Why Gen Z Loves The Cure | Olivia Rodrigo, Robert Smith & Music Discovery

Why Gen Z Loves The Cure | Olivia Rodrigo, Robert Smith & Music Discovery

Olivia Rodrigo’s latest album features Robert Smith of The Cure, but this collaboration tells a much bigger story than a pop star working with one of her heroes. In this episode of The Last Mixed Tape, we explore why The Cure continue to resonate with younger listeners, how TikTok and streaming have transformed music discovery, and whether modern audiences are inheriting music differently than previous generations. Drawing on an idea from David Byrne, we examine how music now exists in a giant cultural “bucket” where new and old songs coexist without chronology, allowing artists like Olivia Rodrigo to become gateways into entire musical worlds. From The Cure and Talking Heads to Spotify playlists and TikTok algorithms, this episode is about the changing nature of musical discovery and why great songs continue to find new listeners.

Why Ireland Still Sings Viva la Quinta Brigada | Christy Moore, Anti-Fascism & the Belfast Riots

Following the recent unrest in Belfast, I found myself returning to one of the most powerful songs in Irish music: Christy Moore’s Viva la Quinta Brigada. What begins as a song about Irish volunteers who travelled to Spain to fight fascism during the Spanish Civil War reveals a much deeper story about Ireland itself. In this episode of The Last Mixed Tape, I explore the Connolly Column, the Blueshirts, Irish support for Franco, and Christy Moore’s role as one of Ireland’s great custodians of cultural memory. More than a history lesson, this is a story about identity, belonging, and a question Ireland has been asking for nearly a century: Who gets to define what Ireland is? From the Spanish Civil War to modern Ireland, Viva la Quinta Brigada remains a song that refuses to let us forget the choices that surround us. Topics discussed: • Christy Moore • Viva la Quinta Brigada • The Spanish Civil War • The Connolly Column • The Blueshirts • Irish history • Anti-fascism • Belfast and modern Ireland • Protest music and cultural memory The Last Mixed Tape is a podcast and video essay series exploring music, culture and the stories that connect them.

AI Ozzy and the Death of Endings

When reports emerged that an AI-powered version of Ozzy Osbourne could continue interacting with fans after his death, many people focused on the technology. I found myself thinking about something else. For most of human history, art survived the artist. Using Ozzy Osbourne as a starting point, this episode explores digital resurrection, AI, memory, grief, nostalgia, Mark Fisher’s “slow cancellation of the future,” and what happens when culture becomes increasingly uncomfortable with endings. Is AI Ozzy really a story about technology? Or is it a story about our growing inability to let things go?

CMAT Just Said What Most Pop Stars Won’t

When CMAT won Best Album at the Ivor Novello Awards, she used her acceptance speech to challenge fellow artists to stop “sitting on the fence” as fascism and far-right politics continue to rise across Britain and Ireland. It was a speech that immediately made headlines. But this episode isn’t really about one speech. It’s about the role artists play during moments of political and social tension. From Euro-Country and its examination of post-Celtic Tiger Ireland, to her support of drag culture at the Choice Music Prize, CMAT’s intervention at the Ivors didn’t come from nowhere. It was the latest expression of ideas that have been present throughout her work for years. This episode explores the speech itself, the atmosphere in which it was delivered, and a bigger question that sits at the heart of modern music culture

How Irish Music Helped Break the Catholic Church’s Power

For much of the twentieth century, the Catholic Church shaped almost every aspect of Irish life education, sexuality, family, politics, shame and silence. But long before Ireland changed politically, Irish artists began documenting the emotional cost of that world through music. From Christy Moore’s response to the death of Ann Lovett… to Sinéad O’Connor tearing up a photograph of the Pope on live television… to Hozier, Marriage Equality, Repeal the 8th and Fontaines D.C… this episode explores how Irish music became both witness and protest during one of the most profound cultural transformations in modern Irish history. Part music documentary, part cultural essay, this is the story of how songs carried truths Ireland often struggled to say aloud until eventually the silence itself began to collapse.