Ever notice that wobbly, drunken and underwater sound common in so many contemporary pop songs? In an era of pristine recording quality, music producers are referencing old and impure technologies to add character to their recordings.

Rocketman is a spectacle the size of Elton John, four films in one. It contains a biopic, jukebox musical, addiction recovery story and a romance between friends. The soundtrack ties the story together by taking historical liberties to tell a fantastical story about one of the best living songwriters.

Jessica Hopper, host of KRCW series Lost Notes, plumbs pop music history for the most important stories never told, bringing us a bevy of lost gems. Tune in to discover another side of pop, one that’s rarely been heard.

A pop star collaboration is a foolproof way to grab the attention of two audiences at once. But do more collaborators actually make a better song? Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber put this question to the test in their new song “I Don’t Care.”

This is undeniably pop music, a daily soundtrack to the lives of many. So why does it sound the way it does? And why, after forty years, does NPR want to change it?

Daniel Armbruster, lead vocalist of indie band Joywave, has been hearing the same melody in tracks across the Alternative Songs charts. He believes that this hook could be the secret to securing a spot on the Billboard 100.

On her new album, Cuz I Love You, Lizzo shows off her genre bending musicality. We speak with X Ambassadors lead singer, Sam Harris, who helped co-write three songs on the album, including its eponymous track.

When a listener asked us about the “sorcery” behind Taylor Swift’s new song “ME!” we knew we had to investigate — and because the track features Brendon Urie of Panic! At the Disco, we couldn’t resist digging into their concurrent hit “High Hopes.”

Pop is inseparable from reality TV singing competitions. We’ve long overlooked this influence on pop, but were inspired to look into the phenomenon by the release of Teen Spirit, a pop-musical film about a fictional singing competition .

After Billboard removed Lil Nas X’s surprise hit “Old Town Road” from country charts, we decided to dig deep into the song’s musical matter and pit it against other country hits to test its deep fried bonafides.

On this episode, we examine how Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas crafted a cultural phenomenon, why their message speaks to this generation, and we speak with Finneas about the creation of their hit song “Bad Guy.”

Bhi Bhiman joins to explain the “nerd punk rock” behind releasing his new album Peace of Mind with an accompanying podcast. Since Bhiman explores issues like deportation on the track “Beyond the Border,” there’s a lot to say about each song.

After a six year hiatus, Nick, Joe, and Kevin Jonas are back with a new single and the stakes couldn’t be higher. With each brother attaining a higher plane of celebrity during their time off, the three must achieve pop success or face public humiliation.

Live from SXSW: Grammy nominee songwriter Emily King didn’t set out to write a perfect pop song with “Remind Me.” Instead, she bent the rules of song structure to fit her message: the magical feeling when you find something you’ve been long missing.

Songs are getting shorter, albums are getting longer, and there is an entirely new section of the song that draws from the classical past: the “pop overture.” In this episode, Nate and Charlie are joined by Aisha Hassan and Dan Kopf to unpack the sound of pop in the streaming era.

Can political protest exist within the confines of commercial popular music? Songwriter Justin Tranter breaks down “Swan Song,” which he co-wrote with Dua Lipa, working in themes of protest against the silencing of marginalized people.

It may seem like celebrity and spectacle are more important than ever at the 61st Grammy Awards, but we believe many of this years winners earned their accolades with noteworthy music. Still, we thought the winners should be heralded by new, more musical categories.

Author Courtney Smith joins to offer her expertise on an urgent topic in advance of Valentine’s Day: Can we abstract the sexiest songs of all time into a universal list of arousing musical qualities?

“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.