Chappell Roan is giving country… and hair metal?
When queer pop artist Chappell Roan topped the country charts, she revealed how the genre has always been about musical drag—from AC/DC's production techniques to Shania Twain's feminist revolution.
Listening 2 Madonna: Ray of Light
The third essential aspect of Madonna's holy trinity is her ever-shifting spirituality.
The virtuosity of Stevie Wonder
Wesley Morris joins Switched on Pop looking back on Stevie Wonder’s hits that make him out modern maestro
brat but it’s a podcast about the album by CharliXCX
brat and it’s the same but you actually listened to it
Billie Eilish hits both hard and soft
On her new record, Billie Eilish finally graduates from her signature anti-pop persona into full blown pop stardom.
The Resistance is Dancing in the Streets (ICYMI)
This Motown hit by Martha and the Vandellas gets people off their feet and onto the streets
Benee and the Art of the Sad Banger
How does Benee feel becoming a global pop star under lockdown?
90s Music Canon
Twenty years after the 90s, which songs are everlasting?
Bruno Major restyles the Great American Songbook
Bruno Major blends old song structures from The Great American Songbook with contemporary production
Black Is King (ICYMI Beyoncé's Gift To Africa ft. Ivie Ani)
The music behind Beyoncé's new video album
folklore: taylor swift's quarantine dream
Swift blurs "fantasy and reality" in her best album yet
The Women Reclaiming Nu-Metal ft. Rina Sawayama
One of the most derided pop genres is having an unusual comeback
Mini Series
The French duo’s anti-utopian disco-rock record makes us question, are they robot, or are they human?
On their second album Discovery, Daft Punk fully lean into the artificial – singing through robotic vocoders that correspond with their now-iconic robot helmets.
On their first album, Homework, Daft Punk stretched the boundaries of electronic music and began wiring the circuits that would become their robot alter-egos, asking a fundamental question: where does the human end and the machine begin?
How Bollywood strings, surf guitar, and Britney’s ethereal vocals add up to pop perfection
“I realized that Classic Soul can exist with everything and somehow not lose its potency.”
“They're all these little secrets and surprises that pop up...it's like bespoke, maximalist, power pop.”
When we listen closely to the Fifth, we hear that's it more than a museum piece, it’s a living testament to self-expression and determination.
Before Beethoven’s time, classical music culture looked and sounded quite different. In episode III we explore how Beethoven’s symphony was used to generate the strict culture of classical music — and the politics that undergird those norms of behavior.
In movements II , III and IV, Beethoven keeps trying to overcome his dark fate with bright major melodies, and keeps getting defeated.
The first four notes of the piece are more than a modern meme, they’re the main character in a drama life and death.
Cultural critic Ivie Ani breaks down how Missy Elliott broke into the pantheon of anthems, and how she changed the scope of who could belong.
How “All Star” became an anthem played in sports arenas, soundtracked by Hollywood, and embedded into seemingly every internet meme.
n 1995, ESPN launched Jock Jams Volume 1, a compilation record that would define the sound of sports for the next quarter century.
Cory Henry & The Funk Apostles’ album “Something To Say” makes you want to get up and dance as much as it makes you want to take action.