Every Single Album - Harry Styles on ‘SNL,’ New Music From Kacey Musgraves, and New Music Rumors From Olivia Rodrigo

Episode Date: March 20, 2026

Nora and Nathan talk about Harry's double-duty performance as both host and musical guest on ‘Saturday Night Live’ last week (1:00) and how they're feeling about his latest album, being two weeks removed (16:25). Then they talk about the new single "Dry Spell" from Kacey Musgraves and what could be to come on her next album (33:40), before decoding all of the rumors we have gotten about Olivia Rodrigo's soon-to-be–announced third album (41:42). Hosts: Nora Princiotti and Nathan HubbardProducer: Kaya McMullen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello and welcome to every single album. I'm Nora Princiotti, and as always, I am joined by my friend Nathan Hubbard. For a week where we get to catch up on a few things, Nathan. Does it feel good? We're going to talk a little bit more about Harry, but we're also going to get into some new artists who, or other artists, I should say, who I think we're going to get to spend some time with later on this spring. Casey Musgraves is one of them, and Olivia Rodriguez might be another. Are you excited? I'm excited, I think.

Am I, um, am I R BF? Sorry, explain. Am I right before the flags? Most of his crew is RBS. Oh, sorry, what's RBF? It's right before the flags. Did you see the Saturday live? Like, did you see the, uh, the emoji section from the news?

Oh my gosh. That was the one thing that I didn't watch. I'm like, what are you talking about? I've seen every minute of Harry Styles on SNL with the exception of the second... Because I had to watch it on YouTube. I couldn't watch it live. And I knew the second segment of weekend update

was the only thing that I'd missed going in and I didn't possibly think that it could sink me. And here it has in the first minute of our podcast. I think it's an all-timer. This was a pretty good episode of SNL all things considered. Harold did a good job. He did a really good job.

So wait, was he, this is like this, I'm kicking myself so much right now. Was he one of the emojis? No, he wasn't involved in that part. It was Marcello and the other guy, yeah. Okay, because I was looking at the thumbnail and I was like, okay, I think Harry's not there. And I was going to say he had a really full slate.

Of course, he did the monologue. He did two songs. We'll talk about that. certainly. But he was in basically, I think he was in every sketch with the exception of the cold open and the stuff they did on update. I think he was in everything, which is pretty impressive and not always the case for the host. Yeah, it felt like it was a largely light lift on the acting front for him, although I thought his, you know, the outfits at the end were great. Harry for him. Harry for him was

terrific. The Sebastian Manas, whatever's name is. Manusco. Yeah, sure. If you say so. Christina Aguilera. That sketch was vintage hairy stuff. It was great.

The digital shorts were good. I don't know. They pulled it together. I mean, I certainly felt like he seemed to be cool, calm, and collected except for one moment. And first of all, massive shoutout for giving us Dance No More. You and I had the discussion last week about what songs we were going to get. And surely, they now know from the statistics that the heart of this album is what's kicking ass

and that people are being drawn to Coming Up Roses, Pop, and Dance No More. So it was awesome to see that start. I thought a very bold but perfect choice. But at the start of coming up roses, I mean, I mean, there's Paul Simon coming out from retirement, effectively, a five-timer in and of himself, to introduce him. Once again, Harry Stiles. And there was a mix-up.

There was a mess-up. He started the song early, and then he missed some lyrics. And when you looked at his hands on the piano, as he's playing, he was shaking. And I don't know if it seemed to be bringing us cloud down and backs in your life. And I don't know if it was because he knew that he'd come in early on top of Paul Simon. And then he got nervous about whether the strings were going to sink up or if he just generally was that nervous and that was the only time we saw it. But the people I were with were like, he's nervous. I was like, no, he's not.

He's Harry Stiles. Then we went back and looked at his hands. And I was like, you are. Right, he was nervous. Yeah, I thought he seemed nervous in his monologue a little bit. Yeah. And some people accused me of something called queer baiting. But did it ever occur to you that maybe you don't know everything about me, Dad?

