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If you love the show and want to support us, consider joining Slate Plus. With Slate Plus you can binge the whole season of Decoder Ring right now, plus ad free podcasts, bonus episodes, and much more. On this episode, we explore the misunderstood history of Muzak, formerly the world’s foremost producers of elevator music. Out of the technological innovations of World War I, Muzak emerged as one of the most significant musical institutions of the 20th century, only to become a punching bag as the 1960’s began to turn public perceptions of popular music on its head. By the 80’s and 90’s, Muzak was still the butt of jokes, and was trying to figure out a new direction as they happened to employ many players in Seattles burgeoning grunge scene. This is the story of how different ideas about pop music butted heads throughout the 20th century, including inside Muzak’s offices.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Wednesday, Britney Spears spoke in court against her current conservatorship, which began in 2008. In recent years, fans have speculated that Spears was being controlled against her will by her father through this conservatorship, and started the #FreeBritney movement in an attempt to break her out of it. On today’s episode, Madison and Rachelle break down the history of Spears’ conservatorship, the conspiracy theories that arose around #FreeBritney, and what the pop star’s statement changes. Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Derek John. Support ICYMI and listen to the show with zero ads. Sign up to become a Slate Plus member for just $1 for your first month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When you’re running a business, distinguishing yourself is crucial. With almost every industry evolving faster than ever, competition is largely driven and determined by technology. In this episode, Kristen Meinzer is joined by two guests who create and capitalize on disruptive innovations to better serve their customers. First, she talks to Chieh Huang, a serial entrepreneur who has built successful businesses in two of today’s most competitive markets: mobile gaming and e-commerce. Later in the show, you’ll hear from Tracy Hutton. As the CEO of CENTURY 21 Scheetz in Indianapolis, she fosters a culture of going above and beyond for clients.   Guests Chieh Huang: CEO and a Co-founder of Boxed Tracy Hutton: CEO of CENTURY 21 Scheetz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For nearly two years, an unprecedented experiment has been taking place in the town of El Zonte in El Salvador. Funded by a mysterious donor, the town’s residents built a Bitcoin economy, using the cryptocurrency to purchase just about anything.  Now, El Slavador has passed a new law making it the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. Can they replicate El Zonte’s success at a national scale? Guest: Ezra Fieser, reporter at Bloomberg Host Lizzie O’Leary   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Groceries was one of the last industries to come under Big Tech’s influence, but everything changed when Amazon bought Whole Foods. Podcast production by Jess Miller and Cleo Levin. Listen to the Teamistry podcast. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast and bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn. Sign up now to listen and support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Police violence and protests were the sounds of summer 2020, and Black musicians from across the spectrum lent their voices to the moment. In honor of Black Music Appreciation Month, entertainment and music reporter Jewel Wicker talks with Jason Johnson about the tradition of popular music mixing with protests --from The Staple Singers, to Beyoncé, to DaBaby-- and which songs will have staying power. Guest: Jewel Wicker, entertainment and music journalist Podcast production by Ahyiana Angel and Jasmine Ellis You can skip all the ads in A Word by joining Slate Plus. Sign up now at slate.com/awordplus for just $1 for your first month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week’s episode of The Waves considers whether there is a uniquely feminist way to divorce your skeevy rich husband. Slate executive producer of podcasts, Alicia Montgomery, and business journalist and co-host of Slate Money, Emily Peck, delve into the stories of two billionaire women who have both recently ended their marriages—Melinda French Gates and MacKenzie Scott.  The two discuss whether French Gates and Scott bear any responsibility for the sins of their ex-husbands companies. They talk about the extent to which each woman worked to rehabilitate their partner’s image during their marriage, including unpacking French Gates’ obsession with telling the story of how she convinced her husband to drive their daughter to school (some of the time, at least).  Alicia and Emily also talk about whether there’s an expectation, just because they are women, that Scott and French Gates use the billions of dollars their husbands have amassed to better the world. And finally, they talk about how Gen Xers were taug

What do Chloe Bailey, Nina Simone, and Vice President Kamala Harris have to do with one another? We’re here to help you figure that out. On today’s episode, Rachelle and Madison talk about how a cover of Simone’s “Feeling Good” turned into a story that ultimately felt anything but. But first, they examine Rachel Lindsay’s recent comments about the Bachelor franchise.  Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder, Derek John, and Jasmine Ellis. Support ICYMI and listen to the show with zero ads. Sign up to become a Slate Plus member for just $1 for your first month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Slate Money Goes to the Movies, a miniseries in which Felix Salmon, Emily Peck, and a different guest each week discuss popular business-themed movies.  Joanne Lipman, author and journalist, joins to talk about the 2005 film Thank You For Smoking. They discuss the terrible trope of female reporters sleeping with their sources, The Marlboro Man, and “moral flexibility.”  Email: slatemoney@slate.com Podcast production by Jessamine Molli. Twitter: @felixsalmon, @EmilyRPeck  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

To say that hydration is an invention is only a slight exaggeration. Back in the 1970’s and ‘80s, no one carried bottled water with them, but by the ‘90s it was a genuine status object. How did bottled water transform itself from a small, European luxury item to the single largest beverage category in America? It took both technological innovation, but even more importantly it took savvy marketing from brands like Gatorade and Perrier to turn the concept of hydration, and dehydration into problem they could solve via their wares. Today, hydration has branched out from athletics to wellness to skincare, but the actual science behind all of it is pretty sketchy. If you love the show and want to support us, consider joining Slate Plus. With Slate Plus you can binge the whole season of Decoder Ring right now, plus ad free podcasts, bonus episodes, and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From “woke bae” to “woke-a-cola,” the word woke has taken the internet and mainstream media by storm. But how many people who use the word actually know what it means? On today’s episode, Rachelle and Madison (but, really, mostly Rachelle) explain the decades-old origins of the word, and how its meaning has evolved as it’s gone from being sung as a call to “stay woke” by the likes of Erykah Badu and Childish Gambino to being wielded as a slur by the likes of Mike Huckabee. Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder, Derek John, and Jasmine Ellis. Support ICYMI and listen to the show with zero ads. Sign up to become a Slate Plus member for just $1 for your first month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Let’s be clear: Rap has always been musical. But back in the day, rappers generally, well, rapped: talked in cadence over a beat. Fans judged MCs primarily by their rhymes and rhythms, not their melodies. Now? Rappers are mostly singers: MCs from Drake to DaBaby slip seamlessly in and out of melody. Some hits that appear on Billboard’s Rap charts feature literally no rapping. When did this change? In this episode of Hit Parade, Chris Molanphy walks through the history of hip-hop—from Gil Scott-Heron to Lil Nas X—to trace the evolving role of melody in rap’s conquest of the charts. The broadening of rap to include more female MCs, from Queen Latifah to Lauryn Hill, had a lot to do with it. But all roads lead through rap-and-B’s power couple, Jay-Z and Beyoncé. The pivot point may have been when Queen Bey realized she could sing with triple-time flow like the baddest MC.   Podcast production by Asha Saluja. Hit Parade episodes are now split into two parts, released two weeks apart. For the full episode right n

Ever since police used a DNA platform called GEDmatch to crack the Golden State Killer case in 2018, police departments around the country have rushed to use genetic genealogy to crack their own cold cases. The result? Hundreds of violent cases solved.  So--why are some states passing new laws to limit this new technology? Guest: Nila Bala, senior staff attorney at the Policing Project at NYU Law.  Host Lizzie O’Leary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stacey Abrams dealt with a narrow --and tainted-- loss in the Georgia governor’s race by helping to turn her red state blue in 2020. On today’s episode of A Word, she tells host Jason Johnson about her campaign plans, her voting rights fight, and her worries about economic boycotts as a political tactic. Guest: Stacey Abrams, politician, author, and the founder of the voting rights group, Fair Fight Podcast production by Ahyiana Angel and Jasmine Ellis You can skip all the ads in A Word by joining Slate Plus. Sign up now at slate.com/awordplus for just $1 for your first month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

HBO pioneered prestige TV and the concept of renting movies from home. Can it be a frontrunner in the streaming wars? Podcast production by Jess Miller and Cleo Levin. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast and bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn. Click here to get started and support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week’s episode of The Waves, Slate senior writer and host of Outward Christina Cauterucci and Julia Craven, Slate staff writer covering race, politics, and health disparities, talk about one woman: Kyrsten Sinema. From her wardrobe to her position on the filibuster, Sinema has been in the news a lot recently. The hosts talk about the Arizona senator’s political evolution—she moved from the Green Party to run as a progressive Democrat, but when she got to the U.S. Senate, she tacked toward the center—and whether she is currently exhibiting any signs of political coherence. Christina unpacks the high note of Sinema at the Capitol: her wardrobe, noting that the flashy fashions that once brought visual interest to the normally drab walls of Congress have taken a turn for the worse. As Sinema started to stymie Democratic plans, her “fuck off” ring and “dangerous creature” sweater took on a whole new meaning. After the break, Julia and Christina dive deep into the filibuster. While standing in the way of th

The Bush administration didn’t just fail to plan for post-war Iraq. Before and during the invasion, they made choices that compounded the mistake of going to war. Those decisions had lasting consequences for the world and for the Iraqi people. Who’s most responsible for that tragedy?  Slate Plus members get bonus episodes of Slow Burn and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Season 5 of Slow Burn is produced by Noreen Malone, Jayson De Leon, and Sophie Summergrad. Mixing by Merritt Jacob. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s episode, Madison is joined by producer Daniel Schroeder to talk about people accusing Billie Eilish of queerbaiting on Instagram. Then discuss the way TikTok seems to be replacing Craigslist as the spot for finding missed connections, but are the videos real? To find out, Madison interviews Val and Kaycie, two women who reconnected and became friends via TikTok after they met at a rooftop bar. Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder & Derek John. Support ICYMI and listen to the show with zero ads. Sign up to become a Slate Plus member for just $1 for your first month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to a brand new season of Decoder Ring! On this episode, we investigate the wild world of soap operas through the lens of one legendary, decades-long, ripped-from-the-headlines storyline. that dared to combine the melodrama of soaps with a serious examination of sexual assault, and how that soap turned an award-winning story about believing victims into a redemption arc for the rapist at its heart. This is the story of those who made it happen: the producers, actors, writers, and the soap opera machine itself: the perpetually moving, forever-churning, complex system that create the miracle that is the daily soap opera. If you love the show and want to support us, consider joining Slate Plus. With Slate Plus you can binge the whole season of Decoder Ring right now, plus ad free podcasts, bonus episodes, and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s episode, Rachelle and Madison explain the latest drama surrounding online provocateur Trisha Paytas. They recap Paytas’ history online, how they’re connected to David Dobrik’s Vlog Squad, and why their podcast Frenemies is in predictable turmoil. Then, Rachelle and Madison give High Speed Downloads, first on the grifting of internet chef Darius Williams (aka @DariusCooks) and then on the woman who got arrested for disguising herself as her daughter and going to school in her place. Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Derek John. Support ICYMI and listen to the show with zero ads. Sign up to become a Slate Plus member for just $1 for your first month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices