Podcasts by Switched on Pop
A podcast all about the making and meaning of popular music. Musicologist Nate Sloan
Further podcasts by Vox
Podcast on the topic Musikrezensionen
All episodes
Leon Bridges and Khruangbin Sing a Song of Texas from 2022-02-15T10:00
Leon Bridges is the soul singer hailing from Fort Worth, Texas, who burst onto the music scene in 2015 with the album Coming Home. Since then he’s established himself as an adventurous musician who...
ListenShaking Out the Numb with Sylvan Esso from 2022-02-08T10:00
The last proper, blowout concert Charlie attended was devastatingly long ago, back in the winter of 2019. Bringing some funk to buttoned-up Walt Disney Concert Hall, the duo Sylvan Esso rocked Char...
ListenWe *do* talk about Bruno from 2022-02-01T10:00
The number one song on the charts is a bit of a mystery. “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” is the unlikely hit from Disney’s sleeper animated musical Encanto. Set in a mountainous village in Colombia, t...
ListenAccidental K-pop star Eric Nam risks it all to go his own way from 2022-01-19T09:00
Eric Nam is an accidental K-pop star. Growing up in Atlanta, and graduating from college in Boston, he did not expect that in his twenties he’s sign to a K-pop label, be named 2016 Man of the year ...
ListenThe Weeknd drives through purgatory (with a little help from Jim Carrey) from 2022-01-11T10:00
Dawn FM is The Weeknd’s most narratively compelling album yet. More than just a collection of eighties-nostalgia single bait, Dawn FM is a concept album that picks up on a multi-year meta narrative...
ListenWhy do new Christmas songs fail? from 2021-12-21T10:00
Why are there no new Christmas songs? One one hand, there's more holiday songs than we’ll ever need. Every year pop stars drop countless holiday-themed album. But despite the annual glut of Christ...
ListenTai Verdes TikTok-ed his way to a breakout hit from 2021-12-14T10:00
Whether you’re a TikTok fanatic, or the app’s K-hole-inducing stream of content has forced you to delete it from your phone, its influence on music is undeniable. In 2020 the platform bragged that ...
ListenRobert Plant&Alison Krauss Raise The Roof from 2021-12-07T10:00
Robert Plant is in his own words “cold” and “prickly” while speaking about his new album with Alison Krauss, Raise The Roof. First thing upon joining the Zoom call from London, Plant jovially launc...
ListenThe Beatles get back to their roots from 2021-11-30T22:31
2021 marks the 50th anniversary of the release of the Beatles’ final album, Let it Be. To commemorate the occasion, the remaining members of the band have remixed the album and unleashed an eight-h...
ListenTaylor, Adele&Silk Sonic’s broken hearts club (with Brittany Luse) from 2021-11-23T10:00
This week we are having a blast feeling really sad. Guest Brittany Luse, cohost of the acclaimed podcast For Colored Nerds, joins Nate and Charlie to dig into this fall's slate of breathtaking brea...
ListenSnotty Nose Rez Kids on hip hop and Indigenous protest from 2021-11-16T10:00
Merging hip hop and Indigenous culture, rap duo Snotty Nose Rez Kids are creating a sound that goes hard for a cause. On tracks like “War Club” with DJ Shub, Yung Trybez and Young D connect Indigen...
ListenThe State of the Pop Union from 2021-11-09T19:46
From time to time, it is our constitutional duty to provide an update to the people on the current state of pop. What are the sounds? Who’s making the hits? What are they singing about? We take th...
ListenWhy ABBA songs just hit different from 2021-11-02T09:00
Swedish supergroup ABBA is releasing their first album in forty years, making this the perfect time for Nate and Charlie to investigate what makes their music so beloved and reviled in equal measur...
ListenThe Healing Power of Pop with Esperanza Spalding from 2021-10-26T09:00
It. Has. Been. A. Year. We’ve felt it; you’ve felt it. Sometimes, it’s comforting to consider how universal that overwhelming sense of blah is. Other days, woof, it can be tough to see the light. T...
ListenJanet Jackson's Legacy After 'Control' from It's Been A Minute with Sam Sanders from 2021-10-22T21:57
Sam Sanders is one of our favorite friends of the podcast. His NPR show, It's Been A Minute, has released an outstanding three part series exploring crossover in pop music. We want to share with yo...
ListenJames Bond's Spycraft Sound from 2021-10-19T09:01
The latest installment of the James Bond franchise, No Time To Die, closes the book on the Daniel Craig era of the international superspy. The film’s theme song, “No Time to Die,” by Billie Eilish,...
ListenJames Blake&The Return of Harmony from 2021-10-12T09:00
For a decade James Blake has crafted an idiosyncratic sound. His early work as a minimalist electronic producer fused lush R&B chords with lyrical collage and unfiltered synthesizers. He describes ...
ListenSparkle spoke out against R Kelly. It cost her her career. from 2021-10-07T09:00
On this week’s episode we're sharing a story fromThe Cut where senior writer Angelina Chapin and co-host Jazmín Aguilera talk about and talk with Sparkle (born Stephanie Edwards), who first reporte...
ListenICYMI: The Mystery of Montero AKA Lil Nas X (feat. Take A Daytrip) from 2021-09-28T06:00
Lil Nas X has a talent for creating productive controversy. First with “Old Town Road,” he challenged expectations about blackness in country music. Now with “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” he ta...
ListenDeja Vu: Why Olivia Rodrigo keeps giving up songwriting credits from 2021-09-21T09:00
In the last few years music copyright claims have skyrocketed. More and more artists are giving songwriting credits away. Frequently, credits are given retroactively to avoid the cost of long jury ...
ListenCHVRCHES and the sound of 80s horror from 2021-09-14T09:00
CHVRCHES is well-known for their comprehensive use of synthesizers and their updated take on “synthpop”, a subgenre of pop we most closely associated with the 1980s. While gearing up to make their ...
ListenFrom Taylor Swift to Bon Iver, Aaron Dessner Finds Meaning in Musical Community from 2021-09-07T09:00
On August 27th Big Red Machine, the joint musical project of Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner - artists known for their work as Bon Iver and in the rock band The National, respectively - returned wi...
ListenModern Classics: Carina del Valle Schorske on Cat Power's "Manhattan" from 2021-08-31T09:00
Recently the hosts of Switched on Pop kept seeing the same byline next to their favorite pieces of music writing. A moving profile of Bad Bunny? There was the name. A searing critique of West Side ...
ListenThe Joy of Music Festivals from 2021-08-24T06:58
For the past two weeks, our series on summer music festivals has uncovered the interplay of festival fashion and music and examined festival subcultures. But we've so far overlooked an essential re...
ListenThe Beauty and Horror of Insane Clown Posse's Summer Festival from 2021-08-17T09:00
The Gathering of the Juggalos is the music festival centered around the rap duo Insane Clown Posse. Their songs are hyper-violent and profane; their stage show features grotesque clown makeup and b...
ListenHow Coachella took the Woodstock look from 2021-08-10T04:00
The co-hosts of The Cut, Jazmin Aguilera and B.A. Parker, think deeply and incisively about fashion. For this special episode of Switched on Pop — the first in our three-part miniseries about summe...
ListenModern Classics: Mark Ronson on Ginuwine's "Pony" from 2021-08-03T09:00
Mark Ronson has a CV too long to list here. Suffice to say he’s a musician who’s worked with everyone from Amy Winehouse to Lady Gaga to Dua Lipa, has one of the highest selling singles of all time...
ListenSummer Hits: Jack Antonoff on Bleachers “Stop Making This Hurt” from 2021-07-30T04:00
We’ve been wanting to speak with Jack Antonoff since we started Switched On Pop back in 2014. We've had countless hours of conversation sound tracked to his productions with artists like Taylor Swi...
ListenModern Classics: Yola on Childish Gambino’s “Redbone” and the Longevity of Soul from 2021-07-27T09:00
In this installment of Modern Classics we speak to the amazing four-time Grammy Nominee musician, singer and songwriter Yola about her new record, Stand For Myself, and how hearing Childish Gambino...
ListenThe Appealing Uneasiness of Listening to L’Rain (Live at JBL) from 2021-07-23T07:00
L’Rain is the musical persona of singer and multi-instrumentalist Taja Cheek, whose new album, Fatigue, begins with a lyrical quandary: “What have you done to change?” What follows is a journey of...
ListenSummer Hits: City Girls - Twerkulator (with Kyra Gaunt) from 2021-07-20T09:00
One of the songs we anticipate playing on repeat this summer is “Twerkulator” by Miami rap duo City Girls. It’s a track with enough sonic energy to power a small town, but that’s not all we dig. Th...
ListenSummer Hits: Lorde - Solar Power (w Hanif Abdurraqib) from 2021-07-16T06:00
Lorde's new song "Solar Power" set the internet ablaze when it dropped from out of nowhere in June. Some fans found the song to be a buoyant departure from Lorde's last release, Melodrama, while ot...
ListenSummer Hits: Olivia Rodrigo - good 4 u (with Jessica Hopper) from 2021-07-13T16:41
Olivia Rodrigo’s summer breakup anthem “good 4 u” is filled with the kind of ebullient angst that makes us want to spontaneously dance around our house and belt the lyrics out with abandon. Whether...
