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Vulture

A podcast all about the making and meaning of popular music. Musicologist Nate Sloan & songwriter Charlie Harding pull back the curtain on how pop hits work magic on our ears & our culture. From Vulture and the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Switched on Pop

Why do bad lyrics happen to good people? From "suckin' on a chili dog" to "making love to his tonic and gin," even the biggest hits from our favorite artists can feature lyrical turns that make us feel quizzical, offended, or even downright nauseated. With the help of Sam Sanders, brilliant host of The Sam Sanders Show, we plumb the depths of the worst pop lyrics of all time—culled from hundreds of submissions form Switched on Pop listeners—to try categorize, historicize, and, perhaps, celebrate the art of the lyrical faux pas.

Follow Sam on Instagram and check out The Sam Sanders Show for more hot takes on entertainment and culture. We recommend you start here.

Songs Discussed

Benson Boone - Mystical Magical 

Velvet Sundown - Rebel Shout

Live - Lightning Crashes

Captain and Tennille - Muskrat Love

John Mellencamp - Jack and Diane 

Fergie - Big Girls Don't Cry, London Bridge

Katy Perry - Firework

Billy Joel - Piano Man

Richard Harris - MacArthur Park

Imagine Dragons - Sharks

Des'ree - Life, You Gotta Be

One Direction - Don't Forget Where You Belong, Little Things

Taylor Swift - Willow, Anti Hero, I Hate it Here, ME!

Train - Hey Soul Sister, Meet Virginia, Drops of Jupiter
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A brief history of terrible lyrics (with Sam Sanders)

Every music critic seems to agree: 2025 has no true song of summer. Last August, Teddy Swims’s “Lose Control” dominated the charts. This year…Teddy Swims’s “Lose Control” dominates the charts. What’s going on? Why is there no new summer song to unite us in collective listening, and will there ever be again? 

Elamin Abdelmahmoud, host of the CBC’s daily culture podcast Commotion, joins Nate and Charlie to discuss the dearth of seasonal bops, and suggest some possible contenders for sleeper summer hits, from the soundtrack of the anime film KPop Demon Hunters to the latest from the Haim sisters. Despite the moribund status of the Hot 100, there is no shortage of great music to be found in the dog days of summer if you’re willing to listen closely.

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Check out more music commentary from Elamin and Commotion, like their dive into Bruce Springsteen’s unreleased albums, or their dissection of Bieber’s latest with our very own Reanna Cruz.

Songs Discussed

 HUNTR/X, EJAE, AUDREY NUNA - Golden 

 Tyler Childers - Eatin’ Big Time

 Haim - Relationships

 Ravyn Lenae - Love Me Not

 Amber Mark - Sweet Seratonin

 Sly and the Family Stone - Thank You (Falettin Me Be Mice Elf)

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Summer Bummer (with Commotion’s Elamin Abdelmahmoud)

Justin Bieber is back with his seventh studio album: the aptly-titled SWAG. The lo-fi, reverb-laden record is a remarkably candid look inside the world of Bieber, using the palette of both underground pop and 90's R&B to accentuate lyrics about his wife, his struggles, and his "standing on business." 

Notably, it's his first album post-split with manager Scooter Braun, and the first where Bieber has been in full artistic control. On this episode of Switched On Pop, we tap into the SWAG mindset and attempt to understand Bieber's newfound vision, what it's saying, and ultimately, if it even still matters.

Songs discussed:

 Justin Bieber – DAISIES

 Justin Bieber, Daniel Caesar, Giveon – Peaches

 Justin Bieber, Sexyy Red – SWEET SPOT

 The Kid LAROI, Justin Bieber – STAY 

 Justin Bieber, Druski – STANDING ON BUSINESS

 Justin Bieber – ALL I CAN TAKE

 Peter Gabriel – In Your Eyes

 Justin Bieber – GO BABY

 Justin Bieber – TOO LONG

 Justin Bieber, Gunna – WAY IT IS

 Justin Bieber, Dominic Fike – Die For You

 Justin Bieber, Burna Boy – Loved By You

 Justin Bieber, Lil B – DADZ LOVE

 Mk.gee – Alesis

 Mk.gee – Are You Looking Up

 Dijon – The Dress

 Justin Bieber – WALKING AWAY

 Haim – Don't Wanna

 Justin Bieber, Dijon – DEVOTION

 Justin Bieber – One Less Lonely Girl

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Justin Bieber's Lo-fi Bedroom Swag

