Switched on Pop

Gina Delvac of the Call Your Girlfriend podcast and Darryl W Bullock, author of David Bowie Made Me Gay, join Nate and Charlie to dig into the poetry of Troye Sivan's "My My My!", the history of LGBT pop music, and the songs we love to hate.

And also be sure to check out:

Darryl Bullock's playlist of LGBT pop, from his book David Bowie Made Me Gay

and the brilliant Call Your Girlfriend podcast, produced by Gina. 

Featuring:

•Troye Sivan - My My My!

•Taylor Swift - Style

•West Side Story - Cool

•Billy Murray - Pretty Baby

•Ma Rainey - Prove it on Me

•Irving Kaufman - Masculine Women, Feminine Men

•Lesley Gore - You Don't Own Me

•Jackie Shane - Any Other Way

•Lavender Country - Back in the Closet Again

•John Grant - Glacier

•Alex Clare - Too Close

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The 90s are back. It is as if pop music entered a black hole and came out 25 years in the past. Today's artists are reviving the new jack swing and vocal R&B, creating a wave of 90s nostalgia. Uncover how they trick us into somehow loving those days when we got beat up in the middle school parking lot.

Spotify 90s Nostalgia playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/switchedonpop/playlist/3beUwxOxzbTZ8M3aymZlg5

Featuring:Bruno Mars ft. Cardi B - FinesseCharlie Puth ft. Boyz II Men - If You Leave me NowGuy - Groove MeEternal - StayBell Biv Devoe - PoisonCardi B - Bodack YellowChristopher Williams - I'm DreaminBoyz II Men - MotownphillyBoyz II Men - On Bended KneeHamilton - The Room Where It Happened

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What's up with Justin Timberlake? Two years ago he gifted us the ebullient family-friendly jam "Can't Stop the Feeling," now he's on the cusp of a deeply serious new record called "Man of the Woods," whose first single, strangely, is a bit of electro-funk snarl expertly produced by long-time collaborators Timbaland and Danja. What's going on here—who is JT trying to be? We listen deep to his latest, "Filthy," to try and understand its creator's conflicting musical worlds. 

Featuring:

Justin Timberlake - Filthy

Justin Timberlake - Cry Me A River

Bernard Hermann - Psycho

Ken Nordine - My Baby

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Charlie talks laments, Baroque opera, and gender politics in Dua Lipa's sleeper hit "New Rules" with writer Emily Bootle.

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Charlie and Nate breakdown Mariah Carey's classic "All I Want for Christmas is You" and revisit their favorite tracks of 2017. Sleigh bells abound.

Featuring

• Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas

• Laura Marling - Semper Femina

• Lorde - Melodrama

• Khalid - Location

• Dua Lipa - New Rules

• Logic - Everybody / 1-800-273-8255

• Childish Gambino - Redbone

• Sampha - (No One Knows Me) Like the piano in my mothers house

• Father John Misty - Pure Comedy

• Jay-Z: 4:44

• Perfume Genius - No Shape

• Aimee Mann - Mental Illness

And more...

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Björk is uniquely both a pop star and avant-garde composer. Though her music often challenges our ears, underneath her records you'll find more in common with today's pop music than you'd expect. Pieced together, you'll hear that she paints emotional landscapes composed of all the complexities of human experience. We give you a way to enjoy listening to her music. Using this hybrid pop/modernist method, we deconstruct her latest album Utopia. Plus Nate & Charlie fall in love all over again.

Featured Clips

Björk - Losss

Björk - Human Behaviour

Björk - It's Oh So Quiet

Björk - Hyperballad

Björk - Joga

Björk - Thunderbolt

Björk - Lionsong

Björk - Arisen My Senses

Björk - Stonemilker

Björk - Quicksand

Björk - Notget

Björk - Utopia

Björk - Blissing Me

Björk - The Gate 

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Taylor Swift unveils a new, darker identity on her latest album "Reputation," and many have read the lyrics on her latest as not-so-subtle volleys in an ongoing celebrity feud. Still, a question remains: how does Swift cast this dark personality in music? Two songs offer evidence. Melodic drops and temporal gaps in "I Did Something Bad" signal the album's themes of descent and decay. On "Getaway Car," however, some of Swift's old songwriting tricks may betray her new persona.

We also dug into Reputation and other great listener questions in our Reddit AMA.

Featuring:

Taylor Swift:

• I Did Something Bad

• Getaway Car

• Trouble

• Love Story

• You Belong With Me

• Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys - Away Out There

• Imogen Heap - Hide and Seek

• The Weeknd - Can't Feel My Face

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At the top of the pop charts, Taylor Swift and Cardi B, two artists with seemingly little in common, exploit the same compositional technique to hook listeners in. Meanwhile, across time and space, electro producers Clean Bandit ft. Julia Michaels, channel the thematic tricks of French Romantic composer Hector Berlioz in his 1830 Symphonie Fantastique.

FeaturingTaylor Swift - Look What You Made Me Do Cardi B - Bodak YellowRight Said Fred - I'm Too SexyClean Bandit ft. Julia Michaels - I Miss YouBerlioz - Symphonie Fantastique performed by Berliner PhilharmonikerBerlioz - Symphonie Fantastique performed by DuPage Symphony Orchestra

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With Charlie off the grid, Nate sits down with singer/producer Amber Mark to explore the different levels of Kendrick's hit HUMBLE.. Then, they turn to the diverse influences (including house music, Carnatic samples, and autodidactic piano chords) behind Mark's own track "Lose My Cool."

Featuring:

Kendrick Lamar - HUMBLE.

Amber Mark - Lose My Cool

Amber Mark - SPACE

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Demi Lovato's latest, "Sorry Not Sorry" is at once an unapologetic anthem of defiance and a super catchy mashup of multiple genres. As we'll see, every small musical choice is here for a reason, together fostering Lovato's message of ascension—or even, transcendence. And as we pick apart "Sorry Not Sorry," we'll go to some surprising places ourselves including: Klezmer melodies, spiritual pretzels and musical dementors. 

Featuring:

•Demi Lovato - Sorry Not Sorry

•Cardi B - Bodak Yellow

•Dave Tarras - Freilach Yidelach

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