Category: Episode

by Tiger Biskup

Episode 291: Lizzo

“Still Bad”

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Lizzo is a Grammy- and Emmy-winning singer, rapper, songwriter, and actress. She’s been putting out music since 2013, and her last two albums both went platinum. Her fifth album, Love In Real Life, comes out this summer. For this episode, I talked to Lizzo, as well as her longtime collaborator, Grammy-winning producer Ricky Reed, about the making of one of her new songs, “Still Bad.” It wasn’t a straightforward process at all, and coming up, you’ll hear a few of the many, many demos they made on their way to the final song.

You can buy or stream “Still Bad” here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes:
Blake Slatkin – co-writer and co-producer
Sam Harris – co-writer
Cheche Alara – piano
Victor Indrizzo – drums
Britney Spears
Big Grrrl Small World
Aretha Franklin
Franz Ferdinand (band)
Lizzo is set to play Sister Rosetta Tharpe in the upcoming biopic

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by Mary Dolan

Key Change: Samin Nosrat

“Untouchable Face” by Ani DiFranco

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My guest today is my friend Samin Nosrat, the author of the bestselling, award-winning cookbook Salt Fat Acid Heat, and the host and executive producer of the hit Netflix show that’s based on it. Her second cookbook comes out this fall, and it’s called Good Things: Recipes and Rituals to Share With People You Love.

Back in March 2020, Samin and I started a podcast together called Home Cooking, where we answered people’s anxious questions about cooking in the time of the pandemic and lockdown. And we’re bringing that podcast back later this year.

Samin is one of my closest friends. We’ve been there for each other for all of the most important moments of our lives over the years that we’ve known each other. But with a total lack of consideration to our friendship, it turns out Samin’s had important moments in her life from before we met. But we’re going to make up for lost time, and she’s going to talk to me about one of them today.

You can buy or stream “Untouchable Face” here.

footnotes:
Ani DiFranco
Felicity with Keri Russell
Louis Armstrong, Roberta Flack, and Ella Fitzgerald
Perry Farrell, Violent Femmes, and Phish

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by Mary Dolan

Episode 290: MJ Lenderman

“You Don’t Know The Shape I’m In”

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Jake Lenderman plays and records under the name MJ Lenderman. He put out his first album in 2019. In addition to his solo work, he’s been a member of the band Wednesday, and he’s also featured on the Waxahatchee hit song “Right Back to It.” In September 2024, the fourth MJ Lenderman album came out. It’s called Manning Fireworks. The New Yorker named it the best album of the year, and Stereogum, Rolling Stone and Pitchfork all put it in their top ten. For this episode, I talked to Jake about one of the songs from that album, called “You Don’t Know the Shape I’m In.” The song itself took shape in a few different ways. Coming up, you’ll hear the way the song started as a demo, and then how that got fleshed out, and then how it got rebuilt, and then how Jake completely reimagined the whole thing.

You can buy or stream “You Don’t Know The Shape I’m In” here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes:
Karly Hartzman – vocals
Alex Farrar – engineer and co-producer
Landon George – upright bass
Colin Miller – slide banjo
Shane McCord – clarinet
Patterning app
The Hulk
Boat Songs
Marshall half stack
“The Shape I’m In” – The Band
“You Don’t Know The Shape I’m In” – version featured on Through The Soil II

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