What if the entire sound of modern podcasting can be traced back to a single Grateful Dead song uploaded in 2001? We uncover the musical lineage that connects NPR's classical gravitas to dubstep wobbles, from the very first RSS feed experiment to the mysterious masked composer who's scored over 200 podcast themes and shaped what millions of people hear when they hit play. This deep dive reveals how podcast music evolved from classical public radio strings into today's signature blend of plinking pianos, breakbeats, and irreverent sampling—plus an exclusive interview with the enigmatic Breakmaster Cylinder, the "Hans Zimmer of podcasting" who's been hiding behind a robot helmet for over a decade.

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SONGS DISCUSSED

 Grateful Dead "Truckin'"

 Adam Curry "Daily Source Code" theme

 NPR "All Things Considered" theme

 Don Voegeli "All Things Considered" original theme (1971)

 Don Voegeli "All Things Considered" jazz funk version (1976)

 NPR "All Things Considered" orchestral version (1983/1995)

 The Daily theme

 WNYC "On the Media" theme by Ben Allison "Disposable Genius"

 Christopher Lydon "Radio Open Source" theme by Dafnis Prieto

 Disparition "The Ballad of Fiedler and Mundt," (Welcome to Night Vale theme)

 Serial theme

 Joe Rogan Experience theme

 Call Her Daddy theme

 Snap Judgment theme

 The Breakfast Club theme

 WTF with Marc Maron theme by John Montagna "Lock the Gate"

 Reply All theme by Breakmaster Cylinder

 Breakmaster Cylinder "Outside In" theme

 Breakmaster Cylinder "Bird Note" (Claire de Lune with loon calls)

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How podcasting got its sound ft. Breakmaster Cylinder

The robots have arrived, and they're making protest songs about boots on the ground. When an AI band called The Velvet Sundown fooled over a million Spotify listeners with their psychedelic folk anthems, it raised an unsettling question: have the machines gotten so good we can no longer hear the difference? Charlie puts Nate to the test with a game of "AI or Human?" featuring Wu-Tang deepfakes, phantom instruments, and songs that sound like Dire Straits and Tom Petty had a baby. Along the way, they uncover the five telltale signs that expose artificial music, from juvenile rhyming patterns to voices that shapeshift between tracks. But here's the terrifying part: just six months ago, AI music was unlistenable chaos. Now it's disturbingly competent. And it's only getting better.

Songs Discussed

 The Velvet Sundown - "Dust on the Wind"

 Post Malone - "Chemical"

 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - "Ohio"

 The Velvet Sundown - "Freedom Song"

 Kansas - "Dust in the Wind"

 The Animals - "House of the Rising Sun"

 Creedence Clearwater Revival - "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?"

 The Velvet Sundown - "Where War Remains"

 Pink Floyd - "Wish You Were Here"

 The Velvet Sundown - "Ash and Velvet"

 Buffalo Springfield - "For What It's Worth"

 The Velvet Sundown - "For the Ones We Couldn't Keep"

 The Velvet Sundown - "Mirrors in the Smoke"

 Pink Floyd - "Breathe"

 The Velvet Sundown - "Rebel Shout"

 The Velvet Sundown - "Smoke in Silence"

 The Velvet Sundown - "Marching Shadows"

 The Velvet Sundown - "As the Silence Falls"

 The Velvet Sundown - "How Did This Go Wrong?"

 Hip Hop Intelligence - "Bar Fight" (AI Wu-Tang)

 Hip Hop Intelligence - "Party with Me" (AI Eminem)

 Temple of the Acid Fist Records - "Woman Gone Blues" (AI)

 "Echoes of Twilight" (AI student example)

 The Velvet Underground - "Sweet Jane"

 "Whispers of Chaos" (Charlie's AI generation)

 Mungo Jerry - "In the Summertime"

 Almost Vinyl - "Phil Wildo's Door to Door Dildos" (AI)

 Joey Two Legs - "I Shouldn't Have Done That" (hybrid)

 Bill Evans AI track (untitled, by Nobody in the Computer)

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Is that new song you like AI? Here’s how you can tell

In which we explore the unlikely rise, and surprising backlash against, one Benson Boone.
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The Benson Boone-Doggle

Why does the economy look great on paper but feel terrible in your wallet? There might be a more revealing economic indicator hiding in your Spotify queue. "Recession Pop" first emerged during the Great Recession and exploded into playlists, radio formats, and DJ sets in 2024. From melancholy indie anthems to escapist dance tracks, the songs we gravitate toward during uncertain times might predict where the economy is headed next. Host Jonquilin Hill explores this musical phenomenon on Vox's "Explain it To Me," with Charlie joining in the second half to decode what our streaming habits reveal about financial anxiety and economic forecasting.
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Can Recession Pop predict the market?

