“7 Rings” is Ariana Grande’s latest smash, a glittering banger that owes much to Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1959 classic “My Favorite Things.” When it comes to Ari’s flow, however, questions of appropriation arise. Author Lauren Michele Jackson joins to break down who has the right to repurpose sonic history.

Nearly a decade since Jay-Z prophesied the death of Auto-Tune, the sound is alive and thriving in contemporary pop and hip-hop. Journalist Simon Reynolds has written a definitive history of Auto-Tune for Pitchfork that fundamentally changed how we hear this sound.

This winter season unwrap a deep dive through a pop subgenre of monumental importance: non-holiday songs that feature sleigh bells, from Bonnie Tyler to Nas. On Side B, we also rebroadcast our episode on Mariah Carey’s classic “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”

Back in 2014 we were more pop skeptics than fanatics. Now, in our 100th episode, Charlie interviews Nate about how transforming the way you listen to pop can truly make life better. And we get raw about the constraints of pop and where we plan to go in our next 100 episodes.

Mike Posner has written hits for himself (“I Took a Pill in Ibiza”) and for stars from Justin Bieber (“Boyfriend”) to Maroon 5 (“Sugar”), so you better believe he has insights for days on what makes a pop song work.

Dirty Projectors are known for their kaleidoscopic soundscapes, but in the backdrop of their obscure orchestrations you will hear the indelible marks of pop music.

Greta Van Fleet’s latest album, Anthem Of The Peaceful Army, bears an uncanny sonic resemblance to Led Zeppelin. Jeremy D. Larson, senior editor of Pitchfork, gave the album a 1.6 out of 10 calling it “stiff, hackneyed, overly precious retro-fetishism.”

Charli XCX and Troye Sivan conjure late 90s nostalgia in their latest banger. “1999” drips with lyrical nostalgia for the last decade of the millennium — but does the music follow suit?

Four songs on the Hot 100 pop chart reveal the new directions in which music is headed. Together these tracks make up the vanguard of their respective genres, but are fans willing to take the plunge?

Emily Warren is one of the great rising stars of contemporary songwriting. Together we break down her latest work and uncover her creative process.

Drake, per usual, has been inescapable this summer. “In My Feelings” and “Nice For What” top the charts, but there’s depth to these bangers. We argue for hearing one as a meditation on fragile masculinity, the other as a paean to NOLA Bounce.

We consider two of the biggest hits since Y2K, Beyoncé’s “Crazy in Love” and the Black Eyed Peas’ “I Got a Feeling.” Tune in to dig how these tracks keeps the temperature rising through harmonic suspension, and to ask if will.i.am cribbed “Chopsticks.”

What made summer jams of the aughties like Nelly’s “Hot in Herre” and Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” so hot? The answer: big, sweaty, doses of harmonic tension.

The Switched on Pop Summer Throwback Series continues! This time, with a deep dive into the musical detritus of the 1990s. In true 90s fashion, our episode is inspired by a pair of classic VH1 shows; “Behind the Music” and “Where Are They Now?”

Our Switched on Summer Throwback Series continues with “Dancing in the Street,” the 1964 Motown hit by Martha and the Vandellas that was co-written by none other than Marvin Gaye.

Our Switched on Summer throwback mini-series begins in the heart of the 1960s, with the Beach Boys’ perennial school’s-out jam “I Get Around.”

We investigate why Charlie Puth’s new jam “BOY” make us feel so weird and talk to Hanif Adburraqib about Carly Rae Jepsen’s epic “Cut to the Feeling.”

Parliament Funkadelic’s Afrofuturist message and infectious grooves are once again in vogue within the music of Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino and Kali Uchis.

Ariana Grande has returned with a track that is jarring yet simultaneously catchy. She uses sophisticated musical techniques to tell a story of healing, resiliency, and hope after the attack at her concert in Manchester.

There is a lot of scare about the impending future of artificial intelligence making humans irrelevant. Musician Taryn Southern examines this narrative through her song “Life Support,” written with the aid of AI composition tools.