In Defense of My Fave

Morgan Cottrill
  • 5.0 (4)
  • Music Commentary
  • Weekly

In Defense Of My Fave is where music lovers plead their case. Each episode, a guest passionately defends an album or artist they’d go to bat for—flaws, skips, and all. Expect strong opinions, deep nostalgia, and spirited debate, all in good fun. If you’ve ever said “no, you don’t get this album,” this podcast is for you.

  1. 10h ago

    In Defense of Marina's The Family Jewels Album

    Morgan hosts a new episode of In Defense of My Fave with guest Allie to defend and tier-rank Marina and the Diamonds’ 2010 debut album The Family Jewels, alongside cultural context from Marina’s MySpace-era buildup through major-label release. They discuss Marina’s themes of ambition, perfectionism, identity, fame, and internalized misogyny, including Marina’s later discomfort with songs like “Girls” and her praise for tracks like “Oh No,” “Hollywood,” and “I Am Not a Robot.” Morgan outlines the album’s creation timeline, producers, critical reception, and how fandom reputation has grown over time. Track-by-track, they debate standout songs (“Are You Satisfied?,” “I Am Not a Robot,” “Obsessions,” “Oh No”), then Morgan reveals her mathematical album score and previews next week’s Electra Heart episode.

    In Defense of Marina's The Family Jewels Album

  2. Nov 6

    In Defense of Olivia Rodrigo's You Seem Pretty Sad For a Girl So In Love

    Host Morgan welcomes Danielle and Sara to In Defense of My Fave to discuss and tier-rank Olivia Rodrigo’s third album, You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love, sharing how each came to Olivia’s music and how their feelings evolved, including the impact of seeing her live. They cover cultural context (Sour, Guts, Glastonbury with Robert Smith, genre framing toward new wave/dream pop with pop-punk roots), rollout details, reviews, sales, collaborators (Dan Nigro, Amy Allen, Sasha Alex Sloan, Steph Jones), and themes of contentment, codependency, and revising love songs after a breakup widely speculated to involve Louis Partridge. In the track-by-track ranking, they debate highlights like “Drop Dead,” “Stupid Song,” “Maggots for Brains,” “The Cure,” and “Cigarette Smoke,” discuss bridges and favorite songs, and Morgan reveals the album’s score using her math formula! Morgan reveals a final album ranking at the end. Follow the show: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/indefenseofmyfave/⁠⁠ Spotify playlist for every song Morgan ranked God Tier so far on the pod: ⁠https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4lUwq292MomaBpKiCXoAVg?si=0b6a29b6dd6c4ef1

    In Defense of Olivia Rodrigo's You Seem Pretty Sad For a Girl So In Love

  3. Oct 30

    In Defense of Kacey Musgraves' Golden Hour Album

    Host Morgan reunites guests Raina and Zach to defend and tier-rank Kacey Musgraves’ Golden Hour track by track, mixing cultural context, personal stories, and concert talk. Raina shares her dual-proposal engagement story with Emily and connects it to Golden Hour songs from early relationship playlists; the group also discusses seeing Kacey live, her progressive reputation in country music, LGBTQ+ advocacy (including her 2022 GLAAD Vanguard Award), drag connections, and her comedic social media presence. Morgan outlines the album’s 2018 release, critical acclaim and Grammys, stylistic shift to “space/galactic country,” collaborators and production choices, recording anecdotes, and some drug influence. Their rankings feature strong praise for songs like “Space Cowboy,” “High Horse,” “Oh, What a World,” and “Rainbow,” and the episode closes with scores, wrap-up, and a teaser for next week's episode. Morgan reveals a final album ranking at the end. Follow the show: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/indefenseofmyfave/⁠⁠ Spotify playlist for every song Morgan ranked God Tier so far on the pod: ⁠https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4lUwq292MomaBpKiCXoAVg?si=0b6a29b6dd6c4ef1

