The Lizard Review

The Lizard

Detailed amphibious rantings on songs, artists, records, and rocks.

thelizardreview.substack.com

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20 episodes
Updated Saturday
Explicit

Episodes20

Newest first

Saturday · 1 hr 17 min
Revisiting 4 of The WILDEST Celebrity Marriages
With the influx of reality television, the media's obsession with female celebrities reaching a fever pitch, and the digital era all converging at once....there were some pretty interesting public weddings that took place in the y2k era. Before we had celebrities like Tom Holland and Zendaya wisely choosing to keep their nuptials private, we had people like Kim Kardashian and Jessica Simpson turning their weddings into reality television and tabloid spectacles. Here are FOUR of my favorite messiest celebrity marriages from the archives, each more bizarre and shocking than the last. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thelizardreview.substack.com/subscribe
July 17 · 1 hr 52 min
Revisiting Britney Spears' ICONIC 2003 Interview With Diane Sawyer
In November 2003, on the precipice of a brand new chapter of her life and career, Britney Spears sat down with Diane Sawyer for a Primetime interview to discuss everything from her so-called "new edgier image", to her new album, her family, life in the public eye, and her highly publicized breakup with NSYNC member Justin Timberlake. Even 23 years later, this interview is compelling, shocking, and most importantly, very indicative of the way we thought about and treated our female celebrities in the 2000's. In this episode, I go through it moment by moment, and word for word - reflecting on purity culture, mid-riffs, and y2k fashion, while also comparing the interview and its contents to the way we talk about female celebrities today. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thelizardreview.substack.com/subscribe
July 10 · 1 hr 30 min
The Lizard's Favorite Summer Albums
Every season has its own set of albums that make it special - here's summer's very own list of the most free, hot, angry, fun, and sunny albums that I spin every single year without fail. Playlist on Spotify / Apple Music This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thelizardreview.substack.com/subscribe
July 3 · 1 hr 44 min
Taylor's Journey With Marriage Through Her Lyrics
Love and relationships are something Taylor Swift has loved to explore in her lyrics from day one - and part and parcel with that exploration, she has spent a fair amount of time in her catalog even from her youngest years ruminating on marriage. Through her lyrics she’s expressed a lot about what she thinks a marriage should be, when marriage should come, the kinds of men she thought she would marry, and on this potential day of her real wedding, I thought it would be a sort of homage both to her writing AND her journey to finding “THE ONE” to go through and revisit these songs and track her shifting attitudes - if they ever did shift - towards marriage. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thelizardreview.substack.com/subscribe
June 19 · 1 hr 37 min
If Pop Girls Were Taylor Swift Albums
This episode dares to ask some of the boldest questions ever asked....questions like...what if Beyonce' were a Taylor Swift album? What if Dua Lipa were a Taylor Swift album? What if Avril Lavigne were a Taylor Swift album? If we could sort some of the most famous women in music into Taylor Swift albums as if they were personality types, where would we place them? Come along with me for a very long kiki as I decide which pop stars are most like which albums from the beginning of Taylor's catalog to her most recent entries. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thelizardreview.substack.com/subscribe
May 1 · 1 hr 1 min
Revisiting Taylor Swift's Iconic 2012 Vogue Cover Article
Continuing on with my series of revisiting the ghosts of magazine articles' past, today we reflect upon yet another ICONIC moment of Taylore : the moment that Taylor got bangs for her Vogue cover shoot and discovered the look she perhaps was always meant to have... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thelizardreview.substack.com/subscribe
April 10 · 1 hr 3 min
The Ultimate Sunday (1994) Ranking
For the first time EVEERRRR, I attempt (and succeed at) ranking all eighteen songs from Sunday (1994.) I made the TierMaker myself! Feel free to use it at your own leisure to create your own rankings. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thelizardreview.substack.com/subscribe
April 3 · 56 min
Going Through My Husband's Playlists
I am the supreme overlord of what music gets played in this household and when...but my husband DOES have his own playlists and he does on occasion listen to his own music. These playlists NEVER get played aloud in the house, but they exist, and today, we go through them to excavate some truly mystifying hidden treasures.... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thelizardreview.substack.com/subscribe
March 27 · 2 hr 9 min
Spotify's Top 100 Greatest Songs of the Streaming Era
The streaming era of music is still unfolding before our very eyes, but one thing is beyond for certain - streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music have changed the way we engage with, enjoy, and find music. Streaming has opened up the entire world (or at least, those with a spare 11.99 to spend a month) to the whole confection of music, all the way from the 1940's to today. There's plenty good and plenty bad with the way streaming services operate and how they've affected how music operates in our lives, but in today's episode, we focus on one question about streaming in particular - what have been the 100 most important songs to the streaming era so far? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thelizardreview.substack.com/subscribe
March 20 · 1 hr 51 min
Panic! At The Ship of Theseus