ListenModern Classics: Labrinth's "Sexy MF" (with Sam Sanders) from 2021-07-06T09:00
Modern Classics is the new series where Charlie and Nate invite their favorite musicians, journalists, and friends of the show to wax lyrical about a song that's important in their life. In the fir...
ListenGrowing Pains with Lucy Dacus from 2021-07-02T11:00
Growing up is never easy. But pop songs about adolescence too often gloss over the complicated moments. The “teenage dream” archetype is just a pop culture fantasy. And no one really wants to be 17...
ListenSummer Hits: BTS - Butter (with Jenna Andrews) from 2021-06-29T07:00
In summer 2020, BTS released “Dynamite,” their first single recorded entirely in English. The song shot up the charts, became one of the most successful YouTube videos in history, and won over pop ...
ListenPop’s Worst Kept Secret ft. Emily Warren from 2021-06-22T07:00
In 1974 country music, singer songwriter, Dolly Parton got wind that Elvis Presley wanted to record her new song, “I Will Always Love You.“ According to Dolly, the deal fell through when Elvis's ma...
Listen40 Years Later, Japanese City Pop is Still Crashing the Charts (with Cat Zhang) from 2021-06-15T09:00
If you listen to a lot of music on YouTube, you may have been recommended a video. The thumbnail image is a striking black-and-white photo of a Japanese singer named Mariya Takeuchi. The song, “Pla...
ListenJ Cole’s The Off Season and the Power of the 12/8 Shuffle from 2021-06-08T09:00
J Cole is one of the most successful rappers of his generation, someone who racks up hits while sustaining critical acclaim. But that isn’t necessarily a good thing. Cole’s sixth studio album “The ...
ListenICYMI Rina Sawayama Reimagines the 00s from 2021-06-01T15:14:57
One of our favorites artists right now is Rina Sawayama. She works with her producer Clarence Clarity to make this mash up of sounds from the late 90s and early aughts. She in particular recasts Ma...
ListenVijay Iyer on why jazz has always been political from 2021-05-25T09:00
When you think of jazz, you might think of La La Land, luxury car commercials, or fancy dinner parties. Cool, sophisticated, complex, jazz today seems to signify the epitome of class and taste. For...
ListenIntroducing Galaxy Brains from 2021-05-18T16:35:37
Today we’re sharing something a little different - a new TV and film show from the Vox Media Podcast Network that we think you’ll like called Galaxy Brains. On Galaxy Brains, entertainment writer D...
ListenTurns out Willow Smith rocks from 2021-05-11T09:00
Willow Smith has a new Paramore-inspired emo-slash-pop punk track with a formidable drum groove powered by Travis Barker. Over churning guitars she sneers at fake friends: "smile in my face, then p...
ListenJulia Michaels’ Songwriting Superpowers from 2021-05-04T09:00
For nearly a decade, Julia Michaels has penned hit songs for the biggest acts in pop music. She is adept at turning people’s vulnerabilities into memorable hooks — think Justin Bieber’s “Sorry” or ...
ListenHow Take A Daytrip took off (full interview) from 2021-04-30T09:00
The story of the hitmakers behind Lil Nas X’s “Montero” Sheck Wes’s “Mo Bamba” and many more Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
ListenThe Mystery of Montero AKA Lil Nas X (feat. Take A Daytrip) from 2021-04-27T09:00
Lil Nas X has a talent for creating productive controversy. First with “Old Town Road,” he challenged expectations about blackness in country music. Now with “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” he ta...
ListenPop On A Perilous Planet (w Kyle Devine) from 2021-04-20T09:00
Earth Day 2021 gives us the chance to pause our usual programming and consider the role pop music plays in our deepening climate emergency. On Side A, we listen to artists who have confronted the c...
Listen5 Rules of Great Songwriting Collabs, According to Teddy Geiger and Dan Wilson (On Air Fest 2021) from 2021-04-13T09:00
On Switched on Pop we talk to songwriters and artists about how they make great songs. Most songs are written with two or more people in the room. Something we've never done before is pair two of t...
ListenSilk Sonic's Retro Soul (with Tayla Parx) from 2021-04-06T23:20:08
Anderson Paak and Bruno Mars have joined forces as the duo Silk Sonic, and their first release “Leave the Door Open” suggests that their collab is as natural as peanut butter and jelly. The song ex...
ListenAJR Conjure Broadway on 'OK Orchestra' from 2021-03-30T07:00
Adam, Jack and Ryan Met, better known as AJR, started playing gigs on the streets of New York City. The sidewalk hustle taught them how to grab the attention of the least forgiving audience. Now on...
ListenReturn of the Funk Guitar: Cory Wong Breaks Down Dua Lipa, Jessie Ware and Nile Rodgers from 2021-03-23T09:00
Cory Wong is a Minneapolis native and Vulfpeck collaborator known for pushing rhythm guitar from a background instrument to the star of the show. Wong’s a walking encyclopedia of funk guitar, and h...
ListenWhat the 63rd Grammys say about the state of pop from 2021-03-16T01:01:40
The 63rd Grammys was as unprecedented and unusual as last year. Backdropped by the pandemic, the show was delayed and had to be taped in multiple locations in front of a bare bones audience. Echoin...
ListenKimbra reflects on a song that we used to know from 2021-03-09T10:00
Ten years ago the Australian artist Gotye asked New Zealand musician Kimbra to feature on his song “Somebody I Used To Know.” At the time Kimbra had no idea it was going to be a hit. No wonder—the ...
ListenKaytranada's journey from basement beat-making to the Grammys from 2021-03-02T10:00
Kaytranada has what every producer strives for: an in-demand signature sound. His records glide fluidly between four-to-the-floor house beats, hip-hop sample-flipping, and P-Funk style 808 bass lin...
ListenJP Saxe Didn’t Mean for His Grammy Hit ‘If the World Was Ending’ to Be So Literal from 2021-02-23T10:00
JP Saxe wrote the song “If the World was Ending” with acclaimed songwriter Julia Michaels in 2019 about a fictional cataclysm. The record was released in the before times in a way that seemed to pr...
ListenAdrian Younge's new project sounds like James Baldwin meets Marvin Gaye from 2021-02-16T10:00
Adrian Younge is a producer for entertainment greats ranging from Jay Z and Kendrick Lamar to the Wu Tang clan, a composer for television shows such as Marvel's Luke Cage (with A Tribe Called Quest...
ListenThe Scandalous Sounds of Bridgerton (w Kris Bowers) from 2021-02-09T08:00
The Netflix series Bridgerton has hooked audiences with its bodice-ripping sex scenes, a colorblind approach period drama casting, and a soundtrack featuring recreations of modern bangers from pop ...
ListenHow The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” used retro sounds and modern bass to break every record from 2021-02-02T10:00
This Sunday, The Weeknd will perform his distinctly dark brand of pop at the Super Bowl halftime show. On the surface, the alter-ego of Abel Tesfaye is a strange pick for the ostensibly family-frie...
ListenEpik High is our gateway into Korean hip hop (with Tablo) from 2021-01-26T10:00
Epik High are elemental to Korean hip hop. DJ Tukutz, Mithra Jin and Tablo’s underground style boom bap beats with dexterous rapping helped bring this music from its underground roots to a global s...
ListenOlivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License” is a full throttle power ballad from 2021-01-19T10:00
Power ballads used to top the charts regularly, from 80s rock to 90s R&B. But then in the 2000s, the formula of constant escalation gradually fell off the Billboard. Now, seemingly out of nowhere, ...
ListenD.O.C. (Death of the Chorus) with Emily Warren from 2021-01-12T07:48
Listen to Top 40 pop over the last decade and you’ll notice something weird is happening. The chorus—the emotional apotheosis of a pop song, its dizzying high, its cathartic sing-along center—is di...
ListenICYMI: The End Of Pop Music As We Know It: Fall Out Boy&Charli XCX from 2021-01-05T17:04
Is it true that all pop music sounds the same today? For the past year the “pop-drop” has dominated the airwaves. This new form of EDM infused pop came out of DJ culture and has infused its sound w...
ListenICYMI: Do You Believe in Life After Autotune? from 2020-12-29T15:05
Auto-Tune may be the most divisive effect in music. Artists have protested it publicly at the Grammys, and critics have derided the effects for its inauthentic reproduction of the voice. And yet, n...
ListenWham! Op. 84 “Last Christmas” with Chilly Gonzales from 2020-12-21T10:00
Wham’s 1984 contribution to the holiday cannon, “Last Christmas,” has surprising staying power. When Grammy-winning pianist Chilly Gonzales set out to record a holiday album, “A Very Chilly Christm...
ListenTaylor Swift has "evermore" of a good thing from 2020-12-15T05:00
Just five months after releasing her Grammy-nominated album “folklore,” Taylor Swift surprised fans with a continuation of sorts — her ninth studio album “evermore.” Working with many of her “folkl...
ListenWomen's Rap Renaissance from 2020-12-08T07:00
Producer Bridget Armstrong shares her top tracks from women who are running hip-hop in 2020: Megan Thee Stallion, Tierra Whack, Rico Nasty, Flo Milli, and CHIKA MoreListen to the Drake episode on ...
