E5: Pop Culture Picks: Christmas Foods, Holiday Songs, & a Thrilling, Yet Festive, Netflix Flick

Get ready for a festive mix of pop culture and holiday cheer in this episode of BibimPOP with Sean! Sean dives into the ultimate Christmas food debate ranking classic holiday dishes—from candy canes to gingerbread—and shares his hot takes on what deserves the holiday spotlight (and what should stay off the table).

Then, it’s time to turn up the volume with Sean’s Top 10 Holiday Songs featuring hits from Britney Spears, Conan Gray, Cher, Justin Bieber, Stray Kids, and more. Whether you’re into K-Pop, nostalgic pop bops, or modern festive jams, Sean’s playlist has you covered.

To wrap things up, Sean reviews Netflix's new holiday thriller Carry On starring Taron Egerton, Sofia Carson, and Jason Bateman. Sean shares his thoughts, favorite moments, and why you might want to add it to your watchlist this season.

Tune in and get into the holiday spirit with BibimPOP with Sean!

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to Episode 5
• 0:44 Holiday Food Debate
• 8:14 Popin' Around The Christmas Tree
• 21:16 Turn On Netflix's Carry On
• 27:17 Subscribe, Follow, Like, & Share

Transcript

Hello to all my pop tarts out there. Welcome to episode five of BibimPOP with Sean. Where pop culture ate. I hope everyone is doing really well this holiday season. If you're listening to this podcast on the day of the release, then Merry Christmas Eve to you. I am really excited for this episode because it is a special holiday episode.

I and obviously I've been thinking a lot about the holidays and I've been thinking a lot about food lately. As in all the time, every day that's nothing new. But specifically, I've been thinking a lot about holiday food and I started wondering what exactly is Christmas food like? What does that mean? So I did a little bit of research.

I typed into Google What is Christmas food? And I found this article by Good Housekeeping that was published in October 2024. So definitely new and recent and relevant. And it's titled 24 Classic Christmas Foods That I Ranked From Best Ever to Worst. The bottom of the list 24. The worst ranked was mince pies. Has anyone ever had a mince pie?

I think the last time I visited London I actually had one. We were at Borough Market and my husband got a minced meat pie and it was actually pretty good. So I don't know. I feel like this is a harsh ranking number 24 out of 24 for something that literally feels pretty normal. I mean, chicken pot pie is a meat within a pie.

Am I missing something here? I'm already feeling like this article is debunked. But anyway, let's move forward because I was curious to see how the foods scale up in their ranking. So moving to number 23, we have candy canes. Okay, first do candy canes actually qualify as a food? I feel like it's more calories to eat a candy cane than you actually get out of it.

In any case, I think candy canes can be used successfully in other food items like hot chocolate ice cream, but by themselves I agree. Not great. I have never once, I don't think in my adult life had a craving for just a single candy cane. That's a hard pass for me. Same for peppermint bark, which I think got 19 on this list.

Peppermint bark always tastes so waxy and I don't want to eat a peppermint wax candle. That just doesn't sound good to me. And that's exactly what peppermint bark is. Number 21 is what I feel like should be the last on the list. Eggnog? No thank you, I like milk, but it's the egg component that is strange to me.

To be fair, I tried it when I think I was, like, six years old and hated it. So who knows, maybe I would like it now. And actually, now that I'm thinking about it and actually saying this out loud, I'm thinking that maybe what I tried when I was younger was buttermilk. I can't remember whatever it was, I didn't like it.

If it was buttermilk, hated it. If it was eggnog. Also hated it. But I'm thinking it actually was buttermilk now and not eggnog. So maybe I need to go back and actually try eggnog. I'm going to go try eggnog, and on the next episode, I'll let you know what I actually think about eggnog. Let's see if I actually do that.

I probably won't. All right. Sugar cookies ranked 17 on this list. I'm not going to lie, I can consume a sugar cookie with cream cheese frosting every now and then, but literally, it has to be every now and then. What I do love about sugar cookies is decorating them. That brings back all the holiday memories of my mom making Christmas tree and ornament shaped sugar cookies, and then allowing the family to decorate them as an activity.

I always loved that. Let me know if that's something you did as a holiday activity growing up. If you made sugar cookies and decorated them and then ate all of them. That's definitely what I did. But I decorated a few and ate all of them. I want to know who of my listeners actually likes hot drinks, because I feel like with every year that passes, hot drinks are becoming less and less satisfying to me.

