New Music Friday: A Pop Culture Podcast · Christian + Dee

Episode 23: Goodbye 2025

·1 hr 3 min·4 clips

The hosts argue that Nicki Minaj’s defenders say her collapse would mean female rap “ceases to exist.”

1. New Music Friday: A Pop Culture Podcast uses Episode 23, “Goodbye 2025,” to close the year with pop culture picks, music arguments, and TV chatter. 2. Bob Belcher and Dee anchor the episode, and their banter matters because they steer the year-end list format and the news commentary. 3. The episode is built around the question of what 2025 actually produced in music, television, and movies worth revisiting. 4. Dee opens with Tell Me Lies on Hulu, describing two seasons, a third expected in January, and a story that jumps from freshman year of college to a wedding ten years later. 5. The Tell Me Lies discussion centers on Steven, the main character’s relationship with him, and the “crazy web of lies” the college characters build around each other. 6. The hosts then shift to Heated Rivalry on HBO Max, describing two closeted hockey players whose clandestine meetings happen every six months to a year over a decade. 7. They note that Heated Rivalry has five episodes so far and say the acting is great even though the writing is “shit.” 8. Christian’s music detour starts with Hotel California by the Eagles, moves to Frank Ocean’s American Wedding, and lands on the mixtape Nostalgia Ultra. 9. He says Nostalgia Ultra is his favorite Frank Ocean project and calls it the reason for his resentment toward the Eagles song. 10. The first major news topic is Nicki Minaj’s surprise appearance at Turning Point USA, where Erica Kirk interviewed her on stage. 11. They say Nicki praised Trump and J.D. Vance as role models for young men and also referred to J.D. Vance as “the assassin J.D. Vance.” 12. The hosts describe online excuses from the barbs and reject the claim that Nicki is playing “chess, not checkers.” 13. They argue that female rap does not depend on Nicki Minaj and point to Cardi B and other artists as evidence that the lane already exists. 14. Another discussion turns to Bowen Yang’s decision to leave Saturday Night Live during the show’s 51st season. 15. They mention his final episode, hosted by Ariana Grande with Cher as musical guest, and the theory that Lorne Michaels wanted Bowen to help the newer cast. 16. The hosts also react to criticism of Bowen Yang from queer commenters, including complaints about his comedy and his place in SNL’s cast. 17. The episode’s tone stays conversational and fast-moving, with jokes, profanity, and abrupt pivots from gossip to rankings. 18. The format mixes casual back-and-forth with structured top-five lists for shows, movies, and songs. 19. Listeners who like queer pop-culture talk and year-end rankings will get the most out of this episode. 20. Listeners avoiding celebrity discourse and long recommendation lists may skip it.

As heard by us

A loose, funny year-end sendoff built from rankings, banter, and pop-culture recall.

New Music Friday closes the year as a loose, conversational sendoff, folding holiday oddness, office life, and pop-culture chatter into one easy listen.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

When you want a year-end pop culture recap with rankings, holiday jokes, and easy chemistry.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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