Pop Culture Happy Hour guests and hosts share what brings them joy: NPR

ATEEZ performs at the Sahara Tent during the 2024 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California in April.

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Coachella

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Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Coachella

This week we prepared for the possibility of saying “Cheddar, Bye!” at Cheddar Bay. A famous travel destination for poor boys and family pilgrims who enjoyed a moment of grace. And when we asked ourselves: If you can’t compete with Ticketmaster, who can you compete with?

Here’s what NPR Pop Culture Happy Hour the crew was attentive – and what you should check out this weekend.

Books by Megan Abbott

Megan Abbott writes suspense novels that are both domestic and horror. I started with his short story “The Little Men” – it was exceptional and frightening and very vividly rendered. So I moved on to her other books, You Will Know Me, which is about a teenage gymnast and a tragedy that happens to her family. And Give Me Your Hand, which is about two rival postdoctoral researchers and their shared history. These books are truly immersive. They have some spooky touches that I didn’t expect. It’s become something of a formula in writing women’s thrillers, and everything I’ve read so far from Megan Abbott just takes that formula and applies it, you know what. -Roxana Hadadi

“Bouncy (K-Hot Chilli Peppers)” by ATEEZ

ATEEZ became the first K-pop boy group to perform at Coachella earlier this year. Besides the fact that I find them all very pretty, their music is really fun and they are very electric performers. They have this cyberpunk Western aesthetic that relates to the dystopian scenario they unfold – involving a world government that represses people’s emotions. But honestly, I think you should enjoy their music without knowing any of that. In the song “Bouncy (K-Hot Chilli Peppers)” cheongyang gochu is a type of Korean chili pepper known for being much spicier – so basically they’re saying their vibe is a different level of spice. It’s so silly and bombastic and catchy. I love it. -Mallory Yu

“Bird of a Feather” from Billie Eilish’s new album, Hit Me Hard and Soft

Hit me hard and soft is Billie Eilish’s new album. It’s nice to hear a pop record that’s inventive, creative and ethereal. He does synth pop really well – you can hear the woozy buzz of it all. But this record goes a little louder and deeper and gets a little weirder. The songs take sharp turns halfway through and explore different facets of his sound. Billie Eilish is at a very interesting point in her career. She and her brother Finneas just won their second Oscar for “What was I made for?” Since barbie. This album uses this song as a starting point. He’s still exploring this more flamboyant side of his voice, but at the same time he’s taking it in more pop directions. I’m going to keep coming back to this record all summer. -Stephen Thompson

Valley Heat Podcast

Valley Heat is a scripted comedy podcast that pretends it’s neither of those things. Don’t jump into the most recent episodes. Start at the beginning because this thing built. The less you know, the better. (The premise, a middle-aged white man doing a podcast about his neighborhood, initially made me think: me, maybe not for me.) Just know that it’s dry, it builds and builds and builds, the cast of characters keeps growing and getting weirder and weirder. If you’re familiar with the comedy team of Scharpling & Wurster, consider this a very West Coast version of that. -Glen Weldon

More recommendations from the Pop Culture Happy Hour newsletter

by Glen Weldon

Hotel in Hazbin is an adult animated series about a demon who tries to reform souls in Hell because… well, getting into that would take more time than I have in this blurb. There’s a lot of lore behind this series, that’s what I mean. Other elements behind it: Showtunes! Weird characters! Elegant design! A superb voice cast! And plenty of solid, well-deserved jokes that make a quarter bounce!

The Completely Invented Adventures of Dick Turpin is a very, very British historical comedy series about an infamous (in the UK, at least) highwayman who is something of a folk hero. Noel Fielding essentially plays Turpin himself, and as you can imagine, the whole thing lives in that liminal space of well-cut English comedy where the jokes are very silly but the delivery is very dry.

Brokeback Mountain. The power of the dog. by Almodovar A strange way of life. The next National anthem. Queer cowboys have existed since the very first cowboy who became… “friends” with a farmer. It’s easy to forget this, so it’s nice that Orville Peck and Willie Nelson have teamed up to remind us.

Beth Novey adapted the Pop Culture Happy Hour segment “What’s Making Us Happy” for the web. If you like these suggestions, consider subscribe to our newsletter to get recommendations every week. And listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour on Apple Podcasts And Spotify.