I don't know if it's just because he is presenting himself with a new-ish affect where he's a little bit more intention. tight. Like he doesn't, even in the dancing, like, he's a little bit more choreographed. I think we talked about this after that, that Brit's performance, and it's not quite to that extent. But he's doing a little bit more choreography, I think, than he has historically. And he's a little bit more, like, on certain marks. And I wonder actually if there's something about the rigidity of that that's making him seem a little uptight in moments. I thought that over the course of the show, I guess with the exception of that moment when he was performing coming up roses, because that was the second song that they did, he seemed to relax into it and really be having fun and be kind of what we are

used to, which is Lucy Goosey Harry up there. But I thought that when he started his monologue, he seemed a little bit like at least conscious of the moment, which is really interesting because I wonder what it is about right now, this time in life, exactly what he's doing. that has him that way, because as you said, he's Harry Stiles. He's been in so many of these situations that it's surprising to see him like that. Yeah.

It was a really good, fun show. Sounded like Lauren was happy. There is just an aura about this dude, man. Thank goodness for that. But there really is an aura about this guy, right? Like the lines of all the people who were fruitlessly trying to get standby that he sent the pizzas to, like, you know, just generally the bringing him in the week before.

And yes, okay, it's great, you know, it's great publicity to have him there for two weeks in a row. But I thought I thought the show was well done. I still don't get how he was walking through New York City in the middle of the day on Wednesday when we're going live on Saturday. Not just through New York City, but I think he was walking for Brooklyn to 30 Rock every day I read. Yeah. And, you know, there was a lot of, there was a lot of wink. I mean, for a guy who supposedly, maybe it's just Louis who doesn't like the Larry stuff, Harry, it seems like Harry could give a shit about it and, in fact, sort of plays into it,

which he did multiple times on this show in the monologue. I mean, he was nervous. You think he was nervous for the kiss? What was he nervous about in his monologue? Maybe he had butterflies. I think you texted about this and I was thinking about it. I do think that there's a distinction between him playing into the idea that he has a little bit of sexual fluidity to him and or engages in queer baiting versus this person that you have a relationship with, a real relationship with that you work with, who you know that you're like carrying out a facade. I can see being upset by one and not upset by the other.

That seems more like where he seems to be to me. Do you at least believe me now that Harry Styles is a kissing bandit? I definitely feel like he's a kissing bandit. I think Ben Marshall feels like he's a kissing bandit. Can I read you something? Because I do, I have a, I had a little birdie in the audience. Who's commentary, I honestly didn't ask if I could do this, so I'm not going to name her. But anonymously, it was a singular.

experience, I will never recover. He is a very slender little man who is absolutely not six feet tall. That's for sure. That's what we got on Harry. It's all good. He is, yeah, the running, man. You just can't keep the weight on when you run as much as he does. I don't care how many pound of chocolate's you eat. Can we talk about the monologue a little bit more? because I really did chuckle and was also interested in a metacommentary sense in how they kind of needleed at the idea that there's less going on than people act like with Harry, like where he was talking about how he took up jogging and said there's nothing interesting about that. But because it's me doing it, people think it's interesting. And I thought that was a

I was a little surprised to hear him go at that dynamic which I think circles his stardom and I thought that was, I laughed at it. I thought it was cool. I thought it was insightful and funny. You gotta go see the emoji thing on Weekend Update.

That was, that's one of the best bits of the year, for sure. Okay, I'll go look at it. Because it's Marcello in like the peak of his powers and he's breaking in all the right ways, and the writing is terrific, and it's funny. He's always at the peak of his powers, but I got to say, like, when Harry jumped into the Sebastian Manuscalco sketch,

I thought that was so impressive, because here, like, here's this bit that is entirely constructed to give Marcella Hernandez just an opportunity to do this thing that he's really good at and is completely ridiculous, but that he really wants to do. And for the first 60% of the sketch, Harry is just giving him the floor

and playing it straight and doing what he's there to do. But when he jumped in and did it back, I thought it was really impressive and he was pretty good at it. He's an actor. He's an actor. Yeah.

Let's, yeah, huh? Did you ever think that we would be back here on this podcast doing another? He's an actor? I don't know. I don't know. I saw Joel Alwin at the Oscars this week, and I was like, oh, look, he got himself invited. I guarantee you, Taylor Swift went to more Oscar post parties than Joe did last week. Joe Alwyn looks really good in a tux. And so as far as I'm concerned, he can go to as many Oscars as he wants.

Yeah. I would have liked to have seen, see, you didn't see the emoji sketch, but I would have liked to have seen Harry play the part that Mikey Day played. But Mikey Day ended up doing such a great job that I don't think I'd swap about. Should we pause the pod and I'll go watch this emoji sketch? Do you want to devote two minutes to doing that? All right, pause. Of course, we got division science. Snorkel, snarking of women. And my boy the goat, building with a horn on it.

Okay. What did I just watch? Did I oversell it? No, it was very funny. Orange Square. Orange Square. is good. RBM is good. There are some crazy emojis. You're never, you are not RBF, Nathan. You could never be RBF. I'm really glad that we did that. It's a great sketch. You just like when they break.

I love when they break. I do. I love when they break, but in the right way, not in the Jimmy Fallon always breaking for no reason kind of way. I like one like Marcello who just did the Sebastian Manuscau, whatever's name is. Manus Triple Salcao. manatee impersonation and keeps it totally together while everybody else falls around him, thinks that his castmates are funny. So good times. I am interested, Nora, in whether you think that 430,000 first week units for Kiss All the Time, period, disco, comma, occasionally, period, compared to 521,000 units for album of the year winning Harry's house, is good, bad, indifferent, expected, surprising?

How do you feel about that? Gosh, I think it's, it would be hard for me to give any answer other than ultimately pretty indifferent because it's at least ballpark. And I just think that those first week unit sales outside of the world of stands who are really, really attached to certain types of metrics, I just don't feel like they matter that much. I don't feel like I think there's a relationship between that to what kind of cultural moment happens around release. But I don't think that it's a perfect relationship.

And I think the moment is much more important. I also think the fact that American Girls seems to be taking, there are a number of songs from this album that seem to be taking off a little bit, but American Girls, I think, is up to number eight on. Debute at four. And it's, but it's, and then I think it went down a little bit after the initial onset of the album's just out and everybody's listening to it. But now it's going back up.

Now it's got, now it's got an upward trajectory. which to me is a really, really good sign that people are returning to this music. It's working its way into their lives. It has some longevity potential. And, you know, we've talked about how we know that there are real, there are people who really, really ride for that song. And so what's happened there, I think, has been a really positive indicator for him.

I think the confidence to do Dance No More in coming up roses. I mean, when we talked about it, we were saying basically, wouldn't it be cool if he would go out on a limb a little bit and do, instead of doing aperture, do American girls as the second single and a dance no more or a pop? He kind of won up to us. He took it one further in the song selections, which, like, even with the moment at the beginning of coming up roses, I just think that doing that is. a flex. I think that having that moment where you have, you know, you're on that stage, you have the whole string section and it's just hairy there. And like, I agree with you that he, he seemed nervous, but it also seemed like by the end of it, he really, really had people's attention. Just say the word and we'll take up the test where we float with the bad ones and skip all the rest.

and that takes a lot of confidence. So, like, right now, I feel pretty good about where this seems to be going. What about, do you have a different take based on the fact that it's, it's a chunk off where he was with Harry's house, certainly? Yeah, I think it's a meaningful difference, and I think the answer is because as it was is a giant hit. You know, it's not the same. And aperture was not.

and I don't fault them for going with aperture because it sort of set the vibes and it created some intrigue but it clearly didn't resonate in the same I mean even right now you know yesterday American girls did 3.7 million on Spotify and aperture's down at two aperture's actually below coming up roses on a daily basis at least yesterday so I think that tells us that, you know, it just didn't resonate. That's okay. And I think that probably has something to do with the first week traction. But again, I don't, I don't think that's what it was about. And I think his place in culture is assured with this album rollout campaign. Like, I have no criticism of the album rollout campaign. Like, they did the things they needed to do to get him out there

to make him seem special. He did the right little interviews. He put out the right little nuggets, it's the runner's world thing or whatever he did was great. Yeah. And it's now just like, is the music going to connect? And I think it was bold but smart to do dance no more. And coming up roses. And I say that because they were seeing this data before we did. So they knew what the status of aperture was.

And they knew where first week sales were coming in. And maybe they could have hammered on American girls just to like try to make it the song. But I don't think that's what this record was ever. about. Like this album was not supposed to be, we've got the big hit single. This album was supposed to be put it on, it's cool, like Harry Styles makes really cool solo albums. This is not a boy bander, right? Yeah. And so by dipping into songs 9 and 10 or something on the track list, that's what it communicates. Like, so I don't think it's a, not anything anybody would be worried about. I think it's a reflection of the fact that as it was is probably the biggest song in his portfolio. Maybe

watermelon sugar is bigger, but as it was, is streamed. In my mind, watermelon sugar is bigger, but I don't know if that's actually backed up by raw numbers. No, I mean, I mean, to date, as it was, is a four billion streamer and watermelon sugars at three. So there's a pretty significant difference between those two. Now, again, we had more listeners in the time. that as it was came out versus watermelon sugar on streaming services on and on. There's some differences

that happened through time, but that's a big enough delta that, particularly given that as it was came out later, that I think it just tells you that was a big hit and that carried that album

and that song does not exist on this album, but I think, I don't, what are your circles saying about this? I've got some who are like, hey, can an album be interesting and boring

at the same time? I think we talked about that. But then I've heard from some people who are like, no, this record is really cool. Like, it is an eminently listenable, interesting album that gets more interesting the more you listen to it. Yeah, I think about the same.

I mean, I think I tend to get, I tend to get the moments that are fun singled out to me. Like, those are the conversations that I tend to have because particularly, you know, I talk to people who I go to concerts with about music a lot. And so what are we looking for? We're looking for the moments that are going to be really, really fun

when we go see this show. And so my friend who was at S&L said that Dance No More was really great live. And that that was just like a really fun moment. A couple of the American girls' heads, they are in my life and they are in my DMs and they are in my text messages. Okay. So I don't think like, I think that what I'm hearing is that people are finding ways to have a lot of fun with this album. I think it's been echoed some of what we've felt, which is that it takes a little bit more and it's a little bit harder to get to that place. I know last week when we were taking questions, we were talking about something sort of similar.

And I was saying that when I'd put the call out for questions, it didn't have anybody in those responses saying, what are you talking about? This is my favorite Harry album ever and that that felt notable. I didn't get a lot of people doing that, but a couple people after we talked about that did reach out and make a full-throated. I like this one above all of the others. It's my favorite. It's an all-timer to me. I don't think that that is a consensus opinion, but I do know that those people are out there. So I think people are having fun with it.

Here's my question about aperture, and given what you were just saying, do you think that there's, could there have been a different first, single, that would have meaningfully altered the trajectory of this? Yeah. What do I know? I know nothing. I would have tried pop or dance no more. Yeah. I would have tried it.

I just, I go back and watch that Netflix special and tell me that arena is not on fire for pop. Yeah. It is. And he, most importantly, he's on fire for pop. Yeah. Here's my question then. is that so usually when there's a

when an artist chooses a relatively esoteric lead single I think one of the first instincts is to ask if that's a form of antagonism mild antagonism towards the audience. That's not something I ever really get with Harry. No, I don't think so. Option B is it a little bit of a, again,

like I just, more and more I hear this album because that song, it is a five-minute song that never really takes off and flies. Right. It's a challenge to get into. It's asking a lot of people. And I do more and more as I spend more time with this album, just hear it as this like, kind of man at a crossroads album, like man in a moment of indecision trying to figure himself out and trying to figure out like, what he actually wants out of this relatively strange life that he's living. And I guess I wonder if

starting there comes from the one side of his mouth that seems to be talking on some of this that says, I wish this all was a little smaller. And I wish that not so many people felt entitled to an opinion on my life or to put weight on the way that I feel or think or talk or say. And so maybe it's like, it's just, it's like building a little bit of a moat around what he's doing. Now, there are other things about how Harry Styles is approaching this album campaign that are not doing that at all. So that's why I hear some, I hear some inner conflict, which we all have at times. And I guess I wonder if the single, if aperture as the first single ultimately falls into the category of like just putting up a little bit of a guardrail that is keeping some people out of this thing. But maybe it's intentional to some degree.

