Poptarts

Diamanda Galás is the living definition of what it means to be avant-garde. An extraordinary and genre-bending vocalist, composer, pianist, performance artist, and activist, she has been creating uncompromising work that cries out against injustice for over 40 years. Her 12 studio albums include the classic 1986 collection “The Divine Punishment”—a masterwork created in response to the AIDS crisis—that was just remastered and re-released in June. And her brand new album “Broken Gargoyles,” inspired by the isolation of maimed WWI veterans, is coming out August 26. In this episode of BUST’s “Poptarts” podcast, she reveals details about her reclusive life, teaches us how to shame our enemies into submission, and surprises us with her deep love of borscht belt comedians. (We didn’t see that one coming!)

Netta Barzilai, better known by her one-word rockstar moniker Netta, is an Israeli pop singer, songwriter, and looping artist who rocketed to international fame in 2018 when she won the Eurovision Song Contest with her song "Toy." Since then, she has released two albums, “Goody Bag” and “The Best of Netta’s Office Volume One.” And her new single “I Love My Nails” has been racking up hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube since the official video debuted May 12. She has a very busy Summer coming up here in the U.S. and in this episode of “Poptarts,” she reveals the secrets behind her incredible plus-size style, how her entire life changed after Eurovision, and how music helped her “love me for me.”

Peaches, is a feminist rock star, producer, director, visual artist, and performance artist who rose to fame in the electroclash era of the early 2000s. Her solo albums include the terrifically transgressive “Fancypants Hoodlum,” “The Teaches of Peaches,” “Fatherfucker,” “Impeach My Bush,” “I Feel Cream,” and “Rub.” And she’s about to embark on her first International tour since 2017 in celebration of the 20th Anniversary of “The Teaches of Peaches.” Her work has meant so much to so many for so long and in this episode of “Poptarts,” she reveals how she kicked her conservative Jewish upbringing to the curb, found her completely original voice, and became a foremother of feminist filth!

Patricia Williams, better known as Ms. Pat, is a hilarious stand-up comedian, actor, author, and podcast host who has been making audiences flip with her totally original storytelling style for over 20 years. Her one-hour standup special "Y'All Wanna Hear Something Crazy?"—directed by Robert Townsend and Produced by Wanda Sykes—premiered on Netflix in February to critical acclaim, her 2017 memoir "Rabbit" was named one of Amazon’s best biographies of the year, and now she’s gearing up for season two of her BET+ sitcom "The Ms. Pat Show!" In this episode of Poptarts, she reveals how she found success turning observations on poverty into comedy, she shares the secrets to her incredible resiliency, and we read Lane Bryant’s menagerie of plus-size, animal-print monstrosities to filth!

Nina Bunjevac is an incredible comic book artist, author, illustrator, and educator. She spent her formative years in the former Yugoslavia, where she began studying art. But when war broke out in the 1990s, she returned to Canada where she studied graphic design, drawing, and painting and eventually branched out into making sculptural installations and writing and illustrating absolutely incredible books of comic art, including Heartless, Fatherland, Bezimena, and, An Alchemical Journey Through the Major Arcana of the Tarot. In this episode of Poptarts, she reveals how esoteric philosophy helped shape her practice, and we take a deep dive into Bunjevac’s deeply symbolic visual universe.

Leah McSweeney is a legendary New York designer, an entrepreneur, a cast member on one of the biggest reality shows on the planet, and now, she’s an author as well. She founded the women's streetwear line Married to the Mob in 2004, and she has been starring on Bravo’s hit series "The Real Housewives of New York City" since 2020 where she she’s been introducing a much-needed dose of relatability into a show that has been criticized for becoming increasingly out of touch with the city it claims to represent. On April 5, Leah will be releasing her new memoir, "Chaos Theory: Finding Meaning in the Madness, One Bad Decision at a Time" and on BUST’s latest “Poptarts” podcast, she talks teenage fearlessness, finding Judaism, and freaking out on Bravo.

Debbie Gibson is a singing-dancing-songwriting-producing-composing musical prodigy who has been serenading the world for 35 years, ever since her self-penned hit “Only In My Dreams” arrived on the Billboard charts when she was just 16 in the summer of 1987. Since then, she has sold more than 16 million albums, released 10 studio albums, toured all over the world, and starred in 17 musicals. Her first album of new songs in 20 years, The Body Remembers, came out this past summer on her own label, Stargirl Records, and it’s as surprising as it is satisfying for long-time fans. On BUST’s latest “Poptarts” podcast, she talks about shedding her squeaky-clean image, she honors her late mother—the original “momager,” and she pushes back against an industry that routinely discounts artists who appeal to teenage girls.

