Switched on Pop

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

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:

Dolly Parton, “9 to 5”

Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers, “Islands In the Stream”

Dolly Parton, “Rockstar”

Ella Langley, “Choosin’ Texas”

Ronnie Milsap, “Smoky Mountain Rain”

George Strait, “Amarillo By Morning”

Johnny Cash, “Folsom Prison Blues”

Brad Paisley, “Cluster Pluck (feat. James Burton, Vince Gill, Albert Lee, John Jorgenson, Brent Mason, Redd Volkaert & Steve Wariner)”

Buddy Holly, “That’ll Be The Day”

Stevie Ray Vaughan, “Texas Flood”

George Strait, “All My Ex’s Live In Texas”

The Pointer Sisters, “Slow Hand”

Conway Twitty, “Slow Hand”

Morgan Wallen, “Been By Now”

Ella Langley & Morgan Wallen, “I Can’t Love You Anymore”

Taylor Swift, “I Knew It, I Knew You (From ‘Toy Story 5’)”

Squeeze, “Tempted”

The Velvet Underground, “Sweet Jane”

Taylor Swift, “I Knew You Were Trouble.”

Taylor Swift, “cardigan”

Stella Lefty, “Boston”

Noah Kahan, “Stick Season”

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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

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:

Phoebe Bridgers – The Outside

Phoebe Bridgers – Lost Boys

Phoebe Bridgers – Kill Me

Phoebe Bridgers – The Governor’s Waltz

Phoebe Bridgers – Lost Weekend

Phoebe Bridgers – Haunted

Phoebe Bridgers – Still Standing

Phoebe Bridgers – Never Going Back!

Phoebe Bridgers – I Can’t Wait

Phoebe Bridgers – Lost Weekend (Reprise)

Paul Lansky and Hannah MacKay – Notjustmoreidlechatter

Phoebe Bridgers – I Know The End

Phoebe Bridgers – Motion Sickness

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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

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:

Madonna, Sabrina Carpenter – Bring Your Love

Madonna – Express Yourself

Madonna – Hung Up

Madonna – Danceteria

Madonna – Vogue

Lou Reed – Walk On the Wild Side

Madonna – Get Together

Madonna – I Feel So Free

Donna Summer – I Feel Love

Madonna – One Step Away

Madonna – Nothing Fails

Madonna – Everything

Madonna – Fragile

Madonna – Frozen

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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

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

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

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:

James Brown, "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine"

Led Zeppelin, "The Crunge"

Aretha Franklin, "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman"

Judy Garland, "Over the Rainbow"

"On the Sunny Side of the Street"

The Beatles, "No Reply"

The Beatles, “We Can Work It Out"

The Beatles, "Something"

Beyoncé, "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)"

Chappell Roan, "Good Luck, Babe!"

Maisie Peters, "I'm Trying (Not Friends)"

OutKast, "Hey Ya!"

Taylor Swift, "Cruel Summer"

Taylor Swift, "Getaway Car"

Ariana Grande, "7 rings"

Ariana Grande, "pov"

JENNIE, "like JENNIE"

Ravyn Lenae, "Saturday Night"

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