| Barbie-fever may have come and gone for most of us, but Lagueria Davis' Netflix film Black Barbie: A Documentary is worth seeking out. Davis nabs insightful interviews with three Black women who were instrumental in Mattel's creation of Black dolls, including her aunt Beulah Mae Mitchell. They all speak quite fondly of their time with the company, so much so that it can sometimes seem like a Mattel love fest. (It's produced by Shonda Rhimes, who's had a couple of Barbie dolls made in her own likeness). But Davis herself admits to having little emotional attachment to the doll as a kid, and the latter part of the doc brings in outside perspectives more critical of the company's progressive efforts. It ends up being a fair, balanced and engaging history lesson. Currently on repeat this summer: Kaytranada's new album Timeless. Works equally great as music to work to or music to jam out to at a cookout or a dark club, and my favorite track might be his banger of a collaboration with Channel Tres, "Drip Sweat." I'm a taxonomy girlie, and one of my current favorite podcasts is Pop Pantheon, a show where DJ Louie XIV invites guests to "completely overanalyze all your favorite pop stars, then rank them." (Full disclosure: I had the absolute privilege of chatting with Louie last year about Mariah's Daydream-through-Glitter era.) By pretty much all accounts, this is officially a Pop Girl Year, so he recently had on Ira Madison III to rank all the pop girl albums that have dropped so far in 2024 from some of our biggest artists, including Ariana, Taylor, and Charli XCX. It's a fun, spicy conversation that had me laughing out loud to myself quite a bit. | 