Well, then why is he shown up at the post party with Zoe Kravitz? Because I think he can't decide. As a very wise man once said, he's indecisive, he can't decide. I think he seems like he wants it both ways a little bit or doesn't know which one he wants. Which I don't know any of this. I'm just thinking. But he went through something traumatic with the death of someone he was really close to and who had an understanding of his life and experiences that very few people on this earth can have.

And it seems like it really made him think a lot about the relationship with the audience and what he's supposed to let in and what he's supposed to keep out. And I guess I would think it would be pretty natural to have some feelings that, conflict with each other over that, to be simultaneously, deeply grateful and excited by and for the opportunities that he has because he is Harry Styles, and also to feel a little bit like, wow, I would like to go to the club and have nobody recognize me and just chill out in Italy forever. Do you think Zoe Kravitz has lost a snake in Harry's walls? So I think if you're a snake person, you're kind of a snake person, right? Like, I don't think that someone who has a pet snake then moves on to another part of their life and is like, I actually don't need the snake anymore.

I guess I just think that you would keep one around. You think that snake is in, or who knows who's placed there in in Brooklyn? I don't know. I really, I have to imagine that it would be relatively different. difficult even with private travel just from an immigration and customs perspective to be traveling with a snake. But I don't know the specifics on that having never tried myself. Well, he seems to be in a very good place. Yeah, he seems like he's having fun. He seems like he's having fun. I'm still seeking. It's definitely seeking. I'm getting a lot of the seeking. Here's another

question that I'm seeking the answer to. Uh, is the union. for this tour. Is everybody supposed to show up in ties? I have no idea. Seems like he's doing a lot of work wear. Well, he wasn't so much on coming up roses. Is this going to be like Chapel

where she puts on the Instagram like what the theme is every night? Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I think that he's doing a lot of like, for women they call it office siren. I don't know what they call it for Harry. But it just, he's, you know, in the monologue, he's wearing this, like, boxy pinstripe suit.

He's got the big blue tie. I think when he did coming up, roses, he was wearing kind of a quarter zip with furry sleeves. But underneath it, I think he was wearing a tie. Well, they showed all the outfits in that sketch. So he's got a lot to choose from. Well, but it is, but it's different, right? because it's not, it is a little bit of an interesting wrinkle to take on as someone who, you know, as a man who has experimented with how he dresses, has experimented in ways that veer towards the feminine,

to try to create a conversation that dovetails with that through elements of traditional men's wear. I don't know. I feel like I haven't seen quite enough of what he's going to do aesthetically on stage and what the tour outfits are going to look like. But that's, I'm interested in that. He has my attention. He has our attention. That's, that's where Harry is right now. Okay, I have one more Harry question because I have a feeling you're going to move us on.

But I do want to ask this. I was going to. He was wearing a tie, by the way. I think he was wearing like a pink tie. Yeah. Under the jacket. Yeah. What did you think about the fact that, you know, so he hosts a week before Ryan Gosling is hosting and does the whole monologue basically about how he's freaking out because Harry Styles is there, like devotes the majority of his time on that stage to talking about somebody else with something to promote.

Then Gosling comes back, introduces the first song, and then for coming up roses, there's Paul Simon. Right. It's a little bit like sometimes Yoles talk about. about Taylor, like, assembling the Avengers? What did you think about the fact that he was getting cosigns from some pretty bold-faced names? I think there's a combination of clout chasing. Not on Harry's part, just like, this,

I think they felt like this was a really big show and a really big get. And I'm interested to see what the ratings look like. relative to Ryan Gosling. But I think right, I think he was basically repaying the favor to Ryan Gosling in some capacity. Yeah, although it's a completely different

to stand there and say, ladies and gentlemen, Harry Styles, versus to give up a large portion of your time to effectively promoting Harry's hosting gig the following week is, those are different to me. Yeah, I agree with you on that.

