This week we’re diving into the castrati, the choirboys who paid the ultimate price to hit the high notes. We cover how the church justified it, what actually went down in the procedure (spoiler: it’s grim), and why these singers were so popular. Of course, we can’t resist the scandals, the bedroom rumors, and all the messy ways castrati blurred gender and power. As always, there are way too many ball jokes and questionable accents, yet a surprising number of parallels to modern pop stars.