This week on the Best Pop Stars podcast, we’re lastly as much as the highest two of our Best Pop Stars of 2024 checklist — and despite the fact that it’s been an insane yr for pop stars, and we’ve mentioned some completely unimaginable ones on this podcast already, these are the 2 who ended up finest personifying pop greatness all all through 2024 to us.
On this closing episode of the 2024 collection, host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Billboard hip-hop author Michael Saponara and branded producer and social supervisor Meghan Mahar to speak about these prime two Best Pop Stars, which we simply unveiled this Monday (Dec. 23). We begin at No. 2 with Sabrina Carpenter, an artist on the cusp of pop stardom as 2023 began who turned a no-doubt A-lister over the course of her 2024. We focus on the distinctive issues that made Carpenter such a super pop star for this yr, the sensible influences she built-in for a brief n’ candy package deal solely her personal, and naturally, the proper pop songs: a few of the yr’s very best, with nice movies and dwell performances to match.
Then (at 26:30), we dive into the deep finish with our No. 1 Best Pop Star of 2024: Kendrick Lamar. We begin off with a reminder of simply how far eliminated Lamar was from this dialogue going into this yr — and actually for the entire decade up till this level — after which get into how he modified the narrative and ended 2024 atop a traditionally packed pop star class. In fact, we additionally get into all issues Drake-related, from “Like That” to “Not Like Us” to the Pop Out live performance and all the things in between. Then, we discuss in regards to the late-game drop of his GNX album — and the way which may have simplified what was shaping as much as be an impossibly tough choice going into these rankings — and whether or not Kendrick is already organising 2025 to be simply as dominant a pop star yr for him as 2024.
Test it out above, and thanks for following alongside all December with our Best Pop Stars of 2024 checklist and podcast! Comfortable Holidays, and we’ll see you once more in 2025.
