Mike Posner is a Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter whose megahit “I Took a Pill in Ibiza” has been streamed more than a billion times; last week, he released a book of poetry titled Teardrops and Balloons. Taraka Larson fronts the beloved psych-pop group Prince Rama, and is a pop music theorist who has lectured on the subject at New York University and Melbourne College in Australia. We thought it would make for a great conversation to pair this pop scholar with one of pop’s biggest current writers. And it was! In a talk that was part theory discussion, part psychoanalysis, the two discuss where truth is to be found in the inherent artifice of art, the temptation to glorify one’s suffering in one’s work, how you know when you’ve created good art (and when you haven’t), Prince Rama appearing in James Franco’s new Lifetime film, and much more. Check it out. Subscribe now on iTunes or Stitcher to stay in the loop on future Talkhouse Podcasts.

— Elia Einhorn, Talkhouse Music Podcast host and producer

Today’s episode was recorded and mixed by Mark Yoshizumi.