One of the most influential designers working today, Debbie Millman is an artist, an educator, a curator, and the host of Design Matters—one of the world’s longest running podcasts. Millman also co-owns Print, the oldest design magazine in America, and she co-founded the Masters in Branding program at the School of Visual Arts. She’s the author of seven books, including How to Think Like a Great Graphic Designer and Brand Thinking and Other Noble Pursuits which have both been published in over 10 languages. And her latest book, the new anthology Why Design Matters: Conversations With the World’s Most Creative People, is coming out in February. She also happens to be one half of one of today’s greatest intellectual power couples alongside her amazingly talented wife Roxane Gay. On BUST’s latest “Poptarts” podcast, Millman explains why there’s really no such thing as a “personal brand,” looks back on her favorite interviews, and reveals the details of her whirlwind elopement at the height of COVID lockdown.

Julia Cameron is known around the world for helping her readers tap into their creativity. She is the best-selling author of more than 40 books, most notably The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity (which has sold over five million copies since 1992) and her newest title, Seeking Wisdom: A Spiritual Path to Creative Connection, which came out January 5. In Seeking Wisdom, Cameron explains how cultivating a personal prayer practice can sustain creative growth in artists of all beliefs and backgrounds. And on BUST’s latest “Poptarts” podcast, Cameron talks sobriety, seeking inspiration, and saying yes to our creative dreams.

Tori Amos is a virtuoso musician whose searingly honest, wildly creative, piano-forward pop music changed the entire recording industry forever. She had her breakthrough moment in 1992 with the release of her iconic solo debut, Little Earthquakes—a record named by Rolling Stone as one of the greatest albums of all time. And she’s spent the almost 30 years since then perpetually experimenting, innovating, and expanding the boundaries of what popular music can be. Now, she’s back with her 16th studio album, Ocean to Ocean, an emotional meditation on loss and renewal that’s perfect for this COVID-ravaged time. She’s been so important and influential to so many music fans over the years, but especially to women. On BUST’s latest “Poptarts” podcast, Amos talks fairies, feminism, and female empowerment.

Melissa Etheridge is an unparalleled singer-songwriter, guitarist, author, and activist who has been making irresistible blues-rock albums for over 30 years. She was a bit of an underground sensation when she first got started in the late ‘80s, but in 1993, everything changed when she released her breakthrough fourth album Yes I Am. It spent 138 weeks on the Billboard charts thanks to the monster hits “I’m The Only One,” and “Come To My Window,” it went Platinum, and then it went on to sell more than 6 Million copies. Now, the Oscar-and-Grammy winner is back and touring with her 17th album, One Way Out, a collection of songs from her early life that are finally getting to see the light of day. On BUST’s latest “Poptarts” podcast, Etheridge recalls her coming out story, celebrates her intergenerational fandom, and gives sage advice on how to keep the show going when fans keep showering the stage with panties and bras.

Dr. Brittney Cooper is an incredibly engaging and insightful feminist author, professor, activist, and cultural critic currently teaching at Rutgers University. She is also cofounder of the Crunk Feminist Collective, a scholar-activist group for feminists of color that began as a super-popular blog and has now evolved into the thriving Substack newsletter, The Remix. In 2017, she co-authored and edited The Crunk Feminist Collection anthology and also released Beyond Respectability: The Intellectual Thought of Race Women, which she followed up with her acclaimed 2018 book Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower. Now, she’s back with a helpful handbook called Feminist AF: A Guide to Crushing Girlhood. A treasure trove of resources for young activists—out now, from Norton Young Readers—the book uses intersectional feminist frameworks to help teens grapple with the most pressing challenges they face today. On BUST’s latest “Poptarts” podcast, Cooper explores her “cool auntie” persona, tackles her

Danielle Macdonald has been lighting up screens large and small with her plucky personality and big-girl badassery for the last decade. She’s Australian, but you’d never know it based on her spot-on 2017 performance as Jersey rapper Patti Dombrowski in the indie hit “Patti Cake$,” or by her star turn in 2018 as a Dolly Parton-obsessed Texas teen in “Dumplin'.” She’s also had notable roles in “Bird Box,” “Skin,” and “Unbelievable” just to name a few. And now, she’s back with another starring role as a gal with a dream in the IFC film Falling for Figaro, a romantic comedy set in the world of competitive opera singing that just opened in theaters and on demand October 1. On BUST’s latest “Poptarts” podcast, Danielle shares how she rejected “fat friend” roles for years to become a plus-size leading lady and much, much, more.

Lydia Lunch is a true radical in every sense of the word. A high priestess of punk, she arrived in New York when she was just 16 in the mid-’70s and made a name for herself downtown with her band Teenage Jesus and the Jerks. That band became synonymous with the hugely influential No Wave movement and launched Lunch’s multifaceted career of over 40 years as an actor, performance poet, writer, public speaker, solo artist, and frontwoman for her subsequent bands 8-Eyed Spy, 13.13, Shotgun Wedding, Big Sexy Noise, and Retrovirus. Now, her life and career are being celebrated in a new documentary by director Beth B called Lydia Lunch: The War is Never Over—currently making the rounds at festivals and art house cinemas nationwide. On Lunch’s provocative episode of BUST’s Poptarts podcast, she makes extremely controversial comments concerning Harvey Weinstein, Andrew Cuomo, R. Kelly, and much, much, more.

