My favorite podcast to keep me company. I love love love the long form audio and much more than the trendy video podcasts taking over the industry. The real Beths will never leave 💗

I have listened to this podcast off and on for years, but more on than off. In such a saturated market, it’s a testament to Kate’s intelligence and realness that I keep coming back. She has a way of both validating my interests while also provoking deeper thoughts on these same things. Keep podcasting Kate!

The wittiness, the word play, the candor and the cleverness that comes out of Kate’s mouth… just thank you.

I will never be able to express my gratitude enough for Kate Kennedy. I hadn’t heard of her until her book came out and I have never so instantly connected with someone’s perspective on life, pop culture, hardship, etc. Of course I binged the podcast and became a certified Beth (with the sweatshirt and all lol). Kate always seems to say exactly what I’m thinking but so much more humorously and succinctly. Her book and podcast are like a time capsule for millennial women but somehow also remain evergreen. Kate’s words have helped me through so many challenging times and provided a safe, soft space when the everything around me felt chaotic. Listening to her feels like sitting outside at a fire table, drinking a glass of wine with your best friend. That said, it absolutely pains me to say anything even remotely critical (Kate, please don’t hate me!), but the one thing I can’t get past is her unwavering support and lack of critical analysis when it comes to Taylor Swift. When she talks about her - I feel like I’m listening to a different person. TS behaves in a way and represents so many things that Kate has actively spoken out against and thoughtfully criticized. I wish there was a Patreon tier that would edit out all the TS eps and commentary because it is so hard to listen to someone I admire so, so much champion someone so (and I don’t use this word lightly) - problematic and unethical. Someone like Taylor should be learning from and admiring someone as authentic, observant, intelligent, and kind-hearted as Kate - not the other way around. I have a sneaking suspicion that most of us listen to this podcast in spite of the large amount of TS talk…not because of it. I wish Kate would admire and appreciate TS for what her music meant to her in her life, but realize that maybe TS is stuck in a state of arrested development and doing more harm than good at this point. I would just love to see Kate untether her brand from TS to a degree and let her own voice shine more. Bottom line though, Kate - no parasocial relationship is perfect am I right? ;) - and the joy and comfort you have brought me has made me a lifelong fan and champion of yours without a doubt! May your milk always be chocolate and your pizza be square :)

Like a great talk with your best girlfriend, diving in deep to fun topics, and some serious too. Wonderful perspective and has a unique gift!

I have been listening for many years at this point and it is still the best podcast I listen to.

I usually start my day with a BTIF podcast and it’s something I genuinely look forward to when I wake up. Kate has such an extensive catalog of a wide variety of topics of everything that peaks my interest ranging from all things girly pop, millennial Zeitgeist, lore, celeb gossip, motherhood, interesting takes on past and modern society impact of womanhood, all things Taylor swift, even fun things like diving into what makes a good chicken wrap—lol truly everything. She’s such a great deep diver and listening to her podcast is a 10/10 experience!!

I love this podcast. I love that it’s long. I love Kate’s word play and creative insight. The topics are sometimes very niche but even when it’s something I don’t personally invest time into -I.e. DWTS- I’ll still listen, in full to every episode. I love to hear her think and analyze. I love all her guests but especially her sister and her friends. Five stars all day ❤️

They are contagious and I’m trying to stay awake on my morning drive girl lol. Also it tricks my brain to think what you are talking about is a snore which it isn’t. I know ya gotta yawn sometimes times but please edit it out.

I have specifically gone out of my way to watch shows or engage with media that Kate talks about just so I can hear and understand her takes…SHE IS THAT GOOD. I love her interviews as well, it’s just the best listen and I love this podcast.

I would listen to unlimited episodes of Kate/Nora/Caroline please and thank you

Reading the One in a Millennial audiobook a year ago was like hearing one of my bffs talk about growing up! I felt seen as an East coast Catholic school girly with my Samantha doll in my daybed. What Kate made me realize is that I hid a lot of my “girly” interests and so discovering the BTIF podcast is healing to listen to! I’m not a TS fan so I tune into episodes that cover what interest me. What I love most is that everything from pop culture to personal or systemic challenges are covered in Kate’s quippy style. A truly delicious, fun, and thought provoking pod 💗

Not enough celebrities go to the hospital for exhaustion anymore…. Kate, loved the format of this ep. So many connections of pop culture present day to back in the dau(bed). Lylas

The content is good, but please, PLEASE edit out the bark cough. It is nails on a chalkboard and sounds like croup or COVID lungs.

Kate listen you’re the best but as a millennial I can’t believe you’re hating on Danielle (DWTS ep) so much! Give her a chance I love her and in her podcast you get so much of her personality. She’s super likable, she just doesn’t want her kids on camera so she’s shying away from her mom journey. But she really showing improvement and I think she’s a perfect fit for the show!

I always love your first take on any Taylor Swift album 🧡

Keeps me company every week while I do my Sunday reset around the house! Is a welcomed escape from our crazy world if just for a moment. Kate is exceptionally smart, insightful and funny. She says all the things I wish I was clever enough to think of.

Kate’s podcast has been so consistent and so authentic over the last few years that I’ve listened and I’m always so grateful for this little oasis she provides!! Love listening to this.

Love Kate and BTIF. Makes me feel like I am riding in the car with my old friend talking about the light, the juicy and sometimes the serious topics of life.

I appreciate hearing Kate’s take on pop culture. I like both her solo episodes and her guest interviews. Kate could clearly be a writer on a comedy show but I’m glad she didn’t go that route (selfishly!) so we get the pod instead 😂. I keep thinking of other pods I want to see Kate pair up with: A Beautiful Mess sisters, Vibe Check (w/ Sam sanders) and Culture Study w/ Anne Helene Peterson. I’m not sure if Kate is a reader but I’d love to hear more about what she is reading, do some book industry deep dives on the particular pop culture of books and how it’s changed thanks to ebooks, audiobooks, booktok, romance book culture, etc.

My favorite podcast!! Kate has a smart, funny, and oh so relatable take on current events, late 30s women’s issues, and girlhood. Her long winded, getting lost in the ideas rants are my favorite. They almost always pinpoint exactly what I wanted to say but couldn’t quite get there. I love that the pod is growing with her life without being nauseating about any specific life stage. She actually makes a childless millennial believe it’s possible to not lose yourself in the mommy. I love a deep dive and any episode with friends or Kel just yapping🫶🏻

Updated as of 7/18: Tried listening to this podcast. Can’t do it anymore! Every episode has at least ten minutes of praising Taylor Swift (but not other celebs!) even if the pod’s title or description doesn’t mention her! It’s gross how you idolize someone so much who you don’t know personally, she’s not your friend, yet you praise (never EVER critique) someone who is a billionaire. I agree with SDSSTL’s review. Wrote the following review earlier this year: We get it, you don’t like something because taylor swift would have done it either better or differently. You mention this almost any episode. Everytime you say “oh, I don’t like this because taylor swift’s down bad is metaphorically better” or compare whatever it is because your clear bias towards taylor (and you admit yourself that you’re not only a fan of her, but you idolize her so much you’ve seen like 6 shows of the eras your?) it turns the listener off of the episode. Like i said, I noticed this in not only the Katy Perry episode but others too. Is there one episode you do not bring up taylor? Because if you can, do it, so you stop stringing your “oh she didn’t do it as good as taylor swift”. Compare another pop artist? Do you opitimize Taylor to be such a “god” no one else can do better than her? It’s a turn off to hear

I like this podcast a lot, and have held my nose through all of the Taylor Swift coverage, hoping it ceases one day. Are people really that Down Bad for this type of content? Let’s do something different. Maybe get through an entire episode without mentioning TS or miscarriage? Has this podcast jumped the shark? I really don’t mind hearing about motherhood and 90s nostalgia - We are so alike! I just can’t with the constant Taylor Swift stuff. It’s SOOO BORING. (As an aside, why do eps get labeled something like 1 hour, 10 mins now when it’s really double that, 2 hours, 20 mins. - Downgrading my rating based on the terrible June 1, 2023, episode of the Kinswomen interview. Oof. Really off-topic, unentertaining, downer of an episode. Not fun listening to two deranged women self-flagulate and scold about race for an hour-and-a-half. These women think they are educated about race, but I heard contradictions and half-truths throughout. Love ya, Kate, but this was disappointing. The 4/17/22 episode with Atoosa Rubenstein was a tough listen. I had never heard of Atoosa before this episode but I was really turned off by her attitude. The episode didn't have the usual positive vibes that this podcast is known for. Even as Atoosa herself couched it as "confidence" and talked about her childhood abuse, I found her extremely off-putting. I even got the feeling that Kate wasn't really vibing with her at times, and it made me wonder if Kate herself was surprised by this sort of over-the-top and at at times negative personality from someone she clearly used to look up to. Not Kate's fault really, but the episode overall just had kind of a negative vibe that turned into more of a hate-listening session for me.

Kate has been my favorite podcaster for years. She is witty, kind, smart, and empathetic; and as a millennial about her age I often find myself wondering if we lived the same life. Highly recommend if you love pop culture and nostalgia.

She creates these episodes so beautifully and everything flows so well you would never know she is her own podcast network. The combo of interesting topics, well researched commentary, witty sense of humor, and her soothing voice has made me a listener4lyfe. She majored in millennial nostalgia, but is a guiding light to gen z and millennials alike through the telling of her own personal experience. I hope she does this show for as long as she wishes to grace us with her lovely self💜

I’ve been following Kate for years now and can’t get enough of her content. She’s incredibly smart, thoughtful, funny, and kind, and I never get tired of her commentary on anything from pop culture to women’s issues to life in general. Can’t recommend her enough.

Kate always says she is in the business of keeping people company- which is exactly what she’s done for me for the past 5 years! I wfh & have moved several times, and Kate always makes me feel like I have a friend to yap with. Love the breadth & depth of topics, and most of all I just adore Kate! Best pod, xo a loyal Beth 💕

Kate criticizes people for being narrow minded yet she herself is narrow minded

Kate, i love and adore you and how much grace and compassion you have in speaking about one Duchess of Sussex Megan Markle lol but i think you might be missing a huge chunk of context. If you want a real thrill ride - definitely check out Revenge by Tom Bower. The stuff with Megan and her dad is truly harrowing, the way she treated him is so heartbreaking, and how she operated from young age is illuminating. Love all your eps, ill take a 2 hr bar-cart or different kinds of dip analysis any day :)

I so appreciate Kate’s combination of intellect, wit, and whimsy!

Used to be my absolute fave but the quality (and probably also quantity) have just gone down. It seems like with the NYT and motherhood success (both amazing things no doubt!) she’s just not interested in the pod anymore…and it shows.

I love you love you love your show! Also, I felt like I was going crazy this episode were there just a lot of cuts? I kept thinking I accidentally bumped the FF button on my phone

Love the breadth of topics and I really enjoy that it’s equally serious as it is fun/pop culture focused.

I love these deep dives on topics I didn’t know I was so invested in! ♥️♥️

The Pop Apologists episode was excellent. Please have them on again. I first learned about your podcast from when you were a guest on PA. Kate, your voice is soothing to listen to, and you're so smart and articulate! Refreshing.

Yes—Baldoni reached out to his PR team to ask if they had done “this” (referring to the stories he saw about Lively) and made it clear that he didn’t want to hurt her—only to protect himself and the studio. He explicitly told his PR team not to be nasty. Do you even read this stuff? How is it that I know more than you two, who are supposed to be the experts? It’s maddening. Everyone initially believed and sympathized with Blake when this first came out—but when you actually look at the proof, it’s clear that she’s manipulating words and half-truths to paint herself as the victim while trying to destroy Baldoni. Would you not want to clear your name if someone lied about you and cost you millions? Maybe take the time to educate yourself on this case before spewing your well-meaning but wildly misguided “insights.” It’s embarrassing—I’m embarrassed for you. Also, he grew his hair out to donate it to kids with cancer. Jesus Christ, you two are insufferable. I could never listen to this drivel again.

I found this podcast through the one in a millennial (audio) book - which I loved- and relate so much to Kate’s takes on both nostalgic and current topics. I’m so happy that I found this podcast because I would frequently run out of listening content on long drives to work, and I love the long form. It’s the perfect balance of entertaining, relaxing and fun/funny. Thank you Kate!

Liked a lot of guest stuff she did so I subscribed. Taylor Swift is no Bob Dylan grow up. I’m over it. Unfollow.

The last year or so the quality has really fallen off, especially the last 10-12 episodes. No fresh new takes. Nothing interesting or funny to add to any conversations. Just repeating the same old, and lots and lots of mocking and judging people for their choices (even as Kate herself does things like jokingly refer to her unhinged Tik Tok shop purchases as “landfill central”). It seems like she doesn’t want to do the pod anymore. She now mocks Taylor fans (because she’s the only “good” fan and it just feels like she’s judging anything and everyone for any and any choice they make. She seems very melancholy on lots of the newer episodes. Might be time for a longer break.

This used to be one of my favorite podcasts but it seems it’s just become completely uninspiring and uninteresting. Episodes are either weeks late to the party on a topic (eras ticket advice….. at the END of a two year tour, election episode AFTER the election 😵‍💫) , absurd “hot” takes on topics the host clearly knows nothing about (5 min on Wikipedia would solve this!), or just… lack luster and sometimes a direct copy of another pod (Bad broadcast 12/16 is basically the same episode as BTI5 12/ 22… and we KNOW Kate doesn’t work ahead bc half the episodes are late to post )? I was hoping season 2 would be a reboot but … still waiting I guess

Butttt I feel like today was dejavu … was it this a copy and paste of last weeks ep? There was barely any Taylor Talk (?)

It is so refreshing to have a millennial voice to keep us up to speed on what’s happening in the zeitgeist while also pulling in all the reference material and nostalgia to make us feel seen and heard. Her enthusiasm for fandom enthusiasm is so validating and she’s created a whole community around it. If you aren’t listening to this, you’re truly missing out!

I found Kate through the Girls Gotta Eat podcast when they talked about how great her episode was about DCC and I am so glad I gave it a listen! Kate has such great takes on everything going on in the world from pop culture to politics and is such a comfort to listen to. Highly recommend!

Thanks for leading us down the path of being our best friend, snorkeling and then dropping that to talk political rhetoric. Eat a bag.

I have been a loyal weekly listener for several years. I have struggled listening lately due to political commentary. I lean more conservative and feel that when listening, my views are often mocked with no real opportunity to hear the “other side”. Hopefully things will get lighter…. But if you are a big city democrat this podcast will provide you with plenty of validation. If you side with the greater than 50% of the population on the “other side” you may begin to feel attacked as I have started to feel. Overall I love listening to Kate, but lately it has become more isolating than enjoyable. Best of luck!

I come here for the banter any girl desires. Thanks to Kate who is my middle of the night friend that I have never met.

Love love love love love!

Lately I have opted not to listen because of the constant politics and mocking of religion. Used to love this show, but not wanting to spend my free time getting a lecture on how I choose to vote.

Always love Kelly episodes and particularly loved this one about TTPD after living with the album for a few months! Thank you ♥️

I really enjoy this show and I enjoy the shows that Kate has recommended too like “Sounds like a Cult.” Kate’s show and her book “One in a Millennial” were my gateway to podcasts. Thank you Kate! Keep up the good work.