Switched on Pop

A few months ago, Nate came across a glittering guitar riff unlike anything he had ever heard before; it managed to perfectly balance careful optimism with plaintive melancholy, stirring the spirit. That melody, played by guitarist Yvette Young, was a shining example of the “midwest emo” sound, a genre pioneered by bands like American Football, Gauge, and Braid. On this episode of Switched On Pop, Nate introduces Charlie to all things midwest and emo, speaking with Young and American Football frontman Mike Kinsella in the process. 

CREDITS

Switched On Pop is a co-production of Vox Media Podcast Network, Vulture, and Rock Ridge Productions.

Link to Charlie and Nate's live event with Jensen McRae @ USC!

Songs discussed:

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The music of global girl group KATSEYE might be confusing on first listen. A less-generous read might consider their songs to be rudimentary: the lyrics are mostly nonsense, the instrumentals evoke lesser 2010s pop songs, and the aesthetic can’t decide whether it’s targeted to children or adults. However, maybe the nonsensical nature of KATSEYE is also… the point? And maybe that point is tethered to early surrealist movements of the early twentieth century?

On this episode of Switched on Pop, producer Reanna makes the case to Nate that KATSEYE and ADÉLA are indicative of a larger shift in pop music, one that tethers itself to Marcel Duchamp and the dada movement.

CREDITS 

Switched On Pop is a co-production of Vox Media Podcast Network, Vulture, and Rock Ridge Productions.

Link to Charlie and Nate’s live event with Jensen McRae at USC!

Songs discussed:

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For the 500th(!) episode of Switched on Pop, Charlie and Nate try to answer the question that has stumped critics and philosophers since the dawn of sound: does bad music exist? Their quest to answer something so nebulous leads them through the annals of taste, and in the process, they recruit several other critics and journalists to give their two cents on the topic. Can things actually be bad, and if so, how do we define them?

CREDITS 

Switched On Pop is a co-production of Vox Media Podcast Network, Vulture, and Rock Ridge Productions.

Links: ⁠⁠Newsletter⁠⁠ 

Songs discussed:

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One year after the release of her twelfth studio album The Life of a Showgirl, Taylor Swift is back with an encore. Specifically, The Encore, four tracks that have polarized critics and Swifties alike, from the country-esque number one hit “Patient Zero” to her ode to married Ohioan bliss, “Cleveland!” For some, the new songs lean into Swift’s worst writing impulses. But for others, including our hosts (and resident Swiftologists) Charlie and Nate, the tracks call back to earlier eras of Swift’s songwriting, and perhaps evoke more nuanced discussion about what it means to release music as the biggest artist in the world. The question is: are we ready for it? 

CREDITS 

Switched On Pop is a co-production of Vox Media Podcast Network, Vulture, and Rock Ridge Productions.

Links: ⁠⁠Newsletter⁠⁠ 

Songs discussed:

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Five years after her first appearance on Switched on Pop, Carly Rae Jepsen returns to the podcast to talk all things Day and Night, her latest album. Born out of Swedish disco, big emotion, and substantive life change – including becoming a wife and a mother – the double album is a tour through the organic and the synthetic, both in equal measure. For Charlie and Nate, this is a full circle moment, and along with discussing the record, the two talk to Jepsen about the origins of the show, her songwriting process, and what it means to be such an important champion of pop music.

CREDITS 

Switched On Pop is a co-production of Vox Media Podcast Network, Vulture, and Rock Ridge Productions.

Links: ⁠⁠Newsletter⁠⁠ 

Songs discussed:

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Swedish singer-songwriter Tove Lo’s new album ESTRUS can be summarized in the opening lyrics of the album’s closing track, “source of life”: “Feral, fragile, numb, ecstatic / sad, euphoric, catatonic / Horny, repulsed, proud and shameful / Good, demonic, contradictions.” 

A songwriter with a string of multi-platinum hits in the 2010s, Tove Lo has crafted a career founded on musical contradiction, with songs that straddle the line between messy and controlled. Her lyrics tend to skew both horny and sensitive, and her latest record features both of those vibes in equal measure. On this episode of Switched on Pop, Charlie and Nate sit down with her to talk all things ESTRUS. 

CREDITS 

Switched On Pop is a co-production of Vox Media Podcast Network, Vulture, and Rock Ridge Productions.

Links: ⁠⁠Newsletter⁠⁠ 

Songs discussed:

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Lizzy McAlpine opens up about her 4th album Angel alongside collaborators Mason Stoops and Taylor Mackall. Recorded live at Power Station at Berklee NYC. 

Songs Discussed

Lizzy McAlpine "Anybody's Fool"

Lizzy McAlpine "A Car Wash and a New Pair of Pants"

Nick Drake "One of These Things First"

Lizzy McAlpine "Two Elevens"

Adam Guettel "Through the Mountain"

Lizzy McAlpine "Our Strange Ways"

Joni Mitchell "Hejira"

Lizzy McAlpine "Soldier of the Road"

Lizzy McAlpine "Peach"

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Throughout pop history, groups from The Ink Spots to the Beach Boys to Fleetwood Mac all forged their sound in the alchemy of vocal harmonies, harnessing the magic that happens when different voices join as one. Then suddenly, right around the 1980s, vocal harmonies started to wane in pop. Whether it was Michael Jackson creating a new model of the solo star, music technology making the voice more like an instrument, or simply audiences wanting a new sound, today the art of vocal harmony is hard to find on the charts. But bands like Tiny Habits, whose originals and covers showcase intricate and delicate harmonies, are bringing the sound back to the people, with a message that everyone needs to sing more, and to sing together.

CREDITS 

Switched On Pop is a co-production of Vox Media Podcast Network, Vulture, and Rock Ridge Productions.

Links: ⁠⁠Newsletter⁠⁠ 

Songs discussed:

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For the first time in history, five country songs were at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. Ella Langley, Morgan Wallen, Taylor Swift and Stella Lefty all have songs that range from two-stepping hits to borderline Americana: what do these songs say about the state of country music?

CREDITS

Switched On Pop is a co-production of Vox Media Podcast Network, Vulture, and Rock Ridge Productions.

Links: ⁠⁠Newsletter⁠⁠ 

Songs discussed:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Many of us keep a journal, but few of us are able to turn our unvarnished thoughts into cultural moments touching on love, death, and guitars quite like Phoebe Bridgers. Her new album Lost Weekend isn’t just throwing the pages of her personal life into song, it’s much more than that: A beguiling, hyper-compositional meditation on the last six years of her life.

The genres range from bluegrass to electronic, and collaborators pepper the record – from her boygenius bandmates Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker, to Americana outfit Nickel Creek, to a mysterious presence who may or may not be Geese singer Cameron Winter. The end result is one of the most immersive and heartbreaking albums of the year thus far, transforming the specificity of one person’s story and observations into a universal reflection on life’s fragility.

CREDITS 

Switched On Pop is a co-production of Vox Media Podcast Network, Vulture, and Rock Ridge Productions.

Links: ⁠⁠Newsletter⁠⁠ 

Songs discussed:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices