Pop Culture

Reporter Chloe Veltman reacts to hearing her digital voice double, "Chloney," for the first time, with Speech Morphing chief linguist Mark Seligman.

Arts

Send in the clones: Using artificial intelligence to digitally replicate human voices

6:41pm January 17, 2022

by Chloe Veltman

Thanks to advances in artificial intelligence, it's never been easier or more affordable to make a perfect facsimile of a human voice: a celebrity, a world leader or even a public-radio reporter.

Christina Ricci as Misty, Juliette Lewis as Natalie, Tawny Cypress as Taissa and Melanie Lynskey as Shauna in Yellowjackets.

Arts

Your 'Yellowjackets' finale questions, answered

11:02pm January 16, 2022

by Linda Holmes

In the season finale of Showtime's Yellowjackets, some of the mysteries of what really happened to the team in 1996 got some resolution. Some didn't. We're here to sort it out.

Echo Kellum as Noah and Nicole Byer as Nicky in Grand Crew.

Arts

What's making us happy: A guide for your weekend reading and viewing

5:00pm January 14, 2022

Each week, the guests and hosts on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour share what's bringing them joy. This week: a quirky Instagram account, the NBC show Grand Crew and more.

Lynn Nottage photographed at A Broadway Celebration at the Times Square EDITION, in December 2021.

Two-time Pulitzer winner Lynn Nottage turns a triple play in New York City

2:37pm January 14, 2022

by Jeff Lunden

Nottage, the only woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice, has a new play on Broadway, an opera at Lincoln Center Theater and a Michael Jackson musical opening soon.

Queue Listen Now

Sam (Bridget Everett) and Joel (Jeff Hiller) bond over student essays in Somebody Somewhere.

Arts

HBO's 'Somebody Somewhere' sings sweetly and sincerely, albeit with its inside voice

7:01am January 14, 2022

by Glen Weldon

The electrifying performer Bridget Everett opts for a lower voltage in this gentle, semi-autobiographical tale of a Kansan woman struggling to overcome grief and find her voice again.

How Ronnie Spector and 'Be My Baby' became a pop-culture sound of sex in 1987

11:40am January 13, 2022

by Linda Holmes

Twice in the same year, the song "Be My Baby" — featuring the voice of Ronnie Spector, who died this week — became the sound that signaled something memorably, indelibly sexy.

People order pallets of online returns, knowing either something or next to nothing about what they're getting, and then they open the pallets for the benefit of YouTube viewers.

Arts

The (not-so) secret second life of your Amazon returns

9:58am January 12, 2022

by Linda Holmes

People order pallets of online returns, knowing either something or next to nothing about what they're getting, and then they open the pallets for the benefit of YouTube viewers.

Cecily Strong is putting her personal spin on a celebrated one-woman show at The Shed in New York City this month.

Arts

Cecily Strong finds 'Signs of Intelligent Life' in a celebrated one-woman show

5:28pm January 11, 2022

by Jeff Lunden

The 'Saturday Night Live' cast member and 'Schmigadoon!' star performs in "The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe," a one-woman show made famous by Lily Tomlin.

Arts

The Golden Globes go on, but won't be televised

5:09pm January 09, 2022

by Mandalit del Barco

The Golden Globes take place in Beverly Hills Sunday. But there will be big changes: limits on the audience size, nominees are not expected to attend — and the ceremony won't even be televised.

Sidney Poitier was far more than just a symbol of racial progress

2:20pm January 07, 2022

by Aisha Harris

For much of his career, the actor represented many different things to many people, but a constant was his sheer artistry.