At First Listen

We're taking a special look at one of the greatest singer-songwriters America ever produced: Bill Withers. With ubiquitous hits like "Lean on Me," "Ain't No Sunshine," "Just the Two of Us" and "Lovely Day," so many of Bill's songs are taken for granted because of how ingrained they are in American culture. We take a special look at Bill's second studio album,  Still Bill , explore his late start i...

Talkin’ ‘Tok - Introducing our new series looking a social media’s latest viral songs.   In this first edition, we discuss the power of short form user-created social media content and then take a look at the song “Peggy” by viral lesbian financial dominatrix Ceechynaa.  Dominique interprets some of the most perplexing British slang in Ceechynaa's lyrics and explains how users are appropriating "P...

From how he swept through the GRAMMYs to his historic performance at the Super Bowl halftime show, everything is coming up Kendrick Lamar. We dig into our favorite moments of Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show and review how wrong we were about the GRAMMYs! We also answer important questions like, did the Super Bowl have to be so black ? And, is Beyoncé ranked higher in the Illuminati than...

Charli xcx's carefree 2024 breakthrough album, BRAT , was one of the defining cultural moments of last year and likely changed Charli's career forever. But was  BRAT 's GRAMMY-winning success ironic or the result of a genious marketing masterplan? Dominique embraced  BRAT over the summer, while Andrew only heard it for the first time in preparation of this episode. We discuss the beginning and end...

Each year the GRAMMYs sparks a wave of bewilderment when nominees are announced for the 'Album of the Year,' 'Song of the Year' and 'Record of the Year' categories. While the former two categories are self-explanatory, what does the Recording Academy mean by  record and who gets that award anyway?! On this episode, Andrew and Dominique explore all eight nominees for 'Record of the Year,' predict w...

The  At First Listen podcast returns in 2025 with a big announcement from Diamond, as she hands her cohost reigns over to Dominique Kaplowitz. We'll be putting out weekly episodes this year, launching a YouTube channel and covering tons of music, including new and classic albums, viral artists and pop culture events. Subscribe so you don't miss an episode of  At First Listen ! Follow us on Instagr...

Andrew and Diamond look back at the 10 most recent episodes of the At First Listen podcast and choose their favorite music, moments and guests.   After discussing the recent history of the show, we widen the scope and debate which episode was the best.   At First Listen will be back in 2025! Subscribe in your podcast feed and follow us on Instagram @AtFirstListenpodcast so you don’t miss an episod...

We listened to Mariah Carey's classic but infamous 1994  Merry Christmas album, so you don't have to!  Long before she assumed the Queen of Christmas Mantle, Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" became nearly inescapable around the holidays. But does the album's titanic hit single overshadow an otherwise decent Gospel record? On this episode, Andrew and Diamond explore the endurance of...

Rihanna's  Good Girl Gone Bad is one of the seminal albums of the mid-2000s, spawning several gigantic hits, but more importantly, this record helped entertain Diamond while she got her wisdom teeth extracted.  On this episode, Andrew and Diamond look back on the album that made Rihanna a bonafide pop superstar with hits like "Umbrella," "Shut Up and Drive," "Don't Stop the Music," "Hate That I Lo...

Longtime radio voice of the Brooklyn Nets Chris Carrino joins the show to reveal the depths of his obsession with Pearl Jam!   Chris was fascinated by Pearl Jam's debut album, Ten , in 1991, but points to the band's second album, Vs . (1993), as what cemented his lifelong fandom.   We discuss how on Vs. Pearl Jam tried to distance itself from the riotous success of the debut album, how the band ha...

In Part 2 of our At First Listen / Ken Dashow’s Beatles Revolution crossover episodes, we dig into The Beatles Abbey Road track-by-track! We discuss how the Beatles challenged fans' expectations over the years, the band members' struggles with fame and what ultimately ended the band.    Please subscribe to  At First Listen on iHeartRadio or wherever you get podcasts, so you don't miss an episode!...

In Part 1 of our At First Listen / Ken Dashow’s Beatles Revolution crossover episode, our cohost Diamond meets the Beatles!   We explore the complicated history of the Beatles' final two albums – Abbey Road and  Let It Be — the fraught relationships within the Beatles by the late-‘60s, the extraordinary cultural impact of the band and how Abbey Road comes across in 2024 to a fan of contemporary po...

