Switched on Pop

In the last few years music copyright claims have skyrocketed. More and more artists are giving songwriting credits away. Frequently, credits are given retroactively to avoid the cost of long jury trials like when Sam Smith credited Tom Petty. Smith’s melody for “Stay With Me” clearly drew from Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down.” On rare occasions these cases go to court, where music litigation is at an all time high. In the last ten years there have been 190 public cases, up over 350% from the prior decade, according to The George Washington University & Columbia Law School Music Copyright Infringement Resource.

This story has come in and out of the news cycle in closely watched jury trials including artists like Marvin Gaye, Led Zeppelin, and Katie Perry. Historically, courts have extended copyright to only unique combinations of words and music, not rhythms, chords, instruments. But recent cases increasingly litigate the core building blocks of music. Many artists fear that a bad court outcome could let an artist copyright a “vibe” using commonly used musical language.  

The question of whether someone can borrow a vibe resurfaced when Olivia Rodrigo shared songwriting credits on her hit 2021 album Sour with Taylor Swift, and comparisons have been made to the art of Courtney Love and music of Elvis Costello. Many listeners have commented on Rodrigo’s more obvious influences on social media. Viral TikTok videos compared Rodrigo’s “Good 4 U” to Paramore’s “Misery Business,” which share a common chord progression and vibe. This online campaign likely contributed to Rodrigo handing songwriting credits, also known as publishing, to Hayley Williams and Josh Farro of the band Paramore. 

This week we are airing the conversation Switched On Pop’s Charlie Harding had on the podcast Decoder with host Nilay Patel who is also editor and chief of The Verge. Together we try to understand how the byzantine music copyright system works, and how its rules affect the sound of pop music today and in the future. 

SONGS DISCUSSED - Spotify Playlist

• Sam Smith - Stay With Me
• Tom Petty - I Won’t Back Down 
• M.I.A. - Paper Planes
• The Clash - Straight To Hell
• Olivia Rodrigo - deja vu
• Taylor Swift - Cruel Summer
• Olivia Rodrigo - good 4 u
• Paramore - Misery Business
• Robin Thick, T.I., Pharrell Williams - Blurred Lines
• Marvin Gaye - Got To Give It Up
• Katy Perry, Juicy J - Dark Horse
• FLAME , Lecrae, John Reilly - Joyful Noise
• Led Zeppelin - Stairway to Heaven
• Spirit - Taurus
• Michael Bolton - Love Is a Wonderful Thing
• The Isley Brothers - Love Is A Wonderful Thing
• Taylor Swift - Look What You Made Me Do
• Right Said Fred - I’m Too Sexy
• Doja Cat, SZA - Kiss Me More
• Olivia Newton-John - Physical
• Anne-Marie - 2002

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CHVRCHES is well-known for their comprehensive use of synthesizers and their updated take on “synthpop”, a subgenre of pop we most closely associated with the 1980s. While gearing up to make their second album in 2015, CHVRCHES members Iain Cook and Martin Doherty spent much of the recording budget buying up many of the original synthesizers used to make those iconic 80s dance tracks. Contemporary replicas of those synth sounds are now commonplace with pop acts like Dua Lipa and The Weeknd. But CHVRCHES has been wielding these sounds for more than a decade, and their newest project is a great reminder of how closely we link that synth sound with not just to a bygone era, but specifically to the eerie sound of horror film. 

Screen Violence is their new album. It draws inspiration from classic horror films like John Carpenter's Halloween. With its horror frame, the lyrics explore dark themes, like the violent online abuse CHVRCHES lead singer Lauren Mayberry has endured for much of the band’s existence, a hyper consciousness of her own mortality brought on by that abuse, and fears of losing her grip on reality. Switched On Pop’s co-host Charlie Harding spoke with Lauren, Ian, Martin from CHVRCHES about the making and meaning of Screen Violence.

MORE

Chvrches' Lauren Mayberry: 'I will not accept online misogyny'

SONGS DISCUSSED

• CHVRCHES - Never Ending Circles
• Dua Lipa - Physical
• The Weeknd - Blinding Lights
• CHVRCHES - California
• CHVRCHES - Lullabies
• CHVRCHES - Final Girl
• CHVRCHES - Violent Delights
• CHVRCHES - He Said She Said
• CHVRCHES - Asking For A Friend 
• John Carpenter - Halloween Theme
• Suspiria - Markos
• John Carpenter - Christine
• John Carpenter - Turning The Bones (CHVRCHES Remix)
• CHVRCHES - Good Girls (John Carpenter remix)
• CHVRHCES - How Not To Down (with Robert Smith)

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On August 27th Big Red Machine, the joint musical project of Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner - artists known for their work as Bon Iver and in the rock band The National, respectively - returned with new music. You’ve most definitely heard Dessner’s production work elsewhere, like on Taylor Swift’s pandemic albums evermore and folklore. The Big Red Machine album, titled How Long Do You Think it's Going to Last, celebrates the fruits of creative partnership and the importance of family and community. At least, that’s what we took from our conversation with Dessner. “A lot of my favorite music - usually there's something elusive about it, in that whatever is elusive is coming from this weird cocktail of different people's input. There's just this weird, swampy alchemy, and you can't easily put your finger on why it's so moving.” 

Dessner told us he draws much of his creative inspiration from the kinetic energy generated by multiple musical brains working in tandem, which makes sense given the list of features on this album - everyone from Swift to Sharon van Etten to Anaïs Mitchell to The Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold. “I'm such a born collaborator. I'm definitely interested in this exchange where you make something and you send it out into the ether and then it comes back slightly changed or radically changed. Then you work on it and send it again. I like this handoff, this communal approach to music making.”

The musical collective fostered by Vernon and Dessner on How Long Do You Think It's Going to Last is a testament to the power of musical communities in a year of intense isolation. We’re so pleased to bring you Nate’s conversation with Aaron Dessner in this week’s episode.

Songs Discussed

• Big Red Machine - Birch, feat. Taylor Swift
• Big Red Machine - Phoenix, feat. Fleet Foxes & Anaïs Mitchell
• Big Red Machine - Magnolia
• Big Red Machine - Renegade, feat. Taylor Swift
• Big Red Machine - Mimi, feat. Ilsey
• Big Red Machine - The Ghost of Cincinnati

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Recently the hosts of Switched on Pop kept seeing the same byline next to their favorite pieces of music writing. A moving profile of Bad Bunny? There was the name. A searing critique of West Side Story? There it was again. An elegy on love, loss, and an Aretha Franklin and Smokey Robinson duet? By now it was committed to memory: writer and translator Carina del Valle Schorske. So we knew we had to invite Carina to participate in our Modern Classics series and learn what this brilliant writer would place in her modern pop pantheon. 

Carina’s pick, the 2012 song “Manhattan” by Cat Power, presents an opportunity to analyze an artist we’ve never discussed on the show before, and a song that sparks associations with New York City’s rich musical history. Cat Power, aka Chan Marshall, released “Manhattan” on her 2012 album Sun, and the song—on which Marshall recorded every instrument herself—has become an unlikely sleeper hit in the Cat Power catalog. Perhaps that’s because, as Carina tells it, the song is a celebration and elegy at once, trying to capture the beat of a city that is constantly in flux, but with an inescapable iconicity. 

“Manhattan” isn’t the only piece of urban musical alchemy Carina brought to the show. Cat Power’s ode to the borough syncs up in surprising ways with the 1978 salsa track by Willie Colón and Rubén Blades, “Buscando Guayaba.” Together, the songs stake out a twisting path across genre, time, and language, but along on the same streets.

Songs Discussed

• Cat Power - Manhattan
• Rubén Blades and Willie Colón - Buscando Guayaba, Pedro Navaja
• Ella Fitzgerald - Manhattan
• Stevie Wonder - Livin’ for the City
• Alicia Keys and Jay Z - Empire State of Mind

Check out Carina’s profile of Bad Bunny, her essay on Aretha Franklin and Smokey Robinson, and more writing at her website.

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For the past two weeks, our series on summer music festivals has uncovered the interplay of festival fashion and music and examined festival subcultures. But we've so far overlooked an essential reason that people attend music festivals: to experience transformational joy.