But we've had Taylor introducing Ice Spice, you know, those kinds of moments where, where, you know, other, and that wasn't obviously a double hosting thing. But somebody's got to do it. It's sort of boring if it's a cast member. So it's fun when it's special guests. So Ryan Gosling, it wasn't a surprise for me. The surprise was Paul Simon. Yeah.

And that, of course, is because there's a whole bunch on this album that was inspired by Paul Simon all the way to the back Carla's song. and he speaks about Simon and Garfunkel a bunch in the press tour that he did. So I thought it was just, to me, that was a little bit of a chef's kiss just perfectly themed. Like, there are just those touches in those moments

that when SNL does it right, they do it exactly right. And obviously last time we saw Paul Simon, he was up on stage with Sabrina Carpenter at the cold open of the 50th. You know, he is attached to that institution. And so to me it was a, in its own way, it was the institution really taking in Harry as one of their own.

Yeah. He's hosted twice now. I'm sure he'll at least have another. I don't know that he's going to become one of the guys on the ultimate leaderboard. No, no, no. But he's one of theirs. And he's, and he'll, there's not that many people who have hosted multiple times. I think, again, he's, he's probably got a third one, at least in him. and so Harry and S&L, that's a pretty deep relationship. And I thought it was really fun. All right. Who were you going to tell me that you were really interested in and excited about? Well, all I was going to say is I think the person who had the most fun this weekend was not on the, was not at after parties in New York, but was it after parties in Los Angeles. And that is Gracie Abrams rolling around the Oscars, after parties.

I mean, these two looking like a million dollars, the two of them. them. So happy. They're the cutest. I know they are really cute. I am, I'm into this couple. I'm excited. She's definitely got an album coming and who knows when. But, you know, it's, it's, she's, he's, he's telling everybody at these award shows, like his favorite album that he's listening to is hers. So we know it's coming. And it's going to be exciting. Like, we're turning the page now through this. Harry release to a bunch of speculated and oft-rumored releases that are coming in the back part of this year. Not oft-rumored. Okay, well, let's start with one of them.

We haven't had a Casey Musgraves album in a couple of years at this point, but she has announced that her album, Middle of Nowhere, is going to come out. It's been a dry spell for Casey. It has been a dry spell. I bet you were just waiting to make that joke. But the dry spell will end on May 1st, middle of nowhere. Nowhere is coming out. It is her seventh full-length album following up Deeper Well from 2024. And as you alluded to, the first single is called Dry Spell. And it has been out for a few days.

What do you think of this song? It's fun. The video is hilarious. The video is amazing. I'm ready for a full album of this. Me too. I was thinking back to our conversation about Deeper Well, which, like, remains an album that I like enough. Okay.

But the thing that we talked about so much, or at least I talked about, because I know that that was my dominant feeling about that record was just that I was, you know, you made all the white woman's Instagram jokes, and I felt like it got so platitudinous that I missed the sharper edges of Casey. I missed the humor.

I missed the point of view. And look, this is a song about not having gotten laid in a while. Like, it's not that deep, although I'm sure Casey would like to make a joke out of that. But it's really funny. The jokes are really good. And it's specific. And a little pointed in a way that was just,

like exactly what I wanted to hear her do coming out of the gate ahead of this album, because that's what I think her superpower is. And so it's not like I want to play this song on repeat for the rest of my life, but it just, in terms of answering the questions that I feel like the last album set up, I was so excited to hear this. Yeah. I mean, to me, it's, Goldenauer for her stands alone is this just incredible creation. And that's not to say that anything that comes next, like, be where you are, be the artist where you are. and she's on a dry spell. And so she's walking through,

she's walking through grocery stores in like, in fucking sandals and socks. And it's sliders and socks, right? And a camo sweatshirt. And it's fantastic. It's, it's high comedy. If this record doesn't take itself as seriously as the last one does,

that's going to be a fun juxtaposition. Yeah. And I think it's going to be to its benefit. guess I shouldn't get ahead of myself, but I hope it would be to its benefit. I thought the end of the music video, which is basically like she's at the grocery store and she's seeing allusions to sex everywhere. She pulls the orange juice out of the refrigerated case and all of a sudden it doesn't say orange juice. It says orgy juice. Everywhere there are bananas and eggplants. she pulls the 69 at the slip at the deli counter.

