Support for this episode comes from Rothy's. If you need comfortable shoes that

are timeless and on trend, Rothy's has you covered. The almond loafers sleek

silhouette can take you anywhere you need to go with colors and patterns as

suits your style. Plus, Rothy's latest products feature their new in-love

insult, which is extra cushion and art support so you can stay comfortable all

day. For stylish and comfortable shoes, shop Rothy's. Get $20 off your first

purchase at Rothy's.com slash perfect. That's R-O-T-A-T-Y-S dot com slash perfect.

You're listening to Intuit from Vulture in New York magazine. I'm Sam Sanders.

To start this episode, let's go back a bit to Deep Pandemic. There were a lot of

before and afters during the pandemic. The pandemic itself was actually kind of

the before and after. But in terms of pop culture, one of my biggest before and

after moments during those years of pandemic life, it was Olivia Rodrigo.

One week I had never heard of her and then the next week I couldn't stop singing

her song. I mean, that was all driver's license. That was the driver's license

effect. This is Lindsay Zolads. She's a pop music critic at the New York Times. That song

dropped at a moment where everybody was just still sitting alone in their house,

their apartment. Yes. I don't know what wave of COVID that was, Omicron or wherever we were.

And then Olivia's like, I'm going to help you scream. Exactly. Let's go. Exactly.

So we just hadn't really had a breakout out of nowhere star in a really long time.

She came, you know, at least for people of our generation as out of nowhere as you possibly

could. She was the star or one of the stars of the show, high school musical, the musical

series. I can't. I always laugh whenever anyone says it. Let's try to get high school musical.

...