Switched on Pop

Latest Episodes:

The L.A. guitar shop that reinvented indie folk Feb 07, 2023

Show notes

In 2010, a photographer named Reuben Cox moved to Los Angeles to start Old Style Guitar Shop. In the years since, the instruments that he continues to repair and sell have come to define the sound of the LA indie folk scene among artists like Blake Mills, Andrew Bird, Madison Cunningham, Ethan Gruska and Phoebe Bridgers.

Reuben’s guitars are Frankenstein-esque creations, cobbled together from spare parts and neglected guitar bodies found in flea markets and estate sales. The sounds that these make, though, are as eccentric as their source: the strings are laid on top of Reuben’s signature, a rubber bridge.

This sound, and the mythos of the rubber bridge guitar, has turned Reuben into a local celebrity and put Old Style at the center of Los Angeles’s indie music scene. In this episode of Switched on Pop, host Charlie Harding explores that sound and the man behind it all.

Songs Discussed (playlist)

Taylor Swift - champagne problems
Olivia Rodrigo - hope ur ok
boygenius - Emily I’m Sorry
Jenny Owen Youngs - Vampire Weeknight
Andrew Bird - The New Saint Jude
Marcus Mumford - Only Child
Perfume Genius - Slip Away
Andrew Bird - Underlands
Madison Cunningham - Anywhere
Madison Cunningham - Life According to Raechel
Phoebe Bridgers - Garden Song

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A History of Whammies at the Grammys - Into It with Sam Sanders Feb 02, 2023

Show notes

It's Grammys weekend and Sam Sanders, host of Vulture's Into It podcast, is ready for disappointment! Sam is joined by Switched on Pop's Charlie Harding and Reanna Cruz to break down the Grammys' history of tone deafness when it comes to the night's biggest awards. Will Beyoncé lose Album of the Year again... or will the voting body finally give her her due?

Subscribe to Into It: https://link.chtbl.com/intoit?sid=stw

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Wonders: Bobby McFerrin Jan 31, 2023

Show notes

In 1988, Bobby McFerrin recorded a song a cappella with a simple message: not to worry, and just enjoy life. That song, aptly titled “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” topped the charts and become one of the most well known one-hit wonders of all time.

In doing so, it also propelled McFerrin into the spotlight, winning him three Grammy awards and an eternal place in pop culture. His career, though, is more than just the Big Mouth Billy Bass: a deep dive reveals an incredible career in jazz, folk, and classical music as well as a remarkable command of his own voice. This episode of Switched on Pop, we explore the history behind "Don't Worry, Be Happy" and the ensuing legacy of Bobby McFerrin.

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The New Wave of Paramore Jan 24, 2023

Show notes

Six years after their last record, Paramore is back with new music, and their upcoming record seems to have an uncanny connection to the era of new wave. But what is “new wave” anyway? Is it just a period of time in music or something more?

In this episode of Switched on Pop, we explore some of the tracks from This is Why, out February 10th, and connect them to the works of everyone from Talking Heads to Joy Division.

Songs Discussed

Paramore – C’est Comme Ça
Olivia Rodrigo – good 4 u
Paramore – Misery Business
Paramore – Ain’t It Fun
Paramore – Pool
Paramore – This Is Why
Talking Heads – I Zimbra
Talking Heads – Once in a Lifetime
Siouxsie and the Banshees – Happy House
The B-52’s – Dirty Back Road
Gang of Four – Cheeseburger
Oingo Boingo – Just Another Day
DEVO – Uncontrollable Urge
Paramore – Hard Times
Les Rita Mitsouko – C’est comme ça
Talking Heads – Psycho Killer
Selena Gomez – Bad Liar
Paramore – The News
Joy Division – Disorder
Blondie – The Thin Line
Blondie – The Tide Is High
The Police – So Lonely
Paramore – Pressure
Paramore – Told You So
Boy Harsher – LA

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Taylor Swift and the music industry's next $20 Jan 20, 2023

Show notes

Streaming feels like it's both at its height and on a precipice. Musicians are fed up at getting paid fractions of a penny, and the whole business model seems precarious. Switched On Pop co-host Charlie Harding was talking about the challenges for streaming future with my friend Nilay Patel, editor in chief of The Verge and host the podcast Decoder - a show about big ideas. And they taped a conversation about what’s next for streaming through the case study of Taylor Swift who has deftly navigated the transition from CDs to streaming, and whose era tour may mark the end of an era in music.

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SZA's Endless Melody Jan 18, 2023

Show notes

Why does SZA's latest album SOS hit different? It's the way her melodies don't repeat where you expect them to, defying all the rules of pop songwriting. We break down how her endless melodies echo the intimate themes of her most recent release, and how they connect to genres ranging from gospel to Wagnerian opera.

Songs Discussed

SZA - Kill Bill, SOS, Shirt, Notice Me, Seek & Destroy, Gone Girl, Low, Smoking on My Ex Pack, Ghost in the Machine (ft Phoebe Bridgers), F2F

Sam Smith & Kim Petras - Unholy

Taylor Swift - Anti-Hero

Jazmine Sullivan - Girl Like Me (ft H.E.R.)

Summer Walker - No Love (ft. SZA)

Jessye Norman - Isoldes Liebestod

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Too Fast? We’re Curious: The sped-up remix phenomenon Jan 10, 2023

Show notes

Over the past few months, you may have heard your favorite song pop up on the Internet – just slightly faster. You’re not alone: the phenomenon of the “sped-up” remix has taken over social media, with everyone from Lady Gaga to Thundercat getting the tempo treatment. The popularity of the craze has led to millions of TikTok videos, Billboard number ones, and songs becoming relevant again, decades after release. Ever since the proliferation of these “remixes,” the big questions remain: where did these songs come from and why are they here?