    In Defense of Kacey Musgraves' Golden Hour Album

  4. Oct 23

    In Defense of Halsey's Badlands Album

    Morgan welcomes Danielle and Zach back to In Defense of My Fave to defend Halsey’s 2015 debut Badlands through cultural context and a track-by-track tier ranking. They discuss how the album found them, its “Tumblr pop” identity, and why it still feels like a foundational alt-pop text. Morgan outlines the era’s landscape (Lorde, Lana, The Weeknd), Halsey’s rapid rise from SoundCloud to a shoestring bedroom-recorded major-label debut, her early press framing around being “tri-bi,” and the album’s dystopian concept as a metaphor for mental state. They cover producer Lido, sales and legacy, internet lore including a Matty Healy situationship timeline, and then rank songs like “Castle,” “Hold Me Down,” “New Americana,” “Gasoline,” “Control,” and “Ghost,” Morgan reveals a final album ranking at the end. Follow the show: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/indefenseofmyfave/⁠ Spotify playlist for every song Morgan ranked God Tier so far on the pod: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4lUwq292MomaBpKiCXoAVg?si=0b6a29b6dd6c4ef1

    In Defense of Halsey's Badlands Album

  5. Oct 16 ·  Bonus

    Bonus: Creating Our Perfect 13 Track Taylor Swift Albums

    Morgan hosts a bonus episode of In Defense of My Fave to close out the podcast’s Taylor Swift run (for now) with a game: each guest builds a “perfect” 13-track Taylor Swift album pulled from across her discography, inspired by the 13 podcast. Sara shares her process (starting from a 41-song shortlist) and presents “A Swift Taste (of Nostalgic Bops),” featuring one song from every album. Danielle, who doesn’t consider herself a Swiftie, titles hers “Dancing With Our Hands Tied,” leans heavily on 1989 and Reputation, and structures it with love songs followed by breakup tracks. Stef crafts a personal narrative playlist reflecting her relationships, opening with “The Archer” and ending hopefully. Morgan wins best title (I'll save that for when you listen!) explains her tier-based selection method, and sequences a story-driven tracklist. They note crossovers, discuss Taylor’s release pace and the Showgirl deluxe tracks, and Morgan previews upcoming episodes at the end. Our playlists for the Spotify users: Sara's A Swift Taste of Nostalgic Bops https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5JOuq1nfQfHiyEjmhdQCo7?si=da979ed0eab64786 Danielle's Dancing With Our Hands Tied: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3Ovh0OrdXMKHLQoS65gLhD?si=5c209fd32fc047d8 Stefanie's - Clean (Stefanie's Version): https://open.spotify.com/playlist/31Q48yd0qbKMuMRd9RZJB2?si=6c3db21255d14efd Morgan's https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4iwg7gSAK85pParwTRZcaC?si=e9c9ae01e9964006 Our playlists for apple users: Sara's A Swift Taste of Nostalgic Bops: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/a-swift-taste-of-nostalgic-bops/pl.u-e98lkKLiaBRb4qbDanielle's Dancing With Our Hands Tied: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/dancing-with-our-hands-tied/pl.u-38oWXa8tYKxar5a Danielle's Dancing With Our Hands Tied: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/dancing-with-our-hands-tied/pl.u-38oWXa8tYKxar5a Stef's Clean (Stefanie's Version) - https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/clean-stefanies-version/pl.u-d2b0kXXCLeqyPEy Morgan's https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/you-seem-pretty-horny-for-a-tortured-poet/pl.u-DdANrRBt0zGKD5K Follow the show: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/indefenseofmyfave/⁠ Spotify playlist for every Taylor Swift song Morgan ranked God Tier: ⁠https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5nX8DYcpI7zdp69zySyWJQ?si=6579456cf9964dad⁠ Spotify playlist for every song Morgan ranked God Tier so far on the pod: ⁠https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4lUwq292MomaBpKiCXoAVg?si=0b6a29b6dd6c4ef1 A lot of links today lol!

