It's Been a Minute

Bad Bunny's Super Bowl performance had a clear message for his fans and his haters.  The pop star's show was a colorful and vibrant vision of Puerto Rican culture and heritage, from a real life wedding to boxing matches - and even a surprise cameo from Ricky Martin. Against a backdrop of widespread immigration crackdowns and targeted rhetoric, Bad Bunny centered joy as an act of resistance - and a...

Is Melania Trump's new film a documentary? Fan service? Or propaganda? The Amazon funded $40 million-$75 million film, follows the first lady as she prepares for her husband's second inauguration. But, it's finely manicured editing and it's fabricated storylines obscure reality - much like the Trump administration's broader media strategy. So what's the point? Brittany sits down with NPR Senior Ar...

So-called "swoletariats" are exercising for the resistance. There’s a lot of fitness content in conservative manosphere circles – that’s not new – but now, there are also fitness influencers who call themselves the “swoletariat.” That’s a combination of the word “swole,” meaning buff, and “proletariat,” meaning the working class — the swoletariat are people whose fitness regimens connect to leftis...

America’s workers are tired – here’s why. Do you feel like you can never get off the grind? From gig laborers to salaried workers, a lot of people are keeping their noses to the grindstone in order to remain afloat, avoid job loss, and stay one step ahead of market fluctuations. But this culture of overwork isn’t new – according to Erik Baker, Harvard lecturer and author of Make Your Own Job: How...

One of the biggest lessons from the clash between ICE and the citizens of Minneapolis is that communities are prepared to stand up for their neighbors. When Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU Nurse, became the second person killed by federal agents in Minneapolis this month, citizens were there to document the killing. Today, we're exploring how Minnesotans trained for this moment and how, despite dee...

How do romantic tropes and fantasies impact how you understand politics? You might be a fan of Romantic Fantasy, or as the internet calls it: Romantasy. Even if you're not, you would recognize the tradwives or fascism. Romantasies combine supernatural characters and plotlines with the rush of a whirlwind romance novel, and, in this episode, we're exploring how the politics of some of these books h...

Job seekers are sending out hundreds of applications. Here’s why they’re not hearing back. The unemployment rate has been climbing over the past few years, but historically, it isn’t that high… Even so, some people have been talking about having a really, really rough time finding work. Brittany is joined by Wailin Wong , co-host of NPR’s Indicator podcast, and  Nitish Pahwa , staff writer for bus...

He's mysterious and aspirational, but is he even real? Or is he just a reflection of all of our society? The ‘finance bro’ has become a pretty ubiquitous figure in the American zeitgeist. From American Psycho and Mad Men to the tech bros of Silicon Valley, he’s taken many forms. And these days he has flipped genders in the hit HBO series  Industry . But what makes the finance bro mythology so comp...

What does it mean to feel safe during sex these days? From feeling comfortable with your partner to access to public health and medication, "safety" comes up a lot in sex. But, having the tools you need to feel confident in your own sexual health is an essential part of the pursuit of pleasure. Today, Brittany is joined by  Dr. Leisha McKinley-Beach , founder and CEO of the Black Public Health Aca...

We're taking a trip back to the 90s and exploring the lives of single Black women and how their stories still show up in media 30 years later.  This episode comes from NPR's Books We've Loved podcast series. Brittany joined hosts Andrew Limbong and B.A. Parker to revisit Terry McMillan's classic novel, Waiting to Exhale . The three get into how the book was a blueprint for Sex & The City and how i...

What are we missing something in the conversation around obesity and GLP-1s? Oprah Winfrey’s new book, Enough, co-authored by endocrinologist Dr. Ania Jastreboff is one of many new narratives attempting to reframe how we think about obesity and diet culture. But host Brittany Luse thinks we’re just scratching the surface.  She’s joined by Dr. Kellie Carter Jackson, Chair of the Africana Studies De...

There's a new sound of protest going viral on TikTok. What is being said, and how much impact could it have? We're just two weeks into January, but this year has already been eventful. There's Trump's incursion into Venezuela, and last week’s ICE shooting in Minneapolis, which led to protests all across the country over the weekend. And these protests on the street are connected to some of the mus...

