mxmtoon - Mona Lisa
13 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Maia from mxmtoon released her first EP in 2018. She was 18 years old, recorded it in her bedroom, a...
Monica Martin - Go Easy, Kid
29 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Monica Martin is a singer and songwriter based in Los Angeles. Before that, she was based in Madison...
Maren Morris - Humble Quest
15 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Maren Morris is a Grammy-winning, multi-platinum artist. She’s also won multiple country music awa...
Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up
01 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Rick Astley is a singer and songwriter from England, whose debut single, "Never Gonna Give You Up," ...
Kevin Morby - This Is a Photograph
18 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Kevin Morby is a singer and songwriter based in Kansas City. He’s put out seven albums since 2013,...
Arooj Aftab - Mohabbat
04 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Arooj Aftab is a singer and composer based in Brooklyn. She grew up in Saudi Arabia, but her family ...
Partners: Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
20 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This week, I want to introduce you to another podcast that I make, called Partners. It’s a show ab...
Peaches - Boys Wanna Be Her
06 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Peaches is a musician, producer, and performance artist. She’s released six albums and in 2015, s...
Steve Reich - Different Trains: America, Before the War
23 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Steve Reich is a legendary composer who was one of the pioneers of minimalism. He was awarded the Pu...
Perfume Genius - Slip Away
09 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Mike Hadreas has been making music under the name Perfume Genius since 2008. In May 2017, he put out...
Sarah Kinsley - The King
23 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Sarah Kinsley is a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Her most recent release is an EP c...
Brandi Carlile - You and Me On the Rock (feat. Lucius)
09 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Brandi Carlile is a singer and songwriter from Washington State. She's released seven albums and w...
Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out
26 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The band Franz Ferdinand formed in 2002, in Glasgow, Scotland. They’ve won the Mercury Prize and t...
Joy Oladokun - Look Up
12 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Joy Oladokun is a singer and songwriter from Arizona, now based in Nashville, who’s been releasing...
Danny Elfman - What’s This? (from “The Nightmare Before Christmas”)
15 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas came out in 1993. It’s a stop-motion animated musica...
Halsey - You Asked for This
01 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Halsey is an award-winning singer and songwriter from New Jersey. She's been nominated for two Gramm...
Hans Zimmer - Dune
17 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The movie Dune was released on October 21. It's the most recent adaptation of Frank Herbert's epic s...
The War On Drugs - I Don't Live Here Anymore (feat. Lucius)
03 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The War on Drugs is a band from Philadelphia who formed in 2005. They won the Grammy for Best Rock A...
Willow - Transparent Soul feat. Travis Barker
20 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Willow Smith is a singer and songwriter from Los Angeles. She’s also a member of one of the most f...
Hrishikesh Hirway TED Talk - What You Learn When You Listen Closely
13 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This summer, I gave a TED Talk at the TED Conference. My talk was about what you discover when you r...
John Lennon - God
06 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Earlier this year, I got an amazing email—the estate of John Lennon said that they have a treasure...
Lucy Dacus - Thumbs
22 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Lucy Dacus is a singer and songwriter from Richmond, Virginia. She put out her first album in 2016, ...
Mustafa - Air Forces
08 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Mustafa is a singer, songwriter, and poet from Toronto. He gained national recognition in Canada for...
Lykke Li - I Follow Rivers
25 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Lykke Li is a singer and songwriter from Sweden. She started releasing music in 2007, and for much o...
The Shins - New Slang
11 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Singer, songwriter, and producer James Mercer of The Shins wrote “New Slang” when he was living...
Cheap Trick - Surrender
28 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The song "Surrender" by Cheap Trick was released in 1978. Rolling Stone called it the ultimate 70s t...
Fousheé - Deep End
14 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The story of how the song "Deep End" came into existence and became a hit is kind of wild. One perso...
AURORA - Runaway
30 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
AURORA is a singer and songwriter from Norway, who released her first EP in 2015, when she was 19 ye...
Sparks - This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us
16 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Sparks are the brothers Ron and Russell Mael, a legendary duo from Los Angeles. Over the last 50 yea...
Arlo Parks - Black Dog
02 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Arlo Parks is a singer and songwriter from London. In January 2021, she released her debut album, Co...
Imagine Dragons - Follow You
19 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Imagine Dragons are a Grammy-winning band from Las Vegas. They’ve sold over 20 millions albums so ...
girl in red - Serotonin
05 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Marie Ulven is a singer, songwriter, and producer from Norway, who makes music under the name girl i...
Porter Robinson - Get Your Wish
21 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Porter Robinson is a Grammy-nominated electronic artist and DJ from North Carolina. In 2014, his fir...
Lianne La Havas - Can't Fight
07 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Lianne La Havas is a singer and songwriter from London. She’s been nominated for a Grammy and a Br...
