Switched on Pop
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Switched on Pop
Listen closer to pop music — hear how it moves us. Hosted by musicologist Nate Sloan & songwriter Charlie Harding. From Vulture and the Vox Media Podcast Network.
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What do John C. Reilly and Taylor Swift have in common? The Great American Songbook
John C. Reilly joins to discuss Mr. Romantic, his theatrical tribute to the Great American Songbook that treats Irving Berlin and Tom Waits as equals...
Taylor Swift’s Showgirl Sound: How to actually listen to the album
Taylor Swift's twelfth album has sparked endless speculation about who each song is "really about," but that might be the wrong question entirely. The...
The Power of the Trio (ft. Trousdale live at USC)
There's no lead singer in Trousdale. The trio of Quinn D'Andrea, Georgia Greene, and Lauren Jones, has shared vocal duties equally since they started...
Doja Cat is the new Janet
This summer, one singular artist could be heard everywhere from the new Cardi B album to the TikTok charts: Janet Jackson. The incomparable Queen of P...
Stockholm syndrome: Why we can't resist Swedish pop (ft. Zara Larsson)
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, Swe...
The music theory behind K Pop Demon Hunters' chart dominance
It's time. Nate and Charlie break down the K Pop Demonhunters soundtrack to uncover the musical secrets behind its unprecedented success. From West...
The architecture of the album with Djo (Joe Keery live at NYU)
Halfway through the opening track of Joe Keery's The Crux, a line emerges that sounds like casual conversation: "My dog is at my house again, but I li...
Finneas and Ashe want you to start a band
Everyone should be in a band at some point—and Finneas and Ashe prove why. The Grammy-winning producer and rising singer-songwriter discuss how their...
Fleetwood Mac's Missing Link Album Returns After 50 Years
Fleetwood Mac has had a phenomenal resurgence in recent years, from TikTok viral fame to Broadway plays and streaming TV series inspired by the band....
The classical rebel who infiltrated pop music
You've heard those shimmering disco strings in Miley Cyrus's "Flowers," the cinematic arrangements on Phoebe Bridgers' Punisher, and the orchestral fl...
All roads lead to Pharrell: Tyler, Clipse, and Cardi
The conversation around the new music this summer has been a dour one. Some of the biggest songs in the country right now are downtempo stomp-clap ant...
A brief history of terrible lyrics (with Sam Sanders)
Why do bad lyrics happen to good people? From "suckin' on a chili dog" to "making love to his tonic and gin," even the biggest hits from our favorite...
Summer Bummer (with Commotion’s Elamin Abdelmahmoud)
Every music critic seems to agree: 2025 has no true song of summer. Last August, Teddy Swims’s “Lose Control” dominated the charts. This year…Teddy Sw...
Justin Bieber's Lo-fi Bedroom Swag
Justin Bieber is back with his seventh studio album: the aptly-titled SWAG. The lo-fi, reverb-laden record is a remarkably candid look inside the worl...
How podcasting got its sound ft. Breakmaster Cylinder
What if the entire sound of modern podcasting can be traced back to a single Grateful Dead song uploaded in 2001? We uncover the musical lineage that...
Is that new song you like AI? Here’s how you can tell
The robots have arrived, and they're making protest songs about boots on the ground. When an AI band called The Velvet Sundown fooled over a million S...
The Benson Boone-Doggle
In which we explore the unlikely rise, and surprising backlash against, one Benson Boone.
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Can Recession Pop predict the market?
Why does the economy look great on paper but feel terrible in your wallet? There might be a more revealing economic indicator hiding in your Spotify q...
How Americana helped mainstream country find its soul
As we've been examining over the course of Country Week, country music has found a larger audience, in part by widening its sonic palette. For the fin...
Country music is Mexican (Fuerza Regida and Grupo Frontera)
More often than not, country music is seen as an "American" genre – meaning that the music is seen as strictly from the United States. In some ways, t...