ListenRed Hot + Blue with Meshell Ndegeocello from 2020-12-01T22:00
In 1990 John Carlin and Leigh Blake pioneered a new kind of charity album. Together they co-founded Red Hot, a non-profit music label that uses music to raise money and awareness to for the fight a...
ListenThe Cyndi Lauper Conspiracy (with Sam Sanders) from 2020-11-24T10:00
Every song Cyndi Lauper writes is pop perfection according to Sam Sanders, host of NPR’s “It’s Been A Minute.” Many fall for “Girls Just Want To Have Fun,” but Sanders's favorite song is the slow b...
ListenANTHEMS: Missy Elliott — Work It from 2020-11-17T21:42
Cultural critic Ivie Ani breaks down how Missy Elliott broke into the pantheon of anthems, and how she changed the scope of who could belong. Songs DiscussedMissy Elliott - Work It Blondie - Heart...
ListenANTHEMS: Smash Mouth — All Star from 2020-11-10T14:46
When Smash Mouth wrote "All Star,” they knew that it was going to change their lives. But they never expected it would become an anthem played in sports arenas, soundtracked by Hollywood, and embed...
ListenANTHEMS: Jock Jams — Get Ready For This from 2020-11-03T08:00
In 1995, ESPN launched Jock Jams Volume 1, a compilation record that would define the sound of sports for the next quarter century. We listen to the album's biggest songs to define what makes a "Jo...
ListenANTHEMS: Queen — We Are The Champions from 2020-10-27T06:00
Freddie Mercury and team made one of the most unusual anthems of all time. “We Are The Champions” has a somber beginning, an uncertain ending and a sprinkling of operatic allusions. Yet more than 4...
ListenCory Henry has Something to Say from 2020-10-20T06:00
Cory Henry is a remarkably gifted multi-instrumentalist. Growing up in the church, he started playing the Hammond B3 organ at age 2 and played his first gig at Apollo theater in NYC at age 6. As a ...
ListenThe Pop Music Forecast (with Lauren Michele Jackson) from 2020-10-14T03:53
Shawn Mendes, BTS, Alicia Keys, 24kGoldn, Dua Lipa, Justin Bieber&Chance The Rapper are all in the Hot 100 with songs that attempt to cope with the state of the world. What do they tell us about th...
ListenBrandy Clark's Life Is A Record from 2020-10-07T03:52
There is a type of country song that loves flawed characters lost on a winding journey ... likely down a dit road. One of the best songwriters in this style is acclaimed artist Brandy Clark. Her cr...
ListenKeith Urban on The Speed of Now Part 1 from 2020-10-02T20:22
Keith Urban is a legend of country. He’s been releasing hit records for two decades now. Each album he describes as a portrait of his life in that moment. On his latest work, The Speed Of Now Part ...
ListenMickey Guyton sings truth to Country Music from 2020-09-29T20:30
Mickey Guyton spent a decade of fits and starts trying to make a career in country music. But now in recent months she’s having a country music moment releasing vulnerable songs that use her experi...
ListenDisclosure: Where Energy Flows from 2020-09-22T09:00
Howard and Guy Lawrence, the brothers behind Disclosure, found global acclaim in 2012 with their song “Latch” ft. Sam Smith which blended house and dubstep in a doo-wop time signature. Since, they ...
ListenTHE 5TH — MOVEMENT IV, What Beethoven Would Have Wanted from 2020-09-18T04:00
When we listen closely to the Fifth, we hear a testament to self-expression and determination. Which means that we get to decide how to honor this symphony today, whether that means taking a break ...
ListenTHE 5TH — MOVEMENT III, Putting the Classism in Classical from 2020-09-15T07:00
Before Beethoven’s time, classical music culture looked and sounded quite different. When Mozart premiered his Symphony 31 in the late 1700s, it was standard for audiences to clap, cheer, and yell ...
ListenTHE 5TH — MOVEMENT II, From Struggle to Victory from 2020-09-11T07:00
In the first movement of his famous symphony, Beethoven sets up a battle between hope and despair. The dark side of that spectrum is represented by the anguished opening notes of the first movement...
ListenTHE 5TH — MOVEMENT I, A Battle Brewing from 2020-09-08T09:00
You know Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. You’ve heard it in films, advertisements, parodied in Saturday morning cartoons and disco-ized in Saturday Night Fever. The Fifth Symphony is a given, so much s...
ListenThe Resistance is Dancing in the Streets (ICYMI) from 2020-09-01T09:00
Our Switched on Summer Throwback Series continues with “Dancing in the Street,” the 1964 Motown hit by Martha and the Vandellas that was co-written by none other than Marvin Gaye. Over 50 years and...
ListenBenee and the Art of the Sad Banger from 2020-08-26T01:04
How does it feel to become a global pop star under lockdown? Benee’s “Supalonely” had been out for over 5 months when in March of 2020, it quickly became the second most popular song on TikTok. The...
Listen90s Music Canon from 2020-08-18T15:31
Matt Daniels, editor of the publication The Pudding, wanted to find out what songs from his youth would last into the future. So he designed a study that would test if Gen-Z had a grip on 90s cultu...
ListenBruno Major restyles the Great American Songbook from 2020-08-11T09:00
Bruno Major blends old song structures from The Great American Songbook with contemporary production on his new album “To Let A Good Thing Die.” The result is a nostalgic, yet contemporary collecti...
ListenBlack Is King (ICYMI Beyoncé's Gift To Africa ft. Ivie Ani) from 2020-08-04T13:18
Beyoncé' has released "Black Is King," a visual album based off of music that she released last year. We're rerunning that piece so that you can place the visual component of "Black Is King" in con...
Listenfolklore: taylor swift's quarantine dream from 2020-07-28T04:21
Taylor Swift has released folklore, her unexpected eighth studio album. It is an understated work that firmly puts celebrity gossip behind her (there are no who's-dating-who easter eggs to be found...
ListenThe Women Reclaiming Nu-Metal ft. Rina Sawayama from 2020-07-21T09:00
Nu-Metal, the mid 90s creation that blended metal, rap and pop, is one of the most critically derided pop genres. So it is strange that this genre is having a comeback. But whereas its first incarn...
ListenRosie: Investigating a Crime at the Heart of the Music Industry from 2020-07-14T04:00
Listen closely to the start of the 2015 hit "Hey Mama" by David Guetta, Nicki Minaj, Afrojack, and Bebe Rexha and you'll hear voices intoning a chant: "Be my woman, girl, I'll be your man." It's sa...
ListenSong of Summer 2020: TikTok Jams, Protest Anthems, Breezy Bops&Bummer Bangers from 2020-07-07T09:00
The 2020 song of summer competition is underway. We asked you for your favorite songs and put them in a head-to-head tournament. Find out which is the song for this very unusual summer. ROUND 1 -...
ListenThe Many Colors of Lady Gaga’s ‘Chromatica’ from 2020-06-30T22:11
Lady Gaga’s 6th album is a conceptual release about a future that is neither utopian nor dystopian. Despite its sci-fi visuals, the album looks more to the past and present than the future. Chromat...
ListenI Am America (w Shea Diamond and Justin Tranter) from 2020-06-30T17:09
Shea Diamond has experienced so many facets of America as a black trans woman, and with songwriter Justin Tranter, she's woven those experiences into "I Am America," a blistering, funky anthem abou...
ListenBaz Luhrmann’s “Sunscreen Song” — The 90s’ Most Unlikely Hit (with Avery Trufelman) from 2020-06-23T09:00
In 1999 filmmaker Baz Luhrmann released the song “Everybody’s Free To Wear Sunscreen,” a 7-minute-long graduation speech set to downtempo electronic music. It was a highly unlikely hit that made it...
ListenJacob Collier on staying creative and his 646 track song “All I Need” from 2020-06-19T18:11
Quarantined in his family’s music room, musician Jacob Collier has been remarkably productive. Known for his polymathic musical talents, Collier has used this time to reflect on, and release new mu...
ListenWhat it means to make music in 2020 from 2020-06-16T06:00
The pandemic has upended the art and business of making music. Producing, performing and releasing — every aspect is new and uncharted. The need for social distancing means that it’s unsafe to coll...
ListenBig Floyd And The Influence Of Houston Chopped N Screwed Music from 2020-06-09T09:00
In a Rolling Stone article titled “He Shook The World: George Floyd’s Legendary Houston Legacy”, writer Charles Holmes reveals the musical past of the man who has become an international symbol for...
ListenCarly Rae Jepsen: Meeting The Muse from 2020-05-26T06:00
They say you should never meet your idols, that you’ll only be disappointed. We had this possibility in mind going into our first interview with Carly Rae Jepsen, the pop star who inspired us to st...
ListenWhy lo-fi is the perfect background music from 2020-05-19T09:00
Lo-Fi hip-hop has emerged as a hugely popular genre and internet subculture. Its millions of loyal fans rely on curated lo-fi playlists and live-streams to write to, study to and even fall asleep t...
ListenEurovision Lives! (with Netta) from 2020-05-12T09:00
Like many events, the international song competition Eurovision 2020 has been canceled. Sadly, there will be no champion crowned this year... or will there?! Charlie and Nate comb through the emoti...
