slate Plus...

The mosh pit has a reputation as a violent place where (mostly) white guys vent their aggression. There’s some truth to that, but it’s also a place bound by camaraderie and—believe it or not—etiquette. In this episode, we explore the unwritten rules of this 50-year-old live-music phenomenon with punks, concertgoers, and a heavy-metal physicist. Decoder Ring is produced by Willa Paskin with Katie S...

On today’s episode, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton dive deep into the ethics of AI-generated music. Since the days of Alan Turing, music created by computational models has been inextricably bound up with technological process. But now that tools like Voicify. AI are going viral on TikTok and the Recording Academy has updated their rules to allow music created with AI tools to be eligible for Gr...

On today’s episode, Rachelle and Candice reach into the ICYMI mailbag to answer why TikTokers are pretending to be video game characters, how a city girl became an anti-feminist prairie wife, and why snacktime is getting an obnoxious rebrand. This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton. Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed th...

On today’s episode, Rachelle and Candice dive deep into the ICYMI mailbag to answer listener questions about Colleen Ballinger’s 10-minute ukulele-backed apology, the renaming of Twitter, and the disappearance of 25-year-old Carlee Russell. This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton. Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed thro...

On today’s episode, Rachelle and Candice meet in person for the first time! They recap the July 10 attack on fanfiction site AO3 — Archive of Our Own — which caused a site outage and a state of panic for many writers, readers and their fandoms. The site was created in 2008 as an online fanfiction archive that soon became a safe haven for women and the queer community. So what happens when that saf...

On today’s episode, Rachelle and Candice are joined by sustainable stylist and fashion educator,  Lakyn Carlton . The three break down  a now-infamous factory tour  that the fast fashion giant Shein coordinated for a group of (un)lucky influencers. Since its founding in 2008, Shein has grown to a reported $100 billion valuation that is sustained by  alleged labor violations  and a cult-like follow...

On today’s episode, Rachelle and Candice talk all about the Emmys. This week the TV Academy announced the nominations for the 71st Emmy awards. Just a few days later, SAG-AFTRA announced that negotiations with the Academy had officially broken down and the actors’ guild was joining the writers’ guild on strike. So what does this all mean for the monthslong campaigns that actors have waged online t...

On today’s episode, Candice Lim is joined by Slate culture writer Nadira Goffe to dive into her piece about  Spill , the latest Twitter alternative to hit the streets. But first, they parse out the chaos surrounding Keke Palmer and Jonah Hill, whose respective relationship drama entered public discourse over the past week. This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, Candice L...

On today’s episode, Candice Lim is joined by Slate business and tech writer Nitish Pahwa to break down the recent controversy surrounding  Reddit CEO Steve Huffman . In May, Huffman announced Reddit would be charging third-party apps, bots and companies for using the site’s Data API. Redditors erupted in protest, with many popular subreddits going dark to signal their opposition to the move. The p...

How the music streaming business opened the door to billions of dollars in fraud. Guest:  Ashley Carman , Bloomberg News reporter covering the podcasting, music, and audio beat. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the w...

On today’s episode, Rachelle dives into one of Candice’s most treasured subreddits:  r/bathandbodyworks . They trace the boom of candle consumption during the pandemic, how sale culture keeps the store in business, and Candice’s definitive rules for curating your haul. This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton. Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you s...