Current:Home > NewsWhat's making us happy: A guide to your weekend viewing and listening -GrowthSphere Strategies
What's making us happy: A guide to your weekend viewing and listening
View
Date:2025-04-15 05:27:58
This week we celebrated the life of an icon, ranked the SNL musical guests, and talked with the composer of the Succession soundtrack.
Here's what the NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour crew was paying attention to — and what you should check out this weekend.
You're the Worst
"It's this FX show from 2014, it ran 'till 2019. It's kind of a rom-com laced with arsenic ... [with] two, frankly, reprehensible people at the center. You had this struggling alcoholic novelist played by Chris Geere, and then you have this very self-destructive PR executive played by Aya Cash.
And what I love about this show is it, not for a moment, asks you to love these two characters. They are fully set with being themselves in that way. And it's really funny. Ultimately it's a show about finding your person. If you're looking for an unconventional rom-com that will kind of stick to the tropes but also undercut them and really unpack them and interrogate them, I think You're the Worst would be a good choice." — Marc Rivers
60 Songs that Explain the '90s
Well, I'm a couple years late to this, but I have been binging 60 Songs that Explain the '90s, the really fun podcast hosted by Rob Harvilla. Each episode is a different song from the '90s and he digs into their origins, a little bit of back story about the artists, and I just really enjoy it. The first episode from a while back was focused on Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know." He's covering some songs I wasn't very familiar with — or I knew but couldn't tell you who actually performed them — like Gin Blossoms, Geto Boys' "Mind Playing Tricks on Me." And actually the show recently returned with a new episode and it's focused on "Smells Like Teen Spirit." He also has an interview with Courtney Love in that episode. — Aisha Harris
Little Moon winning the Tiny Desk Contest
We just announced the ninth annual winner of our Tiny Desk contest. We've had winners of this contest go on to be nominated for best new artist at the Grammys, like Tank and the Bangas. We've had winners of this contest that have won multiple Grammys, in the case of Fantastic Negrito. And this year's winner is a wonderful band from Utah called Little Moon, which manages to blend this kind of late aughts indie, big band qualities with some real, like, kind of Kate Bush, Joanna Newsom, kind of eccentricity. Like it's fragile but very forceful in really interesting ways. We're going to send them out on a little tour, so watch for tour dates in your area.
This Tiny Desk contest has really unearthed a ton of wonderful music. There's not just the winners. The bands that we discover along the way often wind up playing Tiny Desk concerts later, we've had entries go viral. It's such a wonderful kind of community that has been built out of these contests every year. Every year 5,000 to 6,000 artists enter. So we get so much great music out of it. But I'm really, really, really happy about this year's winner. — Stephen Thompson
More recommendations from the Pop Culture Happy Hour newsletter
By Linda Holmes
I am currently listening to the audiobook of the Jenny Jackson book Pineapple Street, about a wealthy Brooklyn family, and it is very engrossing. (This is a book that comes from a division of Penguin Random House; a different division publishes my books.)
Also recently in my book-listening ears: Adam Sternbergh's twisty, complicated The Eden Test, about a couple who gets in way over their heads on a marriage retreat undertaken to reconnect them.
Eric Deggans shared some thoughts about the future of Max as it took over some of the branding from the former HBO Max.
NPR's Tilda Wilson adapted the Pop Culture Happy Hour segment "What's Making Us Happy" into a digital page. If you like these suggestions, consider signing up for our newsletter to get recommendations every week. And listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
veryGood! (923)
Related
- Person accused of accosting Rep. Nancy Mace at Capitol pleads not guilty to assault charge
- Vermont gets respite from flood warnings as US senator pushes for disaster aid package
- Jets’ McCutcheon has made mental health awareness his mission since best friend’s death in 8th grade
- Former Denver police recruit sues over 'Fight Day' training that cost him his legs
- In ‘Nickel Boys,’ striving for a new way to see
- How do canoe and kayak events work at Paris Olympics? Team USA stars, what else to know
- What’s next for Katie Ledecky? Another race and a relay as she goes for more records
- Brad Paisley invites Post Malone to perform at Grand Ole Opry: 'You and I can jam'
- Tarte Shape Tape Concealer Sells Once Every 4 Seconds: Get 50% Off Before It's Gone
- Olympic triathletes don't worry about dirty water, unlike those of us on Germophobe Island
Ranking
- Hackers hit Rhode Island benefits system in major cyberattack. Personal data could be released soon
- Guantanamo inmate accused of being main plotter of 9/11 attacks to plead guilty
- MrBeast, YouTube’s biggest star, acknowledges past ‘inappropriate language’ as controversies swirl
- IHOP is bringing back its all-you-can-eat pancake deal for a limited time: Here's when
- Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie return for an 'Encore,' reminisce about 'The Simple Life'
- I love being a mom. But JD Vance is horribly wrong about 'childless cat ladies.'
- Italian gymnast Giorgia Villa goes viral during Olympics for brand deal with cheese
- Olympics 2024: Simone Biles Reveals She’s Been Blocked by Former Teammate MyKayla Skinner
Recommendation
Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie return for an 'Encore,' reminisce about 'The Simple Life'
US stands by decision that 50 million air bag inflators are dangerous, steps closer to huge recall
Argentina star Ángel Di María says family received pig's head, threat to daughter's life
Why does Vermont keep flooding? It’s complicated, but experts warn it could become the norm
Tree trimmer dead after getting caught in wood chipper at Florida town hall
Robbers linked to $1.7 million smash-and-grab heists in LA get up to 10 years in prison
Inmate set for sentencing in prison killing of Boston gangster James ‘Whitey’ Bulger
Katie Ledecky savors this moment: her eighth gold medal spanning four Olympic Games