The Ballad of Lainey Wilson and Jessie Murph
There's often an unspoken (and deeply misogynistic) rule on country music radio: never play two female artists back to back. In this episode of Switch...
The hick hop renaissance (BigXthaPlug and Bailey Zimmerman)
One of the biggest country hits of the year has been "All The Way," by Texas rapper BigXthaPlug and country rocker Bailey Zimmerman, which peaked at #...
Is Morgan Wallen the problem with country music?
Country music stands at a crossroads between tradition and evolution, and no artist embodies this tension better than Morgan Wallen. His song "I'm the...
"Manchild" and other songs about male incompetence
Looking for relationship advice? Skip the self-help books and turn to Sabrina Carpenter's latest single "Manchild" instead. This deep dive into the ar...
Frankly, Sinatra still matters (with Seth MacFarlane)
What if the Chairman of the Board's biggest contribution to music wasn't his voice, but the blueprint he created for modern pop stardom? Frank Sinatra...
Is the future of pop...heavy metal?!
The UK outfit Sleep Token has done what we once thought impossible: Found commercial success playing heavy metal music in 2025 AD.
Their...
Charli XCX threw this party 4 us
Five years ago, Charli XCX released the track "party 4 u," a melancholic ode to throwing a function for that one specific person. Now, in 2025, the so...
808: The drum machine that changed music forever (Twenty Thousand Hertz)
The 808 is arguably the most iconic drum machine ever made. Even if you’ve never heard of it, you’ve definitely heard it. It’s in dozens of hit songs...
Chartbreakers: Lorde & Drake reboot, Worship Pop, and the shortest song ever
What happens when worship anthems climb the charts alongside soul revivals and nostalgia-driven comebacks? The May 2025 Billboard charts reveal a fasc...
‘Sinners’ summons the demons of American music
We rarely cover movies here at Switched On Pop. But after seeing Ryan Coogler's new vampire musical Sinners, we knew we had to make an exception.
Eurovision feast: Poison Cake, Milkshake Man, and Espresso Macchiato (featuring Tommy Cash)
It's that time of year again: Eurovision Song Contest is upon us. And with the competition comes a tradition at Switched On Pop, where Charlie and Nat...
Put your headphones on for TikTok's Addison Rae
Despite TikTok defining this decade's music landscape, the app hasn't spawned a bonafide pop superstar – yet. 24-year-old Addison Rae is trying to be...
Generation Taylor: Gracie, Maisie, Phoebe (with Jensen McRae)
Taylor Swift isn't just a world-conquering pop star at the top of her game, her approach to songwriting has also proven massively influential for an u...
Music's New Success Model
Specialized platforms and social media have empowered musicians to tap into niche audiences, igniting a quiet revolution in the music industry. Despit...
Miley Cyrus goes avant-garde
Miley Cyrus just released three singles from her ninth studio album, Something Beautiful. Inspired by Pink Floyd's The Wall—specifically the 1982 feat...
Chappell Roan is giving country... and hair metal?
Why was Chappell Roan's band dressed like an 80s hair metal act during her Grammy performance? The answer unlocks the surprising secret behind her #1...
Writing The Who’s ‘My Generation' With Pete Townshend
The Who's "My Generation" wasn't born from inspiration—it was commissioned. In a rare interview, Pete Townshend reveals how six fans at London's Goldh...
Lady Gaga's Monster Return
In 2022, Lady Gaga embarked on The Chromatica Ball – a stadium tour featuring a stage that Gaga herself referred to as her "museum of brutality." Thre...
How Missy Elliott and Timbaland Freaked the World
When the song “Get Ur Freak On” hit radio in 2001, it set the world of popular music on fire. Missy Elliott and Timbaland’s first crossover hit sounde...
Playing "Hide and Seek" with Imogen Heap
It may be hard to believe it in this technology-driven day and age, but one of the most pervasive sounds in popular music came about when a computer S...