Natalie Morales is an accomplished actor best known for her work on Dead to Me, The Little Things, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Abby’s, and Parks & Rec among her many credits. But this year, she also emerged as an exciting feature film director with an incredibly relatable and undeniably feminist point of view. First, she released the teen road trip comedy Plan B in May on Hulu, about two high school girls who have a wild adventure trying to get their hands on the morning-after pill in South Dakota. And on September 10, she released the astonishingly poignant drama Language Lessons in theaters, about an unusual relationship between a lonely man and his online Spanish teacher. On Morales’ excellent episode of BUST’s Poptarts podcast, she shares how being marginalized as a queer Latina in Hollywood inspired her to blossom into the emerging auteur she is today.

Lauren Fensterstock is a sculptor and installation artist whose sparkling, intricate creations look like secret treasures stolen from a gothic witches’ cathedral or like the charred remains of a fairy swamp. Made from materials including glass, vintage crystal, quartz, obsidian, onyx, hematite, shells, sand, plexiglass, paper, charcoal, and wood, her most recent installations—like the one on display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery in D.C. earlier this year—are enormous, completely black, and suck all the surrounding light into the curves and edges of thousands of individual objects assembled in patterns that both imitate nature and take nature to dramatic new heights with architectural precision. Other pieces—like some of the seven crystal encrusted suns that were featured in Fensterstock’s show Impermanent Conditions, at the Claire Oliver Gallery in New York this summer—play similar visual tricks with all-white palettes of light-reflecting glass and quartz. Both her imagination and t

Gates McFadden has been sci-fi royalty for over 30 years. Best known for playing Dr. Beverly Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation—both on TV from 1987 through 1994, and in four feature films—she also worked with Jim Henson as a choreographer and director of puppet movement, most notably on Labyrinth with David Bowie. For many years, she taught in university theater departments across the country and was the Artistic Director of the Ensemble Studio Theatre in Los Angeles. And now, she‘s hosting the riveting podcast, Gates McFadden Investigates: Who Do You Think You Are?, in which he has totally unexpected conversations with members of her Star Trek family. On her out-of-this-world episode of BUST’s Poptarts podcast, she spills the tea about getting fired—and re-hired!—on Star Trek for speaking her mind, maintaining her decades-long relationship with her “space son” Wil Wheaton, and how Whoopie Goldberg made the Enterprise a better place for women.

Jessica Hopper is one the most insightful rock critics working today. A long-time contributor to the Chicago Reader; she’s been a columnist for The Village Voice, Chicago Tribune, and Punk Planet; the music consultant for This American Life; the editorial director for MTV News; and a senior editor at Pitchfork and Rookie. For over 20 years, she has consistently been covering women in music who women care deeply about through a feminist lens, from Liz Phair to M.I.A. to Janelle Monae to Hole to Bjork just to name a few. Her knowledge is deep, her opinions are surprising, and her writing style is fearless which is why so many music fans return to her work again and again. The extensively updated and expanded new edition of her career-spanning book, The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic came out July 6, and on BUST's latest Poptarts podcast, she explains what being “first” really means, how she helped wake the world up the crimes of R. Kelly, and the challenge of “making people care.”

Ann Wilson is lead singer and songwriter of the band Heart, which she has fronted for over 40 years with her sister Nancy, earning them a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The first hard rock band fronted by women, Heart has sold over 35 million albums, and their hits, including “Barracuda,” “Crazy On You,” and “Magic Man,” are undisputed classics. As a solo artist, Ann released the 2007 album HOPE & GLORY and 2018’s IMMORTAL, along with multiple singles. And this past May, she released a surprising and beautiful EP from the archives of the band she was in before Heart. The Daybreaks was a band Ann fronted in the late 1960s and now four tracks of her flower-child pop from1969 are available on all streaming platforms for the first time. Throughout the pandemic, WIlson has been writing and recording. And on BUST's latest Poptarts podcast, she talks body image, healing a very public rift with her sister Nancy, and why she’s a feminist “constantly.”

Iliza Shlesinger is an award-winning comedian, actor, writer, producer, and author who earned her massive fan base by doing tons of touring all over the world. In 2008, she became the first woman to ever win NBC’s Last Comic Standing, she’s had five Netflix comedy specials and her own Netflix sketch show, and she’s currently finishing her second book, hosting the podcast Ask Iliza Anything, and developing multiple TV projects while traveling once more on her new “Back In Action” tour. On June 23, she debuted the hilarious “anti-rom-com” Good On Paper, on Netflix, a film based on her life which she stars in and also wrote. And on BUST's latest Poptarts podcast, she describes writing her first feature film script about a lying ex, navigating sexism in standup, and why she’s “a real feminist.”