Actor Emily Alyn Lind joins us in the studio for the first time to talk about the hotly anticipated book-to-screen adaptation We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, which was a bestseller back in 2014, becoming a booktok phenomenon during the pandemic. It’s a series that’s a hotbed of wealth, deception, rivalry, and intrigue, and she unpacks it all for us. And yes, there are some spoilers, so beware! Plus we discuss what it was like growing up in a showbiz family (her mom is an established actor known primarily for One Tree Hill, her father a first assistant director, and her two sisters are also in the biz), her first role aged five in Gaspar Noé’s Enter the Void, navigating the industry, nepotism, and the Gossip Girl reboot in which she starred as preppy Upper East Sider Audrey Hope. She’s a die-hard film nerd and we go deep. Check out We Were Liars on Prime Video here: https://amzn.to/4lBw5vt SUBSCRIBE to Our Podcast ►►https://tinyurl.com/48yfe4v5 SUBSCRIBE to YT ►►https://tinyurl.com/5n8km55u See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Benito Skinner is having a moment. The 31-year-old first captured the internet’s attention back in 2018 with his on-point impressions of everyone from the Kardashians to Timothee Chalamet to Billie Eilish, not to mention original characters like Jenni the TMI hairdresser and realtor Deliverance Richards. But all the while, between the online skits and the stand-up nights in Bushwick, he was gestating the script for what is now Prime Video’s Overcompensating. Based on his own experiences as a closeted football player heading to college, finding his people and grappling with his sexuality, Overcompensating is a stylistic throwback to American Pie and Mean Girls. It’s a hilarious coming of age, with a helluva lot of heart, and a story that packs a punch. Not to mention an ensemble cast and cameos to die for including Lukas Gage, Connie Britton, Adam DiMarco, Kyle MacLachlan, Megan Fox, Bowen Yang, Holmes, and that’s just to name a few. Skinner joins us on the couch for the first time to talk about how it all came together, how he got Charli XCX to feature and be the music supervisor, plus, his bestie/co-star/podcast co-host Mary Beth Barone. We also discuss the importance of queer content, how straight guys are always talking about his butt, and that one time his whole high school football team did drag. Plus how he’s a Grailed Warlord, that condom scene, the real Carmen, his boyfriend Terrence O’Connor, and so much more. SUBSCRIBE to Our Podcast ►►https://tinyurl.com/48yfe4v5 SUBSCRIBE to YT ►►https://tinyurl.com/5n8km55u See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The last time 28-year-old Kevin Abstract joined us in the studio was as part of BROCKHAMPTON way back in 2019. At that point he was already three solo albums deep (if you include his 2014 mixtape MTV1987), but as the founding member of sprawling, genre-splicing “boyband,” BROCKHAMPTON were still the centripetal force. By 2022 the group which was formed partially with friends in high school and partially via a Kanye West fan forum, were on permanent hiatus. Never say never, the members are still collabing here and there, and that includes with Abstract, but in the meantime the rapper/singer/producer/creative director/filmmaker has been carving his own assured path, including 2023 scuzzy indie rock swerve Blanket. After sliding into Zach’s DMs, Abstract — joined by collaborators Quadeca and Love Spells — joined us on the couch to lift the lid on his latest opus BLUSH. It’s a record he likens to a movie, with an expansive cast including Dominic Fike, Truly Young, JPEGMAFIA, Drigo, to name a few. He’s seeking to craft a Warholian, Factory-like creative vibe. He talks to us about all this, plus the heartbreak and breakup that both fueled the album and inspired him to move back to Texas to reset — both emotionally and creatively. He also discusses what he learned from working with Jack Antonoff, how he often writes music from a place of survival or chaos, the story of how he and Fike became so tight, and so much more. On this record — after years of estrangement and a lot of work done — Abstract also reconnected and began working with former BROCKHAMPTON member (and his high school friend) Ameer Vann, who parted ways with the group following sexual misconduct allegations in 2018. You don’t want to miss this conversation. SUBSCRIBE to Our Podcast ►►https://tinyurl.com/48yfe4v5 SUBSCRIBE to YT ►►https://tinyurl.com/5n8km55u See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Best known as Lizzie McGuire’s pesky little brother Mike (and his role in Cory in the House), these days Jake Thomas isn’t only an actor, but a director, writer, photographer, Japanese speaker, and Pokemon aficionado with a social media presence that’s both genuine and nostalgic. Now, after working on the video game MindsEye for the better part of five years, utilizing state of the art performance capture technology, the 35-year-old is expanding his skillset again, playing tech billionaire mogul Marco Silva. He joins us in the studio to discuss this latest project, plus we take a trip down memory lane, talking not just about the good ol’ days on the Disney / McGuire set, but also just what happened with the canceled reboot. Plus his love for K-pop and Pokemon, his meme-ability, how his 13th bday was his party peak (it’s a story that involves Aly & AJ), and just why he stayed at Nicholas Cage’s house for a week (and what he did there). Not to mention working with Jennifer Lopez in the iconic 2000 psychological and surrealist horror The Cell, and so much more. SUBSCRIBE to Our Podcast ►►https://tinyurl.com/48yfe4v5 SUBSCRIBE to YT ►►https://tinyurl.com/5n8km55u See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

These days she needs no introduction, as the magnetic co-star in Wicked, breathing new life into the character of Elphaba, but Cynthia Erivo has been wowing audiences on the stage and screen (and in the ears) for years. With a knack for inhabiting and redefining iconic characters she’s been Celie in The Color Purple and Harriet Tubman in Harriet, not to mention also playing Aretha Franklin. She’s almost EGOT-status (only the Oscar has eluded her thus far), and now she’s back with her ambitious second album I Forgive You, which took a staggering 396 days to make — often in tandem with the world-conquering Wicked press tour. Phew! We discuss all this with her plus her close relationship with Ariana Grande and the key role she played in getting the ball rolling with Erivo and President & Chief Creative Officer of Republic Records, Wendy Goldstein, and now we have a 20 track album — which we go deep on. We also discuss notions of forgiveness, abandonment issues, her Broadway experience, being a VP of her former acting school RADA (because she’s not busy enough!), and so much more. Stream "I Forgive You" ►►https://cynthiaerivo.lnk.to/IForgiveYou SUBSCRIBE to Our Podcast ►►https://tinyurl.com/48yfe4v5 SUBSCRIBE to YT ►►https://tinyurl.com/5n8km55u See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ever since she emerged at the tail-end of the 2000s as Marina and the Diamonds, Marina Diamandis has been a blast of fresh air with her elastic vocals, indelible left-of-center pop hooks, and fantastical world-building. From her playful but probing explorations of female archetypes on second record Electra Heart, to the technicolor disco of Froot, to the apocalyptic pop of Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land, the Welsh-Greek singer is in a state of constant evolution. All of which we get into in this conversation. Returning with her sixth record Princess of Power, her first as a fully independent artist, Marina walks us through the new album, a shimmering Italo-disco pop juggernaut. She discusses her battle with chronic fatigue syndrome and how that’s affected her life and process, and how now, at 39 she’s really standing in her power, but also eager to get back to FUN. For Marina it’s not just about healing through writing, it’s also about writing to bring who she wants to be into existence. Plus we talk poetry, mushroom trips, house parties, dating, loneliness, her tight-knit circle of friends, and that one time she dressed as a boy to audition to be in a boyband, and so much more. SUBSCRIBE to Our Podcast ►►https://tinyurl.com/48yfe4v5 SUBSCRIBE to YT ►►https://tinyurl.com/5n8km55u See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Still only 22 Finn Wolfhard is a prolific polymath. An actor, musician, screenwriter, director — he wears all these hats with ease, curiosity and enthusiasm. He first came to prominence playing Mike Wheeler in the much beloved Stranger Things, which wrapped filming last year after five seasons. The Vancouver-born multi-hyphenate talks grieving the end of the series that has taken up half his life, that final day, the special bond with the cast (particularly fellow actor and musician Joe Keery), and what mementos he took from set. Not to mention what he learned, which he took into writing, directing, and starring in his A24 slasher-comedy Hell of a Summer, which was six and a half years in the making, alongside friend, co-director, co-star, and co-writer Billy Bryk. Wolfhard has previously released music as part of the band The Aubreys and Calpurnia, but now he’s striking out on his own with his debut LP, Happy Birthday, a compendium of catchy, lo-fi indie-pop. A solitary, instinctual project recorded entirely to tape, we talk about that too. Not to mention working with Jesse Eisenberg, anxiety, decision paralysis, seeking community and coming of age in art, digital versus analogue, big budgets versus indie films, and so much more. Stream "Happy Birthday" ►►https://finnwolfhard.ffm.to/happybirthday