As the charts have remained dominated all November by Taylor Swift — now in her second month of pop-world eclipsing — a number of long-beloved underground stars who’ve never quite played on her commercial level have made their return. Within the space of eight days, we received new releases from Rosalía, Charli xcx, Robyn and fka Twigs, none of which debuted to overwhelming chart impact, but which gave pop superfans a whole lot to be thankful for this season.
On this special Thanksgiving episode of the Greatest Pop Stars podcast, host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Billboard charts senior analyst/writer Eric Frankenberg to talk about a surprisingly bountiful buffet of recent art-pop releases, one which Eric in particular feels almost overly fed by. We go through the new releases from all four of the aforementioned artists, discussing our feelings about their quality and significance, as well as about what they mean when taken all in such quick succession like this.
Along the way, we answer all the questions about these songs most likely to be bandied around your family dinner table: Is Rosalía getting ready to dominate the next year with LUX, through to the 2027 Grammys? Is Charli xcx actively trying to distance herself from Brat Summer by bringing along Wuthering Winter? Does Robyn have anything left to prove at this point — and if so, does “Dopamine” prove it? Is Twigs’ new Eusexua: Afterglow bonus album really superior to the original Eusexua? And perhaps most importantly: Will any of these art-pop icons come to bear on our Greatest Pop Stars of 2025 discussion?
Check it out above — along with a YouTube playlist of some of the most important recent moments from these four artists, all of which are discussed in the podcast — and subscribe to both the Greatest Pop Stars podcast on Apple Music or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts) for great new episodes every Thursday!
And as we say in every one of these GPS podcast posts — if you have the time and money to spare, please consider donating to any of these causes in the fight for trans rights:
Transgender Law Center
Trans Lifeline
Destination Tomorrow
Gender-Affirming Care Fundraising on GoFundMe
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