ListenHow To Soundtrack A Villain: Killing Eve from 2020-05-05T13:52
When BBC America reached out to do a piece about the music of Killing Eve, we jumped at the opportunity. The series antagonist, Villanelle, is an unpredictable assassin. On a dime she shifts from c...
ListenDid Fiona Apple Just Release a Perfect Album? from 2020-04-28T06:00
Since 1996, Fiona Apple has only ever had one hit, “Criminal.” Nonetheless, every album she’s released has been nominated for a Grammy. Her newest work, Fetch The Bolt Cutters, has received near un...
ListenDoja Cat’s “Say So” is a Masterclass in Good Times from 2020-04-21T09:00
Doja Cat has gatecrashed the Top 40 with her effervescent hit “Say So.” How did this Internet personality best known for a song whose chorus is “B***h, I’m a cow!” join the ranks of Dua Lipa, Drake...
ListenWere We Wrong About Kanye West? from 2020-04-14T14:30
A lot of people miss the old Kanye. The last time we reviewed his music was back in 2016 when he released the work-in-progress album “The Life Of Pablo.” Since then, Kanye has put out four albums: ...
ListenAussie2Aussie: 5SOS on Tame Impala (with Luke Hemmings&Calum Hood) from 2020-04-07T09:00
The band 5 Seconds Of Summer have just released their fourth studio album, Calm. Lead vocalist Luke Hemmings and bassist Calum Hood join us to talk about some of Australia’s biggest hits. In the fi...
ListenThe (murder) Ballad of Joe Exotic “Tiger King” (with Robert Moor) from 2020-04-05T09:00
Scandal and intrigue surround Joe Exotic, the central character of the new Netflix documentary Tiger King. Among the many bizarre traits of this zoo keeper, Exotic tries his hand at country music. ...
ListenD’Angelo and the Legacy of Voodoo (with Faith Pennick) from 2020-03-31T09:00
In the year 2000, D'Angelo released Voodoo—with some help from Questlove, Angie Stone, Raphael Saadiq, and a band of jazz veterans—an album that has cast a long shadow with its unique sound of stri...
Listen"Happy Birthday" is the Worst (with Anne-Marie) from 2020-03-24T09:00
With Nate’s birthday around the corner, it’s time to admit that our go-to birthday song is actually the worst to sing to someone. There are reasons both musicological and cultural why this wooden c...
ListenBad Bunny Has A Message For Your Mom from 2020-03-17T06:00
Latin Trap megastar Bad Bunny may be best known to American audiences for his feature on Cardi B’s #1 “I Like It’, but the Puerto Rican native is known to music-lovers worldwide for more than just ...
ListenThe Fire&Fury Of Overcoats from 2020-03-10T06:00
Gone are the days of a clear dividing line between “mainstream pop” and “conscious” music. Many of the world’s highest-grossing pop stars are climbing the charts with lyrics that seem to get right ...
ListenCan't Help Falling in Lauv (the interview) from 2020-03-03T10:00
This week, Charlie talks to Lauv, the singer, songwriter and producer behind unfailingly catchy tracks such as “Mean It” and “I Like Me Better.” Lauv’s a master at making the sad feel fun—masking t...
ListenWhat Happens When Justin Bieber Samples Your Music from 2020-02-25T10:00
When Bristol-based producer Laxcity logged onto Twitter to find out that Justin Bieber sampled his music, he was at first unphased. The sampled material came from a royalty-free sample pack on Spli...
ListenReturn Of The Guitar: Halsey, 5 Seconds of Summer, Joji from 2020-02-18T10:00
In 2019 guitar made a comeback in the top 10. According to analysis from Hit Songs Deconstructed, about a third of all songs featured the electric guitar, a nearly 10% jump from the year before. In...
ListenLook At Selena Gomez Now with Justin Tranter&Ian Kirkpatrick from 2020-02-11T10:00
Selena Gomez has her first #1 song on the Hot 100. “Lose You To Love Me” is a confessional look at her past five years of heartbreak and health challenges. By contrast, her single “Look At Her Now”...
ListenFive Directions: How do the solo efforts of One Direction stack up? from 2020-02-04T07:00
The boy band One Direction has been on hiatus for nearly five years, yet only now have all of the members of the group released a solo album. But how do these efforts from Niall, Liam, Harry, Louis...
ListenPost Malone has us Running in Circles from 2020-01-28T10:00
Post Malone has confounded your hosts since he emerged on the scene, so this week we sit down to try and get to the bottom of our cycles of attraction and repulsion through deep analysis of his cur...
ListenHopes and Fears of Mac Miller, Future, Drake, and Billie Eilish from 2020-01-21T10:00
Mac Miller, Future and Billie Eilish all have good and bad news to share. On Miller’s posthumous album, Circles, he exposes personal struggles with fame, addiction, and mental illness — sobering to...
ListenDua Lipa’s Disco Fever from 2020-01-14T10:00
Dua Lipa remembers the disco era in her hit “Don’t Start Now.” What may sound like just another dance floor track, upon deeper listening unfolds as a celebration of the genre. References to Gloria ...
ListenICYMI: Chance The Rapper, Kehlani,&The Shifting Sound of R&B — with Oak Felder from 2020-01-07T10:00
The sound of R&B is difficult to pin down. Since the 1950s, the label has been used both as a genre and as a catch-all for the entirety of black popular music. Soul, funk, disco and even hip-hop ha...
ListenICYMI: Billie Eilish is a Different Kind of Pop Star (ft. FINNEAS) from 2019-12-31T10:00
On a trajectory to be one of the biggest pop stars for this generation, seventeen year old Billie Eilish is not, however, your typical pop star. Her music speaks to the real anxieties of young peop...
ListenDolly Parton's America (with Jad Abumrad) from 2019-12-24T10:00
There are icons, and then there’s Dolly Parton. The country singer-turned-actress-turned-cultural phenomenon has produced a nearly unparalleled body of work, in both quantity (Parton is the sole or...
ListenWho's Afraid of the Sound of TikTok? (w Cat Zhang) from 2019-12-17T10:00
Bass distorted to the edge of audibility; voices croaking out dark and violent lyrics; a hacked-together DIY aesthetic. This isn't a fringe musical movement, this is the sound of TikTok, the video ...
ListenPaper Planes, Chandelier&What the #@%! is Timbre? (with Constance Grady) from 2019-12-10T10:00
We hand over the hosting duties to Constance Grady, book reviewer for Vox.com, to discuss our new book/baby - Switched on Pop: How Popular Music Works and Why it Matters, and go deep on two specifi...
ListenPrelude&Feud on a 'G' Thang: Biggie vs Tupac from 2019-12-03T10:00
The East Coast / West Coast hip hop feud between Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls is full of tragedy and conspiracy, but what did it really sound like? For the third season of of the hit podcast Slow...
ListenPop is the Sound We Need Right Now (with Electric Guest) from 2019-11-26T10:00
Electric Guest (Asa Taccone and Matthew Compton) take a left turn towards pop on “Dollar" — a song about making more out of less, something too many people find themselves to do right now. The musi...
ListenThe Past, Present, and Future of EMO (with Allegra Frank) from 2019-11-19T08:00
Nate doesn’t know much about the musical style known as emo. Sadly, he was too busy nerding out on jazz during his youthful years to catch the moment. That’s a shame, because emo is experiencing a ...
ListenWhen Pop and Classical Collide (with James Bennett II) from 2019-11-12T08:00
Once upon a time, classical music was pop, so today it's worth stepping back and asking: where does one genre stop and the other begin? Can classical ever be popular again? And why do only some cla...
ListenUnlocking the Rhythms of Rosalía from 2019-11-05T08:00
Back in the fall of 2017, our producer Megan Lubin went for a stroll near her house, popped in earbuds, and heard a song that’s stuck with her ever since: “Si Tú Supieras Compañero” (“If you only k...
ListenRihanna Party! (with Gina Delvac) from 2019-10-29T07:00
Last year, NPR Music ran an audacious headline: "Rihanna Is The 21st Century's Most Influential Musician." Millions and millions of fans the world over agree, and while we try to avoid overt expres...
ListenWhy U Love 2 Listen 2 Prince (with Anil Dash) from 2019-10-22T08:00
Anil Dash is obsessed with Prince. Since he’s the host of the tech podcast Function, he has a unique perspective on the Purple One’s complicated relationship with technology. Anil joins the show to...
ListenA Brief History of Men Singing Really High from 2019-10-15T09:30
Men singing high is so ubiquitous in modern pop that we might take it granted, never pausing to ask: has it always been this way? Estelle Caswell, who makes the Emmy-winning Earworm series for Vox,...
ListenTotal Request Live! Taylor, Lana, Kim, and More (with Sam Sanders) from 2019-10-07T22:56
NPR's Sam Sanders stops by to break down the tracks that Switched On listeners have been loving. Swedish dancefloor confessionals, songs that stop time, the specificity of Lana Del Rey, and the awk...
ListenMastering Music (with Dallas Taylor of Twenty Thousand Hertz) from 2019-10-01T07:00
Dallas Taylor, host of the stellar sound design series Twenty Thousand Hertz, stops by to fill Nate in on the science and style of mastering: the subtle art that explains why Metallica had to re-re...
ListenBONUS: Charli XCX and The Future of Music (with Dani Deahl) from 2019-09-22T08:00
The pace of new music releases these days is dizzying. Sometimes it’s like watching someone do a magic trick--we *swear* those songs weren’t there a second ago! But then, there they are, popping up...
ListenThe “Baby Shark” Phenomenon (with Andrea Silenzi) from 2019-09-17T08:00
For most parents, “Baby Shark” is the nightmare that will not end. Ever since the South Korean educational company Pinkfong released the song earlier this year, it’s almost impossible to avoid. The...
ListenBONUS: Who are the Picassos of pop? (with Ross Golan) from 2019-09-13T09:00
Ross Golan is no stranger to Switched on Pop. This week, the songwriter and host of the hit podcast And The Writer Is… joins Charlie for a BONUS episode (cue siren) about the surprising lessons lea...
ListenSwitched Off Book the Improvised Musical (with Jess McKenna and Zach Reino) from 2019-09-10T08:00
On this very special episode, we join forces with the hilarious podcast OFF BOOK. When our powers combine, Zach and Jess of Off Book, plus their killer backing band of Scott, Dana and Brett create ...
ListenICYMI: How to 'Make Me Feel' with Lizzo from 2019-09-03T08:00
"Make Me Feel," is the first hit from Janelle Monáe's 2018 album Dirty Computer, and a sensual song about the fluidity of desire. In the pre-chorus, the singer proudly expresses that she is a "sex...
ListenICYMI: Why is 90s Pop so Bizarre? from 2019-08-27T08:00
Today we're revisiting an episode inspired by a pair of classic VH1 shows: “Behind the Music” and “Where Are They Now?” Our subjects are two songs representing the lunatic fringe of 90s culture, “C...
ListenSongs of Summer Call-in Special from 2019-08-20T08:05
Every year, critics and media outlets the world over put out definitive song-of-summer guides based on... well, we’re not always entirely sure. Certainly popularity, as measured by streams and radi...
ListenChance The Rapper, Kehlani,&The Shifting Sound of R&B — with Oak Felder from 2019-08-13T08:00
The sound of R&B is difficult to pin down. Since the 1950s, the label has been used both as a genre and as a catch-all for the entirety of black popular music. Soul, funk, disco and even hip-hop ha...
ListenBeyoncé's Gift To Africa (with Ivie Ani) from 2019-08-06T08:00
For the live action remake of the Lion King, Beyoncé, (who voices Nala in the film), recorded and curated a companion soundtrack called The Gift. She worked with leading Afropop stars to expose the...
ListenLCD Soundsystem and the Unbearable Sameness of Restaurant Playlists from 2019-07-30T08:00
Why is it that every hip restaurant plays the same music? When Eater restaurant editor Hillary Dixler Canavan kept hearing similar songs while dining for work assignments, she compiled a playlist o...
ListenThe $50M Beat Marketplace That Broke the Billboard from 2019-07-23T08:30
Lil Nas X licensed the beat for “Old Town Road” from an e-commerce platform. He originally bought a non-exclusive copy of the backing track for just $29.99 from a 19 year old Dutch record producer ...
ListenShawn Mendes and the Rhythm of Rhyme from 2019-07-16T04:00
Shawn Mendes’ hit song “If I Can’t Have You” is so ridiculously catchy that Charlie had it stuck in his head after the first chorus. How is that possible?! Declamation, or the way that text is set ...
ListenSpace, The Final Frontier: Madonna, Stephen Puth and Street Studios from 2019-07-09T09:00
Find out how music creates a feeling of space in this three part episode. First, we may not realize it when we listen to Madonna's new record, but the location of her music is essential. In explori...
ListenWhat BTS's "Boy With Love" ft. Halsey Can Teach Us About K-pop from 2019-07-02T09:00
How should we listen to K-pop? This music has become a global phenomenon, charting on the Billboard Hot 100, taking over social media feeds, and touring the world. In particular, the group BTS has ...
Listen"Prince Ali" and Why We're All Music Theorists from 2019-06-25T04:00
Fans are not happy with Will Smith's update of the classic Disney song "Prince Ali" in the live-action Aladdin. Their complaint? The new "Prince Ali" is slow, sluggish, and dull. Indeed, the Smith ...
ListenWhy Does Every Intro Sound Like It's Underwater? (Live) from 2019-06-18T09:00
Ever notice that wobbly, drunken and underwater sound common in so many contemporary pop songs? In an era of pristine recording quality, music producers are referencing old and impure technologies ...
ListenThe Man Behind the Rocketman with Giles Martin from 2019-06-11T09:00
Rocketman is a spectacle the size of Elton John, four films in one. It contains a biopic, jukebox musical, addiction recovery story and a romance between friends. The soundtrack ties the story toge...
ListenThe Greatest Pop Stories Never Told (with Jessica Hopper) from 2019-06-04T15:30:52
On the KRCW series Lost Notes, Jessica Hopper plumbs pop music history for the most important stories never told. She brings us a bevy of lost gems, from Fanny, an all-female quartet of rockers tha...
ListenShould You Care About Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber? from 2019-05-28T19:11
A pop star collaboration is a foolproof way to grab the attention of two audiences at once. But do more collaborators actually make a better song? Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber put this question to ...
ListenThe Smooth Sound of NPR Morning News from 2019-05-21T04:00
What do Bach and smooth jazz have in common? Both score the unmistakable theme song for NPR's flagship show Morning Edition, listened to by millions across the country every day since 1979. This is...
ListenIs There An Indie Rock Conspiracy? (Featuring Joywave) from 2019-05-15T00:12
Many people write us with musical maladies and conspiracies. A recent one caught our attention. Daniel Armbruster, lead vocalist of indie band Joywave, has been hearing the same melody in tracks ac...
ListenLizzo And The End of Genre (with Sam Harris of X Ambassadors) from 2019-05-07T09:00
On her new album, Cuz I Love You, Lizzo shows off her genre bending musicality. We speak with X Ambassadors lead singer, Sam Harris, who helped co-write three songs on the album, including its epon...
ListenTaylor Swift Causes a PANIC! from 2019-04-30T04:00
When a listener asked us about the "sorcery" behind Taylor Swift's new song "ME!" we knew we had to investigate. And because the track features Brendon Urie of Panic! At the Disco, we couldn't resi...
ListenSounds Like Teen Spirit (with Elle Fanning) from 2019-04-23T04:01
Pop is inseparable from reality TV singing competitions. From Eurovision to American Idol, scores of stars got their start in singing competitions. We’ve long overlooked this influence on pop, but ...
ListenLil Nas X: Country at the Crossroads from 2019-04-16T09:00
Lil Nas X currently holds the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with his surprise hit “Old Town Road.” But though the song is dripping with country twang, you won’t find it anywhere on the cou...
ListenBillie Eilish is a Different Kind of Pop Star (ft. FINNEAS) from 2019-04-09T09:07
On a trajectory to be one of the biggest pop stars for this generation, seventeen year old Billie Eilish is not, however, your typical pop star. Her music speaks to the real anxieties of young peop...
ListenBONUS: Bhi Bhiman's 'Peace of Mind' Episode 1 from 2019-04-08T02:24
Switched on Pop is pleased to present Episode 1 of Peace of Mind -- the new album (released as a podcast) by singer/songwriter Bhi Bhiman.In this episode Bhi digs into the fear and madness that cha...
ListenBhi Bhiman Puts the Music Before the Message from 2019-04-02T04:00
Bhi Bhiman joins to explain the "nerd punk rock" behind releasing his new album Peace of Mind with an accompanying podcast. Since Bhiman explores issues like deportation on the track "Beyond the Bo...
ListenComeback Kids: The Jonas Brothers are Back from 2019-03-25T04:00
After a six year hiatus, Nick, Joe, and Kevin Jonas are back with a new single and the stakes couldn't be higher. With each brother attaining a higher plane of celebrity during their time off, the ...
ListenLost&Found: The Drama of Pop Form with Emily King from 2019-03-19T09:07
Live from SXSW: Grammy nominee songwriter Emily King didn’t set out to write a perfect pop song with “Remind Me.” Instead, she bent the rules of song structure to fit her message: the magical feeli...
ListenHow Streaming Changed the Sound of Pop from 2019-03-12T09:07
Streaming hasn't just changed the way we listen to music, it's changed the way that pop music sounds. After years of losses due to the death of the CD and the rise of file sharing, the music indust...
ListenTop 40 Activism with Justin Tranter from 2019-03-05T10:07
Can political protest exist within the confines of commercial popular music? Songwriter Justin Tranter is equal parts songwriter and activist. You've likely heard his contributions to songs by Brit...
ListenWhat Makes An Award Winning Song? from 2019-02-20T01:42
What if music awards were given out for only musical qualities? It may seem like celebrity and spectacle are more important than ever at the 61st Grammy Awards, but we believe many of this years wi...
ListenWhat Makes a Song Sexy? from 2019-02-05T05:00
Author Courtney Smith joins to offer her expertise on an urgent topic in advance of Valentine's Day: Can we abstract the sexiest songs of all time into a universal list of arousing musical qualitie...