At the start of summer 2021 it seemed like the pandemic was waning and that live music was coming back. But now, heading into the fall with the Delta variant, the fate of live music is once again in question. Caught in this limbo, we thought it might be a good time to get nostalgic and reflect on joyous music festival moments as we hope for more live music in the future. 

This week's episode features seven stories from listeners about their most surprising and wonderful moments at festivals past. The first story comes from musician and producer Dave Harrington of the band Darkside, who was once helped out of a musical rut by a Phish festival set

Songs

Phish (live Aug 4, 2017) - Everything In Its Right Place, Axis Bold As Love, Prince Caspian

Darkside - Only Young

Music scored by Zach Tenorio of Arc Iris

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The Gathering of the Juggalos is the music festival centered around the rap duo Insane Clown Posse. Their songs are hyper-violent and profane; their stage show features grotesque clown makeup and blasting the audience with their favorite drink, Faygo soda; and their fandom has even been designated by the FBI as a loosely organized gang. Musically, they’ve historically been rejected by critics: The Guardian has called them “a magnet for ignorance;” Allmusic has called them a “third rate Beastie Boys,” and Blender called them “the worst band in music.” Nate became fascinated with them after watching the 2011 documentary American Juggalo — that’s when he realized that there’s more to Insane Clown Posse and its fans than he previously thought. 

For the second episode of our summer festival series, we dig into the sound of Insane Clown Posse to ask: Is their music really as bad and offensive as all the critics say? What is the general public missing that ICP’s fans are hearing? To answer these questions, we talk to Nathan Rabin, the author of You Don't Know Me but You Don't Like Me: Phish, Insane Clown Posse, and My Misadventures with Two of Music's Most Maligned Tribes, and 7 Days In Ohio: Trump, the Gathering of the Juggalos and The Summer Everything Went Insane.

Songs Discussed

• Insane Clown Posse - House of Horrors, Hokus Pokus, My Axes, F*** the World, Miracles, Down with the Clown
• Esham - The Wicketshit Will Never Die
• Eminem - Stay Wide Awake

More

• Check out more of Nathan Rabin's writing

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The co-hosts of The Cut, Jazmin Aguilera and B.A. Parker, think deeply and incisively about fashion. For this special episode of Switched on Pop — the first in our three-part miniseries about summer festivals — we invited the hosts of The Cut, Jazmin Aguilera and B.A. Parker, as our honorary co-hosts to help us break down the connections between festival fashion, music, and culture. With the additional help of Dr. Lorynn Divita, Associate Professor of Apparel Merchandising at Baylor University, we dissect the commercialization of festival fashion, and how it could lead to some festival goers feeling alienated from the musical experience they love. And, of course, we all discuss the iconic looks -- and performances -- of two of the most quintessential music festivals: Woodstock and Coachella.

MORE

3 Days of Peace & Music & Fashion : A History of Festival Dress from Woodstock to Coachella

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Mark Ronson has a CV too long to list here. Suffice to say he’s a musician who’s worked with everyone from Amy Winehouse to Lady Gaga to Dua Lipa, has one of the highest selling singles of all time with Bruno Mars in “Uptown Funk,” and has been making just really good music since the turn of the millennium. He’s also the presenter of one of our all time favorite TED talks on the history of sampling, and he’s been continuing that journey of musical curiosity with the Apple TV show “Watch The Sound,” which explores the untold stories behind music creation and the lengths producers and creators are willing to go to find the perfect sound, and the FADER Uncovered Podcast, where he interviews artists ranging from David Byrne to HAIM. Today, Mark is the guest for another episode of Modern Classics, in which he brings Ginuwine’s classic 90s jam “Pony,” produced by Timbaland and Static Major, as an example of the ways that innovation and radical experimentation undergird even the biggest of pop smashes. 

Songs Discussed

• Ginuwine - Pony
• Rakim - Juice (Know the Ledge)
• Mobb Deep - Shook Ones Part II
• Notorious B.I.G. - Juicy
• Aaliyah - Are You That Somebody?
• 10cc - I’m Not in Love
• Shangri-Las - Remember (Walkin’ in the Sand)
• Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson - Valerie
• Paul McCartney - Get Enough
• Usher - Climax
• Beatles - Maxwell’s Silver Hammer
• Stevie Wonder - You Are the Sunshine of My Life
• Cher - Believe
• Gang Starr - Work
• Nikka Costa - Like a Feather
• Stevie Wonder - Superstition

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We’ve been wanting to speak with Jack Antonoff since we started Switched On Pop back in 2014. We've had countless hours of conversation sound tracked to his productions with artists like Taylor Swift, Lorde, Lana Del Ray starting in just our second episode. When we wrote a book about 21st century pop, we devoted a chapter to the song “We Are Young” by his band, Fun.

And so we're excited to finally sit down with him to hear about how he approaches his own work. He has a new album out with his band Bleachers called Take the Sadness out of Saturday Night. And for our series on Summer Hits, we wanted to start our conversation with Jack Antonoff about the song “Stop Making this Hurt.”

More Episodes ft. words or music by Jack Antonoff

Chained to the Green Light: Katy Perry + Lorde

The Oeuvre of Taylor Swift

folklore: taylor swift's quarantine dream

"evermore" of a good thing

Total Request Live! Taylor, Lana, Kim, and More (with Sam Sanders)

Song of Summer 2020: TikTok Jams, Protest Anthems, Breezy Bops & Bummer Bangers

Carly Rae Jepsen: Meeting The Muse

Songs Discussed

Bleachers - Chinatown (feat. Bruce Springsteen)

Bleachers - How Dare You Want More

Bleachers - Secret Life

Bleachers - Stop Making This Hurt

Bleachers - What'd I Do With All This Faith?

Bruce Springsteen - Jungleland

Dexys Midnight Runners - Come On Eileen

Fleetwood Mac - Bleed to Love Her (Live at Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank, CA 52397)

Fleetwood Mac - Bleed to Love Her

Lana Del Rey - Mariners Apartment Complex

Television - 1880 Or So

The Strokes - New York City Cops

Tom Tom Club - Genius of Love

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In this installment of Modern Classics we speak to the amazing four-time Grammy Nominee musician, singer and songwriter Yola about her new record, Stand For Myself, and how hearing Childish Gambino’s “Redbone” and all its references to 1970s funk encouraged Yola to unlock her own unprecedented mix of symphonic soul and classic pop.

As Yola tells it, it’s not just a sound from the past that she’s conjuring, it’s a sense of possibility. The way that progenitors like Funkadelic, Minnie Ripperton, and the O'Jays combined political protest with deep grooves, what Yola calls “the Mary Poppins philosophy of music” (the groove being the spoonful of sugar to help the socially-conscious medicine go down).

With this marriage of sound and statement, Yola makes retro sounds relevant again, as on the title track “Stand For Myself,” where she uses throwback slap bass, fuzz guitar, and orchestral strings to craft a distinctly modern messages about her identity as a Black woman, cultural allyship, and UK politics. Also, why she likes mixes that sound like they have a “big old booty.”

Songs Discussed

Yola - Stand For Myself, Diamond Studded Shoes, Starlight, Barely Alive, Be My Friend, If I Had to Do it All Again

Childish Gambino - Redbone, Riot

Bootsy Collins - I’d Rather Be With You

Funkadelic - Can You Get to That

The O’Jays - Back Stabbers

Queen Latifah - U.N.I.T.Y.

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L’Rain is the musical persona of singer and multi-instrumentalist Taja Cheek, whose new album, Fatigue, begins with a lyrical quandary: “What have you done to change?”

What follows is a journey of self-discovery, the songs interwoven with home recordings of practicing piano, clapping games, and everyday life. The first full length song, “Find It,” repeats the mantra “Make a way out of no way,” looking for a path out of darkness. An unexpected sample of a preacher at a friend’s funeral service — recorded with permission by L’Rain — interrupts the chant promising that “Good days outweigh my bad days.”

But L’Rain doesn’t provide quick solutions for making change. Rather, she takes us on a journey that evades easy understanding. By avoiding conventional structures, L’Rain asks the listener to lean in close to the music. The sounds are at times unsettling — on “Blame Me,” the guitar warbles in and out of tune — though the uncomfortable moments are blanketed over on songs such as “Take Two,” where warm synthesizers mix with angelic voices. The melodic hooks and captivating rhythms on “Suck Teeth” reveal L’Rain’s command over the experimental work — she is meticulous about building layers of sound on her many instruments.