SUBSCRIBE to Our Podcast ►►https://tinyurl.com/48yfe4v5 SUBSCRIBE to YT ►►https://tinyurl.com/5n8km55u See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Julia Michaels is unquestionably one of the finest songwriters of her generation. She’s penned hits for everyone from Bieber to Selena to Sabrina to One Direction to Dua Lipa… the list goes on. And on. But in 2017, when she emerged with the raw, gut-wrenching ‘Issues,’ she also established herself as a solo star with a distinct voice all her own. Since then the six-time Grammy-nominated star has released a debut LP, 2021’s Not in Chronological Order, and now she’s back with her new EP Second Self — her first released under the own label GFY. She opens up about this transition and taking control of her career in a new way, plus the songs on her EP, including her second collab with Maren Morris, and the biting lyrics of ‘Time.’ She also opens up about what it was like to work with Tate McRae, Britney Spears, and how she approaches songwriting. And the 31-year–old is newly engaged! So we get the skinny on her French tattoo-artist fiance Mat Rule. Stream "Second Self" ►►https://tinyurl.com/2573vxr8 SUBSCRIBE to Our Podcast ►►https://tinyurl.com/48yfe4v5 SUBSCRIBE to YT ►►https://tinyurl.com/5n8km55u See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

He’s one of the key architects of modern pop music who’s written smashes for everyone from Justin Bieber to Jungkook to Miley to Eminem to Maroon 5, while simultaneously launching a successful solo career (two full-lengths, four mixtapes). But at the height of his solo fame, the Long Island native took stock of his situation and his label contract and dipped, deciding to spend his most recent years writing for others. It’s been seven years since his second album Glory Sound Prep, and as long since we had him in the studio. Finally he’s back with a new, third record Father Figure, that pulls as much from legends like J Dilla, as his own canny ear for melody and cadence. He talks about why he stepped away for so long, the impact of becoming a father to three boys, the brass tacks of being a songwriter, and why he’s back and doing it on his own terms with his label Beautiful Mind Records. We dive into his new album collabs with Pharrell Williams and Luke Combs, buying himself out of his contract, his views on success and so much more. Plus he plays us the initial demos — with his vocals on it — for songs like ‘Ghost’ and ‘Holy’ which went on to be hits for Justin Bieber, and what it was like to work with Jungkook on ‘Seven’ featuring Latto which broke the record for the fastest song in history to surpass one billion streams on Spotify. Stream "Why" ft. Luke combs SUBSCRIBE to Our Podcast ►►https://tinyurl.com/48yfe4v5 SUBSCRIBE to YT ►►https://tinyurl.com/5n8km55u See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As Zach rightfully quips in his intro, Justin Firstman is a TV writer-turned-center of attention. While the Long Island-born 33-year-old became a viral smash seemingly out of nowhere with his Instagram impressions series in the early months of the pandemic (biggest hit an impression of banana bread’s publicist), Firstman had been honing his craft for a minute, writing and starring in whip-smart, subversive shorts like Men Don’t Whisper and Call Your Father, as well as working as a writer on the acclaimed, five-season run of the series Search Party. But just before the pandemic his life fell apart, the TV project he’d been working on collapsed as did his long-term relationship, and then he was trapped inside like the rest of us. Which is when he started churning out his impressions series, which blew up, in part, because Ariana Grande started reposting his skits. We discuss all this, plus his debut album Secrets, a genre-jumping comedy record that grew out of an appeal to his followers to confess their secrets which he would then post anonymously. And people would spill the wildest, most out of pocket tidbits. The record features everyone from Rufus Wainwright to Julia Fox to the dude from the Bloodhound Gang. We delve into the songs and also discuss his coming out, his theory on being a slut-soul, his sexual awakening at legendary Berlin club Berghain, and his complicated relationship with both the internet and the transactional town that is LA. Plus he educates Dan on dark rooms, talks TV show English Teacher (in which he’s a recurring character), and discusses working with his friend Rachel Sennott on her new upcoming show. Not to mention sex party etiquette and starring in the Sebastián Silva-directed art house film Rotting in the Sun, in which he took part in unsimulated on-screen sex. And that’s just the, ahem, tip, of the iceberg. SUBSCRIBE to Our Podcast ►►https://tinyurl.com/48yfe4v5 SUBSCRIBE to YT ►►https://tinyurl.com/5n8km55u See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.