I used to like hot chocolate and would have it every year, but now I literally never want hot chocolate. I never crave it, I never want it. And it made it to number 15 on this list, and I would actually rank it lower at this point in my life. Sorry, not sorry, but I do want to know what you all think about the controversial Starbucks hot chocolate.

Do you like it? Do you hate it? I feel like there's no in between either. You love the Starbucks hot chocolate or you hate it. I don't quite like it. I've had it before, multiple times. I've tried it with different flavor sirups like peppermint. And it's just. I don't know. I just can't get into it. It's not good.

Sorry. Okay. Number 13 on this list. I'm definitely a big fan of. And that is charcuterie boards. This deserves a higher placement for sure. I love me a good charcuterie board. Any food that allows me to just graze and pick out is definitely a ten out of ten. In my book. Get me some Brie cheese with a sweet fig jam.

Say less. Buche de Noel. It's number nine on this list. And I literally went to Costco the other day and bought like this chocolate cake thing. And I kept calling it a buche de Noel, which it wasn't, but my sister was with me and she had no idea what a buche de Noel was like. She had never heard of it.

She had no context of what it was and I was surprised. I was like, doesn't everyone know what a buche de Noel is anyway? Anything resembling of a chocolate cake is most likely a yes for me. Number six on this list is deviled eggs, which I don't know. Are those really holiday themed? I guess maybe, probably. I've just never really thought of them like that.

I love me a good deviled egg or 2 or 3. I actually usually take as many as I can when they're around. I had the most delicious deviled egg in Dallas a couple of years ago. I would love to go and find it again. I have no idea where I had it, but it had this spiced pickle and candied bacon.

My mouth is just watering thinking about this deviled egg that was so delicious. So if you live in Dallas and you know where I can get me some fancy deviled eggs, just pop in the chat, let me know because I'm all about it. Number five on this list is lasagna, which is insane. Lasagna is not a holiday food.

I think it just shouldn't even be on the list. Number three is gingerbread. Do you like gingerbread? I feel like you do because everyone is obsessed with gingerbread, which I am absolutely not. I feel like gingerbread, like the actual gingerbread itself, is gaslighting me to no end. I can never taste the supposed ginger that's in gingerbread. Maybe I would like it if it remotely lived up to its name.

I love ginger and this is not ginger. It should just be called the mediocre, watered down, cannot taste spice bread. That's what it should be called. And number one on the list is standing rib roast. What is your tradition for Christmas or special holiday meat? For some it's baked ham, others rib roast salmon lamb. Some do Thanksgiving part two with turkey.

Honestly, I like all of them. I don't think any of them would be my number one, but I do like some tasty protein in nearly all forms. So let me know what holiday foods do you like? Do you agree with this list or are you on more team Sean? With my adjustments and changes to this list.

Right. All right, we've talked about holiday food. Let's get into some actual pop culture. Holiday pop culture coming your way. Remember, if you are enjoying this content, if you like this conversation and the discussion that we are having, then please subscribe, follow, like and share BibimPOP with Sean.

Right. All right, let's go ahead and get into some Christmas pop music. I love me a great Christmas playlist for December. What are some of your favorite holiday songs? Here are my top ten right now. Let's go ahead and just start with the bottom. Let's start with number ten and we'll work our way up to number one. Number ten for me this year is December 25th by Charlie Puth.

This song is just plain good. It's well rounded. It features Charlie's soulful voice. It has a very like smooth production. It's just gentle. The song really highlights the importance of being with the one you love for the holidays, and Charlie shared in a press statement that he actually wrote and recorded the song completely on a whim, which is pretty impressive because the song is really good.

And so the fact that he can just put that together and release it on a whim, close quote is actually really cool. I really like these lyrics that he shares in December 25th. He says, quote, now December 25th is the day I always miss you the most because the music and the light. It reminds me of the night that you told me you had to go close.

Quote. And I love the way he sings the word most in the chorus. It's got this beautiful run to it. And so you definitely have to check out December 25th by Charlie Puth. Let me know what you think. Number nine right now for me is Christmas Without You by Ava Max. And if you listened to my first podcast episode, then you clearly know that I love to listen to Ava Max songs from yesteryear, and this is no exception.