    Bonus: Creating Our Perfect 13 Track Taylor Swift Albums

  6. Oct 9

    In Defense of Taylor Swift's the Life of a Showgirl

    Morgan hosts In Defense of My Fave, a music commentary podcast where guests defend albums, and wraps Season One’s 12-album Taylor Swift run with Life of a Showgirl alongside returning guests Stef and Sara, noting the episode was recorded before the deluxe bonus tracks. They recap their Swiftie histories, speculate about a new single (“Patient Zero”), possible deluxe/VMAs announcements, and discuss the album’s cultural context: post-Eras Tour, The Tortured Poets Department’s success, Swift buying back her masters, and her engagement to Travis Kelce. They outline the showgirl-maximalist aesthetic, Max Martin/Shellback producing all 12 tracks, fan backlash and lore, and commercial performance. The group then tier-ranks tracks with major disagreements (e.g., “Father Figure,” “Eldest Daughter,” “Wood,” title track), and Morgan shares overall album ranking scores and teases a final bonus episode building perfect 13-track Taylor albums. Follow the show: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/indefenseofmyfave/Tier ranking visual: https://www.instagram.com/p/DeRk5MgCEt6/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&dlrf=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==&srtk=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== Spotify playlist for every Taylor Swift song Morgan ranked God Tier: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5nX8DYcpI7zdp69zySyWJQ?si=6579456cf9964dad Spotify playlist for every song Morgan ranked God Tier so far on the pod: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4lUwq292MomaBpKiCXoAVg?si=0b6a29b6dd6c4ef1

    In Defense of Taylor Swift's the Life of a Showgirl

  7. Oct 2

    In Defense of Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department (Part 2)

    Morgan continues her In Defense of My Fave conversation with Ronni and Steph on the back half of Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department (the Anthology), debating whether Taylor should slow down on new music, what Taylor Swift 13 could be, and how fans read into hair, marriage, and country-root hints. They track-by-track rank songs like “The Black Dog,” “imgonnagetyouback,” “So High School,” “How Did It End?,” “I Look in People’s Windows,” “The Prophecy,” and “The Manuscript,” discussing lore ties to The 1975, grief stages, and personal breakup parallels, while criticizing several Dessner-produced tracks and revisiting Kim/Kanye with “thanK you aIMee.” They choose best bridges/songs and reveal the tier-ranking scores. As she does every week, Morgan uses math to get a final score for The Tortured Poets Department. Tier ranking visuals: https://www.instagram.com/p/Dd_ogkPFv1Y/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&stkn=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== Follow the show! https://www.instagram.com/indefenseofmyfave/

    In Defense of Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department (Part 2)

  8. Sep 25

    In Defense of Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department (Part 1)

    In Defense of My Fave: The Tortured Poets Department (Part 1) — Swiftie History, Lore, and Track RankingsMorgan introduces In Defense of My Fave and explains this Tortured Poets Department episode’s altered format. They share their Swiftie histories and Morgan’s Spotify Wrapped highlights before revisiting their initial reactions to TTPD. In cultural context, they discuss Taylor Swift’s 2024 commercial peak, the 31-track surprise double drop, polarizing critical response, massive sales and streaming records, variant controversy, and Jack Antonoff vs. Aaron Dessner’s production roles. They outline key relationship lore around Joe Alwyn and Matty Healy, then begin ranking Part 1 tracks through “Clara Bow,” debating favorites like “Down Bad,” “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?,” “Guilty as Sin,” and “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived.” Tier ranking visuals: https://www.instagram.com/p/DdthuwrDU3I/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&stkn=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== Follow the show: https://www.instagram.com/indefenseofmyfave/

    In Defense of Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department (Part 1)
See All (19)

Trailer

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

In Defense Of My Fave is where music lovers plead their case. Each episode, a guest passionately defends an album or artist they’d go to bat for—flaws, skips, and all. Expect strong opinions, deep nostalgia, and spirited debate, all in good fun. If you’ve ever said “no, you don’t get this album,” this podcast is for you.

Information

  • Creator
    Morgan Cottrill
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    19
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Morgan Cottrill
  • Show Website
    In Defense of My Fave