Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud

Music journalists Suzy Exposito and Reanna Cruz unpack the unlikely success of Cigarettes After Sex, the enigmatic and extremely chilled Texan indie-pop band who are selling out arenas this summer and racking up Spotify streams that rival the world’s biggest pop stars. Plus, sports journalist Adam Skolnick talks about the Olympics paradox: why is surfing—one of the most exciting daredevil sports o...

How are you watching the Summer Games in Paris? You’ve got streaming platforms offering more live coverage than ever, and Olympians are creating their own content on TikTok. Culture writers Mel Woods and Morgan Campbell join Elamin to look at how we’re watching - and how it’s changing the Games.

Olympic FOMO is your daily Olympics recap, in 20 minutes or less. Besties Mark and Jem go behind-the-scenes bringing you the wins, losses, and hot goss from the Athlete's Village. They’ve got next-level access to Paris 2024 so you never have FOMO (fear of missing Olympics) again. More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/93XjKZot

There’s a very messy and public fight between Hybe and the CEO of its subsidiary label ADOR, Min Hee-jin, who produces the popular K-pop group NewJeans. Michelle Cho and Jennifer Zhan look at what this feud says about the high stakes of the K-pop economy and the future of NewJeans. Plus, Afrobeats superstar Rema continues to reinvent himself with his new album 'HEIS'. Music journalist Matt Amha ta...

'All Fours' by Miranda July follows an artist in her mid-40s as she navigates the breakdown of her marriage, and how perimenopause changes her relationship with her body. Culture critics Heather O’Neill and Jennifer Wilson talk to Elamin about why this novel is resonating so widely with readers. Plus, it’s been more than a decade since video game giant EA Sports put out a game for college football...

Culture critics Rachel Ho, Radheyan Simonpillai, and Teri Hart join Elamin to discuss Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman’s blockbuster match-up in Deadpool & Wolverine, and whether the film can revive the MCU’s flagging fortunes. And with the Summer Games in Paris kicking off this week, they’ll also discuss the myriad ways in which the games are trying to keep audiences watching.

Elamin is joined by culture critics Ian Kamau, Sarah-Tai Black, and David Dennis Jr. to react to the latest and reportedly final album from Childish Gambino (aka Donald Glover), and also talk about the longstanding criticisms surrounding him.

Despite Apple spending more than $20 billion on tv and movies, its streaming service gets fewer views in a month than Netflix gets in a day. Vulture TV critic Kathryn VanArendonk looks at why people aren’t tuning in to Apple TV+. And culture critic Laura Sirikul talks about the first K-pop concert that will air live on primetime TV this weekend in the U.S. and Canada.

After Joe Biden dropped out of the race, he gave Kamala Harris his endorsement. But the internet is very familiar with Kamala as a subject of some of the biggest memes in recent memory. Today on the podcast Kamala and the meme campaign. Plus, Mark Strong aka “Strizzzy” and Adrian Bernard aka “Switch B.” chat with Elamin about what it means for breaking to be making its debut as an Olympic sport.

Elamin is joined by film critic Rad Simonpillai and culture critic Anne T. Donahue to discuss ‘Twisters’, the standalone sequel to the original film ‘Twister’ and how this blockbuster follow up fares at a time when real climate change continues to be a hot button topic. Plus, culture critic Amil Niazi talks about Halle Butler’s latest book “Banal Nightmare,” which is getting a lot of buzz for its...

Writers Drew Magary, Marina Fang, and Jason P. Frank join the group chat to discuss how the attempted assassination of Donald Trump and the naming of author J.D. Vance as vice-presidential running mate have reverberated through the world of pop culture this week.

It’s hard to come up with a song that’s been more critically panned than Katy Perry’s latest track 'Women’s World'. And it was supposed to be her big comeback. Elamin is joined by music journalist Reanna Cruz. They are in Los Angeles. And Stereogum's Abby Jones joins the Group Chat for her first time from New York. Plus, author Jen Sookfong Lee unpacks The New York Times’ Best 100 Books of the 21s...

