The Popcast is hosted by Jon Caramanica, a pop music critic for The New York Times. It covers the latest in pop music criticism, trends and news.

On each of the last two weekends, Beyoncé headlined the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, performing a set that was huge in ambition and historical scope and stunning in execution. Much has been made of the fact that the singer, 36, has yet to win an album of the year Grammy, but these performances established her on a higher plane of achievement.