Renee Good, a 37-year-old Minnesotan mother, is just one of several victims of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) violence in recent months. But her death marks a turning point in the discourse around state violence. How will her name and story be used by politicians and protestors? And how does her story line up with other moments of government violence throughout American history? Brittan...

Ozempic and other GLP-1s have changed how we think of our bodies. Now, some are searching for other quick fixes for their body - far beyond weight loss. In some Silicon Valley circles, ' Chinese peptides ' are taking so-called biohacking to the next level. These unregulated injectables promise to help people who struggle with sleep, losing weight, or even making eye contact. One person even said t...

Young women, more than any other group, say they would leave America. Their list of reasons is long and plentiful.  Have you ever thought about leaving the US, and starting over somewhere else? Maybe living the hygge lifestyle in Denmark, or soaking up the sun in Costa Rica? According to  Gallup  – a surprising number of women are considering it. In a poll released in November, 40% of women betwee...

Is the lack of sunlight in the winter months really getting to you? Do you find yourself fighting tooth and nail to keep up with life's demands  every  winter? You may be dealing with seasonal affective disorder, or SAD. Brittany has developed her own morning routine to combat this type of depression. Today, she's joined by Dr. Norman E. Rosenthal , psychiatrist and scientist who first described s...

What's in and what's out in 2026? Let's set the stage for what to watch out for in the new year. As you fill out your own bingo card for what will or will not happen in 2026, join Brittany, NPR's tech correspondent Bobby Allyn , and NPR's political correspondent Danielle Kurtzleben . They are laying out the puzzle pieces of 2026 - from the politics of masculinity to the bubble of artificial intell...

From CBD leggings to Soulcycle, wellness is reshaping our relationships to our bodies and souls. But what even is "wellness?" Well, for one, it's a global industry worth 6 trillion dollars. And it encompasses all kinds of things – including spirituality: from the spirituality of wellness practices like yoga and reiki, to treating wellness itself like a religion. As spirituality, self-care, and cap...

If society privileges "thin" people, should you aspire to conform? And at what cost? Last year, online influencer Slim Kim went viral for a TikTok where she said she loves "being skinny." It sparked a debate that continued throughout 2025: how do we talk about bodies without falling into "body fascism." And with drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy flooding the market, how are the ways we talk about bodi...

If you want something badly enough, should you have it? Today, Brittany is investigating so-called "manifestation." It's this popular belief that if you want something badly enough, it'll come to you. But here's the thing: our relationship to the internet and algorithms is creating a feedback loop that actually makes our own dreams seem more...possible? But where's the line between dreams, reality...

Christianity showed up in the mainstream in unexpected ways this year. Are we in a revival? Take a look at this year's Billboard charts. For the first time, multiple Christian musicians charted on the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time — and stayed there for weeks. And some of the biggest hits of the year - like Alex Warren's "Ordinary" - pull from Contemporary Christian Music sounds. Plus, Trump...

Why are Mormons so popular, you ask? Because it's part of their faith. From Hulu's The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives to your favorite homemaking TikTok influencers, the women of the Church of Latter Day Saints have been gaining massive audiences for over a decade. Brittany is joined by  Jana Riess , senior columnist at Religious News Service and author of  The Next Mormons: How Millennials are Chan...

What's it like to date a man? Ask pop stars or your friends, and you might hear it's a struggle. From Sabrina Carpenter to Summer Walker, some of the biggest female artists on the charts today…are absolutely  through  with men. It’s a sentiment that has a name: heteropessimism. Coined in 2019 by the writer Asa Seresin, the term encapsulates the embarrassment, disaffection and fatigue that comes fr...

There’s been a lot of discourse about what “6 7” means, but what actually makes it  meaningful ? The “6 7" meme was everywhere this year, online and off. Scrolling through TikTok? You probably encountered it. Sitting in math class? Your teacher probably dreaded everyone shouting out the numbers when they came up in class. NPR intern Sanidhya Sharma investigated the phenomenon by going to schools a...

Welcome to the third annual IBAMMYs Culture Awards Show, where we reflect and honor the best and worst cultural moments of the year. Brittany is joined by Sam Sanders , host of KCRW's The Sam Sanders Show, and Tre'vell Anderson , host of The Seated podcast. All three nominated a person or moment for each of the four categories. NPR's Culture Committee then voted on a winner. Today, we reveal the w...