ListenThe Deep History of '7 Rings' from 2019-01-29T05:00
"7 Rings" is Ariana Grande's latest smash, a glittering banger that owes much to Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1959 classic "My Favorite Things." 60 years later, Grande updates the track for a modern a...
ListenDo You Believe in Life After Autotune? from 2019-01-23T03:16
Auto-Tune may be the most divisive effect in music. Artists have protested it publicly at the Grammys, and critics have derided the effects for its inauthentic reproduction of the voice. And yet, n...
ListenSlay Bells, All Year Long from 2018-12-26T01:12
This winter season unwrap a deep dive through a pop subgenre of monumental importance: non-holiday songs that feature sleigh bells, from Bonnie Tyler to Nas, On Side B, we rebroadcast our episode o...
ListenLook What You Made Us Do from 2018-12-11T23:00
Four years into Switched On Pop, Charlie and Nate finally reveal what was behind the entire series. We may have not been totally honest with you from the beginning. Back in 2014 we were more pop sk...
ListenEntering Beard Phase with Mike Posner from 2018-11-27T05:00
Mike Posner has written hits for himself like "I Took a Pill in Ibiza," and for stars from Justin Bieber ("Boyfriend") to Maroon 5 ("Sugar"), so he has insights for days on what makes a pop song wo...
ListenHow Dirty Projectors Make You Feel Energy (with David Longstreth) from 2018-11-13T21:00
Dirty Projectors are known for their kaleidoscopic soundscapes. They make strange bedfellows of music techniques like 14th vocal harmonies and African guitar rhythms. But in the backdrop of their ...
ListenStairway To Hell: Greta Van Fleet’s Scorching Album Review That Went Viral from 2018-10-30T16:00
Classic rock climaxed a half century ago, yet it still survives in two places: FM radio&Greta Van Fleet. The later are an upstart of four boys from Michigan who have found stardom by dusting off th...
ListenCharli XCX and Troye Sivan Love the 90s from 2018-10-16T04:00
Charli XCX and Troye Sivan conjure late 90s nostalgia in their latest banger. "1999" drips with lyrical nostalgia for the last decade of the millennium — but does the music follow suit? We think th...
ListenSicko Rap and Drunk Country from 2018-10-03T01:20
Four songs on the Hot 100 pop chart reveal the new directions in which music is headed. Travis Scott's "Sicko Mode" boasts an unprecedented formal structure that points to the future of hip hop. Me...
ListenThe Side Effects of Pop Music with Emily Warren from 2018-09-18T23:57
Emily Warren is one of the great rising stars of contemporary songwriting. Her song "Side Effects" with The Chainsmokers is currently rising up the charts. You’ve also heard her writing on Dua Lipa...
ListenDrake vs Drake from 2018-09-06T05:33
Drake, per usual, has been inescapable this summer. "In My Feelings" and "Nice For What" top the charts, but there's depth to these bangers. We argue for hearing one as a meditation on fragile masc...
ListenSummer Heat of the 2000s: Beyoncé and Black Eyed Peas (Pt. II) from 2018-08-23T13:00
The final episode of our Switched on Summer throwback series finds us deconstructing more early aughts bangers. Under consideration: two of the biggest hits since Y2K, Beyoncé's "Crazy in Love" an...
ListenSummer Heat of the 2000s: Nelly + Katy Perry (Pt. 1) from 2018-08-09T19:56
What made summer jams of the aughties like Nelly's "Hot in Herre" and Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl" so hot? The answer: big, sweaty, doses of harmonic tension. Specifically, each track relies on t...
ListenWhy is 90s Pop so Bizarre? from 2018-07-27T16:31
The Switched on Pop Summer Throwback Series continues! This time, with a deep dive into the musical detritus of the 1990s. In true 90s fashion, our episode is inspired by a pair of classic VH1 sho...
ListenThe Resistance is Dancing in the Streets from 2018-07-12T20:47
Our Switched on Summer Throwback Series continues with "Dancing in the Street," the 1964 Motown hit by Martha and the Vandellas that was co-written by none other than Marvin Gaye. Over 50 years an...
ListenSwitched on Summer: Getting Around with the Beach Boys from 2018-06-28T22:19
Our Switched on Summer throwback mini-series begins in the heart of the 1960s, with the Beach Boys' perennial school's-out jam "I Get Around." We explore how every aspect of Brian Wilson's two-minu...
ListenThe Pure Pop of Charlie Puth + Carly Rae (ft Hanif Abdurraqib) from 2018-06-14T23:44
Part I: The Doctors Are In! We diagnose a listener's musical malady, namely: "why does Charlie Puth's new jam 'BOY' make us feel so weird?!" Part II: Guest Hanif Adburraqib, author of They Can't K...
ListenAfrofuturism in Kali Uchis&Clipping (with Daveed Diggs, William Hutson and Jonathan Snipes) from 2018-05-31T10:00
Parliament Funkadelic has had waves of influence on popular music. Their Afrofuturist message and infectious grooves built the backbone of 70s funk, was revived in the 90s with Dr. Dre's G-Funk, an...
ListenFinding Equanimity In 'No Tears Left To Cry' from 2018-05-17T19:53
Ariana Grande has returned with a track that is jarring yet simultaneously catchy. She uses sophisticated musical techniques to tell a story of healing, resiliency, and hope after the attack at her...
ListenCan AI 'Algorhythms' Write Pop Songs? (With Taryn Southern) from 2018-05-03T23:00
There is a lot of scare about the impending future of artificial intelligence making humans irrelevant. Musician Taryn Southern examines this narrative through her song “Life Support,” written with...
ListenListening Differently to Lorde | with MARIAN HILL from 2018-04-19T23:00
Samantha Gongol and Jeremy Lloyd are songwriting duo Marian Hill and they are here to share their annoyingly sharp insights on music. They come bearing the wistful pop of Lorde's "Ribs," and we dec...
ListenKacey Musgraves Gives Us Butterflies from 2018-04-05T12:00
On her single 'Butterflies,' Kacey Musgraves demonstrates a tour de force of songwriting. This song is a wild success because it incessantly reinforces one core emotional concept: that queasy anxio...
ListenGucci Gang and the Neural Substrate of Subjective Time Dilation from 2018-03-22T04:00
In which Nate tries to convince Charlie that Lil Pump's SoundCloud Rap hit "Gucci Gang" warps the perceptual present. Featuring:Lil Pump - Gucci Gang Gustav Mahler - Der Abschied / Das Lied von der...
ListenHow to 'Make Me Feel' with Lizzo from 2018-03-08T15:00
"Make Me Feel," is the first hit from Janelle Monáe's upcoming album Dirty Computer. It is a sensual song about the fluidity of desire. In the pre-chorus, the singer proudly expresses that she is a...
Listen808s&Havana Heartbreak from 2018-02-22T17:00
In Camila Cabello's "Havana" we hear both her Cuban roots and the modern sounds of Atlanta. Though the singer and featured guest Young Thug reference these two geographic identities, the song says ...
ListenMy My My! Troye Sivan + Queer Pop (w Gina Delvac, Darryl Bullock) from 2018-02-08T05:00
Gina Delvac of the Call Your Girlfriend podcast and Darryl W Bullock, author of David Bowie Made Me Gay, join Nate and Charlie to dig into the poetry of Troye Sivan's "My My My!", the history of LG...
Listen90s Nostalgia in Bruno Mars and Charlie Puth from 2018-01-25T22:00
The 90s are back. It is as if pop music entered a black hole and came out 25 years in the past. Today's artists are reviving the new jack swing and vocal R&B, creating a wave of 90s nostalgia. Unco...
ListenJustin Timberlake's Identity Crisis from 2018-01-11T05:00
What's up with Justin Timberlake? Two years ago he gifted us the ebullient family-friendly jam "Can't Stop the Feeling," now he's on the cusp of a deeply serious new record called "Man of the Woods...
ListenDua Lipa's Minor Mantra (w Emily Bootle) from 2017-12-28T02:45
Charlie talks laments, Baroque opera, and gender politics in Dua Lipa's sleeper hit "New Rules" with writer Emily Bootle. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
ListenAll I Want for Xmas is a Year in Review Episode from 2017-12-14T06:30
Charlie and Nate breakdown Mariah Carey's classic "All I Want for Christmas is You" and revisit their favorite tracks of 2017. Sleigh bells abound. Featuring• Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christm...
ListenBjörk's Emotional Landscapes from 2017-11-30T08:14
Björk is uniquely both a pop star and avant-garde composer. Though her music often challenges our ears, underneath her records you'll find more in common with today's pop music than you'd expect. P...
ListenTaylor Constructs A Darker Reputation from 2017-11-16T01:47
Taylor Swift unveils a new, darker identity on her latest album "Reputation," and many have read the lyrics on her latest as not-so-subtle volleys in an ongoing celebrity feud. Still, a question re...
ListenUnlikely Mashups: Taylor + Cardi B | Clean Bandit + Berlioz from 2017-11-02T14:03
At the top of the pop charts, Taylor Swift and Cardi B, two artists with seemingly little in common, exploit the same compositional technique to hook listeners in. Meanwhile, across time and space,...
