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:

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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:

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Madonna has returned this summer with Confessions II: an album full of huge hooks, pounding bass, and sincere emotion. It’s the queen of pop's first record in seven years, and serves as a sequel to her 2005 smash hit, Confessions on a Dance Floor. The record ties together threads that have existed throughout Madonna’s entire discography, but it also serves a greater purpose. Confessions II is Madonna’s biopic, allowing her to tell her story on her own terms. On this episode of Switched on Pop, producer (and Madonna superfan) Reanna Cruz walks Charlie and Nate through the record, and makes the case for it being the best Madonna record of the last twenty years.

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 many people – including Charlie and Nate – studying classical piano as a child always felt like a chore. Now, as adults, there’s a newfound appreciation for classical music, but the art form isn’t always accessible. One of the people trying to change that is the world-renowned pianist Lang Lang, classical piano’s greatest interpreter. On this episode of Switched on Pop, Charlie sits down with Lang Lang at the Steinway showroom in New York City to see how taste changes over time, the different ways a master pianist can interpret a work, and ultimately, why classical music is still important.

CREDITS 

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

Links: ⁠⁠Newsletter⁠⁠ 

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Bridges open up the world of a song: they're a breath of fresh air and a point of contrast, typically delivered right before the final chorus. But sometimes they accomplish even more, changing the whole meaning of a song by introducing a note of doubt, or even defiance. This is what the best artists do, from Beyoncé to the Beatles to Taylor Swift, but some critics are concerned that the bridge is in danger of being demolished. On this episode, Charlie and Nate speak to songwriter and artist Tayla Parx, who's worked with everyone from Ariana Grande to Panic! At the Disco, to learn why the bridge matters more than ever — and why an artist might still want to skip it altogether.

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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The chorus was once the part of the song that brought us together, the place we gathered to sing. Now it's the most engineered thirty seconds in music. Legendary producer Trevor Horn and hip-hop icon B-Real of Cypress Hill help Charlie and Nate answer the question on their minds: when everything's a hook, is anything a chorus?

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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Everybody sings the chorus, but superfans quote the verse. On this episode of Switched on Pop, Charlie and Nate trace the verse from Shakespeare through opera to TikTok, and songwriter Audrey Hobert shares her philosophy of specific verses and anthemic choruses: you can't have the payoff without the setup.

CREDITS

Reanna Cruz: Producer

Iris Gottlieb: Illustrator

Charlie Harding: Host, Executive Producer

Dion Lee: Art Director

Brandon McFarland: Audio Engineer

Nick Ripps: Video Editor

Nate Sloan: Host

Lissa Soep: Editor

Zach Tenorio & Jocie Adams: Theme Composers

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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