Had L’Rain pursued a more traditional style of songwriting, or further fleshed out Fatigue’s catchiest moments, the record might be an easier listen — but not as rewarding. Instead, its undulating moods and nonlinearity mirror the unpredictability of human emotion and the up-and-down nature of personal change. To help decipher this album, Switched On Pop’s Charlie Harding spoke with L’Rain at JBL’s flagship store in Soho in front of a live audience. 

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One of the songs we anticipate playing on repeat this summer is “Twerkulator” by Miami rap duo City Girls. It’s a track with enough sonic energy to power a small town, but that’s not all we dig. The song’s music includes a chain of samples that stretch back through pop music history—from 1990s house, to 1980s electro, to 1970s German krautrock—and poses an implicit challenge to some of hip hop’s most problematic figures. Meanwhile, the lyrics celebrate a tradition of movement that’s as culturally important as its controversial

To break down the manifold cultural dimensions of twerking we welcome a very special guest: Kyra Gaunt, ethnomusicolgist and author of the forthcoming book “Twerking at the Intersection of Music, Sexual Violence, and Patriarchy on YouTube,” who explains why twerking is not what you think it is (and why the Oxford English Dictionary got it wrong).

Songs Discussed

City Girls - Twerkulator, Twerk (featuring Cardi B)

Cajmere - Percolator

Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force - Planet Rock

Kraftwerk - Numbers, Trans-Europe Express

Juicy J featuring A$AP Rocky - Scholarship

More

Dr. Kyra Gaunt's TED Talk and her brilliant book, The Games Black Girls Play

Estelle Caswell's Video, "The Sound that Connects Stravinsky to Bruno Mars"

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Lorde's new song "Solar Power" set the internet ablaze when it dropped from out of nowhere in June. Some fans found the song to be a buoyant departure from Lorde's last release, Melodrama, while others thought the track felt half-baked. On top of that, listeners questioned the song's provenance — had Lorde cribbed too closely from 90s hitmakers like Primal Scream and George Michael?

To listen closely to "Solar Power" and unpack its polarizing sounds, we needed to speak to someone with an unerring ear and a razor-sharp mind: the author, poet, and host of Object of Sound, Hanif Abdurraqib. Hanif knows Lorde's catalog like the back of his hand, and he's got feelings about this latest release. But he also offers a word of caution: wait for the album before reserving judgment!

Hanif doesn't just take us deep into "Solar Power," though, he helps us get philosophical on some trenchant musical questions, including: What is a summer song, anyway? Where's the line between stealing and inspiration? And most importantly, does Lorde's track end six minutes too early??

Songs Discussed:

Lorde - Solar Power, Royals, Liability, Green Light, The Louvre

Nick Drake - Bryter Layter

Rolling Stones - Sympathy for the Devil

Roxy Music - In Every Dream Home a Heartache

Primal Scream - Loaded

George Michael - Freedom! '90, Faith

Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley

More

Check out Hanif Abdurraqib's podcast Object of Sound

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Olivia Rodrigo’s summer breakup anthem “good 4 u” is filled with the kind of ebullient angst that makes us want to spontaneously dance around our house and belt the lyrics out with abandon. Whether it’s the creeping baseline that pulls us in, or the cathartic release of the chorus, we can’t get enough of this track. And we’re not alone, it seems. The song debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and like its predecessor “Driver’s License,” has fueled and been fueled by viral TikTok memes that helped solidify the song’s position among 2021’s summer jams. 

Those TikTok memes range in format, but tend to play off of one unavoidable observable of Rodrigo’s “good 4 u” - just how beautifully it syncs up with Paramore’s 2007 pop-punk “Misery Business.” The two songs share some of the most common building blocks in pop music, from their 4, 1, 5, 6, chord progression to the opening note of their choruses. Those links have led critics and fans alike to wonder aloud if “good 4 u” indicates the emo-slash-pop punk revival we discussed back in May is here to stay. 

In the second installment of our Summer Hits series, producer Megan Lubin goes searching for the musical roots of Rodrigo’s ebullient angst, and uncovers two histories - the first is the sound of emo as it branched off of punk music in the 1980s, and the second is of women raging on the microphone through time, from the blues to country, to Olivia’s chart-topping confessional. 

Lubin gets help from the rock critic Jessica Hopper, who reminds us of emo’s gendered origins: “It became prescriptive. The narrative was always girls were bad and they never had names” and takes us on a journey through Rodrigo’s rage-full forebears. We’re still thinking about her lines about women in pop and the boxes we try to put them in. “People just need to stop trying to draw it back to something that a man did before, and realize that teenage women have completely remade the landscape of top 40 pop in the last 15 years.”

More:

Jessica Hopper’s The First Collection Of Criticism By A Living Female Rock Critic

Helen Reddington “The Forgotten Revolution of Female Punk Musicians in the 1970s”

nikjaay’s “misery 4 u” mashup

Music

• Olivia Rodrigo - good 4 u
• Paramore - Misery Business
• Sex Pistols - Anarchy in the U.K.
• The Clash - London Calling
• Minor Threat - Straight Edge
• Rites of Spring - Drink Deep
• Dashboard Confessional - Screaming Infidelities
• Bessie Smith - Devil’s Gonna Git You
• Nina Simone - Break Down and Let it All Out
• Alanis Morissette - You Oughta Know
• Miranda Lambert - Mama’s Broken Heart
• Carrie Underwood - Before He Cheats
• Taylor Swift - We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together

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Modern Classics is the new series where Charlie and Nate invite their favorite musicians, journalists, and friends of the show to wax lyrical about a song that's important in their life. In the first installment of Modern Classics, Nate and Charlie sit down with the host of NPR’s hit news and culture program It’s Been a Minute, Sam Sanders. Sam is one of the best people to talk music with, not only because he has his finger on the pulse of what’s happening in the entertainment world, but because as a former music major he’s got knowledge for days.

That knowledge makes Sam the perfect person to explain why Labrinth’s 2019 track “Sexy MF” might be one of the hidden gems of contemporary pop, a song that he hears as “fun and fantastical with all these wonderful tricks and bells and whistles.” Nate and Charlie had never heard “Sexy MF” before Sam brought it to them, and were immediately hooked by the song’s copious ear candy: sly references to Prince and James Brown, death-defying vocal harmonies, all scaffolded atop an indomitable piano groove.

Labrinth, aka Timothy Lee McKenzie, is a U.K. singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer who released his first single in 2010. Since then he’s gone on to compose the score for the hit TV show Euphoria, collaborated with Sia and Diplo as L.S.D., and worked with Beyoncé on the live-action Lion King soundtrack. Labrinth has racked up massive streaming numbers with tracks like “Jealous” and “Thunderclouds,” but “Sexy MF” is more of what one might call a “deep cut.” If you haven’t heard it yet, like Sam, you might find that it’s one you’ll play “perhaps a thousand times” after your first listen.

Songs discussed

Labrinth - Sexy MF, Still Don’t Know my Name, Mount Everest, Misbehaving

Prince - Sexy M.F.

James Brown - Get Up (I Feel Like Being a Sex Machine)

Lauryn Hill - Doo Wop (That Thing)

Paul Anka - Put Your Head on my Shoulder

Beach Boys - God Only Knows

Harry Nilsson - Gotta Get Up

Foreigner - Cold As Ice

Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg - Still D.R.E.

Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks

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Growing up is never easy. But pop songs about adolescence too often gloss over the complicated moments. The “teenage dream” archetype is just a pop culture fantasy. And no one really wants to be 17 forever. 

On her new album “Home Video,” Lucy Dacus talks about youthful growing pains. She remembers the uncomfortable moments. Dacus says that “a lot of childhood is crisis mode… you get pushed around by the world and the rules that are set for you.” Her songs examine unequal power relationships between parents and friends and lovers. 

On the lighter side, the album opens up with “Hot And Heavy,” which takes us back to the scene of an early romantic encounter on a basement sofa, red faced and awkward. But by the next song, “Christine,” the amorous feelings fade: “He can be nice, sometimes / Other nights, you admit he's not what you had in mind.” Bad dads, bible camp indoctrination, and perpetual peer pressure all take the stage in Dacus’ coming of age album. 