Once upon a time in a land not so dissimilar to our own, there was a band that made all the wrong choices at all the right times...this is a story about the 2000's, the scene, the girls who loved it, and the men who hated it. Panic! At The Disco was a group of teenaged boys who wound up thrust into the center of a brand new genre and a brand new scene that was only just beginning to take shape, and that would ultimately wind up dissipating into nothing just as quickly as it appeared. Two albums, countless band members, twenty years, and hundreds of thousands of words of fanfiction later, we're finally asking the question : when did Panic! At The Disco really stop being Panic! At The Disco? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thelizardreview.substack.com/subscribe
February 27 · 1 hr 30 min
Revisiting Taylor Swift's Iconic 2014 Rolling Stone Interview
In 2014, Taylor was reinventing herself - new hair, new city, new midriff, new genre. The Rolling Stone interview that came out just a month before her record-breaking release of 1989 was our first real peek as fans into what this era truly held in store for us, and revisiting this article now 12 years later is like a time capsule to what I never ever would have imagined in a million years would be "the simpler days." This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thelizardreview.substack.com/subscribe
February 13 · 1 hr 13 min
Lover Remade
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thelizardreview.substack.com/subscribe
February 6 · 1 hr 58 min
The Top 10 Most Formative Pop Culture Moments of My Life : Part Two
Here in the top FIVE of the most important pop culture moments of my lifetime, we get down into the instances that I've carried with me for almost my entire life - including the single greatest televised pop performance ever, Justin Timberlake being an enemy to women, a frantic hoedown in an attempt to save face, and MORE.... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thelizardreview.substack.com/subscribe
January 30 · 1 hr 31 min
The Top 10 Most Formative Pop Culture Moments of My Life : Part One
What do Paris Hilton going to jail, Beyonce surprise releasing her self titled record in 2013, and the Jonas Brothers' purity rings all have in common...? They were all representative of moments in pop culture that helped define both the zeitgeist and the way that I engaged with pop culture and the world at large going forward. As a millennial woman, y2k and early 2000's pop culture and the things that happened during that time period, particularly to female celebrities, were more formative to my worldview and my relationship with pop culture than anything else. Here are numbers 10 through 6 of some of the most important pop culture moments of my entire lifetime - from y2k, to the mid 2000's, all the way up to the 2010's. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thelizardreview.substack.com/subscribe
January 23 · 57 min
The Lizard's 2026 Grammy's Predictions
The 2026 Grammy's are almost right on top of us, and as such, it's time to do one of my most favorite things in the entire world....BE WRONG FOR AN HOUR!!! 🎉 Although my predictions usually don't come to pass (2025 notwithstanding - I had an oddly good sense of who would win last year but that is NOT the norm) it's still fun to go through all the nominees one more time before the big show and put in my final words on them all. PLUS : we go through some of my LEAST favorite things in the world - blind ballots. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thelizardreview.substack.com/subscribe
January 9 · 1 hr 25 min
Freeing Myself From the Shackles of Hate : The Gracie Abrams Files
Gracie Abrams is one of the most famous gen z artists in music, and her biggest claim to fame is that she's a songwriter following in the footsteps of Taylor Swift. She's had multiple top ten songs, is dating a very famous actor, and is lucky enough to call her a friend of Taylor Swift. But you don't get to one million friends without making a few enemies, and well....let's just say EYE used to be a Gracie enemy...BUT NOT ANYMORE!!! Let's talk about why people dislike Gracie, why people LOVE Gracie, and dig in deep to THREE of her songs to examine and critique her songwriting style. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thelizardreview.substack.com/subscribe
January 2 · 1 hr 13 min
The Lizard's 2025 Movies Wrapped : Powered by Wikipedia
Do you like movies? I like movies. Movies are good. Movies are fun to watch. I enjoy the endeavor of picking a movie to watch. I like popping popcorn in the microwave. Movies are powerful. Movies can change how we think and see the world. Movies are art. Movies....are movies.... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thelizardreview.substack.com/subscribe
Dec 19, 2025 · 1 hr 23 min
The Lizard's Top 32 Songs of 2025
If I had to sum up the year in music of 2025 in one word I would call it : DYNAMIC!! There were so many great records that came out from so many different corners of music, and we were TRULY lucky this year that we got to listen to it all. Here's MY personal list of my favorite 32 songs of the year. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thelizardreview.substack.com/subscribe
Dec 12, 2025 · 1 hr 16 min
My Very Own Made Up Taylor Swift Christmas Album
It's been nearly 20 years since the last time Taylor Swift released a Christmas project - it was called the Sounds of the Season, and while it's a beloved and nostalgic piece of Christmas lore to me now, we DESPERATELY need something newer and, frankly....BETTER!!!!! Come with me as I cobble together a fantasy version of an ideal Taylor Swift Christmas record. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thelizardreview.substack.com/subscribe
Dec 5, 2025 · 1 hr 5 min
The Lizard's Favorite Christmas Songs, Ranked
Lots of people walk into department and grocery stores and malls during the holiday season and hear Christmas music playing and groan. NOT ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There are a lot of great (and greatly bad) Christmas songs in the world...but only a select few can make it onto my all time favorite list. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thelizardreview.substack.com/subscribe