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?

With a little help from Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah"

What it means to put on the mask of the "Cool Girl"

What do Jay-Z, Kanye West, Frank Ocean and Toby Keith have in common? Their song's "Made In America."

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.

How Lady Gaga's "Perfect Illusion" is the apotheosis of her artistic statement.

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?

Hit the road with Gideon and Hubcap on a home-show tour through the Scottish Highlands

Has the ubiquity of house music detracted from its cultural origins?

Is "One Dance" an appropriation or celebration of Afro-Caribbean music?

How ought we listen to our favorite pop stars when the skeletons in their closet turn out to be actual skeletons?

The art of the summer hit draws from techniques developed 1,000 years ago

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 ...

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...

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...

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...

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...

American Oxygen as performed by Rihanna and X Ambassadors