Switched on Pop
Episodes
Say Hey
10 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Listen carefully to almost any hit song these days and you’ll hear musicians screaming “Hey!” What’s the matter with them? Do they really need...
Now I Sia, Now I Don't
26 Feb 2016
Contributed by Lukas
One of the biggest voices in pop music has no face: Sia. She started her career as a ghostwriter for stars like Rihanna and Beyoncé. Recently she fou...
B Side: Singing With Mama Jan
18 Feb 2016
Contributed by Lukas
What do Usher, The Band Perry and Bieber have in common? They all sing with Mama Jan, one of the best vocal coaches and producers in the music busines...
Call Your Girlfriend
12 Feb 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Is it a love song or is it a breakup song? Charlie joins the women of the Call Your Girlfriend podcast to break down their namesake song by Robyn. Als...
Click With Dick And Other Campaign Anthems
29 Jan 2016
Contributed by Lukas
What do presidential candidates, professional wrestlers and improv comics have in common? Walk on theme music. As the primary season heats up we dig i...
The Life Changing Magic of Music in 2015
17 Jan 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Charlie and Nate reveal the life changing magic of how to tidy up the music you missed from last year. Annually, hundreds of publications release best...
Linus & Lucy
17 Dec 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Celebrate 50 years of A Charlie Brown Christmas and his eponymous holiday album. If you’re feeling worn out on holiday music, this one never wears o...
Same Here
02 Dec 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Two unlikely anthems of individuality are rocketing up the charts: Selena Gomez’s “Same Old Love” and Alessia Cara’s “Here.” One is from a...
Searching for Max Martin
19 Nov 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The most omnipresent figure in pop music is also the most elusive: Karl Sandberg, AKA Max Martin, the mad Swedish genius who’s ruled the charts for ...
Hotline Hello: Drake and Adele
04 Nov 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Drake and Adele are two megastars who may not seem to share much in common on the surface, but their recent hits exhibit some surprising parallels. Bo...
Can’t Get You Out Of My Head
22 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
As much as we might have crazy love for pop music, pop music also loves to drive us crazy. Earworms that grab you and won’t let go; cookie-cutter co...
Justin Bieber’s Existential Suite
07 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Bieber’s two new hits, “Where Are Ü Now” and “What Do You Mean,” showcase the prodigal pop star’s soberer side. In each, his realization ...
The Weeknd: Dance of Deception
23 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The Weeknd’s deliriously funky chart topper “Can’t Feel My Face” has sparked sweat-soaked dance sessions across the country, but dark notes lu...
Let’s Talk About Sax
09 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The sax is back. This surprisingly funky reed keeps popping up in pop hits from Derulo to Grande. But where did the sax come from? And where did it go...
Kacey Musgraves: Transgressing Country
14 Aug 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Can you be a country star and critical of the country at the same time? Grammy Award Winner, Kacey Musgraves, has two hit albums that challenge the sm...
Song of Summer: LIVE!
30 Jul 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In the first-ever LIVE edition of Switched on Pop, Charlie and Nate enter an epic debate over what track should be crowned 2015’s definitive Song of...
The Dual Meaning of Fetty Wap’s Trap Queen
15 Jul 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Fetty Wap’s Trap Queen is an unlikely contender for the top 10. It straddles genres between hip-hop and pop in subtle yet mesmerizing ways. Is it a ...
One Direction: Our Modern Day Castrati
29 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
One Direction is one of the biggest bands in pop, but unless you’re a preteen or the parent of one, like us you’ve probably never heard a second o...
The Final Dropout
15 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
How does a good pop song end? With a bang, right? As it turns out, explosive endings are kinda over. Songwriters are instead opting to end with a fina...
Hidden Sounds in FourFiveSeconds
06 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
FourFiveSeconds is one of the more surprising collaborations in recent pop history. Rhianna, Kanye, Sir Paul McCartney. The motley lineup doesn’t di...
Carly Rae Jepsen – I Really Like You
15 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Carly Rae Jepsen might be the patron saint of Switched on Pop, the show first hatched by Charlie and Nate on a trip down CA-1 while the stereo blasted...
Hozier’s Waffling of Faith in Take Me To Church
02 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Written in the Hozier family basement, Take Me To Church has risen up to be one of the biggest pop hits of the year. But this is not a typical pop son...
Taylor Swift’s Beethovian Blank Space
26 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Taylor Swift’s Blank Space is about emptiness of the heart. This motif of Blank Space is contained through the entire piece: from the drums, to the ...
A Cappella Dreams
16 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
A cappella, Italian for in the style of the church, refers to music for unaccompanied voices. Just a decade ago it was nowhere near the radio dial. No...
Radio Africa
19 Feb 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Reporting live from Kenya, we search for African pop that is making its way into global dance music. The barriers to producing high quality audio are ...
Star Spangled
28 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Did you know the melody to the Star Spangled Banner was once a British drinking song? In preparation for the Super Bowl, we uncover how the national a...
Mark Ronson: Funk Politics
15 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Did you know the melody to the Star Spangled Banner was once a British drinking song? In preparation for the Super Bowl, we uncover how the national a...
The Imperative Jingle Bells
20 Dec 2014
Contributed by Lukas
You’ve heard it a million times, you know how to sing it, its ubiquitous during the holiday season, but you’ve never heard a definitive recording....
To Be Young
11 Dec 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Pop music and youth go together like peanut butter and pickles. The music we hear when we’re young shapes our identities forevermore. In this episod...
Boom Bang Pow
14 Nov 2014
Contributed by Lukas
We look at the Rhythms that make us dance, those primal beats, the “Boom Bang Pow” that make us want to move. We’ll ask what makes them work and...
The Oeuvre of Taylor Swift
28 Oct 2014
Contributed by Lukas
We uncover the common songwriting techniques and chart the musical evolution of Taylor Swift. Featuring songs from her early country period, transitio...
Heartbreak
28 Oct 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Why do we love listening to heartbreak songs? What do songwriters do to emote such strong feelings? FEATURING Adele – Someone Like You Kacey Musgrav...