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?

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.

With Charlie off the grid, Nate sits down with singer/producer Amber Mark to explore the different levels of Kendrick’s hit HUMBLE.

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.

How does a song with nonsense lyrics capture our attention, making us want to move? It is called the groove. Enter Calvin Harris’ “Feels” (ft. Katy Perry, Pharrell Williams and Big Sean).

Kesha’s “Praying” and Imagine Dragon’s “Believer” are inverse anthems of resilience. Both tracks seek catharsis – one through prayer, the other through pain.

What has catapulted Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito” to the top spot on the Billboard charts? Sorry, typo—to its status of the biggest song in the world? Your hosts explore the many worlds of “Despacito” in search of an answer.

Author, critic and podcaster Andrea Warner joins for a throwback episode exploring politics in Lilith Fair, harmonic anger in Alanis Morissette’s iconic “You Oughta Know,” and the blind spots in your host’s assessment of women in rock.

Selena Gomez’s “Bad Liar” stands out on the charts by doing things a little differently: it’s a subtle, at times even awkward, summer surprise. Breaking down this pop morsel reveals it has teeth, though—and not just because it borrows a bass line from the Talking Heads’ macabre “Psycho Killer.”

Your brain can only hear three things at the same time. What you may not know is that musicians use this cognitive limitation to guide your listening all the time.

DJ Khaled, Justin Bieber, Chance the Rapper, Quavo from Migos and Lil Wayne have allied for a new smash hit: “I’m The One.” Despite the star power present, the resulting track is less than the sum of its parts—repetitive, derivative, uninventive

Two new songs have captured the attention of your hosts—Charlie Puth’s “Attention” and HAIM’s “Want You Back.” On the surface, these two songs appear to have little in common. A closer look, though, reveals the subtle musical architecture undergirding each track.

Is it true that all pop music sounds the same today? For the past year the “pop-drop” has dominated the airwaves.

One Direction wunderkind Harry Styles has just released his first ever single, “Sign of the Times,” and it’s a doozy. Strap in for a discussion of the apocalypse, late Beatles, teen wisdom, and the amen cadence—among other demons exorcised in this most peculiar pop tune.

Songwriter Ross Golan comes over to start up a conversation, encouraging us to follow his lead and give Ed Sheeran’s chart-annihilating record “Shape of You” a chance.

Charlie and Nate sit down with up-and-coming producer duo Grey—fresh off their hit “Starving” with Zedd and Hailee Steinfeld—to uncover the secrets behind Alessia Cara and Zedd’s dramatic dance track “Stay” and Grey’s own deep cut “I Miss You” (ft Bahari).

Two artists who haven’t released new music since 2013 recently remerged into the limelight: Katy Perry, with her dystopian disco banger “Chained to the Rhythm” and Lorde, with the melodramatic-yet-uplifting anthem “Green Light.”

With the Academy Awards around the corner, Charlie and Nate try something new: a break down of the movie musical La La Land through two of its key songs, “City of Stars” and “Start a Fire.”

“I Don’t Wanna Live Forever,” the new track from Zayn and Taylor Swift, finds two members of the pop pantheon joining forces with producer Jack Antonoff to craft an inexorable hit song.

With 2016’s “Into You” still burning up the charts, we dive deep to uncover the insane puzzles, Trompe-l’oiel tricks and Baroque games that lie under the surface of this morsel of pop perfection.