ListenKendrick Lamar's HUMBLE deconstructed w. guest Amber Mark from 2017-10-19T20:58
With Charlie off the grid, Nate sits down with singer/producer Amber Mark to explore the different levels of Kendrick's hit HUMBLE.. Then, they turn to the diverse influences (including house music...
ListenDemi Lovato is Not Sorry from 2017-10-06T01:22
Demi Lovato's latest, "Sorry Not Sorry" is at once an unapologetic anthem of defiance and a super catchy mashup of multiple genres. As we'll see, every small musical choice is here for a reason, to...
ListenHow to 'Feels' the Groove from 2017-09-22T03:45
How does a song with nonsense lyrics capture our attention, making us want to move? It is called the groove. Enter Calvin Harris' "Feels" (ft. Katy Perry, Pharrell Williams and Big Sean). Known for...
ListenAnthems of Resilience - Kesha and Imagine Dragons [LIVE] from 2017-09-07T12:00
This episode of Switched on Pop comes at you live from Block Island, RI, recoded in front of an audience of friends and family following a solar eclipse. Fittingly, the two songs discussed that day...
ListenThe Many Worlds of "Despacito" from 2017-08-10T22:10
What has catapulted Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee's "Despacito" to the top spot on the Billboard charts? Sorry, typo—to its status as the biggest song in the world? Your hosts explore the many worlds...
ListenSelena Gomez: Bad Liar, Psycho Songwriter from 2017-07-13T19:00
Selena Gomez's "Bad Liar" stands out on the charts by doing things a little differently: it's a subtle, at times even awkward, summer surprise. Breaking down this pop morsel reveals it has teeth, t...
ListenBreaking Down Alanis Morissette (and our own Preconceptions) with guest Andrea Warner from 2017-06-29T12:00
Author, critic and podcaster Andrea Warner joins for a throwback episode exploring politics in Lilith Fair, harmonic anger in Alanis Morissette's iconic "You Oughta Know," and the blind spots in yo...
ListenMorgan Page Reveals the Rule of 3 in Julia Michaels and Maroon 5 from 2017-06-16T06:53
Your brain can only hear three things at the same time. What you may not know is that musicians use this cognitive limitation to guide your listening all the time. Charlie and Nate are joined by Gr...
ListenDJ Khaled - I'm The One... six... four... five from 2017-06-01T12:00
DJ Khaled, Justin Bieber, Chance the Rapper, Quavo from Migos and Lil Wayne have allied for a new smash hit: "I'm The One." Despite the star power present, the resulting track is less than the sum ...
ListenMusical Architecture in Charlie Puth + HAIM from 2017-05-18T05:12
Two new songs have captured the attention of your hosts—Charlie Puth's "Attention" and HAIM's "Want You Back." On the surface, these two songs appear to have little in common. A closer look, though...
ListenThe End Of Pop Music As We Know It: Fall Out Boy&Charli XCX from 2017-05-04T12:00
Is it true that all pop music sounds the same today? For the past year the “pop-drop” has dominated the airwaves. This new form of EDM infused pop came out of DJ culture and has infused its sound w...
ListenHarry Styles, Eschatology and Teen Girl Fandom from 2017-04-20T12:00
One Direction wunderkind Harry Styles has just released his first ever single, "Sign of the Times," and it's a doozy. Strap in for a discussion of the apocalypse, late Beatles, teen wisdom, and the...
ListenWhat's to Love About Ed Sheeran? (guest Ross Golan) from 2017-04-06T00:54
Songwriter Ross Golan comes over to start up a conversation, encouraging us to follow his lead and give Ed Sheeran's chart-annihilating record "Shape of You" a chance. Ross, a studio vet with multi...
ListenZedd + Alessia Cara - Stay (w special guest Grey) from 2017-03-23T12:00
Charlie and Nate sit down with up-and-coming producer duo Grey—fresh off their hit "Starving" with Zedd and Hailee Steinfeld—to uncover the secrets behind Alessia Cara and Zedd's dramatic dance tra...
ListenChained to the Green Light: Katy Perry + Lorde from 2017-03-10T04:46
Two artists who haven't released new music since 2013 recently remerged into the limelight: Katy Perry, with her dystopian disco banger "Chained to the Rhythm" and Lorde, with the melodramatic-yet-...
ListenOscar Week!: La La Land ft. Genevieve Koski from 2017-02-24T04:29
With the Academy Awards around the corner, Charlie and Nate try something new: a break down of the movie musical La La Land through two of its key songs, "City of Stars" and "Start a Fire." These n...
ListenZayn, Taylor Swift&The Grammys from 2017-02-09T20:40
"I Don't Wanna Live Forever," the new track from Zayn and Taylor Swift, finds two members of the pop pantheon joining forces with producer Jack Antonoff to craft an inexorable hit song. But this du...
ListenThe Puzzle of Ariana Grande's "Into You" (with K. Flay) from 2017-01-27T00:09
"Into You" was one of the biggest hits of 2016, the stellar production of reclusive legend Max Martin combining with the acrobatic vocals of Ariana Grande to create an undeniable, ubiquitous earwor...
ListenSeduced by the Sound: The Weeknd + Daft Punk from 2017-01-12T09:00
"I Feel it Coming" might be the slowest burning jam to hit the charts in ages, in which the Weeknd enlists the robotic hum of Daft Punk to help craft a perfectly calibrated climate of desire. Brill...
ListenDreaming Of A White Christmas from 2016-12-16T01:52
White Christmas holds the Guinness World Record for most singles sold and has been covered over 500 times. Pop stars from Elvis to Ella have recorded it, with interpretations from doo-wop to countr...
ListenHow to Listen to Music in 4 Easy Steps from 2016-12-01T18:41
50 episodes in, hosts Charlie and Nate take a step back to think about how they listen to music and try to define what might be called The Switched on Method™. "Hallelujah," by the late, great Leon...
ListenPlaying it Cool: How Tove Lo Aims High from 2016-11-17T19:11
On the surface, Tove Lo's new hit "Cool Girl" boasts a snappy, earworm chorus and an empowering message of self-reliance. Beneath its chill exterior, though, Lo's song burns with a passion borderin...
ListenMade In America: Toby Keith&Jay-Z from 2016-11-03T12:00
Back in 2011, two pop songs dropped with the same patriotic title: "Made in America." But the similarities pretty much end there. Toby Keith's country smash and Jay Z, Kanye West and Frank Ocean's ...
ListenGood Artists Borrow, Great Artists Steal from 2016-10-20T04:25
Host Charlie spent the last two weeks listening to every song on the Billboard Hot 100. What did he discover? That the sonic similarities of most chart-toppers sound closer than ever. Except for th...
ListenThe Most Popular Song In The World from 2016-10-06T12:00
The Nokia ringtone used to be heard more than a billion times per day, making it one of the most popular songs in the world. We tend to consider cellphone rings as somewhat antithetical to music....
ListenLady Gaga Is A Perfect Illusion from 2016-09-22T12:00
Lady Gaga's new single "Perfect Illusion" is the apotheosis of her artistic statement. She is well known for her visual style that too often overshadows her music. But when taken together, it is ev...
ListenHow Beyoncé to The Beatles Modulate Your Emotions from 2016-09-09T03:57
Certain pop songs have that moment, when everything seems to change but still remain the same, when the drama gets ratcheted up, when the tension increases and our emotions take an elevator ride to...
ListenPop Drops and Chipmunk Soul from 2016-08-25T05:57
A strange syndrome is wreaking havoc on the voices of our biggest pop stars. From Rihanna to Justin Bieber, no one is safe from having their beautiful vocals chopped up, screwed down, repitched and...
ListenThe Gideon and Hubcap Show from 2016-08-15T18:33
This episode marks something of a departure from the norm. With Charlie away, host Nate, aka "Hubcap," takes us on a home-show tour of the Scottish Highlands with his traveling minstrel act, The Gi...
ListenBreaking Down The House from 2016-08-01T20:48
The fingerprints of house music are all over mainstream pop, but much of its sound has been whitewashed. That ubiquitous four-to-the-floor kick and synth bass sound draws from Chicago's queer, blac...
ListenAround The World With Drake from 2016-07-14T15:10
How do you create a hit that both breaks sound barriers and chart records? Drake has done this with a unique mix of international sounds from Africa, the Caribbean, the U.K. and Canada. But is his ...
ListenWhen Good Music Happens To Bad People from 2016-06-30T12:09
We have more information about pop stars lives than ever before, but this transparency is not always uplifting for music lovers. Just as we may enjoy following the intimate lives of celebrities on ...
ListenJustin Timberlake Goes Medieval from 2016-06-16T06:14
Summer heat is upon us and so are the jams. Our ears are hooked on Justin Timberlake's "Can't Stop The Feeling." What you may not know is that this song leans on the success of mononymous giants: P...
ListenAll About Those Baseline Assumptions About Femini$m in Pop from 2016-06-06T19:45
With Meghan Trainor's new singles "No" and "Me Too" ubiquitous on the radio dial, a larger discussion about the uneasy relationship between social movements and selling records takes a feminist ben...
