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Switched on Pop

A podcast all about the making and meaning of popular music. Musicologist Nate Sloan & songwriter Ch

Episodes

Total: 441

The 63rd Grammys was as unprecedented and unusual as last year. Backdropped by the pandemic, the sho

Ten years ago the Australian artist Gotye asked New Zealand musician Kimbra to feature on his song “

Kaytranada has what every producer strives for: an in-demand signature sound. His records glide flui

JP Saxe wrote the song “If the World was Ending” with acclaimed songwriter Julia Michaels in 2019 ab

Adrian Younge is a producer for entertainment greats ranging from Jay Z and Kendrick Lamar to the Wu

The Netflix series Bridgerton has hooked audiences with its bodice-ripping sex scenes, a colorblind

This Sunday, The Weeknd will perform his distinctly dark brand of pop at the Super Bowl halftime sho

Epik High are elemental to Korean hip hop. DJ Tukutz, Mithra Jin and Tablo’s underground style boom

Power ballads used to top the charts regularly, from 80s rock to 90s R&B. But then in the 2000s,

Listen to Top 40 pop over the last decade and you’ll notice something weird is happening. The chorus

Is it true that all pop music sounds the same today? For the past year the “pop-drop” has dominated

Auto-Tune may be the most divisive effect in music. Artists have protested it publicly at the Grammy

Wham’s 1984 contribution to the holiday cannon, “Last Christmas,” has surprising staying power. When

Just five months after releasing her Grammy-nominated album “folklore,” Taylor Swift surprised fans

Women's Rap Renaissance

2020/12/8

Producer Bridget Armstrong shares her top tracks from women who are running hip-hop in 2020: Megan T

In 1990 John Carlin and Leigh Blake pioneered a new kind of charity album. Together they co-founded

Every song Cyndi Lauper writes is pop perfection according to Sam Sanders, host of NPR’s “It’s Been

Cultural critic Ivie Ani breaks down how Missy Elliott broke into the pantheon of anthems, and how s

When Smash Mouth wrote "All Star,” they knew that it was going to change their lives. But they never

In 1995, ESPN launched Jock Jams Volume 1, a compilation record that would define the sound of sport