On this episode of Switched on Pop, we explore this exact phenomenon, tracing its roots from Thomas Edison to Cam’ron to vaporwave to nightcore.

Songs Discussed:

“Dream On” – Aerosmith (sped up)
“Escapism” – RAYE, 070 Shake (sped up)
“Bad Habit” – Steve Lacy (sped up)
“Miss You” – Oliver Tree (sped up)
“Say It Right” – Nelly Furtado (sped up)
“Bloody Mary” – Lady Gaga (sped up)
“Heat Waves” – Glass Animals (slowed down)
“Juicy” – Notorious B.I.G.
“Juicy” – DJ Screw
“Jolene” – Dolly Parton (slowed down)
“リサフランク420 / 現代のコンピュー |” – Macintosh Plus
“In Da Club Before Eleven O’ Clock” – DJ Rashad
“Monster [Nightcore]” – Meg & Dia, remixed by Barren Gates
“Concrete Angel” – Hannah Diamond
“Witch Doctor” – David Seville
“Oh Boy” – Cam’ron, Juelz Santana
“Cool for the Summer” – Demi Lovato (sped up)
“Them Changes” – Thundercat (sped up & Chopnotslop remix)
“That’s All” – Genesis

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ICYMI 90s Music Canon Jan 03, 2023

Show notes

Matt Daniels, editor of the publication The Pudding, wanted to find out what songs from his youth would last into the future. So he designed a study that would test if Gen-Z had a grip on 90s culture. Hundreds of thousands of participants provided over 3 million data points. Daniels parsed through the data for insights. Sadly, the majority of his most beloved songs have not survived even one generation. Though most had been forgotten, he found that just a few songs had staying power across generations — what he defined as the emerging 90s music canon. Find out what songs make it and which have fallen to the wayside.

MORE

The Pudding’s study on Defining the 90s Canon

Take The Pudding’s quiz yourself

SONGS DISCUSSED

Spice Girls - Wannabe

Mariah Carey - Fantasy!

Lou Bega - Mambo #5

Los Del Rio - Macarena

Boys II Men - Motown Philly

Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You

Savage Garden - I Want You

The Barenaked Ladies - One Week

Jewel - You Were Meant For Me

Jennifer Lopez - If You Had My Love

Celine Dion - My Heart Will Go On

Britney Spears - Baby One More Time

Smash Mouth - All Star

Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit

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ICYMI: We *do* talk about Bruno Dec 27, 2022

Show notes

The number one song on the charts is a bit of a mystery. “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” is the unlikely hit from Disney’s sleeper animated musical Encanto. Set in a mountainous village in Colombia, the film was a middling commercial success when it was released in Nov 2021. But in recent months it has become a pop culture phenomenon for a confluence of reasons: an expansive discourse on Colombian representation in media, fan videos on TikTok, and of course it's ear-wormy hits.

The musical is yet another notch in the belt for Lin Manuel Miranda (the auteur behind Hamilton and In The Heights) who wrote the now chart-topping song book. While Disney certainly commands vast commercial success, its musicals rarely see such crossover attention. The last #1 Disney musical number was “A Whole New World” from the animated Aladdin back in 1993. Where that song was literally uplifting, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” is quite the opposite.

Bruno is the uncle of the Madrigal family, whose skill for seeing the future portends gloom and sends him into exile. In his namesake song “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” an ensemble cast trade verses about his ghostly presence (Bruno haunts the family home, living inside its walls). It is an odd ball song, with dark and bizarre lyrics. Sure it starts with a story about rain on a wedding day (which is not ironic), but then it takes a hard left into tales of dead fish, middle aged weight gain, and creeping rats. So then what makes it a hit? A distinctive concoction of salsa piano rhythms, familiar Lin Manuel Miranda-isms, and contemporary pop connections to Camila Cabello, Britney Spears, J Balvin, Bad Bunny and Cardi B.

Listen to Switched On Pop to solve the mystery of what makes “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” a hit.

SONGS DISCUSSED

Lin Manuel Miranda - We Don’t Talk About Bruno, In The Heights, Helpless, Satisfied, My Shot, Wait For It, Say No To This

Cardi B, J Balvin, I Like It

Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee - Despacito

Camila Cabello, Young Thug - Havana

Britney Spears - Baby One More Time

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Anitta & Rosalía on the borders of Latin pop Dec 20, 2022

Show notes

When it comes to distinguishing what exactly Latin music is, what makes the cut? To some, it’s simply music from the Latin American region, and to others, it’s any music that is sung in Spanish – but much like the pop canon, the phrase encapsulates so many different eras, styles, and genres.

Like any distinction, there’s also music on the periphery: specifically, the music of Brazil, where the sounds are similar but the main language is different, and Spain, where the history of colonization looms over the country’s relationship with Latin America, raising controversial questions of appropriation.

Nonetheless though, music from both countries has made big waves amongst U.S. listeners on Latin radio stations and at award shows. Anitta’s record Versions of Me has been finding success on streaming and the radio, while Rosalía’s MOTOMAMI has become one of the most acclaimed records of the year, winning this year’s Album of the Year award at the Latin Grammys. This episode of Switched on Pop, we take a look at these artists and how they incorporate both native and Latin sounds in their tracks.

Vote for the Signal Awards: https://vote.signalaward.com/PublicVoting#/2022/shows/general/music

SONGS DISCUSSED: