Switched on Pop

A podcast all about the making and meaning of popular music. Musicologist Nate Sloan & songwriter Charlie Harding pull back the curtain on how pop hits work magic on our ears & our culture. From Vulture and the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Music Commentary
Music Interviews
Music History
351
Zayn, Taylor Swift & The Grammys
30 min
352
The Puzzle of Ariana Grande's "Into You" (with ...
46 min
353
Seduced by the Sound: The Weeknd + Daft Punk
21 min
354
Dreaming Of A White Christmas
White Christmas holds the Guinness World Record for most singles sold and has been covered over 500 times. What makes this song so beautiful and endemically beautiful?
37 min
355
How to Listen to Music in 4 Easy Steps
With a little help from Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah"
43 min
356
Playing it Cool: How Tove Lo Aims High
What it means to put on the mask of the "Cool Girl"
27 min
357
Made In America: Toby Keith & Jay-Z
What do Jay-Z, Kanye West, Frank Ocean and Toby Keith have in common? Their song's "Made In America."
45 min
358
Good Artists Borrow, Great Artists Steal
41 min
359
The Most Popular Song In The World
In this episode, we zoom in on one of the most annoying melodies to see if there's not some hidden musical craft present in the ubiquitous bleeps and bloops that envelop us.
36 min
360
Lady Gaga Is A Perfect Illusion
How Lady Gaga's "Perfect Illusion" is the apotheosis of her artistic statement.
59 min
361
How Beyoncé to The Beatles Modulate Your Emotions
Certain pop songs have that moment, when everything seems to change , when the drama gets ratcheted up, when the tension increases and our emotions take an elevator ride to the heavens. But what is this mysterious musical trick, and how does it work?
33 min
362
Pop Drops and Chipmunk Soul
37 min
363
The Gideon and Hubcap Show
Hit the road with Gideon and Hubcap on a home-show tour through the Scottish Highlands
22 min
364
Breaking Down The House
Has the ubiquity of house music detracted from its cultural origins?
36 min
365
Around The World With Drake
Is "One Dance" an appropriation or celebration of Afro-Caribbean music?
39 min
366
When Good Music Happens To Bad People
How ought we listen to our favorite pop stars when the skeletons in their closet turn out to be actual skeletons?
35 min
367
Justin Timberlake Goes Medieval
The art of the summer hit draws from techniques developed 1,000 years ago
31 min
368
All About Those Baseline Assumptions About Femi...
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 bent. Memories of the polarizing 2014 hit "All About that ...
31 min
369
Jonas vs. Jonas: Or How We Learned to Stop Worr...
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 Wait Awhile" jockeyed for peak position on the Hot 100. T...
32 min
370
Purple Lemonade: Prince & Beyoncé
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 and themes that weave throughout their song. In the fir...
41 min
371
Pablo And The Wolves
The Life Of Pablo is Kanye West's latest album, but it may not resemble one. From its gradual online release to its changing track lists, this shape shifting album is difficult to grasp. To understand this shapeshifting album, we recruited Andrew Maran...
34 min
372
The Populist Pop of Twenty One Pilots
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 resonance, the kind that rarely hits the Hot 100. Tracing th...
29 min
373
American Oxygen
American Oxygen as performed by Rihanna and X Ambassadors
22 min
374
Say Hey
Listen carefully to almost any hit song these days and you’ll hear musicians screaming “Hey!” What’s the matter with them? Do they really need our attention? We uncover the reason and history behind this phenomenon with guest host Alex Kapleman, produc...
41 min
375
Now I Sia, Now I Don't
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." So with her new album, "This Is Acting," you'd expect to...
35 min