This song came out in 2020, and if you haven't, by the way, listen to the premiere episode of BibimPOP With Sean. Go ahead and catch it now where I talk all about my Spotify wrapped Christmas Without You by Ava Max pays tribute to that bittersweet side of the holiday season, where it can actually just be a lonely time for many people if they're not able to spend it with the ones that they love, which for many people is their reality.

And so this song probably really hits home for a lot of people. And Ava Max's rendition is a great modern pop twist on the timeless classic. Go give it a listen. All right? Number eight on my list is Holiday Road by Kesha, and I feel like Kesha has definitely been rebranding as of late, and this brand new 2024 song is a bit rock with some synth sounds.

The song is really simple. There really aren't that many lyrics. She just talks a lot about Holiday road, holiday road, and she sings that over and over and over, and the song's actually only two minutes long, but maybe I just love hearing new music from Kesha. I like the song. I think it's good. I do love how in the song, when she does that ascending, sing into like a scream.

I just think it's fun. It's very rocky. Give it a listen if you haven't already, let me know what you think. New music from Kesha who can complain? It's our Christmas gift. Really? All right, number seven on the list is moonlit floor parentheses. Kiss me the Santa Baby remix by Lisa. Wow, what a long song. Title name Lisa from Blackpink captivates in this holiday song, and Lisa definitely brings her signature edginess.

It just released this month and it samples the £0.06 Nun, the Richards Kiss Me song, and has references to Eartha Kitt. Santa baby, I just feel like this is a genius and fun and cool, innovative combination to bring her own individual style. And then Sam Apple, the classic Kiss Me and also the Holiday Santa baby and just throw it all together, mix it all up and you get this song.

I think it's really fun. I really like how the lyrics in this song are changed from Kiss me Beneath the Milky Twilight to kiss me under the Christmas twilight, and I just think that is so clever. It brings me back to the original song and pays tribute to it in a really fun way, while also putting a new spin on it.

So go ahead and listen to Moonlit floor parentheses. Kiss me close parentheses. Santa baby remix by Lisa okay, number six on the list is D.J. Play a Christmas song by none other than The One. The only share I love That share came out with some Christmas music just last year in 2023. She's still got it. She's still got it.

This song pairs Cher's very distinct vocals with a contemporary dance production with holiday energy. This song could literally pass in the club. I'm not even kidding. If I go out to the club over Christmas, I'm most likely going to hear this song. I know it, and if you see me dancing in my car any time during the month of December, then chances are I'm probably dancing to this song and the lyrics are just all about having a good time during the holiday.

So what is not to love? Okay, here are some fun lyrics from the song and you'll know exactly what I'm talking about, she says. Or she sings. I can feel the pulse as I walk in the door. Take me through the crowd to the middle of the floor. The red and green lights are hitting me just right. Nothing more, nothing less.

I have got one request. DJ play Christmas song I see I can't even, I can't even read the lyrics without starting to, like, sing. I'm in this studio dancing. As I'm reading these lyrics, I'll go back to trying to reading the lyrics because I know nobody wants to hear me saying, okay, where was I? I got one request deejay, I can't see, I can't do it.

It's just like automatically, just like, the singing. Once they come out. Deejay, play a Christmas song. I want to be dancing all night long. It's cold outside, but it's warm in here. And that's the only thing I want this year. It's so fun. Please give it a listen. You're going to love it. Share for the win. Number five is going to come at no surprise.

It's My Only wish this year by Britney Spears, released in 2000, will always be on my holiday top ten. I love this song. It's classic old school Britney, the jingle bells in the background, the upbeat pop tempo. It's pure infectious pop holiday magic. And I love these lyrics right here. And I'm going to try really hard not to just belt out singing them Britney style.

All right, let's see if I can get through this, because I've been so good this year. Can't be alone under the mistletoe. He's all I want in a big red bow. And I love that echo effect that occurs after she says bow. It's like a bow, bow, bow. Anyway, listen to it. You've probably heard it before, but maybe it's been a while.

So pull up your Spotify, pull up your Apple Music and give it a listen right now. Number four on my list is all I Want Is You by Justin Bieber. Justin Bieber's holiday album that released a few years ago is top tier. Honestly, all bops, no notes. It's so good. All I Want Is You is one of my favorite songs from the album.

The background vocals of A and he are just so classy. Justin Bieber. Give it a listen and you'll hear it. I love these lyrics and I don't care if I don't get anything. All I need is you here right now. And I'm sorry if I hurt you. But I know that all I want is you. This Christmas. This Christmas.

So good. Give it a listen. Number three is a song that was just released earlier this month. It is Slay by Chung Ha Chung Ha is a K-pop solo artist born and spent most of her life in South Korea. She spent a little bit of time in Dallas, Texas and her dancing gives me very Britney vibes. The song was released on December 3rd.

It's very R&B pop and it makes me think that this honestly would have been a perfect song for Ariana Grande. It's cute, it's flirty. The music video is also giving those cute and flirty vibes. I love these lyrics from the song you say I'm a gift. I say yeah I know I slay. Head to mistletoe. It's honestly so good.

It's number three on my list right now, but it could easily be number one. Okay, number two on my list is honestly a dark horse for me. It's Holidays by Conan Gray. I really like Conan Gray. However, the very first few moments of this song I was very unsure of it. I actually almost skipped it on the playlist I was listening to and just moved forward to the next song, but I wanted to give it a chance.

So I kept listening. And here we are. It's number two on my top ten for the holidays. The more I listened, the more I liked it. Conan just has a very distinct voice and vibe, and this song is definitely a slow jam. Like, listen to it while you're taking a bath with lavender bubbles, some Epsom salts, a candle.

I think you can tell where I want to be right now. The lyrics really move the listener through feelings of loneliness, memories and hope, Conan says about this song in a press release. I wanted to make a song that captured the feeling of coming back home to your hometown after moving away and seeing little bits and pieces slowly change, until one day you look around and your town just isn't your town anymore.

But the one thing that never seems to change is your friendships. I can leave for six months, but right when I land back in Texas, it's like nobody left. The same food orders, the same dark coffee, and forever the same laughs. That's what gets me through the holidays every year. Close quote I love this nostalgia coming from Conan Gray, and I really resonate with that.

Every year when I go home for the holidays, I feel the same way. Things look so different. Everything in my town has changed. The stores that I used to go to are no longer there anymore. And yet when I get together with old friends, we pick up right where we left off. There are still some places that I visit that are the same.

For example, in high school I would go off campus for lunch every day and I would eat at Varsity's Pizza in Lawrenceville, new Jersey. And every year over the holidays, I go back to Varsities to get my slice of pizza. And the same people who worked there when I was in high school are still running the business today.

The pizza still tastes the same, the smells are there and it just brings me right back home to some very happy times immediately. And so this song really hits home for me. I really like it. Give it a listen. If you haven't Holidays by Conan Gray, just give it a listen when you're like in the bath. We have made it to number one on my holiday playlist this year, and it is the song.

The song title is actually kind of ridiculous. The song is titled Christmas EveL. Like E, v e l by Stray Kids and Stray Kids are, you guessed it, a K-pop boy band. This song was actually released in November of 2021, and I just discovered it more recently as I've become a fan of Stray Kids. It's definitely an unconventional holiday song and mixes that Christmas content with the sounds of very high energy.

And when I say high energy, I mean like really high energy, like think trap beats, rap lyrics, and the song title gives off like that very signature Stray Kids cheeky, chaotic, rebellious vibe. And I just love how dancey it is. My favorite parts of the song are where the artists go just vocally very, very low in different parts, like where they say jingle, jingle, jingle all the way with the bass and the low voice.

It's just hitting just right. I love it. And FYI, there's some really great K-pop Christmas songs out there. I discovered a really great playlist on Spotify. Christmas, K-pop. Go ahead and search it. Give it a listen. There's some awesome songs in there that you probably wouldn't otherwise hear unless you look them up, so go check it out. Oh, right.

And there we have it. My top ten. I would love to know what you think of these songs. Give them all a listen. Let me know what you think. Would you put them in this order? I'd love to hear.

All right. Well, it wouldn't be a holiday special podcast if we didn't talk about some holiday movies. And there's actually one movie that I want to talk about right now, and it is Carry On. It's the new holiday thriller movie on Netflix. And if you've logged into Netflix recently, then you've probably seen it ranking somewhere near the top in the most watched movies in just a couple of days after its release, which is when I'm making this podcast.

It has already had 42 million views and was ranked number one. It has an incredible cast starring Taron Egerton, Sophia Carson and Jason Bateman. All right, so what is this movie about? If you haven't already seen it, an article from Netflix describes it as the following quote. Carry on follows young TSA agent Ethan Taron as he fights to outsmart a mysterious traveler who blackmails him into letting a dangerous package slip onto a Christmas Eve flight.

