NYT's “Popcast” On Interviewing Taylor Swift, Asking Hard Questions, & Whether Literacy Is Over

Why It Matters

Popcast demonstrates that traditional news brands can thrive in short‑form video by offering journalistic depth that influencers lack, reshaping music criticism and audience engagement in the digital age.

Key Takeaways

• Popcast evolved from critic panel to high‑profile celebrity interviews
• Video format expands reach, leveraging NYT brand and journalistic rigor
• Hosts blend decades of music criticism with modern social‑media distribution
• Audience shifts from niche archivists to mainstream fans via TikTok/YouTube
• Interviews offer rare journalist‑led conversations, challenging typical influencer formats

Summary

The Mixed Signals podcast hosts sit down with New York Times Popcast creators John Karmonica and Joe Kascarelli to chart the show’s two‑decade journey from a modest audio file in 2006 to a flagship video‑first interview platform. Originally a critics‑roundtable, Popcast pivoted in 2016 toward a faster‑paced, critical conversation format and, three years ago, added video to reach YouTube, TikTok and Instagram audiences.

Key insights include the deliberate split into two episode styles: the hosts’ long‑standing banter and high‑profile celebrity interviews. Leveraging the Times’ journalistic cachet, they attract A‑list guests—Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Bad Bunny—while repurposing each interview into multiple short clips for different platforms. The audience has broadened from a core of archivists and Discord fans to mainstream listeners who discover the show through viral video.

Notable moments highlight the cultural shift: the hosts note they were “one of the first two NYT podcasts to experiment with video,” and fans comment that many younger viewers have never seen an interview conducted by “actual journalists.” The show even sparked intense fan backlash, with Kascarelli receiving death threats from Swifties over a controversial songwriter ranking.

The evolution underscores how legacy media can compete with influencer‑driven content by marrying rigorous reporting with platform‑native formats. Popcast’s hybrid model preserves music criticism’s relevance while generating new audience streams and advertising opportunities for the Times.

Original Description

The hosts of The New York Times’ @Popcast show join Mixed Signals to talk about how a two-decade-old music podcast became one of the most coveted interview slots in music — landing Taylor Swift, A$AP Rocky, Olivia Rodrigo, and Bad Bunny — by offering something most celebrity press won't: no question approval, no topic restrictions, and critics who've actually been covering these artists for years.

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Image Credit: Lucia Bell-Epstein for The New York Times/Reuters

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