Few pop groups are making music as imaginative as Magdalena Bay. The Los Angeles-based duo of singer Mica Tenenbaum and multi-instrumentalist Matthew Lewin, have been steadily releasing music since 2016, eventually breaking out with their viral hit “Killshot,” four years later. In the last four years, their work has dabbled in everything from 70’s disco-pop to Y2K pastiche. Their music, often narrative-based and paired with equally stunning visuals, excels in balancing tension; there’s gossamer-...
Aug 23, 2024•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast If you've spent any time on the internet this summer, you may have encountered a certain refrain accompanying particularly fierce dance videos—"I've been a nasty girl. Nasty, nasty, nasty." This track, "Nasty" by the R&B singer and songwriter Tinashe, is a jam in its own right. Far from just a piece of viral content, "Nasty" is one of the songs of the summer, a chance for an burgeoning artist to reach a new level of success, and the latest in a long line pop songs from Janet Jackson to Beyoncé a...
Aug 20, 2024•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast On June 17 the pop world was rocked by three letters: LOL. Kesha tweeted the acronym immediately after Katy Perry announced her new single "Woman's World," which was co-written by Dr. Luke. Since Kesha had accused Dr. Luke of sexual assault a decade earlier, many read her "LOL" as directed at her one-time friend Perry. Kesha, meanwhile, released her own single a week before Perry's, a wild "Joyride" featuring hyperactive accordion, percussive handclaps, and quasi-operatic vocals. Both pop stars ...
Aug 13, 2024•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast If you like how Switched On Pop breaks down songs, you’re going to love the show One Song hosted by Diallo Riddle and Luxxury. They play you the stems of iconic recordings to see how they were made. To give you a taste today we’re sharing with you an episode of One Song about Blondie’s “Call Me.” Listen to One Song on SiriusXM on Wednesdays or subscribe to the podcast which is out Thursdays wherever you get podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Aug 09, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Transcript available on Metacast CharliXCX's latest album, brat, has created an internet fever dream. This club record celebrating messiness, partying, and brutal honesty has created its own color (brat green), a viral meme generator, and even an unlikely political platform. When CharliXCX endorsed Kamala Harris for president, saying "Kamala IS brat", the album took on a larger culture significance. The pundit class rushed to explain what it means to be a brat. Countless ink has been spilled dissecting the artwork and semiotics...
Aug 06, 2024•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast For months, listeners have been peppering us with the same question: “When are you going to cover Chappell Roan?” We genuflect, then respond, “We interviewed her back in 2023!" The people don’t care. They want breakdowns of Chappell Roan’s musical wizardry, and who are we to deny them? After all, Chappell is having a moment, with five songs on the Billboard Hot 100, iconic performances on the biggest stages, and an average of seventy million streams a week. Everyone from the mailman to your gran...
Jul 30, 2024•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast For decades, hip hop has been the most successful genre on the charts. Then, in 2023, a shift occurred. For the first time, the country songs outnumbered hip hop songs on the year end charts. Last year, country’s boom was led by hyper-partisan hits like Jason Aldean’s “Try That In A Small Town” and Oliver Anthony’s “Rich Men North of Richmond.” In 2024, country has taken a left turn. Beyoncé’s genre-busting album Cowboy Carter pushed the limits of what country can sound like, and who can make it...
Jul 23, 2024•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Verge's Nilay Patel and David Pierce chat with Switched on Pop's Charlie Harding about the RIAA lawsuit against Al music startups Udio and Suno. Later, Nilay and David discuss the rest of this week's tech and gadget news. Subscribe to Vergecast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jul 19, 2024•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast The synthesizer was invented in the 1890s. But for people to really start using it, it took half a century, a musician named Wendy Carlos, and an album called Switched-On Bach. Charlie Harding and Nate Sloan of Switched On Pop tell Phoebe why Wendy Carlos is “the most significant figure in 20th century music that the least people know about.” Subscribe to This Is Love Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jul 17, 2024•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast Long live the song of the summer with Today Explained. But wait! Switched on Pop's Charlie Harding disagrees. And Rolling Stone's Brittany Spanos says maybe it never existed at all. This episode was produced by Amanda Lewellyn, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Patrick Boyd and Andrea Kristinsdottir, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram. Be sure to subscribe to Today Explained. Transcript at vox.com/today-explained-podcast Support Today, Explained by becoming a Vox M...
