About this podcast
Listen closer to pop music, and hear how it moves us. Hosted by musicologist Nate Sloan & songwriter Charlie Harding. From Vulture and the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Episodes
The newest 50 of 561 episodes
- The Gen-Z writing style (with Bella Kay) · 44 minBella Kay almost shelved the song "iloveitiloveitiloveit." Instead she posted the song to TikTok and it changed her life. The song became a top 20 hit and launched her music…
- A unified popstar theory from Tinashe · 47 minOn her eighth studio album Popstar, the criminally underrated multihyphenate Tinashe finally asserts herself as a Main Pop Girl, crafting a record about what it means to be a…
- The 'bummer hope' of midwest emo (ft. Yvette Young and Mike Kinsella) · 30 minA few months ago, Nate came across a glittering guitar riff unlike anything he had ever heard before; it managed to perfectly balance careful optimism with plaintive melancholy…
- The rise of surrealist pop: KATSEYE and ADÉLA · 49 minThe music of global girl group KATSEYE might be confusing on first listen. A less-generous read might consider their songs to be rudimentary: the lyrics are mostly nonsense, the…
- Why we need bad music · 1 h 1 minFor the 500th(!) episode of Switched on Pop, Charlie and Nate try to answer the question that has stumped critics and philosophers since the dawn of sound: does bad music exist?…
- Has Taylor Swift jumped the shark? · 48 minOne year after the release of her twelfth studio album The Life of a Showgirl, Taylor Swift is back with an encore. Specifically, The Encore, four tracks that have polarized…
- Carly Rae Jepsen’s pop pedagogy · 49 minFive years after her first appearance on Switched on Pop, Carly Rae Jepsen returns to the podcast to talk all things Day and Night, her latest album. Born out of Swedish disco…
- Tove Lo wants her music to sound out of control (ft. Tove Lo) · 38 minSwedish singer-songwriter Tove Lo’s new album ESTRUS can be summarized in the opening lyrics of the album’s closing track, “source of life”: “Feral, fragile, numb, ecstatic /…
- Lizzy McAlpine summons Nick Drake & Joni Mitchell · 58 minLizzy McAlpine opens up about her 4th album Angel alongside collaborators Mason Stoops and Taylor Mackall. Recorded live at Power Station at Berklee NYC. Songs Discussed Lizzy…
- The power of singing together (ft. Tiny Habits) · 41 minThroughout pop history, groups from The Ink Spots to the Beach Boys to Fleetwood Mac all forged their sound in the alchemy of vocal harmonies, harnessing the magic that happens…
- Questionably Country · 35 minFor the first time in history, five country songs were at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. Ella Langley, Morgan Wallen, Taylor Swift and Stella Lefty all have songs that range…
- Phoebe Bridgers opens her Moleskine · 36 minMany of us keep a journal, but few of us are able to turn our unvarnished thoughts into cultural moments touching on love, death, and guitars quite like Phoebe Bridgers. Her new…
- We have Confessions to make... · 39 minMadonna has returned this summer with Confessions II: an album full of huge hooks, pounding bass, and sincere emotion. It’s the queen of pop's first record in seven years, and…
- A piano lesson that will change how you listen (ft. Lang Lang) · 37 minFor many people – including Charlie and Nate – studying classical piano as a child always felt like a chore. Now, as adults, there’s a newfound appreciation for classical music…
- IV. Take It to the Bridge (ft. Tayla Parx) · 42 minBridges open up the world of a song: they're a breath of fresh air and a point of contrast, typically delivered right before the final chorus. But sometimes they accomplish even…
- III. Preaching to the Chorus (ft. Cypress Hill and Trevor Horn) · 50 minThe chorus was once the part of the song that brought us together, the place we gathered to sing. Now it's the most engineered thirty seconds in music. Legendary producer Trevor…
- II. Justice for the verse (ft. Audrey Hobert) · 34 minEverybody sings the chorus, but superfans quote the verse. On this episode of Switched on Pop, Charlie and Nate trace the verse from Shakespeare through opera to TikTok, and…
- I. Let's get it started (ft. Aaron Dessner) · 41 minResearch says you judge a song in under half a second. So why write an intro at all? On this episode of Switched on Pop, Charlie and Nate kick off their Netflix launch and probe…
- Switched On Pop on Netflix July 14th · 1 minWe're coming to the big screen with a four part mini series starting July 14th. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
- Music only the World Cup could make · 38 minThe quadrennial soccer (or fútbol, depending who you talk to) competition is upon us again: it's the FIFA World Cup! And while the World Cup is a sporting event, it's still…
- Why we can't resist Swedish pop (ft. Zara Larsson) ICYMI · 44 minIn case you missed it: How does a country of 10 million people dominate the global pop charts? From ABBA's Eurovision breakthrough to Max Martin's methodical hit-making, Sweden…
- 2hollis is the underground’s genre-hopping vampire · 32 minIn the last episode of our feral pop miniseries, we take a look at the 22 year old rapper primed to take over the world: 2hollis. Splitting the difference between hardstyle and…
- Pop music for an internet-pilled generation · 25 minThis week on Switched On Pop, we’re looking at all things feral pop, the microgenre that takes pop music to its most wild extremes. And no feral pop artist is more tapped into…
- The new wave of pop is here, and it’s feral · 32 minWhat would it sound like if pop music was reverted to its most wild state of being? It would sound hyper-digital, influenced by the electronic vanguard of the 2010s, and speak to…
- Olivia Rodrigo has The Cure for sadness · 43 minOlivia Rodrigo is back with her third studio album, you seem pretty sad for a girl in love. As the title might suggest, it’s a deeply personal affair, with moody soundscapes…
- Paul McCartney went back to Liverpool for something new to say · 42 minBoys of Dungeon Lane, McCartney's collaboration with producer Andrew Watt, arrived when McCartney was 83 and and he came out swinging: the opening track greets listeners with a…
- How a sci-fi dystopia became a personal utopia (ft. Arc Iris) · 13 minA sci-fi ballet imagined a 2080 where AI strips people of purpose, and the day before its New York premiere, an actual dystopia arrived. Arc Iris, the trio of Jocie Adams, Zach…
- Why bands give us purpose (ft. MUNA) · 52 minA culture that rewards easily consumable individual identities produces plenty of pop stars and almost no bands. A significant exception: MUNA, the trio of Katie Gavin, Josette…
- Drake's Slop Era · 56 minCanada’s favorite export Drake is back! This month, the Toronto singer-rapper extraordinaire released three albums simultaneously: the long-anticipated return to form Iceman, the…
- Kacey Musgraves walks country’s borderlands · 39 minKacey Musgraves' album Middle of Nowhere finds the country outlaw taking a break from exploring her inner life to look outward, back to her roots: the regional stylings of Texas…
- Rostam reimagines American music · 54 minThe pedal steel and the saz both live in the spaces between equal-tempered notes, and that gap is where Rostam built American Stories. Rostam joined Vampire Weekend at Columbia…
- Eurovision is back – but not without controversy · 55 minThe flowers are blooming and the calendar says May. That can only mean one thing: the Eurovision Song Contest is upon us once again. This year, thirty-five countries face off to…
- Samara Cyn is rap's best new writer · 38 minHow do you write a rap verse that's clever without saying so? Samara Cyn, one of the sharpest young writers in hip-hop, joins us to talk about Detour, her new EP about going…
- Olivia Rodrigo and the second verse massacre · 44 minOlivia Rodrigo's chart-topping new single "drop dead," the lead single from her forthcoming third album you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love, breaks one of pop's oldest…
- Hrishikesh Hirway made an album about running out of time — in no time · 43 minHrishikesh Hirway, host of Song Exploder, returns with his first album in fifteen years, In the Last Hour of Light, made under a premise that's almost contradictory for a…
- BTS is back. But K Pop is not the same. · 48 minBTS is back. The best selling K Pop group of all time has been on hiatus for four years. They haven’t released an album in six. They were once the biggest band in the world. Can…
- Maggie Rogers: going viral is a trap · 38 minTen years ago, Maggie Rogers was a senior at NYU, scrambling to finish a song for a music production class she was close to failing. The guest critic that week happened to be…
- Learning to Love Train: "Drops of Jupiter" is back in the atmosphere · 47 minTrain is the kind of band that some people love to hate. Songs like "Meet Virginia" and "Hey Soul Sister" gave the band huge hits, and no small amount of snark. And then there's…
- Slayyyter might actually be the 'Worst Girl in America' · 38 minGoing for broke turned out to be the most honest thing Slayyyter ever made. After financial losses and a depressive episode that left her ready to quit music entirely, Slayyyter…
- How Charlie Puth honored Whitney Houston for 125 million people (live at Berklee NYC) · 56 minCharlie Puth joins Switched On Pop in Studio A at Power Station at Berklee NYC, live before a room of current students, ten days after performing the national anthem at Super…
- RAYE’s maximalist masterpiece is the hope we need · 43 minRAYE names Amy Winehouse and Edith Piaf as her artistic predecessors on the opening tracks of new album This Music May Contain Hope. Both died young, undone by the same darkness…
- Where have all the white rappers gone? · 51 minOn a recent podcast interview, Kentucky rapper Jack Harlow said that, to craft his new album Monica, he “got blacker.” The problem is… Jack Harlow is white. The statement, while…
- Jacob Collier can make anyone sing · 55 minJacob Collier is a rare musician: an expert in so many musical languages (western harmony, negative harmony, microtonalism) and a phenomenal communicator about music. He's…
- Harry Styles loses himself to dance · 44 minThe dance floor is where Harry Styles does his therapy, and this album is the session notes. Four years after Harry's House, Styles returns with Kiss All the Time, Disco…
- Can Bruno Mars counterprogram his way to another hit album? · 45 minBruno Mars is back with a new album called The Romantic, his first solo release since 2016’s 24k Magic. At first listen, the lead single, “I Just Might,” sounds like an outtake…
- Charli XCX’s "Wuthering Heights" fever dream · 48 minEmerald Fennell's new adaptation of Emily Brontë's 1847 gothic romance "Wuthering Heights" is the most talked-about film of the year. But for pop lovers, the soundtrack is the…
- Will Sinners do for blues what O Brother did for bluegrass? · 51 minIt's the middle of award season, and Ryan Coogler's ode to the Black music canon Sinners has emerged as the Oscars frontrunner and the most nominated film in Academy Awards…
- Jazz is A$AP Rocky’s secret weapon · 36 minA$AP Rocky’s latest album, Don’t Be Dumb, is a wild ride through a cacophony of sounds — punk, industrial, drum ‘n’ bass, indie rock, and of course, hip hop. But on one track…
- Does humor belong in music? · 48 minWhat makes Weird Al songs so indelible? Why is Bo Burnham more than just a comic? How do the biggest pop hits make us crack up in the middle of a somber ballad? Humor is always…
- And the Grammy goes to… · 52 minThe ultimate gauntlet of popular music is upon us once again: it's Grammy season, and this year, the competition is pretty tight across the board. Big ticket A-listers like Bad…
