Nate Sloan 8/3/21 Nate Sloan 8/3/21

Modern Classics: Mark Ronson on Ginuwine's "Pony"

The "Uptown Funk" hitmaker breaks down the innovations behind pop's biggest smashes

Charlie Harding 7/30/21 Charlie Harding 7/30/21

Summer Hits: Jack Antonoff on Bleachers “Stop Making This Hurt”

“The things that pull me to write are when I feel something that scares me or fills me with joy or mystery.”

Nate Sloan 7/27/21 Nate Sloan 7/27/21

Modern Classics: Yola on Childish Gambino’s “Redbone” and the Longevity of Soul

“I realized that Classic Soul can exist with everything and somehow not lose its potency.”

Charlie Harding 7/23/21 Charlie Harding 7/23/21

The Appealing Uneasiness of Listening to L’Rain (live at JBL)

“It feels important to me as a black woman musician to set on my own terms how my music is being looked at, to not fit neatly into any one box.”

Nate Sloan 7/20/21 Nate Sloan 7/20/21

Summer Hits: City Girls - Twerkulator (with Kyra Gaunt)

For rap duo City Girls, twerking is more than a dance move - it's a reclamation

Nate Sloan 7/16/21 Nate Sloan 7/16/21

Summer Hits: Lorde - Solar Power (with Hanif Abdurraqib)

Is Lorde's new summer song a banger or a dud?

Guest User 7/13/21 Guest User 7/13/21

Summer Hits: Olivia Rodrigo - good 4 u (with Jessica Hopper)

“The narrative was always girls were bad and they never had names”

Nate Sloan 7/6/21 Nate Sloan 7/6/21

Modern Classics: Labrinth's "Sexy MF" (with Sam Sanders)

“They're all these little secrets and surprises that pop up...it's like bespoke, maximalist, power pop.”

Charlie Harding 7/2/21 Charlie Harding 7/2/21

Growing Pains with Lucy Dacus

“I think a lot of childhood is crisis mode and if it's not crisis mode its auto-pilot”

Charlie Harding 6/29/21 Charlie Harding 6/29/21

Summer Hits: BTS - Butter (with Jenna Andrews)

"How cool to have a summer song that can just make people happy”

Charlie Harding 6/22/21 Charlie Harding 6/22/21

Pop’s Worst Kept Secret ft. Emily Warren

The Pact fights back against artists who steal publishing

Nate Sloan 6/15/21 Nate Sloan 6/15/21

40 Years Later, Japanese City Pop is Still Crashing the Charts (with Cat Zhang)

How Japanese pop of the 1970s and 80s became the sound of our digital present

Nate Sloan 6/8/21 Nate Sloan 6/8/21

J Cole’s The Off Season and the Power of the 12/8 Shuffle

A rapper at the top of his game tries to keep himself in shape

Nate Sloan 5/25/21 Nate Sloan 5/25/21

Vijay Iyer on why jazz has always been political

Improvised music isn't just virtuosity and technique, it's fighting racism and injustice

Charlie Harding 5/11/21 Charlie Harding 5/11/21

Turns out Willow Smith rocks

The emo/pop punk track "Transparent Soul" makes us ask why we we didn’t take Willow seriously

Charlie Harding 5/4/21 Charlie Harding 5/4/21

Julia Michaels’ Songwriting Superpowers

The story of the hitmakers behind Lil Nas X’s “Montero” Sheck Wes’s “Mo Bamba” and many more

Charlie Harding 4/30/21 Charlie Harding 4/30/21

BONUS: How Take A Daytrip took off (full interview)

The story of the hitmakers behind Lil Nas X’s “Montero” Sheck Wes’s “Mo Bamba” and many more

Charlie Harding 4/27/21 Charlie Harding 4/27/21

The Mystery of Montero AKA Lil Nas X (feat. Take A Daytrip)

Lil Nas X has a talent for creating productive controversy.

Nate Sloan 4/20/21 Nate Sloan 4/20/21

Pop On A Perilous Planet (with Kyle Devine)

Musicians confront the climate crisis

Charlie Harding 4/13/21 Charlie Harding 4/13/21

5 Rules of Great Songwriting Collabs, According to Teddy Geiger and Dan Wilson (On Air Fest 2021)

Dan Wilson shares his ground rules for collaboration through the case study of Teddy Geiger’s “Love Somebody” as part of On Air Fest 2021.

Mini Series

Featured

Listening 2 Madonna: Ray of Light

The third essential aspect of Madonna's holy trinity is her ever-shifting spirituality.

Listening 2 Madonna: Spanish Eyes

To understand Madonna is to see her music as a cultural melting pot.

Listening 2 Madonna: Who's That Girl?

The way Madonna communicates gender is integral to understanding her and her music.

Featured

Newcomers: Porter Robinson

The new sound of Porter Robinson

Newcomers: Jhayco

Jhayco moves from the background to the foreground

Newcomers: Magdalena Bay

Few pop groups are making music as imaginative as Magdalena Bay.

Featured

Listening 2 Daft Punk: Random Access Memories

The robots gain a heart and soul - and self-destruct in the process

Listening 2 Daft Punk: Human After All / Alive 2007

The French duo’s anti-utopian disco-rock record makes us question, are they robot, or are they human?

Listening 2 Daft Punk: Discovery

On their second album Discovery, Daft Punk fully lean into the artificial – singing through robotic vocoders that correspond with their now-iconic robot helmets.

Listening 2 Daft Punk: Homework

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?

Featured

Listening 2 Britney: Gimme More

Leave Britney’s (voice) alone

Listening 2 Britney: Toxic

How Bollywood strings, surf guitar, and Britney’s ethereal vocals add up to pop perfection

Listening 2 Britney: I’m A Slave 4 U

Enter The Neptunes – Britney’s Virginia Beach Era

Listening 2 Britney: ...Baby One More Time

Breaking down the unmistakeable voice of Britney Spears

Featured

Modern Classics: Carina del Valle Schorske on Cat Power's "Manhattan"

Why every song about Manhattan is a pop song

Modern Classics: Mark Ronson on Ginuwine's "Pony"

The "Uptown Funk" hitmaker breaks down the innovations behind pop's biggest smashes

Modern Classics: Yola on Childish Gambino’s “Redbone” and the Longevity of Soul

“I realized that Classic Soul can exist with everything and somehow not lose its potency.”

Modern Classics: Labrinth's "Sexy MF" (with Sam Sanders)

“They're all these little secrets and surprises that pop up...it's like bespoke, maximalist, power pop.”

Featured

THE 5TH — MOVEMENT IV, What Beethoven Would Have Wanted

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.

THE 5TH — MOVEMENT III, Putting the Classism in Classical

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.

THE 5TH — MOVEMENT II, From Struggle to Victory

In movements II , III and IV, Beethoven keeps trying to overcome his dark fate with bright major melodies, and keeps getting defeated.

THE 5TH — MOVEMENT I, A Battle Brewing

The first four notes of the piece are more than a modern meme, they’re the main character in a drama life and death.

Featured

ANTHEMS: Missy Elliott — Work It

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.

ANTHEMS: Smash Mouth - All Star

How “All Star” became an anthem played in sports arenas, soundtracked by Hollywood, and embedded into seemingly every internet meme.

ANTHEMS: Jock Jams — Get Ready For This

n 1995, ESPN launched Jock Jams Volume 1, a compilation record that would define the sound of sports for the next quarter century.

ANTHEMS: Queen — We Are The Champions

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.