Play-by-play announcer and Action Network host Maria Marino joins the show to share one of her favorite albums by The Black Keys — the band's 2010 breakthrough Brothers . The Black Keys' rootsy, blues-influenced Americana sound made the band an indie darling in the mid-'00s, but it was 2010's Grammy-nominated Brothers  album, with hits like "Howlin' for You" and "Tighten Up," that drastically chan...

Andrew and Diamond agree that it's time to explore the blues, so they go straight to the King of the Blues himself, B.B. King, for some education with B.B.'s classic 1964 live album,  Live at the Regal . B.B. King is arguably the most famous blues musician of all-time. He began building his following in the early 1940s (!) and continued performing live for his fans for over 70 years (!!). A winner...

Andrew has never heard a Nicki Minaj album, and Diamond is pretty sure he will hate it ... nonetheless, Nicki's debut album  Pink Friday  (2010) is the topic of today's podcast! There was a time when Diamond considered herself a Barb (a Nicki Minaj fan), and while her support of Nicki has waned in recent years, she wonders if Pink Friday will hold up. We also learn that Diamond's longtime go-to ka...

One of the faces of Fender's new Player II series, bassist April Kae (Fever 333), joins the podcast to share one of her biggest musical inspirations: British rapper, singer and producer M.I.A. From her visual art to her social media creation to her music, April Kae strives to create intrigue with her own work, and she finds a wealth of inspiration from other powerful women who march to their own b...

Although Diamond loves the song "Enter Sandman," she's always been too dubious of heavy metal to venture further into Metallica's catalog.  But we face our fears here on  At First Listen , and challenge ourselves (we are so brave). So on this episode of the podcast, we're digging into Metallica's seminal 1991 self-titled album — affectionately referred to as the Black Album. Does Diamond deem Meta...

After 10 episodes (and 11 albums), Andrew and Diamond take this week to recap some of their favorite music from their At First Listen podcast era.  If you're weighing what episodes to listen to or where to start with our show, this should put you on track with our highest recommendations (and hottest takes) so far.  Also, Andrew tried to get some real music on the show with a combination of an unp...

AppleMusic recently named  The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill the greatest album OF ALL TIME, and while we're dubious, Miseducation received glowing reviews from critics at the time of its release and it is still viewed as a touchstone recording in hip-hip and R&B. Diamond grew up listening to  The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill , while Andrew knows very little about Ms. Hill's work beyond the Fugee...

Our guest Andrew Pugliese from Elvis Duran and the Morning Show brings in one of his favorite albums ever, Lana Del Rey's celebrated 2019 album Norman F---ing Rockwell! , to the show. Despite impressive record sales, luminary status with critics and a ravenous fanbase, Lana's music has for most of her career remained on the fringes of mainstream culture. NFR! is widely considered a turning point i...

Andrew and Diamond finally get to an album they've been looking forward to since launching the podcast, Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life .  Everyone knows at least a few of the numerous hits from Songs in the Key of Life  — "Isn't She Lovely," "I Wish," "Sir Duke," "As" — but as Andrew and Diamond learn, Stevie Wonder's 1976 opus is packed with funk, soul, jazz and salient social commentar...

We have a wide-ranging conversation with CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota about the Ramones, her intimate history with punk rock, her career in news, Prince (!) and especially her must-read memoir, Combat Love .   The Ramones are undoubtedly one of the most important punk bands of all-time and their career remains a crucial chapter in the history of American music. The band's third studio album, 1977's ...

Q104.3 New York's Maria Milito joins the podcast to continue Diamond's introduction to rock 'n' roll with an exploration of one of the most influential rock records of all-time, Led Zeppelin II .  Led Zeppelin's early career was such a whirlwind that much of the band's second album was written during rehearsals and in-between roadtrips. The LP was recorded and mixed quickly at a number of differen...

For  At First Listen 's first true rock album, Andrew picked The White Stripes hit 2003 LP,  Elephant . The band's fourth album overall,  Elephant contains the most iconic rock anthem of its generation in "Seven Nation Army" and earned the band a Grammy award for 'Best Alternative Music' album. But Elephant contains no other bonafide hits, and is on the whole kind of an odd record. While Diamond w...

On March 29, 2024, Beyoncé released her eighth studio album, Cowboy Carter , to worldwide acclaim.  After taking a week to listen, Beyoncé superfan Diamond and Beyoncé ambivalent Andrew jumped into a studio to record a bonus episode on  At First Listen and to find out whether or not they agreed on anything about the new album. (Note: We curse many times on this episode.) Subscribe so you don't mis...