As dozens of authors pull out of contention for the Scotiabank Giller prize – to protest the lead sponsor’s investment in an Israeli arms manufacturer, we ask what the path forward is for this country’s most prestigious literary prize. Former Giller Prize winner and author Omar El Akkad joins Elamin to weigh in.

Hip-hop artists D-Sisive and Ian Kamau, along with music critic Maura Johnston, join Elamin to discuss the pop and rap legacy of Eminem, and the controversial cultural debates the Detroit emcee has sparked over the decades.

What’s the role of late night - and political satirists - at a time like this in American politics? Hershal Pandya and Ashley Ray join guest host Rad Simonpillai. Plus, Abercrombie & Fitch ruled the mall in the 1990s and 2000s, and the clothing retailer was famous for selling an idealized preppy vision of youth. But after falling out of fashion, a complete rebrand has made the fashion retailer...

Film critic Rachel Ho, entertainment reporter Jackson Weaver and media personality Matt Hart join the group chat to talk about the mega-hyped new horror flick Longlegs and whether it is indeed the scariest movie of the year; the disastrous box office performance of Kevin Costner’s historical saga Horizon and what it means for the rest of this would-be franchise; and the controversy surrounding the...

Kendrick Lamar's music video for his Drake diss track Not Like Us has been out for a week and is already one of the most liked YouTube videos this year. Critics call it a victory lap for Kendrick and a moment for L.A. unity. Toronto's Mastermind and Matt Amha talk about why this video hits differently north of the border. Plus, some big Hollywood players are saying publicly they want President Joe...

Andrea Robin Skinner, Alice Munro's youngest daughter, bravely revealed she'd been abused by her stepfather as a child and her late famous mother chose to forgive him. Michelle Dean, Michelle Cyca and Zoe Whittall join Elamin to talk about how Andrea's devastating story changes how they read the Nobel laureate's intimate stories about the inner lives of women and girls in rural Canada.

Culture critics Rad Simonpillai, Teri Hart and Sam Adams talk about how Despicable Me 4 became the biggest animated franchise in film history and weigh in on director Yorgos Lanthimos and actor Emma Stone's latest film Kinds of Kindness.

OnlyFans has become a popular marketplace for sex work, and recently artists have joined the platform to sell their own explicit content. Andrea Werhun and Reanna Cruz join Elamin to talk about what this trend tells us about how viable it is to be an artist today, and what it means for sex workers. Plus, the son of the richest man in Asia is getting married this weekend. Anant Ambani and Radhika M...

Music experts Suzy Exposito, Rosie Long Decter, and Carl Wilson join the Commotion Group Chat to deliver their Mid-Year Music Report, highlighting which artists have held our attention in a highly competitive year for blockbuster pop releases, and which single deserves to be crowned 2024’s Song of the Summer.

Since the Oscars slap, Will Smith's been on a redemption tour. This summer he stars in a new Bad Boys movie and performed a new song at the BET Awards. Entertainment writer Jackson Weaver and radio personality Marlon Palmer talk to Elamin about how the movie star's comeback is going. Plus, culture critic Laura Kipnis discusses the upcoming AI reading companion Rebind that allows readers to ask an...

The new film Fancy Dance, starring Lily Gladstone and directed by Erica Tremblay, is set on a reservation in Oklahoma – not far from where Killers of the Flower Moon was set. Angela Sterritt and Marek Tyler talk about how the two films are in conversation with each other – and why they agree, it’s Lily Gladstone’s most important role to date.

Architect and journalist Naomi Pollock discusses the ethics of subjecting rare, artistically unique homes to radical renovations – as Kanye West recently did to a Malibu beach house designed by legendary Japanese architect Tadao Ando. Plus, Elamin chats with CBC Entertainment writer Jackson Weaver about “The Last Timbit” and whether a show about Tim Hortons, created by Tim Hortons, is worth biting...

When Carley Fortune released her latest novel 'This Summer Will be Different,' it shot to the top of The New York Times Best Seller list. It's a romance novel, set on Prince Edward Island. Elamin is joined by culture writer Kathleen Newman-Bremang, author Farah Heron, and Book Influencer Alicia Foshay to talk about why romance novels are having a moment right now, and how Carley Fortune's books ar...