Last year, NPR Music ran an audacious headline: “Rihanna Is The 21st Century’s Most Influential Musician.” Millions and millions of fans the world over agree, and while we try to avoid overt expressions of pop favoritism, we think they’ve got a strong case.

Prince predicted the sound and science of modern pop, from drum machines to online distribution to internet culture.

Men singing high is so ubiquitous in modern pop that we might take it granted, never pausing to ask: has it always been this way?

Swedish dancefloor confessionals, songs that stop time, the specificity of Lana Del Ray, and the awkwardness of descending fourths: it’s all on the table in this freewheeling conversation of deep musical nerdiness.

Mastering: the subtle art that explains why Metallica had to re-release a controversial album, Kanye sounds so crisp, and why the best pop really pops.

We listen to classic 1959 albums Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue and Dave Brubeck’s Take Out, discuss the complex legacy of Billie Holiday, and dig into some of the year’s forgotten gems.

Charli XCX bucks long-established norms in popular music.

Charlie sits down with Andrea Silenzi, host of the amazing parenting podcast The Longest Shortest Time to break down one of the biggest love/hate hits of recent memory, and to make a very special announcement!

This week, the songwriter and host of the hit podcast And The Writer Is… joins Charlie for a BONUS episode (cue siren) about the surprising lessons learned from a collective seven years behind the interview mic.

On this very special episode, we join forces with the hilarious podcast OFF BOOK. When our powers combine, Zach and Jess of Off Book, plus their killer backing band create an improvised musical.

What does summer sound like? To answer that question, we asked you, our listeners, and got some downright awesome suggestions in return.

To understand how R&B has changed over time, we consult with Trevor Anderson, manager of Billboard’s R&B/Hip Hop chart, and with R&B super-producer Oak Felder to understand how R&B is progressing and what it might become.

For the live action remake of the Lion King, Beyoncé, (who voices Nala in the film), recorded and curated a companion soundtrack called The Gift. She worked with leading Afropop stars to expose the music of the continent to a global audience.

Why is it that every hip restaurant plays the same music? When Eater restaurant editor Hillary Dixler Canavan kept hearing similar songs while dining for work assignments, she compiled a playlist of what she heard. It included songs by LCD Soundsystem, M83, Grimes, Biggie, Beck and the like.

Lil Nas X licensed the beat for “Old Town Road” from an e-commerce platform. He originally bought a non-exclusive copy of the backing track for just $29.99 from a 19 year old Dutch record producer called YoungKio. And he’s not the first hitmaker to do so…

Shawn Mendes’ hit song “If I Can’t Have You” is so ridiculously catchy that Charlie had it stuck in his head after the first chorus. How is that possible?! Declamation.

Madonna, Stephen Puth, Found Sound Nation, and Make Music Day’s “Street Studios” all use space to place us in their music.

How should we listen to K-pop? This music has become a global phenomenon, charting on the Billboard Hot 100, taking over social media feeds, and touring the world.

Fans are not happy with Will Smith’s update of the classic Disney song “Prince Ali” in the live-action Aladdin. Their complaint? The new “Prince Ali” is slow, sluggish, and dull.

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.