Jon Batiste - We Are
24 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Jon Batiste is a pianist, songwriter, and composer from New Orleans. He’s been nominated for multi...
Glass Animals - Heat Waves
10 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Glass Animals is a band from Oxford, England. They’ve released three albums since forming back in ...
Sasha Sloan - Until It Happens To You
24 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Sasha Sloan is a singer and songwriter based in Nashville. She put out her debut album, Only Child, ...
PJ Morton - Say So (feat. JoJo)
10 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
PJ Morton is a singer, songwriter, and producer. He’s the first artist ever to be nominated for a ...
HAIM - Summer Girl
27 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
HAIM is a band from Los Angeles, made up of the sisters Danielle, Este, and Alana Haim. They’ve re...
Yusuf / Cat Stevens - Father and Son
13 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The legendary singer/songwriter Yusuf / Cat Stevens released his first album in 1967. He’s a membe...
Common - A Riot In My Mind
16 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Common is a Grammy- and Oscar-winning rapper, actor, and activist from Chicago. He’s been making r...
Jewel - You Were Meant For Me
02 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Jewel is a singer-songwriter from Homer, Alaska, who’s received four Grammy nominations and sold o...
Billie Eilish - Everything I Wanted
18 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Billie Eilish started releasing music when she was 14 years old. Her debut album came out last year,...
Phoebe Bridgers - Scott Street
11 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This episode is a little different. It’s a re-issue of Phoebe Bridgers’ Song Exploder episode fr...
Deftones - Ohms
04 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Deftones are a Grammy-winning band from Sacramento who’ve sold over ten million albums. Their nint...
Run the Jewels - JU$T
21 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Rapper Killer Mike and rapper/producer El-P first met in 2011. They both had established rap careers...
Dua Lipa - Levitating
07 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Dua Lipa is a Grammy-winning singer and songwriter from London. Her second album, Future Nostalgia, ...
Selena Gomez - Lose You to Love Me
23 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Selena Gomez is a singer, songwriter, and actress, who’s spent most of her life in the public eye....
Ludwig Göransson - Black Panther
16 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Marvel’s Black Panther was released in theaters on February 16, 2018, and in just a few weeks, i...
Kelly Lee Owens - On
09 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Kelly Lee Owens is an electronic music producer and songwriter originally from Wales. She’s releas...
Black Pumas - Colors
26 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Black Pumas formed in Austin, Texas in 2017, when singer Eric Burton met producer Adrian Quesada. Th...
The 1975 - The Birthday Party
12 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The 1975 are a band from Manchester, England, made up of Matty Healy, Adam Hann, Ross MacDonald, and...
Waxahatchee - Fire
29 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Katie Crutchfield is a singer and songwriter from Birmingham, Alabama. She’s been making music und...
Khruangbin - So We Won't Forget
15 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Khruangbin is a band from Houston, Texas, who first formed in 2010. NME called them the "low key sup...
Apparat - Goodbye (Theme from "Dark")
01 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Netflix original series Dark debuted in December 2017. It’s a really mysterious, mind-bending ...
Mobb Deep - Shook Ones, Pt. II
17 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The rappers Prodigy and Havoc met when they were still in high school in New York. Havoc grew up in ...
Michael Kiwanuka - Black Man in a White World
04 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Instead of a new episode this week, revisiting this episode originally published in May 2017. Please...
100 gecs - Money Machine
20 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
100 gecs is a duo, made up of Laura Les and Dylan Brady. In 2016, they put out an EP called 100 gecs...
Laura Marling - Song for Our Daughter
06 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Laura Marling is a singer and songwriter from London. She won the Brit Award for Best British Female...
Tame Impala - It Might Be Time
22 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Tame Impala is the project of Kevin Parker, a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer from P...
FKA twigs - Mirrored Heart
08 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
FKA twigs is a singer, songwriter, and producer from London. She’s released three EPs and two albu...
Nathaniel Rateliff - And It's Still Alright
25 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Nathaniel Rateliff is a singer and songwriter from Colorado. He’s released four solo albums, and t...
Eric Nam - Love Die Young
11 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Eric Nam is a Korean-American pop singer from Atlanta. He’s currently lives in Seoul, South Korea,...
Soccer Mommy - Circle the Drain
26 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Sophie Allison makes music under the name Soccer Mommy. Her debut album came out in 2018, when she w...
Caribou - Home
12 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Snaith has been making Caribou records since 2001. He won Canada’s Polaris music prize in 2007...
Vagabon - Water Me Down
29 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When Laetitia Tamko started making the second Vagabon album, she really wanted to produce the entire...
Semisonic - Closing Time
15 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The song “Closing Time” by the American rock band Semisonic came out in March 1998. It hit #1 on...
