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
51
What makes a gay anthem?
Kylie Minogue's "Padam Padam" is the queer song of the summer. But why?
34 min
52
Switches Brew: blink-182, Kate Bush, BewhY, The...
What we're listening to old and new
24 min
53
Chartbreakers: Mexican regional y más
This edition of chartbreakers takes a look at everything from Peso Pluma to Taylor Swift
43 min
54
Listening 2 Daft Punk: Random Access Memories
The robots gain a heart and soul - and self-destruct in the process
35 min
55
Listening 2 Daft Punk: Human After All / Alive ...
The anti-utopian robots
37 min
56
Listening 2 Daft Punk: Discovery
The voice of a robot
35 min
57
Listening 2 Daft Punk: Homework
Soldering the Robots' synthesized circuits
36 min
58
The Jonas Brothers' Yacht Rock Revival
Nick, Joe and Kevin channel Hall & Oates, Steely Dan, and The Doobie Brothers
37 min
59
From Westeros-techno to trance metal: Eurovisio...
It's time for the world's campiest competition: Eurovision Song Contest
26 min
60
Who killed the key change in pop music?
A musical whodunit
31 min
61
A.I. Drake has put music in a tailspin
Lawlessness and Laser Bongs with The Vergecast
37 min
62
BTS goes solo together
47 min
63
This Generation's Caroline Polachek
For Caroline Polachek, "desire" takes many abstract forms on her latest record
42 min
64
The Shakira Conspiracy
Shakira's new song embodies a conspiratorial songwriting seen at the center of this decade's biggest hits
29 min
65
Reinventing Bach
Dan Tepfer connects Bach to free improv
38 min
66
100 gecs and the new sound of hyperpop
The duo's latest record is a sum of their influences: Primus, Future, and Justin Timberlake included
37 min
67
Switches Brew
Switched On Pop's top listening picks
22 min
68
Modern Classics: Seal - Kiss From a Rose
Why Seal's masterstroke resonates almost thirty years later
35 min
69
How John Denver got huge in Asia
The globalization of "Country Roads"
31 min
70
Chartbreakers: Jersey Club, Complicated Country...
The Hot 100s triumphs, fumbles, and oddities
28 min
71
Five years later, the legacy of Nipsey Hussle's...
Exploring the late rapper's impact with author Justin Tinsley
33 min
72
“Flowers” and the art of the response song
How Miley Cyrus' hit stacks up next to Bruno Mars and the answer song canon
38 min
73
Rihanna Party! ICYMI
While we wait for R9
52 min
74
The L.A. guitar shop that reinvented indie folk
Old Style Guitar Shop and Reuben Cox’s rubber bridge guitar
34 min
75
A History of Whammies at the Grammys - Into It ...
It's Grammys weekend and Sam Sanders, host of Vulture's Into It podcast, is ready for disappointment!
23 min