Podcast of the Week: Judging Authenticity in Rock vs. Pop

This is a topic to be further explored for non-music applications: why does mediocre rock with high perceived authenticity get rated so well, while we rarely apply authenticity measurements to pop at all, if only at the absolute highest levels or when labeling mediocre pop as inauthentic? In “A Star is Born,” Bradley Cooper’s character has the authenticity angle down, but Lady Gaga’s character has all of the good songs. Listen to the Popcast discuss this and read John Pareles piece over at NYT.