Jul 15, 2024•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast In today’s volatile music industry, many artists struggle to navigate the pitfalls of touring, the whims of social media, and the inequity of exploitative contracts. But Lawrence, an eight-piece band led by siblings Clyde and Gracie Lawrence, provide a beacon of hope. Combining exceptional talent, savvy business acumen, and a familial bond, they've forged an uncanny path as a band. From testifying before Congress to tackle industry monopolies, to managing their tour logistics and branding, Lawre...
Jul 09, 2024•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast The first half of 2024 has been for the “pop girlie.” It seems like every major artist who’s dominated the discourse this year has been a woman, ostensibly making music about what it means to be a woman. There’s Camila Cabello's "Chanel no.5,” Lorde and Charli XCX working out the labyrinth of emotions that come with female friendship on the “Girl, so confusing” remix, and Sabrina Carpenter’s ode to the female ego, “Please Please Please." On this episode, Charlie, Nate, and Reanna – with some ins...
Jul 02, 2024•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast There’s many things to love about Los Angeles: low-rider cars, roadside taco stands, and, come awards season, the omnipresent “For Your Consideration” billboard. Nobody knows this better than lifelong L.A. resident Lorely Rodriguez, also known as Empress Of. The indie-pop darling’s latest record, aptly titled For Your Consideration, is her take on what it means to have your full self considered, in all of its guises. The almost genreless record is so wildly catchy and remarkable in scope (all of...
Jun 25, 2024•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast Bootsy Collins is, perhaps, the funkiest man of all time. Over the course of his nearly six decade career, Collins has given up the funk in the iconic Parliament Funkadelic, helmed Bootsy’s Rubber Band, and lended his slaparific talents to songs from everybody from James Brown to Dee-Lite to Fatboy Slim. His new album, aptly titled Album of the Year #1 Funkateer, is on the way, so in celebration of his illustrious career, we invited Bootsy Collins – aka Casper the Funky Ghost – onto Switched on ...
Jun 18, 2024•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast There is no contemporary pop music without Nile Rodgers. Born in 1952, Rodgers grew up playing classical music on flute and clarinet before picking up jazz guitar. And at age 20, alongside bass player Bernard Edwards, Rodgers formed the band Chic. They wrote the biggest disco hits of the 70s, like: “Dance Dance Dance,” “Everybody Dance,” “Le Freak," and "Good TImes," which formed the core of Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper's Delight”. In his music career spanning six decades, Rodgers has produced and p...
Jun 11, 2024•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast There's no music writer like the essayist and poet Hanif Abdurraqib: whether he's narrating the beautiful awkwardness of a Carly Rae Jepsen concert or talking jazz and eastern spirituality with Andre 3000, he manages to coax stories and insights out of songs in a way that never fails to surprise. His latest book, There's Always This Year, is a free flowing meditation on basketball, childhood, his home state of Ohio, and of course, music – so on the precipice of the NBA finals, Hanif returns to S...
Jun 04, 2024•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast On her latest album, Taylor Swift “declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist.” No one was more surprised by this than Charlie Puth himself: the singer, pianist, and songwriter whose career has always straddled pop stardom and behind the scenes anonymity. After three albums, billions of streams, and numerous songwriting credits – including one on the award-winning number one track “Stay” from the Kid Laroi – Puth has been busier than ever. His new song “Hero” comes on the heels of the Swift...
May 28, 2024•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast On Billie Eilish’s third album, Hit Me Hard and Soft, Eilish finally graduates from her signature anti-pop persona into full blown pop stardom. This record finds Eilish experimenting on the themes from her earlier records, while crafting an economic ten tracks that position themselves for mainstream radio consumption. There’s “L’amour de ma vie,” her five-and-a-half minute beat-switching eulogy for a failed relationship, or “Birds Of A Feather,” where she contrasts the soft, dreamy melodies we’v...
May 21, 2024•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast When you go out for a meal, it’s not just what's on your plate that matters, it's what's in your eardrums, too. From dining rooms so loud you have to shout to be heard, to playlists that sound like a generic Millennial Spotify account, it's not surprising that sound is the single most complained about aspect of restaurants. A few years ago, Charlie and Nate explored this in an episode on restaurant playlists. This week, they joined Cynthia and Nicky on their show Gastropod to help them explore t...
May 17, 2024•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast Where were you when you learned that the McDonald's jingle "I'm lovin' it" was originally part of a full-fledged pop song by Justin Timberlake and Pharrell that flopped on the charts but found staying power as a slogan? For us, it was recording our live episode about sponsored content in pop back in March 2024, and we have not been the same since. Shaken by this revelation, we found ourselves asking, "What else don't we know about fast food jingles?" Turns out, it's a lot. From Taco Bell to Pope...