The high stakes circumstances come courtesy of Jason Bateman's sinister villain, whom Ethan initially meets as a voice through headphones that threatens his pregnant girlfriend Sofia Carson, if he doesn't comply with instruction. It's close. Quote. It's so funny to me because I recently saw my friend Adam just after this movie was released, and he mentioned seeing it and I said, oh, the new Christmas thriller.

I want to see that so bad. And he was like, well, more of a thriller, less Christmas, which is hilarious because he is so right. This movie's story occurs on Christmas Eve, one of the busiest days of travel, which is it really is Christmas Eve really one of the busiest days of travel? I feel like if people are traveling, they've traveled before Christmas Eve.

Anyway. Holiday is definitely integral to the plot, but it certainly is definitely more of a suspense and a thriller rather than like the cozy Christmas vibes you get from a hallmark movie. I would give this movie a solid 8.5 out of ten. I actually really enjoyed it. It was entertaining, had some great twists, developed the main character really well, who had a great arc.

Taron did a great job of being the loving boyfriend to his pregnant girlfriend Sofia Carson, while also still in this space of trying to figure out who he is and what he wants from life. The internal struggle that he faces with Jason Bateman's villain character is tangible and you can feel it. The movie did a really great job of making that tension palpable.

Sofia Carson I love her. She was in Disney's Descendants. Shout out to my v K's. She even has a little bit of an exciting action part, which was fun to see. And Jason Bateman is just spooky. He's so creepy and so believable as a villain. Just hired to do a job. No empathy, no compassion, yet somehow also able to get Terrence character to spill information about himself.

There's also just this insanely really well filmed car scene. I won't spoil all the excitement, but let's just say my jaw was dropped. Also, this was really fun for me. Terrence character grew up in New Brunswick, new Jersey, and as a native new Jersey and who grew up 20 minutes from New Brunswick, I really appreciated all the jersey references.

The characters even referenced the Freehold Raceway Mall, which was so fun for me because this is one of the malls I grew up going to, and I frequently go to when I visit home because they have a Primark department store there and I love Primark. I get like all my basics there. It's a really great department store that comes from the UK.

I don't know if people from the UK actually like it. When I was in London last, I met someone who told me that he didn't like Primark and I was so confused because I love Primark. So anyway, really great reference there of the freehold raceway Mall. The reason I didn't give this movie a higher score is because I wish the intended target of the movie was developed a little bit more.

I was kind of confused as it was revealed who the target was, and didn't quite understand the why or the motive behind the threat. I also wanted to see more of Sofia Carson and the LAPD detective Elena Cole, played by Danielle Deadwyler, was one of my favorite characters of this movie, and I really just wanted to see her have a more prominent role that more significantly impacted the overall story.

Here's a fun fact from the movie carry on is set in the Los Angeles International Airport, but the production of the movie was filmed in New Orleans. They actually filmed at the old MSI Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport in New Orleans, and redesigned this old airport and decorated it to look like modern day LAX. And I just thought that was so cool.

I actually wondered watching the whole movie, like, how did you film this at LAX? LAX is so busy all the time. If you've ever been, you've probably had a nightmare experience there because no one comes in and out of LAX and is like, wow, that was a really, really great, fun time that I just had. I can't wait to go back to LAX.

If you have not seen Carry On, you definitely have to. I'm excited to be home for the holidays. One of the reasons being that I can sit my family down in front of the TV. I can turn on, carry on and we're all going to watch it together. If you end up watching Carry On, let me know what you think.

Would you give it an 8.5 out of ten, or would you rank it higher or lower?

I hope all my pop tarts out there are having the best holiday season. Spending your time with loved ones. It truly is a magical time of year if you're listening to this podcast when it released on Christmas Eve, happy holidays! If you're listening after the release, then I hope you are having or have had a very wonderful holiday season.

Remember to subscribe, follow, like and share BibimPOP with Sean and follow me on social media for updates @bibimpopwithsean on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok and @bibimpopsean without the with on X, formerly Twitter and go to my podcast website to check out more information bibimpopwithsean.buzzsprout.com and stay tuned for episode six.

We are going to be covering some more pop news. Thanks for listening to BibimPOP with Sean where pop culture ate.