And then at the end where she's placing the order, this is after the song's over. If you haven't listened to the music video, go watch it. It's really, really funny. And there's a bit at the end where she finally places her deli order and they're just like bleeping the every living daylights out of it. And I was, like, I was laughing out loud. I thought it was really funny and just silly and tonally it really worked. I'm excited for this Casey era She's a good time no matter what

Well and she says she released She put a you know when she announced it She put out a little statement about what it's about And she basically said like this is an album about being single Yeah And there's a fair bit of There was a paragraph attached to that That I half didn't understand

Because it was going into And that exists on multiple planes of thought and like blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But I was just like, you know what, based on the song, she's not making it that complicated. And I think that's a good thing. And Willie Nelson, Miranda Lambert,

and Billy Strings are all featured. So that'll be really fun. I think that's the last album that we're going to get to cover before Nathan's great YouTube takeover of the pod. I don't know what you're talking about. For people who don't know,

we're not going to have Nora in May. And so we're trying to figure out what we're going to do. And we're going to try to not have it be me talking about Peter Gabriel's So album to you for an entire month. But I don't know, Kai and I have to sort it out. So send us your thoughts. Well, one thing that I am thankful for, given that, is that there seem to be some signs, literal and figurative, that point to the possibility of not only an Olivia Rodriguez album. Yeah.

O-R-3. But an Olivia Rodrigo album in the month of April. There's a big billboards of an LA. Yes. There is.

And it has new branding that was consistent with her website. And then there have been these locks placed around various cities,

Los Angeles, London, New York, I think, that again, have the logo, and it's heart-shaped, you know, it's the kind of that people put on bridges and stuff. But I believe that some of them say April on them. It feels like it's coming.

It really feels like it's coming. She was at the Connor story Mumford & Sons post party and spent a little time with Lauren Michaels and she was photographed coming out of there. and one would think that perhaps if you had something coming and you wanted to, I don't know, double host potentially or be the musical guest that maybe you would come and kiss the ring as one does. So who knows?

She's out and about more, we're getting pictures of her more. It feels like we're leaning in. I think the most fun thing, I mean, Olivia Rodriguez is going to put out new music at some point, so we're speculating. They're definitely dropping these little hints. what we know is that she went through a breakup in recent months, and it will be very interesting to know,

did that reset the project? Did it change lyrical content of songs? Did it elicit new songs? Did it can't? So I don't, I think that is the big intrigue question mark from a lyrical content perspective, I guess songwriting perspective generally, about what she's going to put out here.

But it feels like she's coming back. And go to the 30,000 foot level, Nora, the Grammys are moving to Disney next year. Yeah. And we're going to have Taylor Swift and Harry Stiles. And it seems like Olivia Rodrigo. And it seems like Gracie Abrams. And it seems like Noah Khan.

And it seems like, right, like just sort of on. and on and on. It seems like maybe Phoebe Bridgers. It seems like, who knows? These are all artists who it feels like that time is coming. Not to mention Rosalie and not to mention Lily Allen, some of the things that have already happened. I love them on for, right? Like there's a lot of stuff that's going to be out there in consideration.

It's going to be a pretty interesting year that really when you get down to the numbers, there are some large artists who aren't going to get into the, album of the year conversation. They're just, they're going to be left out because there's that much stuff that it feels like is coming. So there was another wrinkle with some of the Easter egging that was going on. Because of course, if there's a new Olivia Rodrigo album, the question that comes to my mind is, okay, what's it going to be called and what four-letter word is speaking to her in this

moment? And this is just my... Lock. So lock, or there was a thing that happened where the billboard went up in L.A. And then later that afternoon, it went up and it was purple. It was sort of her typical shade of purple that they use in a lot of the marketing and is her branding. Then later in the afternoon, it gets repainted. And it's in kind of a lighter shade of purple, but also kind of, it's kind of a pink.

and then some of the locks, I believe, were also in a shade of pink. And then she wore a pink dress to the Oscars, I think. So you think it's pink? So could it be pink? Yeah. Why not? Look. I just want to say that into a microphone just in case I turn out to be right.