May 14, 2024•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast Tongue twisters that mock techno-optimism and cite critical theory don’t usually make for catchy song lyrics. But indie rocker Rosie Tucker’s Utopia Now! finds beauty in the dross of late capitalism. Over 13 songs backed by distorted guitars and blazing drum fills, Tucker’s searing vocals bemoan the inherent dislocation of our modern world while searching for moments of truth and human connection. The night before Tucker embarked on a tour, Nate visited their home studio to speak to them about t...
May 10, 2024•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s that time of year again when the entirety of Europe (and a few other countries) come together to celebrate kitschy, bombastic songwriting through the Eurovision Song Contest! This year’s competition, held in Malmo, Sweden, features everything from rave-pop on behalf of the Netherlands, to folk-rapping hybrids courtesy of Ukraine – and Charlie and Nate are here to musicologically unpack the craziest tracks that have the potential to win it all. For more on the controversy surrounding this ye...
May 07, 2024•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay of the French electronic duo Justice speak with cohost Charlie Harding about their new album Hyperdrama. Song Discussed Justice - Phantom Pt II, D.A.N.C.E., Neveender, New Jack, Genesis, Horsepower, Civilization, One Night-All Night, Dear Alan, Incognito, Moonlight Rendez-vous, Audio Video Disco, Afterimage, The End, Generator, Pleasure The Who - My Generation The White Stripes - Black Math The Human League - Human John Carpenter - Night Serge Gainsourg & Jane B...
May 04, 2024•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast The beginning of 2024 has brought new music aplenty. Some big releases are in the form of big-ticket albums by the world’s biggest superstars (shoutout Taylor and Beyoncé); some are in the form of soon-to-be radio-friendly staples (we love you, "Espresso"); and some are in the form of personal earworms (Justice! Rosie Tucker! Dua!). This episode of Switched on Pop, we take a look at the records that we can’t stop listening to from the past few months, from Metro Boomin to Kacey Musgraves to Will...
Apr 30, 2024•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Tortured Poets Department, Taylor Swift's 11th studio album, finds the songwriter in the world of literature. She interweaves personal romance with mythical creation and quotations from high and low culture: Genesis, Peter Pan and even Playstation. Despite calling herself a "modern idiot," less-than-subtle nods to Sylvia Plath, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Dylan Thomas, and Patti Smith reveal the artist’s literary aspirations and “legendary” status. The full length Anthology version contains a b...
Apr 23, 2024•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast Lost Notes by KCRW explores how Fela Kuti’s time in LA in 1969 was instrumental in the creation of his legendary Afrobeat sound. Hosted by Michael Barnes and Novena Carmel. Find a full transcript of Lost Notes at KCRW. And subscribe to the show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apr 20, 2024•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast There are few artists pushing the boundaries of their respective genres like Maryland rapper Rico Nasty and German-Iraqi electronic producer Boys Noize. The two have run in the same circles for over half a decade, but their joint collaboration has reached an apex with their three song EP, HARDC0RE DR3AMZ, a dance-floor ready project that owes as much to Berlin techno as it does to Dutch gabber music. Rico and Boys Noize – a.k.a. Alexander Ridha – are also incredible friends with a lot of love fo...
Apr 16, 2024•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast Joe Keery is best known for his acting roles, such as the reformed jock Steve Harrington in "Stranger Things" and his chilling performance in season 5 of "Fargo." But he's also a spectacular musician. Rising through the Chicago music scene in college, he has self-released two albums under the moniker 'Djo.' His latest work, "Decide" from 2022, serves as a coming-of-age story and a meditation on navigating modern life. Despite strong initial reviews, the album only gained widespread attention two...
Apr 09, 2024•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter is her foray into country music, but this isn't just dirt roads, blue jeans and whiskey. Her country music distills all of American pop: blues, gospel, R&B, soul, house, hip-hop and yes, country. If this ain't country, what is? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apr 02, 2024•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hip-hop is in a weird place right now. Research says that the genre, in both streaming and chart performance, has declined over the last decade. And while rap artists can still get number one songs on the Hot 100, it’s a far cry from the peak of trap circa 2017, when Nielsen data named hip-hop as the most popular genre in the U.S. So what does that mean for the future of rap? To find out, producer Reanna Cruz spent all weekend reporting from Inglewood, CA, at the California edition of the world’...
Mar 26, 2024•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
