2025… not for the history books! started off weak (la fires where we slept with our bags packed next to the door every night), broke my leg and got surgery in february (sorry if you’re squeamish about that one slide), spent months in PT recovering. but I pushed through it, and there were bright spots: went on TV a lot, took tons of photos waving the millennial peace sign, started fixing up our broken backyard, saw 33 concerts (which would’ve been higher if it weren’t for that pesky leg break), hung out with all my favorite people, finished the year running 20 miles a week. until next year!
a good year. wrote a cover on victoria monet, went to see so many shows, visited mexico, saw dead and co at the sphere, took a massive trip to greece via london, went on tv a bunch, had a mudslide, got osteoarthritis, wrote some great shit, had a lot of fun. next year will be hopefully better, but life is good!
🥤New Pop Pantheon🥤
Variety’s @speriod returns to Pop Pantheon to unpack the maddeningly underrated Kelis, who spent most of her career ahead of the curve and helped to carve out a new lane for alt-pop stardom in the 2000s.
Louie and Steven dig into Kelis’ origin story, from meeting The Neptunes as a teenager to her debut, 1999’s futuristic pop fantasia Kaleidoscope.
From there, they unpack her success across the pond with 2001’s Wanderland and 2003’s ultra eclectic and masterful Tasty, which produced her biggest US hit and signature song, “Milkshake.”
Next, they cover Kelis’s first foray away from The Neptunes with 2006’s Kelis Was Here, her dance pop cult classic, 2010’s Flesh Tone, and her final album, 2014’s soul-influenced Food.
Lastly, Louie and Steven break down Kelis’ niche pop legacy and rank her in the Official Pop Pantheon.
🔗links to listen in bio.
📈Don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe to Pop Pantheon wherever you listen to podcasts.
➕Get bonus content and more at Patreon.com/Poppantheon
🎨 by @synthetic_animal
Enjoy!✨
had a very good year. made some great life decisions, saw my favorite people get married (7 weddings in 4 months… dear god), made a big career shift, ran my 11th marathon, got a heart condition and then got rid of it, went to numerous galas, conquered my fear of public speaking, let go of some hard felt grudges, nurtured some great friendships, wrote my first cover story at work (in my second week on the job), and overall felt content in a way that i hadn’t in much of my 30s. as a gay person does, here is a gallery of me from 2023
my first week at @variety , I was asked to fly to nyc the next week to interview @icespice for the cover of the New York issue… spent some time with her during the 36-hour trip and ended up with my first cover story for the magazine.
thanks to @raminsetoodeh@jemaswad and all the amazing colleagues who helped shape this into a great piece.