Like, that's all that I'm doing here. Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, Olivia really bucked the sophomore slumpy album trend last time around, though it didn't sort of catch the world by fire, the tour definitely did. And it established her in a lot of ways as like a fully, wholly credible artist. Like, she is an absolute priority to record label. Clearly, the storytelling around her is real. And she's just like, she's just a great artist. Get him back is on my playlist, in my head. There's stuff on that that you definitely come back to. And that's the hardest one to do is to follow up, God, following driver's license. It's just how the fuck do you do it?

Like, it's just hard, and they did an awesome job. So I'm stoked for this third record. I hope it's freeing. She's had some personal life drama, which I don't wish on anyone, but boy, does it tend to produce great art? And this is an artist who matters. And I'm pretty excited if that's what we're going to get. And again, like, we're speculating.

There's a lot of chatter around Gracie that we've seen. Who knows if we're going to get something from Phoebe, but it sure feels like it's time. It's been a while. Well, Gracie, the chatter is basically based. on the fact that she posted a bunch of photos from Long Pond. She's there with Aaron.

Yeah, she's there. It seems like she's been practically living there. And then Paul has made some references to having heard music. Yeah. Which like that seems, that's enough for me. Yeah. It's out there. Again, these are artists. They're constantly

creating. It just feels like hey, there's a quiet spot. It feels like it's time to come back. posting photos from the studio, by the way. Oh, no. My queen. My North Star. I wish everyone could see how excited you're getting talking about Doolipa.

I wish everyone could see Dua Leapah through my eyes. Well, I think Dua sees Dua through her eyes. I think Cald-Turner sees Dula Lepa through my eyes. That's for sure. So that's, that's, we got a whole, we have a sneaky, awesome 2025, six that's coming after a just okay 2025 following an incredible 2024, but there are some really big artists that are coming.

Again, I don't know, like I'm, I would love to see a 1975 album. There's lots of fan chatter about stuff. There's nothing that has come forward to suggest anything is happening other than Maddie Healy was gobsmacked by the James Taylor concert he went to a North Carolina

and can't get enough of it and keeps performing with the backup singers just like James Taylor does. So who knows, maybe the entire 1975 record got shelved in favor of these. It's going to be Maddie Healy doing James Taylor covers. There could be worse things. Yeah, that's true. Well, there's a lot to look forward to.

Anything else? Anything else in your mind, Nathan? No, it's a big spring ahead. I mean, I'm ready for what's next. Like, I think we're still waiting for that album of 2026. Right? Like, is there a song that's taken over? That was the thing that came from the Oscars for me was like, wow, the Demon Hunter stuff. Golden is a big song.

It's a big song, and I was glad it finally got a moment because that didn't end up really happening at the Grammys. So I think that was great. Yeah, yeah. And it is one of those generational, like, there's a subset of young, kids who are singing that song and those songs like they were singing Frozen 10 years ago. Yeah, and honestly, I mean, no shade to Frozen. Like, Frozen's got some great stuff. I probably on the whole would take K-pop Demon Hunters most days. So I think that's great.

I hope all the parents of young kids are grateful or at least relieved by the presence of Cape Town. Wow, the Kristen Bell Shade. Check you out. I do think our best stuff is still ahead. I'm a big fan of this Harry record. I think it's super cool. But there's a lot of cool stuff ahead.

Audrey Hobart's brother has got a song out. There's some interesting, some really interesting chat around Malcolm. And I think there's still some big pop girlies who are going to surprise us this year. Fun for us. Looking forward to it. All right, this has been every single album. As always, I'm Nora Prince Yaddy. he's Nathan Hubbard. Thank you to Kai McMullen for producing this episode and to you for listening.

We'll talk to you next week.