Dacus says that writing about those years is “a process of extorting control over things that I didn’t have control over at the time.” With untethered teenage dreams safely behind her, Dacus now gets to reclaim the meaning of youth: “I am the narrator of my own life so I get to say what this meant.”

Songs Discussed

Lucy Dacus - Night Shift

Frank Zappa - Sharleena

boygenius - Souvenir

Lukas Graham - 7 Years

Kendrick Lamar - Beyonce

Justin Bieber - Baby

Mandy Moore - Fifteen

Hilary Duff - Sweet Sixteen

The Beatles - When I'm Sixty Four

ABBA - Dancing Queen

Sound of Music - Sixteen Going On Seventeen

Avril Lavigne - 17

Kings Of Leon - 17

Lake Street Dive - Seventeen

Sharon Van Etten - Seventeen

Alessia Cara - Seventeen

Stevie Nicks - Edge of Seventeen

Janis Ian - At Seventeen

More

Playlist of coming of age songs 

Study on songs that references age

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In summer 2020, BTS released “Dynamite,” their first single recorded entirely in English. The song shot up the charts, became one of the most successful YouTube videos in history, and won over pop radio, which had stubbornly refused to play their songs in Korean. Now, in summer 2021, BTS have topped themselves again with “Butter,” yet another English-language bop that melts like … well, you get it. BTS member Jimin told Variety that they wanted to make an “easy-listening,” fun song, and it arrived as a much-needed distraction from the interminable global pandemic.

With everyone constrained by travel restrictions, the song was written over WhatsApp, a collaboration achieved via text and voice notes sent between South Korea and the U.S. Jenna Andrews, one of the songwriters, says the track went through at least 50 rewrites to reach perfection. The final single is a tightly produced, less than three-minute song in which every moment is a hook. It shifts nostalgically from ’80s Prince to ’90s Michael Jackson through 2000s EDM, each second highlighting BTS’s musical savvy and distinctive vocal performance.

In our kick-off episode of Switched on Pop’s Summer Hits series, Andrews spoke about how she worked with BTS to craft this song remotely and map out every throwback reference. In the second half of the episode, we speak with Bora, a prominent BTS translator who presents the case for why we should hear “Butter” as the first step down the BTS rabbit hole, especially into their Korean-language discovery.

Songs Discussed

• BTS - Butter, Dynamite, Silver Spoon, Dope, Dis-ease
• Michael Jackson - Smooth Criminal, Rock With You, Man In The Mirror, Remember The Time, Bad 
• Usher - “U Got It Bad”
• Daft Punk - Harder Better Faster Stronger

More

• Bora’s BTS Rabbit Hole Playlist
• ARMY translators' lyric translations: 
• doolset lyrics – BTS Lyrics in English
• BTS TRANSLATIONS – (do you, bangtan / do you bangtan?)
• Lyrics — BTS-TRANS/BANGTANSUBS

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In 1974 country music, singer songwriter, Dolly Parton got wind that Elvis Presley wanted to record her new song, “I Will Always Love You.“ According to Dolly, the deal fell through when Elvis's manager demanded 50% of the publishing revenue. Dolly refused, released the song herself, and years later arranged a more equitable deal with Whitney Houston, who of course made it a massive hit. 

It's a juicy bit of industry history that actually speaks more to our current reality than you might think. What Elvis’s management did, demand a cut of the publishing revenue on top of the money he'd already make from album sales and live shows, is not an anomaly. 

Songwriter, Emily Warren knows this all too well. Emily's a songwriter and performer in Los Angeles. You've heard her on the show before in part, because she's written some huge hits, including Dua Lipa’s “New Rules” and The Chainsmokers “Don’t Let Me Down.” 

What happened to Dolly in ‘74 has happened a lot to Emily. She says that countless times, after an artist decides to record a song of hers that she wrote without any involvement with the artist, she'll get an email from the artist's management team, asking for a cut of her publishing. She says the emails are polite, but the mask and implied arrangement: give us a cut of the publishing they say, or we won't put out the song. 

So Emily's started talking to other established songwriters she knows, Tayla Parx, Ross Golan, Justin Tranter, and Savan Kotecha—they've all been asked to give up publishing. Together they decided they wanted to do something about this practice. So they formed an organization called The Pact, a group of music professionals who refuse to give publishing away for songs where artists do not contribute. Their goal is to make the music business more equitable for the creative laborers.

Songs Discussed

Dolly Parton - I Will Always Love You

Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You

Dua Lipa - New Rules

The Chainsmokers - Don’t Let Me Down

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If you listen to a lot of music on YouTube, you may have been recommended a video. The thumbnail image is a striking black-and-white photo of a Japanese singer named Mariya Takeuchi. The song, “Plastic Love,” is a lush disco track with deep groove, impeccable string and horn arrangements, and a slow-burn vocal performance from Takeuchi. When the song was released in 1984, it sold 10,000 copies. Today, it’s racked up over 65 million views since its posting in 2017.  

How did the relatively obscure genre of Japanese City Pop, an amalgam of American soul and funk and Japanese songcraft from the 1970s and 80s, become the sound of the moment? For Pitchfork’s Cat Zhang, City Pop’s heart-on-its-sleeve emotions and slick production resonates with the nostalgic leanings of much contemporary pop. Sampled by artists like Tyler the Creator and inspiring original material from bands around the globe, City Pop has much to tell us about cultural exchange, technology, and the enduring universal power of slap bass. 

Songs Discussed:

Miki Matsubara - Stay With Me

Mariya Takeuchi - Plastic Love

Makoto Matsushita - Business Man Pt 1

Tatsuro Yamashita - Marry-go-round

Anri - Good Bye Boogie Dance

Boredoms - Which Dooyoo Like

Toshiko Yonekawa - Sōran Bushi

Takeo Yamashita - Touch of Japanese Tone

Mai Yamane - Tasogare

Young Nudy ft Playboi Carti’s - Pissy Pamper

Tatsuro Yamashita - Fragile

Tyler The Creator - GONE, GONE / THANK YOU 9

Sunset Rollercoaster - Burgundy Red

Check out Cat’s article The Endless Life Cycle of Japanese City Pop on Pitchfork

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J Cole is one of the most successful rappers of his generation, someone who racks up hits while sustaining critical acclaim. But that isn’t necessarily a good thing. Cole’s sixth studio album “The Off Season” finds a musician struggling to stave off complacency and keep his skills sharp. In a short documentary about the album, Cole describes the album as an attempt to “push himself,” a sentiment reflected in a line from the Timbaland-produced track “Amari”: “If you solo these vocals, listen close and you can hear grumbling.” Cole is never satisfied on this album, pushing his technique to the breaking point through verbal dexterity and rhythmic complexity.

One way Cole stays on his toes is through the use of a trap beat melded with one of the oldest grooves in pop: the 12/8 shuffle. He’s far from the only artist to make use of an often overlooked, but iconic meter. Why does this pattern keep us moving? And where did its unique sound come from? We have a theory about that...

Songs discussed:

• J Cole - Amari, Punching the Clock, The Climb Back, Interlude
• Brief Encounter - I’m So in Love With You
• Adam Lambert - Another Lonely Night
• Carly Rae Jepsen - Run Away With Me
• Disclosure ft Sam Smith - Latch 
• Steely Dan - Aja
• Toto - Roseanna 
• Led Zeppelin - Fool in the Rain
• Kanye West - Black Skinhead
• Billie Eilish - Bury a Friend
• Vulfpeck ft Bernard Purdie and Theo Katzman - Something

Watch Bernard “Pretty” Purdie: The Legendary Purdie Shuffle

Read more on The Off Season in Craig Jenkins in-depth review on Vulture.

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One of our favorites artists right now is Rina Sawayama. She works with her producer Clarence Clarity to make this mash up of sounds from the late 90s and early aughts. She in particular recasts Max Martin pop and Nu Metal — too styles that rarely converged — to make compelling songs with a strong anti-consumerist message. I spoke with Rina Sawayama last summer about her debut eponymous album Sawayama and she shared with me the stories behind her songs XS and STFU. We're rebroadcasting our interview with her from last summer.

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When you think of jazz, you might think of La La Land, luxury car commercials, or fancy dinner parties. Cool, sophisticated, complex, jazz today seems to signify the epitome of class and taste. For pianist Vijay Iyer, that view gets the music completely wrong. Jazz isn’t cool. Jazz is countercultural. Jazz is alive and relevant. Jazz fights racism and injustice. And for those reasons, maybe we shouldn’t be calling this music “jazz” at all.

With a trio of Linda May Han Oh on bass and Tyshawn Sorey on drums, Iyer has recorded a new album, Uneasy, that continues the defiant political legacy of improvised music. Through songs that tackles the Flint water crisis, the murder of Eric Garner, and social unrest, Iyer connects to the key of issues of our day without saying a word. While his songs speak to our chaotic present and crackle with fierce urgency, they also reach back to elders like John Coltrane, Geri Allen, and Charles Mingus—musicians who never shied away from a fight. 

Songs discussed:

Charlie Parker - Ko Ko

Charles Mingus - Fables of Faubus, Original Faubus Fables

Vijay Iyer - Children of Flint, Combat Breathing, Uneasy

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Today we’re sharing something a little different - a new TV and film show from the Vox Media Podcast Network that we think you’ll like called Galaxy Brains. On Galaxy Brains, entertainment writer Dave Schilling and Mystery Science Theater 3000’s Jonah Ray explore a big, mind-expanding question raised by a TV show or movie, and take it way, way too seriously. In the preview episode we’re sharing today, they explore why the once-panned musical comedy Josie and The Pussycats may have actually been a sharp critique of capitalism that was well ahead of its time. It’s weird. It’s funny. We’ll hope you’ll give it a listen, then go follow Galaxy Brains on your favorite podcast app.

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Willow Smith has a new Paramore-inspired emo-slash-pop punk track with a formidable drum groove powered by Travis Barker. Over churning guitars she sneers at fake friends: "smile in my face, then put your cig out on my back." As Nate and Charlie headbanged along to we found ourselves asking "why did we sleep on Willow Smith?"

Maybe because we had not taken Willow seriously, knowing her only as the nine (!) year-old singer behind the precocious hit "Whip My Hair" back in 2010. In the ensuing decade, your hosts missed out on the rise of a talented musician. Her slow-burn, consciousness-expanding, galaxy-brain funk track "Wait A Minute!" from 2015 showcased the voice of a full-fledged artist. So why couldn't we hear her? Whether because we perceived nepotism or industry sleight-of-hand as the cause of her success, or maybe because we just didn't think a celebrity kid could also have anything to say worth hearing.

Whoops. And it's not just Willow. Turns out the whole Pinkett-Smith clan have discographies worth taking a closer listen to. Who knew Jaden was sampling 1930s jazz wailer Cab Calloway? Or that Jada fronted a death metal band who got booed for being Black in a white genre? Or that the much-maligned "Getting' Jiggy Wit It" by Big Willie Style himself....actually bangs?

Songs discussed:

Willow Smith - Transparent Soul, Wait A Minute!, Whip My Hair

Osamu - Koroneko No Tango

Jordy - Dur dur d'être bébé!

Wicked Wisdom - Bleed All Over Me

Jaden Smith - Icon

Cab Calloway - Hi De Ho Man

Will Smith - Gettin' Jiggy Wit It

Sister Sledge - He's the Greatest Dancer

The Bar-Kays - Sang and Dance

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For nearly a decade, Julia Michaels has penned hit songs for the biggest acts in pop music. She is adept at turning people’s vulnerabilities into memorable hooks — think Justin Bieber’s “Sorry” or Selena Gomez’s “Lose You to Love Me.” There are countless others, but all of them share distinctive traits. Where many songwriters might turn to the simplest, almost nursery-rhyme-level lyrics to get the message across, Michaels does the opposite. She crams as many words as possible into each phrase. Her lyrics sound spoken. On her own hit song, her 2017 debut solo single “Issues,” she sings, “Bask in the glory, of all our problems / ’Cause we got the kind of love it takes to solve ’em”; it earned her a Song of the Year nomination at the 2018 Grammys, along with a Best New Artist nod. Her rhyming may sound accidental, but that’s the pop-song illusion. Michaels’s idiosyncratic phrasing has symmetry and her rhyming is indeed purposeful, all to illuminate her primary subject: the infinite recursions of human relationships. After releasing three EPs and countless singles of her own, Michaels has just released her first full-length album, Not in Chronological Order. On this week’s episode of Switched on Pop, Nate and Charlie try to identify Julias Michaels songwriting superpowers and then Charlie speaks with Michaels about how the vagaries of the heart inspire an endless stream of songs.

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The story of the hitmakers behind Lil Nas X’s “Montero” Sheck Wes’s “Mo Bamba” and many more

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Lil Nas X has a talent for creating productive controversy. First with “Old Town Road,” he challenged expectations about blackness in country music. Now with “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” he takes aim at anti LGBTQ+ messages propagated by the religious dogma from his youth (he came out as gay during Pride 2019). The song describes a romantic encounter without innuendo. Sure it’s raunchy, but the song doesn’t especially stand out on Billboard where explicit sexual fantasy is commonplace. But his use of religious iconography in his video and merchandise created an immediate backlash. In the video to “Montero,” Lil Nas X rides a stripped pole into hades where he gives a lap dance to Satan (also played by Lil Nas X). Despite the obvious commentary on repressive orthodoxy, religious conservatives failed to see the subtext. The song became a lightning rod. But as pundits fought on social media about the song's meaning, most critics failed to look into the song’s musical references. Produced by Take A Daytrip, the duo behind Shek Wes’ “Mo Bamba” and Lil Nas X’s “Panini,” “Montero'' mashes up genres that take the listener on a global journey, sharing his message of acceptance across cultures.

Music

Lil Nas X — Montero, Old Town Road, Panini

24kGoldn, iann dior - Mood

Dick Dale and his Del-Tones - Misirlou

Tetos Demetriades - Misirlou

Aris San Boom Pam

Silsulim - Static & Ben El

Shek Was — Mo Bamba

Lehakat Tzliley Haud

Bouzouki recording from xserra from FreeSound under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License

More

Listen to Gal Kadan’s project: Awesome Orientalists From Europa on Bandcamp

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Earth Day 2021 gives us the chance to pause our usual programming and consider the role pop music plays in our deepening climate emergency. On Side A, we listen to artists who have confronted the climate crisis head-on. Side B considers the environmental cost of streaming music with Kyle Devine, author of Decomposed: The Political Ecology of Music.

Songs Discussed:

George Pope Morris - Woodman, Spare That Tree!

Joni Mitchell - Big Yellow Taxi

Marvin Gaye - Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)

Tower of Power - Only So Much Oil in the Ground

Various Artists - Love Song for the Earth

Anohni - 4 Degrees

The Weather Station - The Robber

DJ Cavem - Sprout That Life

Learn more about the environmental impact of NFTs

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On Switched on Pop we talk to songwriters and artists about how they make great songs. Most songs are written with two or more people in the room. Something we've never done before is pair two of the best songwriters in the business to explain how they create a successful collaboration.

Teddy Geiger is a Grammy nominated songwriter who's written countless number ones. You've likely heard her work with Sean Mendes, Leon Bridges, and Christina Aguilera, among many others. She’s also a critically acclaimed artist who's just released a single called “Love Somebody” written with Ricky Reed and Dan Wilson.

Dan Wilson is the bandleader of Semisonic, famous for the song “Closing Time,” and the co-writer of Adele's “Someone Like You” and “Ready to Make Nice” by the Chicks. Wilson recently shared his top songwriting and collaboration tips published as a deck of cards called Words and Music in Six Seconds. He shared his ground rules for collaboration from the deck, through the case study of Teddy Geiger’s “Love Somebody” as part of On Air Fest 2021.

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Anderson Paak and Bruno Mars have joined forces as the duo Silk Sonic, and their first release “Leave the Door Open” suggests that their collab is as natural as peanut butter and jelly. The song exudes throwback vibes through its lush harmonies and sensuous lyrics. But this isn’t any run-of-the-mill exercise in empty nostalgia. Silk Sonic have a very specific sound in mind that they’re reviving for 21st century audiences: Philly Soul, the sophisticated 70s sound that “put a bow tie on funk.”

Charlie and Nate aren’t the only ones trying to blow the dust out of the grooves of “Leave the Door Open.” Songwriter Tayla Parx, who’s worked with everyone from Ariana Grande to Panic! At the Disco to Anderson Paak himself, joins the hosts to help explain how Silk Sonic created such a catchy track, and why modern listeners might be ready for a blast from the past. 

Songs Discussed

Silk Sonic - Leave the Door Open

Aretha Franklin - I Say a Little Prayer

The Temptations - My Girl

Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell - Ain’t No Mountain High Enough

Martha and the Vandellas - Dancing in the Street

Otis Redding - Try a Little Tenderness

Sam and Dave - Soul Man

Commodores - Who’s Making Love

MFSB - TSOP

O’Jays - Love Train

Billy Paul - Me and Mrs. Jones

The Stylistics - You Are Everything

Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes - If You Don’t Know Me By Now

The Delfonics - Didn’t I Blow Your Mind

Seals and Croft - Summer Breeze

Smokey Robinson - Quiet Storm

Teddy Pendergrass - Close the Door

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Adam, Jack and Ryan Met, better known as AJR, started playing gigs on the streets of New York City. The sidewalk hustle taught them how to grab the attention of the least forgiving audience. Now on their fourth studio album, OK Orchestra, they’ve honed an ear-stopping sound that combines modern pop with broadway bombast. 

Their platinum-certified single “Bang” pairs a carnival-like horns section with skittering trap style hi-hats. This strange pairing worked. Peaking at No. 8 on the Hot 100, the song is their strongest commercial release so far, despite sounding like nothing else on Billboard. It is a coming of age celebration (“I’m way too old to try so whatever, come hang / Let’s go out with a bang”) with lyrics that lament the pedestrian parts of adulthood: eating healthy, paying taxes, and remembering your passwords. Like its broadway influences, “Bang” takes little moments and makes them sound larger than life. 

Switched On Pop’s Charlie Harding spoke with Jack and Ryan Met about the making of “Bang,” their latest single “Way Less Sad” and the showtune influences on OK Orchestra.

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Cory Wong is a Minneapolis native and Vulfpeck collaborator known for pushing rhythm guitar from a background instrument to the star of the show. Wong’s a walking encyclopedia of funk guitar, and he takes us through the riffs and styles—from Nile Rodgers to Quincy Jones—that power modern bops such as Dua Lipa’s “Levitating” and Jessie Ware’s “Step Into My Life.” 

For Cory, rhythm guitar isn’t just a source of propulsive joy, but a sound that’s intimately connected to different regional scenes: change one note in a riff and you’ve moved from Philadelphia to Cincinatti. Every bubble and chuck speaks to a history of musical innovation - a history Cory mines on his new album-slash-variety show, Cory and the Wongnotes. Mixing comedy sketches, massively funky performances, and interviews, Cory’s project imagines what happens when the bandleader takes over as late night host.

Songs Discussed (it’s a long one)

VULFPECK - Cory Wong

Doja Cat - Say So

Mark Ronson - Uptown Funk (Audio) ft. Bruno Mars

Dua Lipa - Levitating

Chic - Good Times

Earth, Wind & Fire - Shining Star

Ohio Players - Love Rollercoaster

Prince - I Wanna Be Your Lover

Maroon 5 - Moves Like Jagger feat. Christina Aguilera

Morris Day & The Time - The Bird

Bootsy Collins - Stretchin' Out (In a Rubber Band)

Gap Band - I Don't Believe You Want To Get Up And Dance (Oops Up Side Your Head)

James Payback - The Payback

Sly & The Family Stone - Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)

Jessie Ware - Step Into My Life

Chic - Le Freak

David Bowie “Modern Love” 

Duran Duran “Notorious” 

Diana Ross - I’m Coming Out

The B52’s “Love Shack” 

Avicii “Lay Me Down” 

Diana Ross - Upside Down

Sister Sledge - We Are Family

Sister Sledge - Thinking Of You 

Sister Sledge - He’s The Greatest Dancer 

Steve Winwood “Higher Love” chorus

Stevie wonder - Higher Ground

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

Michael Jackson - Thriller

Daft Punk - Get Lucky (Feat. Pharrell Williams)

David Bowie - Let's Dance

Madonna - Like a Virgin

Eminem - Lose Yourself

Miley Cyrus - Party In The U.S.A

Stevie wonder - Higher Ground

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

Michael Jackson - Thriller

Daft Punk - Get Lucky (Feat. Pharrell Williams)

David Bowie - Let's Dance

Madonna - Like a Virgin

Eminem - Lose Yourself

Miley Cyrus - Party In The U.S.A

Cory Wong - Tiki Hut Strut

Cory and The Wongnotes - Episode 4, “Genre (ft Grace Kelly)”

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The 63rd Grammys was as unprecedented and unusual as last year. Backdropped by the pandemic, the show was delayed and had to be taped in multiple locations in front of a bare bones audience. Echoing the public cries against injustice, standout performances by Mickey Guyton, DaBaby, and Lil Baby decried racism to the nation and to the Grammys—the academy made multiple public statements throughout the night promising to do better. The more light hearted performers played best against highly produced backdrops (Silk Sonic, Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi B, and Taylor Swift), but others fell flat, lacking an audience reaction. Not unexpectedly, the Grammy awards ranged from predictable to jaw dropping. Notably, Beyoncé broke records: she now holds more Grammys than any other singer in history. And the major four categories —Best New Artist, Song of the Year, Album of the Year and Song of the Year — were all awarded to women. While the Grammy ceremony horse race can be as much a commentary on commercial worth as musical strengths, the ceremony has much to teach us about what pop music means in 2021. 

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Ten years ago the Australian artist Gotye asked New Zealand musician Kimbra to feature on his song “Somebody I Used To Know.” At the time Kimbra had no idea it was going to be a hit. No wonder—the song lacks the trappings of a conventional pop song. The chorus shows up late and it only repeats once in a track composed of an obscure Brazilian guitar sample and nursery rhyme xylophones.  

But this slow burner about opposing sides in a relationship's bitter end found a global audience, ascending to No. 1 in more than 25 countries, and accumulating billions of plays across streaming platforms. In 2013, Prince anointed Gotye and Kimbra the Grammy for record of the year (it won best pop duo/group performance as well). The song created many opportunities for both Gotye and Kimbra, but both chose unconventional paths, resisting the industry’s desire to generate the next hit for hits sake.

Reflecting on the song a decade later, Kimbra spoke with Charlie Harding from the podcast Switched On Pop about how this unlikely song inspired her to pursue her singular musical vision, and how it feels to be yet again co-nominated for a 2021 Grammy for her collaboration with Jacob Collier and Tank and The Bangas on “In My Bones.”

SONGS DISCUSSED

Gotye - Somebody I Used to Know (feat. Kimbra)

Luiz Bonfá - Seville 

Kimbra - Miracle 

Kimbra - 90s Music 

Kimbra - Top of the World

Jacob Collier - In My Bones 

Kimbra - Right Direction

Son Lux - Lost It To Trying

MORE

Check out Kimbra’s course on Vocal Creativity, Arranging, and Production over at Soundfly

Listen to our conversation with Jacob Collier

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Kaytranada has what every producer strives for: an in-demand signature sound. His records glide fluidly between four-to-the-floor house beats, hip-hop sample-flipping, and P-Funk style 808 bass lines. He honed the technique as a teenager, and it has since grabbed the attention of some all-star collaborators: Pharrell Williams, Mary J. Blige, Alicia Keys, Anderson .Paak, and Kendrick Lamar. This year, he’s nominated for three Grammys, including Best Dance/Electronica Album for his 2019 sophomore release, Bubba, and Best New Artist. But Kaytranada is hardly new to music; at 28, he has been building a career in the industry for more than a decade. Although the recognition may be overdue, the thrill of it hasn’t worn off. “I’m Kaytranada, all the way from Montreal, Canada — been making beats since I was young. And now here I am, [one of the] Best New Artists for the Grammys. It’s really crazy and exciting,” he says. On this week’s episode of Switched on Pop, co-host Charlie Harding spoke with Kaytranada about how his DIY approach to production led him to music’s biggest stage.

SONGS DISCUSSED

• Kaytranada — Got it Good (feat Craig David), Lite Spots, TOGETHER (feat Aluna George & GoldLink), GLOWED UP (feat Anderson Paak), You're the One (feat SYD), Kulture, 10% (f Kali Uchis), Rush (Kali Uchis), Love Thang (First Choice)
• Pontos De Luz (Gal Costa)
• Janet Jackson - If (Kaytranada Remix),
• Teedra Moses - Be Your Girl (Kaytranada Edition)

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JP Saxe wrote the song “If the World was Ending” with acclaimed songwriter Julia Michaels in 2019 about a fictional cataclysm. The record was released in the before times in a way that seemed to presage lockdown. In the early months of the actual pandemic the song resonated so widely that it catapulted up the charts. It’s now been nominated for a Grammy for song of the year — an award JP Saxe could share with his grandfather János Starker who was awarded a Grammy in 1997 for a recording of Bach’s cello suites. We wanted to speak with JP not just because of the song's success, but also because he has a way of thinking about the practical implications and even morality of songwriting in this track as well as his song "Line By Line" with Maren Morris.

Songs Discussed

JP Saxe with Julia Michaels - If The World Was Ending

JP Saxe - 25 In Barcelona, A Little Bit Yours, The Few Things, Same Room

Lennon Stella - Golf on TV (with JP Saxe)

JP Saxe, Maren Morris - Line By Line

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Adrian Younge is a producer for entertainment greats ranging from Jay Z and Kendrick Lamar to the Wu Tang clan, a composer for television shows such as Marvel's Luke Cage (with A Tribe Called Quest’s Ali Shaheed Mohammad), and owner of the Linear Labs record label and analog studio. Younge has a new mixed media project that breaks down the evolution of racism in America that he calls his “most important creative accomplishment.” A short film, T.A.N., and podcast, Invisible Blackness, accompany the album The American Negro (available Feb 26). Younge tells Switched on Pop how his experience as a law professor and his all-analog approach to recording resulted in a sound he describes as “James Baldwin hooked up with Marvin Gaye.”

Music Discussed

Adrian Younge - Revolutionize, The American Negro, Revisionist History, Black Lives Matter, Margaret Garner

Gil Scott Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

More

Additional production by Megan Lubin

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The Netflix series Bridgerton has hooked audiences with its bodice-ripping sex scenes, a colorblind approach period drama casting, and a soundtrack featuring recreations of modern bangers from pop stars like Ariana Grande and Billie Eilish arranged in the style of a classical string quartet. By bringing modern melodies into the proper world of Regency England, the show reminds us that classical music wasn’t always so stuffy and solemn. In its time, it trafficked in the same scandal as modern pop.

Alongside these classical-pop mashups, Bridgerton serves up its own ravishing score from composer Kris Bowers, who joins to break down how he made the past pop.

Songs Discussed:

Vitamin String Quartet - Thank U, Next, Bad Guy, In My Blood

Kris Bowers - When You Are Alone, Flawless My Dear, Strange

Maurice Ravel - Tombeau de Couperin, Prelude

Clara Schumann - Der Mond Kommt Still Gegangen

Johannes Brahms - Symphony No 3 in F Major Op 90, Mvt 3 (for Four Hand Piano)

More

Read Maria Popova on the letters of Johannes Brahms and Clara Schumann

and Adrian Daub on Four Handed Monsters

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This Sunday, The Weeknd will perform his distinctly dark brand of pop at the Super Bowl halftime show. On the surface, the alter-ego of Abel Tesfaye is a strange pick for the ostensibly family-friendly main-stage — for more than a decade, The Weeknd has fused the sounds of pop, R&B, and trap into a cinematic horror-thriller about drugs, sex and the excess of fame. While his sheer volume of Hot 100 hits have rightly earned him mainstream status, even his most commercial material is hardly PG — the 2015 hit “Can’t Feel My Face” is an 80s throwback laced with on-the-nose cocaine metaphors. 

But over the last year his subversive image has been rewritten by the song “Blinding Lights,” from his 2020 album After Hours. The song vaulted up the charts in March 2020, supported by a viral TikTok challenge: Using the song’s opening instrumental as inspiration, countless families performed the dance together while sheltering in place. Since then, seemingly every radio format, adult contemporary included, has played this song on repeat, making it the longest running song in the Hot 100 top five and top ten (given the songs success, The Weeknd is justly aggrieved by the Grammy’s recent snub).

On Switched on Pop’s first episode as part of Vulture, we break down how “Blinding Lights” blends lyrical relatability with musical familiarity, earning The Weeknd the biggest and perhaps most misunderstood hit of his career.

Songs Discussed

The Weeknd - Blinding Lights

Michael Sembello - Maniac

a-ha - Take on Me

Bruce Springsteen - Blinded By The Light

Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Blinded By The Light

The Weeknd - Can't Feel My Face

The Weeknd - Faith

The Weeknd - In Your Eyes

The Weeknd - Save Your Tears

The Weeknd - Until I Bleed Out

More

Read Chris Molanphy's "Why the Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” Is the First Chart Topper of the Coronavirus Era"

Thanks to Arc Iris for the theme song reharmonization

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Epik High are elemental to Korean hip hop. DJ Tukutz, Mithra Jin and Tablo’s underground style boom bap beats with dexterous rapping helped bring this music from its underground roots to a global scale. On their latest release, Epik High Is Here Part I, the textures are subdued but paired with heavy drums and aggressive vocals, a contrast that matches our collective anxiety arising from the pandemic. Charlie speaks with Tablo about the creation of the album, but first first ethnomusicologist Youngdae Kim shares a short history on the development of Korean hip hop. 

SONGS DISCUSSED

Epik High - Rosario, Go, Fly, Map the Soul, Harajuku Days, Born Hater, Lesson Zero, Based On A True Story, Leica, Wish You Were

Seo Taiji and Boys - I Know

Verbal Jint - Overclass

MORE

Read Youngdae Kim and T.K. Park’s “A Brief History of Korean Hip-hop” 

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Power ballads used to top the charts regularly, from 80s rock to 90s R&B. But then in the 2000s, the formula of constant escalation gradually fell off the Billboard. Now, seemingly out of nowhere, Olivia Rodrigo’s single “Drivers License” is breaking streaming records as listeners yearn for the emotional catharsis from this contemporary power ballad. With the help of David Metzer, professor of music history at the University of British Columbia, we break down how “Drivers License” sticks to an age-old formula, and how it deviates from a well worn musical path.  

SONGS DISCUSSED

• Olivia Rodrigo - Drivers License
• Barry Manilow - Mandy
• Roy Orbison - It’s Over
• Clyde McPhatter - Without Love There Is Nothing 
• Etta James - I’d Rather Go Blind 
• Journey - Open Arms 
• Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men - One Sweet Day 
• Seal - Kiss From A Rose
• Hootie & The Blowfish - Only Wanna Be with You 
• Led Zeppelin - Stairway To Heaven 

MORE

Professor David Metzer’s The Ballad in American Popular Music: From Elvis to Beyoncé

Aiyana Ishmael for Teen Vogue “Olivia Rodrigo Song "Drivers License" Sparks Fan-Made TikTok POV Covers”

Olivia Rodrigo’s Instagram demo

Richard S. He Twitter thread 

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Listen to Top 40 pop over the last decade and you’ll notice something weird is happening. The chorus—the emotional apotheosis of a pop song, its dizzying high, its cathartic sing-along center—is disappearing. In its place, artists from Bad Bunny to Taylor Swift are toying with new, chorus-lite song forms that introduce a new musical grammar to the sound of contemporary pop. We may not think much about pop structure when listening to our favorite songs, but this is a big deal—the last time pop experienced such a seismic shift was when the chorus first came into fashion, back in the 1960s. What does this mean for modern musicians and listeners? Emily Warren, songwriter for new-guard stars like Dua Lipa and Khalid, joins to break down why the sea change in pop form represents a new horizon of creative possibility.

Songs Discussed

Bad Bunny - Si Veo a Tu Mamá

Future & Drake - Life Is Good

Billie Holiday - Blue Moon

Beyonce - Formation

Travis Scott - Sicko Mode

Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody

Aretha Franklin - (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman

Drake - Laugh Now Cry Later (ft. Lil Durk)

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Is it true that all pop music sounds the same today? For the past year the “pop-drop” has dominated the airwaves. This new form of EDM infused pop came out of DJ culture and has infused its sound with every mainstream act like Lady Gaga and Coldplay. Tiring of this sound, some artists are finding creative ways to parody this pop trope. The rock outfit Fall Out Boy’s “Young And Menace” demonstrates equal parts mastery and mockery of the pop-drop. And PC Music, a rising art-music label out of London, skewers the whole of pop cliché on their mixtape collaboration with Charli XCX. After this episode, we promise you’ll be ready to move on to new sounds. Luckily, listeners have collaborated to create a new favorites playlist to help you cleanse your palette.

This episode was originally published May 2017.

SONGS DISCUSSED

The Chainsmokers – Closer

Kygo & Selena Gomez – It Ain’t Me

Lady Gaga – The Cure

Fall Out Boy – Sugar We’re Going Down

Fall Out Boy – Young And Menace

Jay Z – D.O.A. (Death Of Auto-Tune)

Ariana Grande – Into You

Katy Perry feat. Skip Marley – Chained To The Rhythm

Drake – Passionfruit

Postmodern Jukebox – Sugar We’re Going Down Swinging

Britney Spears – Oops! I Did It Again

Skrillex – Bangarang

DJ Snake – Middle

Beyoncé – Love On Top

Icona Pop – I Love It (feat. Charlie XCX)

Iggy Azalea – Fancy ft. Charli XCX

Selena Gomez – Same Old Love

Charli XCX – 3AM (Pull Up) (feat. MØ)

Hannah Diamond – Every Night

Bronze – Thy Slaughter

Danny L Harle – Super Natural (ft. Carly Rae Jepsen)

SOPHIE – JUST LIKE WE NEVER SAID GOODBYE

A.G. Cook – Superstar

Ariana Grande – Side To Side

Coon Sanders Original Nighthawk Orchestra – I’m Gonna Charleston Back To Charleston

Spotify Playlist

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Auto-Tune may be the most divisive effect in music. Artists have protested it publicly at the Grammys, and critics have derided the effects for its inauthentic reproduction of the voice. And yet, nearly a decade since Jay-Z prophesied the death of Auto-Tune, the sound is alive and thriving in contemporary pop and hip-hop. Journalist Simon Reynolds has written a definitive history of Auto-Tune for Pitchfork that fundamentally changed how we hear this sound. This deep dive criss crosses geology, technology, and the evolution of pop as we know it.

Songs Discussed:

• Cher - Believe
• Katy Perry - Firework
• Rihanna - Diamonds
• Future - F*ck Up Some Commas
• Emma Robinson - Stay (Cover) 
• Imogen Heap - Hide And Seek 
• Zapp & Roger - Doo Wa Ditty (Blow That Thing) 
• T. Pain - Chopped N Screwed ft. Ludacris 
• Lil Wayne - “How To Love”
• Kanye - “Heartless”
• The Black Eyed Peas “Boom Boom Pow”
• Jay-Z - Death Of Auto-Tune
• Elvis - Mystery Train
• The Beatles - Tomorrow Never Knows
• Whispering Jack Smith - Baby Face
• Kesha - Tik Tok Bon Iver - Woods
• Future & Juice WRLD - Jet Lag ft. Young Scooter 
• Shek Wes - Mo Bamba
• The Carters - Apeshit

Further Reading: Simon Reynolds - “How Auto-Tune Revolutionized the Sound of Popular Music" Simon Reynolds -Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture 

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Wham’s 1984 contribution to the holiday cannon, “Last Christmas,” has surprising staying power. When Grammy-winning pianist Chilly Gonzales set out to record a holiday album, “A Very Chilly Christmas,” most of the selections were over a half century old. That’s because most of our favorite seasonal songs come from the 1960s and earlier. But in addition to Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas,” Wham’s “Last Christmas” reliably returns each winter. Despite the cheesy 80s synths and drum machines, the song’s harmonies are remarkable resilient, a testament to George Michael’s auteur songwriting method. Celebrated artist known for his solo piano works, collaborations with Feist and Daft Punk, and his musical masterclasses series, Chilly Gonzales—musical genius—AKA “Gonzo,” sits down at the piano to share in the beauty of this nu-classical Christmas love song, as well as a few selections from his new album “A Very Chilly Christmas.”

MORE

Get tickets for A Very Chilly Christmas Special airing Dec 23rd at www.chillygonzales.com

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Just five months after releasing her Grammy-nominated album “folklore,” Taylor Swift surprised fans with a continuation of sorts — her ninth studio album “evermore.” Working with many of her “folklore” collaborators, Swift says that the team “couldn’t stop writing songs.” Like its sister album, “evermore” shies away from over-the-top pop production, and leans into Swift’s craft. Stripped of the highly produced synth layers from her “Lover” and “Reputation” era, Swift’s lyrics and vocal performance shine in their unvarnished restraint. On this hour-long album, Swift shows her ingenuity with the building blocks of songwriting, giving us more of her signature Swiftian strengths: Lyrics, melody and story. 

More

Read "Figure It Out: The Linguistic Turn in Country Music" by Jimmie N. Rogers and Miller Williams in Country Music Annual 2000

Listen to Jenny Owen Youngs album Night Shift for more rubber bridge guitar and great songs

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Producer Bridget Armstrong shares her top tracks from women who are running hip-hop in 2020: Megan Thee Stallion, Tierra Whack, Rico Nasty, Flo Milli, and CHIKA

More

Listen to the Drake episode on In My Feelings: https://switchedonpop.com/episodes/93-drake-vs-drake

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In 1990 John Carlin and Leigh Blake pioneered a new kind of charity album. Together they co-founded Red Hot, a non-profit music label that uses music to raise money and awareness to for the fight against AIDS. This year is the 30th anniversary of their record: Red Hot + Blue, a platinum tribute album to Cole Porter, featuring artists like U2, Jody Watley, David Byrne, k.d. lang and Annie Lennox. Having released 20 projects and raised over $15M for AIDS charities, Carlin reflects back on Red Hot's idiosyncratic approach to reaching music audiences with a public health mission. And ten time Grammy nominee Red Hot collaborator Meshell Ndegeocello discusses how her contributions informed her own prolific music activism.

More

Listen to Red Hot's records at redhot.org

Listen to Meshell's Chapter & Verse by calling 1-833-4-BALDWIN or visiting www.meshell.com

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Every song Cyndi Lauper writes is pop perfection according to Sam Sanders, host of NPR’s “It’s Been A Minute.” Many fall for “Girls Just Want To Have Fun,” but Sanders's favorite song is the slow burner “All Through The Night,” save for one moment: the synthesizer solo. For Sanders, this solo never fit in. Charlie investigates the source of his musical malady and uncovers how the 80s got its groove. 

Songs Discussed

Cyndi Lauper - Girls Just Want To Have Fun

Cyndi Lauper - Time After Time

Cyndi Lauper - She Bop

Cyndi Lauper - All Through the Night

Janet Jackson - When I Think Of You

Janet Jackson - The Pleasure Principle

Janet Jackson - Nasty

Kenny Loggins - Danger Zone

Whitney Houston - Greatest Love Of All

Queen - Who Wants To Live Forever

Tina Turner - What's Love Got To Do With It

Cyndi Lauper - Change Of Heart

Phil Collins - In The Air Tonight

Kim Carnes - Bette Davis Eyes

Tom Petty - You Got Lucky

Cars - Lets Go

Talking Heads - Burning Down The House

Parliament Funkadelic - Atomic Dog

The Weeknd - Blinding Lights

Dua Lipa - Physical

Little Mix - Break Up Song

Miley Cyrus - Heart of Glass (Blondie Cover)

More

Read Dr. Megan L. Lavengood's research on the DX7: https://meganlavengood.com/research/

Listen to Dave Smith's (recently re-released) Sequential Prophet 5 synthesizer: https://www.sequential.com/product/prophet-5/

Learn about William Wittman's production credits on Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/artist/170639-William-Wittman

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Cultural critic Ivie Ani breaks down how Missy Elliott broke into the pantheon of anthems, and how she changed the scope of who could belong.

Songs Discussed

Missy Elliott - Work It

Blondie - Heart of Glass

RUN-DMC - Peter Piper

Rock Master Scott & the Dynamic Three - Request Line

Snoop Dogg - Y'All Gone Miss Me

Vanilla Ice - Ice Ice Baby

Justin Timberlake - Sexy Back

Trace Adkins - Honky Tonk Badonkadonk

Missy Elliott - The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)

Lil Kim - Not Tonight (Remix)

Missy Elliott - Lose Control (feat. Ciara & Fat Man Scoop)

Missy Elliott - Sock It 2 Me

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