France Gall was the doll on a string...and now, 60 years later, we have Laura Thorn, the doll who's ready to turn up the volume. We're unpacking “La Poupée monte le son”—a glossy, defiant wink to ‘60s yé-yé pop hailing from Luxembourg.

Who among us hasn’t gotten a little lost … searching for meaning in a tiny, landlocked country better known for ski bunnies and oligarchs? Today, we’re heading to Andorra, by way of southern Spain, with the cool, detached pull of "Ressaca a la platja" by Maria Jaume.

This week, we're off to Italy…to the city of flowers, Sanremo…where we'll dig into a break-up anthem about what it means to feel free…only when you've finally let go. It's “Sinceramente” by Annalisa.

This is Pop Without Subtitles—a podcast about the songs that catch us before we understand them. Each episode, I unpack one song from somewhere else in the world—Eurovision entries, national selection deep cuts, festival ballads, and the ones that I can't shake…even if I don't necessarily speak the language.

You might not know the words, but you know the feeling.

This isn’t music journalism. It’s a little more personal than that. Think of it as a travel diary for the songs stuck in my head. If that sounds like your kind of detour, follow Pop Without Subtitles wherever you get your podcasts.

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Show Notes:

Pop Without Subtitles: The Playlist can be found at https://open.spotify.com/playlist/20iLqCv7fTqmQ8OCg5Kpmz?si=013e9ad6034b4f94