ListenJonas vs. Jonas: Or How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Love a Boy Band from 2016-05-19T05:44
A battle between brothers is playing out on the pop charts, a sibling rivalry the likes of which the music industry hasn't seen since 1987, when Michael and Janet Jackson's 1987 "Bad" and "Let's Wa...
ListenPurple Lemonade: Prince&Beyoncé from 2016-05-05T08:18
It has been a period of musical loss and celebration. On the same week we lost Prince, the world was gifted Beyoncé’s Lemonade. Both artists contain multitudes of musical traditions, collaborators ...
ListenPablo And The Wolves from 2016-04-22T02:13
The Life Of Pablo is Kanye West’s latest album. Despite its lack of hits, it has been at the fulcrum of pop music for months. With its gradual online release and its changing track lists, this shap...
ListenThe Populist Pop of Twenty One Pilots from 2016-04-06T04:01
Out of nowhere, Twenty One Pilots has rocketed to the top of the charts with their surprise hit "Stressed Out." Charlie and Nate pull this millennial anthem apart to discover a deep political reson...
ListenAmerican Oxygen from 2016-03-23T05:56
How do you collaborate with five people to write a song that captures that national temperature? The stakes may seem high with stars like Alex Da Kid, Candice Pillay, Kanye West and Rihanna, but Sa...
ListenNow I Sia, Now I Don't from 2016-02-26T09:15
One of the biggest voices in pop music has no face: Sia. She started her career as a ghostwriter for stars like Rihanna and Beyoncé. Recently she found pop star success with her hit "Chandelier." S...
ListenB Side: Singing With Mama Jan from 2016-02-18T21:42
What do Usher, The Band Perry and Bieber have in common? They all sing with Mama Jan, one of the best vocal coaches and producers in the music business. On this mini episode, Mama Jan talks about w...
ListenCall Your Girlfriend from 2016-02-12T08:29
Is it a love song or is it a breakup song? Charlie joins the women of the Call Your Girlfriend podcast to break down their namesake song by Robyn. Also, advice on how to build the perfect wedding p...
ListenClick With Dick And Other Campaign Anthems from 2016-01-29T04:50
What do presidential candidates, professional wrestlers and improv comics have in common? Walk on theme music. As the primary season heats up we dig into the history, meaning and controversies of c...
ListenThe Life Changing Magic of Music in 2015 from 2016-01-17T16:51
Charlie and Nate reveal the life changing magic of how to tidy up the music you missed from last year. Annually, hundreds of publications release best of lists. These lists are supposed to make it ...
ListenLinus&Lucy from 2015-12-17T01:40
Celebrate 50 years of A Charlie Brown Christmas and his eponymous holiday album. If you’re feeling worn out on holiday music, this one never wears old. Its gone triple platinum and charts almost ev...
ListenSearching for Max Martin from 2015-11-19T23:48
The most omnipresent figure in pop music is also the most elusive: Karl Sandberg, AKA Max Martin, the mad Swedish genius who’s ruled the charts for 20 years. With the help of New Yorker writer John...
ListenHotline Hello: Drake and Adele from 2015-11-04T17:41
Drake and Adele are two megastars who may not seem to share much in common on the surface, but their recent hits exhibit some surprising parallels. Both revisit past relationships over the phone an...
ListenCan’t Get You Out Of My Head from 2015-10-22T16:00
As much as we might have crazy love for pop music, pop music also loves to drive us crazy. Earworms that grab you and won’t let go; cookie-cutter compositions that bedevil in their unoriginality; s...
ListenJustin Bieber’s Existential Suite from 2015-10-07T06:42
Bieber’s two new hits, “Where Are Ü Now” and “What Do You Mean,” showcase the prodigal pop star’s soberer side. In each, his realization of the fictive nature of relationships is musicalized throug...
ListenThe Weeknd: Dance of Deception from 2015-09-23T16:56
The Weeknd’s deliriously funky chart topper “Can’t Feel My Face” has sparked sweat-soaked dance sessions across the country, but dark notes lurk at the outskirts of this ebullient jam. Chromatic in...
ListenLet’s Talk About Sax from 2015-09-09T04:46
The sax is back. This surprisingly funky reed keeps popping up in pop hits from Derulo to Grande. But where did the sax come from? And where did it go? Tighten your embouchure, because we journey t...
ListenKacey Musgraves: Transgressing Country from 2015-08-14T02:27
Can you be a country star and critical of the country at the same time? Grammy Award Winner, Kacey Musgraves, has two hit albums that challenge the small-town clichés of modern country music. Is sh...
ListenSong of Summer: LIVE! from 2015-07-30T15:11
In the first-ever LIVE edition of Switched on Pop, Charlie and Nate enter an epic debate over what track should be crowned 2015’s definitive Song of Summer. Charlie’s candidate is the retro anthem ...
ListenThe Dual Meaning of Fetty Wap’s Trap Queen from 2015-07-15T16:26
Fetty Wap’s Trap Queen is an unlikely contender for the top 10. It straddles genres between hip-hop and pop in subtle yet mesmerizing ways. Is it a drug song? Is it a love song? Or is it both at th...
ListenOne Direction: Our Modern Day Castrati from 2015-05-29T02:45
One Direction is one of the biggest bands in pop, but unless you’re a preteen or the parent of one, like us you’ve probably never heard a second of their music. Until now. Let’s see if we’ve been m...
ListenThe Final Dropout from 2015-05-15T18:12
How does a good pop song end? With a bang, right? As it turns out, explosive endings are kinda over. Songwriters are instead opting to end with a final dropout. Even the biggest pop anthems close w...
ListenHidden Sounds in FourFiveSeconds from 2015-05-06T04:22
FourFiveSeconds is one of the more surprising collaborations in recent pop history. Rhianna, Kanye, Sir Paul McCartney. The motley lineup doesn’t dissapoint, serving up one of the most unexpected s...
ListenCarly Rae Jepsen – I Really Like You from 2015-04-15T05:00
Carly Rae Jepsen might be the patron saint of Switched on Pop, the show first hatched by Charlie and Nate on a trip down CA-1 while the stereo blasted “Call Me Maybe.” So when we heard she had a ne...
ListenHozier’s Waffling of Faith in Take Me To Church from 2015-04-02T21:03
Written in the Hozier family basement, Take Me To Church has risen up to be one of the biggest pop hits of the year. But this is not a typical pop song. The unsettling music and provocative lyrics ...
ListenTaylor Swift’s Beethovian Blank Space from 2015-03-26T18:59
Taylor Swift’s Blank Space is about emptiness of the heart. This motif of Blank Space is contained through the entire piece: from the drums, to the melody, to the lyrics. We pull away the sonic str...
ListenA Cappella Dreams from 2015-03-16T06:00
A cappella, Italian for in the style of the church, refers to music for unaccompanied voices. Just a decade ago it was nowhere near the radio dial. Now it’s everywhere: college campuses, Hollywood ...
ListenRadio Africa from 2015-02-19T22:22
Reporting live from Kenya, we search for African pop that is making its way into global dance music. The barriers to producing high quality audio are reduced to merely owning a laptop. Now, regiona...
ListenStar Spangled from 2015-01-28T22:36
Did you know the melody to the Star Spangled Banner was once a British drinking song? In preparation for the Super Bowl, we uncover how the national anthem has been co-opted and reinterpreted by me...
ListenMark Ronson: Funk Politics from 2015-01-15T08:08
Did you know the melody to the Star Spangled Banner was once a British drinking song? In preparation for the Super Bowl, we uncover how the national anthem has been co-opted and reinterpreted by me...
ListenThe Imperative Jingle Bells from 2014-12-20T20:36
You’ve heard it a million times, you know how to sing it, its ubiquitous during the holiday season, but you’ve never heard a definitive recording. Where does it come from, why is it so catchy, and ...
ListenTo Be Young from 2014-12-11T18:18
Pop music and youth go together like peanut butter and pickles. The music we hear when we’re young shapes our identities forevermore. In this episode we take three songs that promise an eternal ado...
ListenBoom Bang Pow from 2014-11-14T19:08
We look at the Rhythms that make us dance, those primal beats, the “Boom Bang Pow” that make us want to move. We’ll ask what makes them work and why is that we’re hearing that untz untz everywhere ...
ListenThe Oeuvre of Taylor Swift from 2014-10-28T02:05
We uncover the common songwriting techniques and chart the musical evolution of Taylor Swift. Featuring songs from her early country period, transitional indie period and her latest pop album, 1989...
ListenHeartbreak from 2014-10-28T01:59
Why do we love listening to heartbreak songs? What do songwriters do to emote such strong feelings? FEATURINGAdele – Someone Like You Kacey Musgraves – I Miss YouCeeLo Green – F*** You! Learn more ...
ListenHeartbreak from 2014-10-28T01:59
Why do we love listening to heartbreak songs? What do songwriters do to emote such strong feelings? FEATURINGAdele – Someone Like You Kacey Musgraves – I Miss YouCeeLo Green – F*** You! Learn more ...
ListenHeartbreak from 2014-10-28T01:59
Why do we love listening to heartbreak songs? What do songwriters do to emote such strong feelings? FEATURINGAdele – Someone Like You Kacey Musgraves – I Miss YouCeeLo Green – F*** You! Learn more ...
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