Vampire Weekend - Harmony Hall
25 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The band Vampire Weekend started in 2006, in New York. Their third album came out in 2013, and was n...
Intro Theme and Thao's Farewell
17 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Thao Nguyen has been guest hosting Song Exploder this year, with Christian Koons producing, to give ...
Meek Mill - Trauma
11 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Meek Mill is a rapper from Philadelphia. He’s put out five albums. His most recent, Championships,...
Bat for Lashes - Kids in the Dark
27 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Natasha Khan makes music under the name Bat for Lashes. She’s released five albums, including Lost...
Jay Som - Tenderness
13 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Melina Duterte goes by the name Jay Som. She’s a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Sh...
Slipknot - Unsainted
30 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Slipknot is a Grammy-winning metal band from Des Moines, Iowa, who first formed in 1995. They’ve s...
Raphael Saadiq - Kings Fall
16 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Raphael Saadiq is a Grammy-winning songwriter, producer, and artist from Oakland, California. He was...
Clairo - Alewife
02 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Claire Cotrill is a singer, songwriter, and producer who goes by the name Clairo. She started releas...
Brittany Howard - Stay High
18 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Brittany Howard is the guitarist and lead singer of the four-time Grammy-winning band Alabama Shakes...
Robyn - Honey
04 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Robyn is a Swedish singer and songwriter. Her first album came out in 1995, when she was 16 years ol...
Bon Iver - Holyfields,
21 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Justin Vernon founded the band Bon Iver in 2006. Bon Iver’s released four albums, and won two Gram...
Sleater-Kinney - The Future Is Here
07 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Sleater-Kinney was formed in 1994 by Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein. Drummer Janet Weiss was a m...
Denzel Curry - RICKY
24 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Denzel Curry is a rapper from Miami. He started his career at age 16 as part of the hip hop collecti...
Jamila Woods - BALDWIN
10 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Jamila Woods is a singer, songwriter, and poet from Chicago. She’s released two albums, and she’...
Big Thief - Cattails
26 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Big Thief is a four piece folk-rock band from Brooklyn, New York. In May 2019, they released their t...
Sheryl Crow - Redemption Day (feat. Johnny Cash)
12 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Sheryl Crow is a singer-songwriter from Missouri. She’s released ten studio albums, sold over 50 m...
Raleigh Ritchie - Time in a Tree
29 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Raleigh Ritchie is the musical alias of Jacob Anderson, a musician and actor who’s probably best k...
The Mountain Goats - Cadaver Sniffing Dog
15 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
John Darnielle has been writing and recording songs as the Mountain Goats since 1991. He’s release...
The Cranberries - All Over Now
01 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The Cranberries formed in Limerick, Ireland in 1989. Singer Dolores O’Riordan joined a year later,...
Panda Bear - Dolphin
17 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Panda Bear is musician Noah Lennox. He’s a founding member of the experimental, genre-defying band...
Sharon Van Etten - Seventeen
03 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Sharon Van Etten is a singer and songwriter who’s put out five albums. She's also an actress—she...
Nakhane - New Brighton (feat. Anohni)
20 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Nakhane is a singer and songwriter from Johannesburg, South Africa. His first album, Brave Confusion...
Mumford & Sons - Beloved
06 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Mumford & Sons are a Grammy-winning band that formed in London in 2007. They’ve put out four a...
Phoebe Bridgers - Scott Street
20 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Phoebe Bridgers is a singer-songwriter from Los Angeles. In September 2017, she released her debut a...
Wonderly - The Daily (Theme)
06 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The Daily is a hit podcast from The New York Times, hosted by Michael Barbaro. Every weekday, over 1...
Japanese Breakfast - Boyish
23 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Japanese Breakfast is the musical project of Michelle Zauner, who’s been making music under that n...
Hozier - Nina Cried Power (feat. Mavis Staples)
09 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Andrew Hozier-Byrne is a Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter from Ireland. His debut single from 2013...
Yo-Yo Ma - Prelude, Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major
20 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Yo-Yo Ma is perhaps the most famous and well-loved cellist in the world. He was born in Paris in 195...
Thao & The Get Down Stay Down - Astonished Man
13 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Thao Nguyen is taking over as the new host of Song Exploder in 2019. This is a reissue of an episode...
Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way
05 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Lindsey Buckingham is a singer-songwriter, a guitarist, and a producer. In 1974, he joined the band ...
Breakmaster Cylinder - Reply All
26 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Four years ago, on November 24, 2014, the first episode of the podcast Reply All came out. It’s a ...
Empress Of - When I'm With Him
19 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Lorely Rodriguez is a singer, songwriter, and producer who goes by the name Empress Of. She’s rele...
Big Boi - Order of Operations
05 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Big Boi is a rapper from Atlanta. When he was a teenager, he and Andre 3000 formed OutKast, and went...