--- description: Find out why "Pop Song" by Larissa Pham is on TIME's list of the must-read books from this year. title: 'Pop Song' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2021 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf80a50f1a988cbe7/6998cd3be1ba008edc98e4bd/time-hi-res.webp?branch=production&width=640&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Nov 29, 2021 # Pop Song by Larissa Pham by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  Visual artist and cultural critic Larissa Pham’s _Pop Song: Adventures in Art & Intimacy_ is a tender and candid rumination on art and love that isn’t afraid of vulnerability. Pham covers a lot of ground in these essays, both literally and emotionally: Tracing her movements in her twenties from Yale to France to Taos to Shanghai, she describes profound connections with people and pop culture, and explores the ways in which music and art have shaped her understanding of herself, her relationships and the world she inhabits. It’s a formidable debut. **Buy Now:** _Pop Song_ on [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/4973/9781646220267 "undefined") | [Amazon](https://amzn.to/31XER34 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-must-read-books-2021/6120649/pop-song/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-must-read-books-2021/6120649/pop-song/"},"headline":"Pop Song","datePublished":"2021-11-29T13:15:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:58:34.212Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-must-read-books-2021/6120649/pop-song/","keywords":["Books","list","best books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf80a50f1a988cbe7/6998cd3be1ba008edc98e4bd/time-hi-res.webp?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf80a50f1a988cbe7/6998cd3be1ba008edc98e4bd/time-hi-res.webp?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-must-read-books-2021/6120649/pop-song/","name":"Pop Song"}}]}] ```