Podbit · Pivot
Matt Belloni predicts Madonna's new album Confessions II will land an Album of the Year Grammy nomination — her first since 1998. With strong reviews, a World Cup finale performance, and a survivor narrative, the Grammy voters have every reason to recognize her.
Where this was said
At 1:08:20 · chapter starts 1:03:50
Matt opens with his serious prediction: Netflix will launch a free tier within 12 months [1] — Matt Belloni "Netflix will launch a free ad-supported tier within 12 months, housing short-form content, old licensed shows, and video podcasts to compet…" 1:05:44 . All the short-form content deals, the video podcasts, the shoulder content — it's all pointing to a Tubi/Pluto-style free service that serves as a top-of-funnel for paid Netflix and a vehicle to grow ad inventory. He imagines Netflix using unlicensed back-catalog content to populate the tier. Kara compares it to Tubi's model and agrees it's logical. She adds color: she saw YouTube's Neal Mohan and Ted Sarandos walking together at Sun Valley, adding intrigue to the streaming rivalry. Matt's fun prediction is that Madonna's Confessions II [2] — Matt Belloni "Madonna's Confessions II: first Grammy nomination since 1998 predicted: Matt Belloni predicted Madonna's new album Confessions II will rece…" 1:08:40 — which is getting extraordinary reviews and features a World Cup finale performance — will receive an Album of the Year Grammy nomination, her first since 1998. Kara concurs, praising the album and Madonna's refusal to traffic in nostalgia.
Matt Belloni predicts Netflix will launch a free ad-supported tier within a year, housing lower-cost content to compete with YouTube and Tubi while serving as a top-of-funnel for paid subscriptions.
Netflix will launch a free ad-supported tier within 12 months, housing short-form content, old licensed shows, and video podcasts to compete with YouTube and Tubi while funneling viewers into paid plans. It's the logical end of everything Netflix has been signaling.
Matt Belloni predicted Madonna's new album Confessions II will receive an Album of the Year Grammy nomination, which would be her first since 1998.
Reggae didn't emerge from thin air — it was built layer by layer from mento in the 1940s, ska in the late 1950s, and rocksteady in the mid-1960s. Each stage absorbed new influences, from transistor radios picking up Miami R&B to the distinctive 2-and-4 rhythmic accent that defines the genre.
Before hip-hop existed, Jamaican DJs were already doing it. Electricity spreading across Jamaica enabled mobile 'sound systems,' and DJs developed toasting — speaking and singing over recorded music — a tradition that DJ Kool Herc brought from Kingston to the Bronx at age 12.
Joe Higgs is reggae's great unsung hero. This Kingston musician took teenage Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Bunny Wailer under his wing and taught them how to sing, write songs, and make music — at a time when most artists would have focused on their own careers. Without him, the Wailers probably just would have sucked.
Reggae archivist Roger Steffens' analogy says it all: Bob Marley was reggae's Martin Luther King Jr., making the music universally palatable; Peter Tosh was its Malcolm X, inserting fierce militant political energy. Together, they gave the Wailers a depth no single voice could achieve alone.
King Tubby built his own hardware from cast-off recording gear to strip vocals and create dubbed-out instrumental reggae — essentially inventing electronic music in Kingston before Kraftwerk did it in Germany. The dubplate he created became the raw material for DJs to toast over, seeding hip-hop.
Two days before the 1976 Smile Jamaica anti-violence concert, gunmen shot Bob Marley in the chest and shoulder, shot Rita Marley, and wounded two others. He showed up and played anyway. The concert had already drawn accusations that Marley was a tool of the PNP government — a charge that frustrated him deeply.
Peter Tosh's killer was a man Tosh had taken in after prison, giving him shelter and food. The man repaid that generosity by holding Tosh hostage, torturing him for money, and shooting him in the head. It is one of the most brutal betrayals in music history.
The Windrush Generation brought Caribbean music to London after World War II, and reggae's 2-and-4 rhythm lodged itself deep in British culture — giving birth to ska bands like The Specials, pop acts like UB40, and even punk. Johnny Rotten was a reggae fan, and Public Image Limited has the dub influence to prove it.
Reggaetón didn't come from nowhere. It emerged from underground Spanish-language reggae-rap scenes in Panama and Puerto Rico, drawing directly on Jamaican reggae's rhythms and attitude. The line from Kingston to Bad Bunny's Super Bowl performance is a straight one.
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