During the pandemic, Mia Berrin of Pom Pom Squad jokingly put out a tweet (or at least it seemed like a joke) that she wanted to cover Nada Surf’s 1996 hit “Popular.” Well, she did exactly that. Pom Pom Squad released a version that remained true to the original, including filming the video with Berrin playing all of the characters (and even filmed at the same place) that replicated the original.
Since Pom Pom Squad are one of our favorite rising artists [they performed at our SXSW showcase in March and were one of the night’s highlights] and the cover rules. That said, we figured we’d ask Berrin and Nada Surf’s Matthew Caws to hop on a chat for our Artist x Artist series. And they agreed!
In their conversation, Berrin and Caws discussed learning new approaches to songwriting, learning from each other while on the road together, and bringing nuance to discussions around gender. Of course, the two versions of their respective “Popular” videos explore that dynamic.
In the previous episode of Artist x Artist, Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill/Le Tigre sat down with rising Los Angeles punk rockers The Linda Lindas. In their conversation, they exchanged questions about their origins, how they discovered each other and described what an “interview hangover” is.
Additional episodes of Artist x Artist include conversations between Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard and Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner. Other episodes include Jonah Ray chatting with “Weird Al” Yankovic, Sting with Shirazee and Paris Jackson with Andy Hull of Manchester Orchestra, here.