As we've been examining over the course of Country Week, country music has found a larger audience, in part by widening its sonic palette. For the final episode of this series, we take a look at a genre on the outskirts of country – Americana music – and how it's being used to connect to the scene's musical roots. 

Historically, Americana has embraced an acoustic sound, traditional repertoire, and an appetite for virtuosic technique. In bluegrass artists like Billy Strings and roots musicians like Sierra Ferrell, Nate and Charlie see if there's an antidote to be found for the issues that plague modern, mainstream country music. 

Songs discussed:

 The Punch Brothers – Rye Whiskey

 Sierra Ferrell – In Dreams 

 Dolly Parton – Jolene

 Sierra Ferrell – I Could Drive You Crazy

 Sierra Ferrell, Zach Bryan – Holy Roller

 Billy Strings – Dust in a Baggie

 Billy Strings, Willie Nelson – California Sober

 Tyler Childers – In Your Love

 Tyler Childers – Phone Calls and Emails

 Tyler Childers – Rustin' In The Rain

 Don Gibson – Oh, Lonesome Me

 Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson – Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys

 The Chicks – Long Time Gone

 The Steeldrivers – Higher Than the Wall

 Beyoncé – Texas Hold'em

 I'm With Her – Espresso

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How Americana helped mainstream country find its soul

More often than not, country music is seen as an "American" genre – meaning that the music is seen as strictly from the United States. In some ways, that's true; but the genre's iconography, sound, and ethos can actually be traced to the south of the border, in Mexican regional music. 

The worlds have been more intertwined than you would think, and in musica mexicana, we find the closest comparison to what we traditionally call "country music." In this episode of Switched On Pop, in honor of country week, we take a look at the cumbia-corrido hybrid "Me Jalo" from Fuerza Regida and Grupo Frontera, two U.S. based acts performing Mexican regional music, to see what ties the cultures together. 

Songs discussed: 

 George Strait – El Rey

 Carín León – Necesito Encontrarte

 Fuerza Regida, Grupo Frontera – ME JALO

 Fuerza Regida – TQM

 Grupo Frontera, Bad Bunny – un x100to

 Fuerza Regida – SECRETO VICTORIA

 Grupo Frontera, Grupo Firme – EL AMOR DE SU VIDA

 Fuerza Regida, Grupo Frontera – Bebe Dame

 Shania Twain – Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under

 Hank Williams – Your Cheatin' Heart

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Country music is Mexican (Fuerza Regida and Grupo Frontera)

There's often an unspoken (and deeply misogynistic) rule on country music radio: never play two female artists back to back. In this episode of Switched On Pop's country week, we aim to do just that. Looking at two artists on opposite ends of the country music spectrum – traditionalist Lainey Wilson, and genre-bending Jessie Murph – Nate and Charlie try to understand the state of female country through their respective songs "4x4xU" and "Blue Strips."

Songs discussed:

 Lainey Wilson – 4x4xU

 Jessie Murph – Blue Strips

 Lainey Wilson – Country's Cool Again

 Lainey Wilson – Heart Like A Truck

 HARDY, Lainey Wilson – wait in the truck

 Jessie Murph – Gotta Hold

 Jessie Murph – Gucci Mane

 Jessie Murph, Sexyy Red – Blue Strips (Remix)

 Zach Top – I Never Lie

 Carrie Underwood – Before He Cheats

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The Ballad of Lainey Wilson and Jessie Murph

When it comes to musical theater, everyone has an opinion. And Bridger Winegar, host of the very funny podcast I Said No Gifts!, is no exception. In the paradoxical tradition of Bridger's podcast, Charlie and Nate have brought a series of gifts in the form of a sonic smorgasbord: a tour through musical theater's finest offerings, from Les Miserables to Spring Awakening.

Check out Bridger's podcast I Said No Gifts! here.
For more on movie musicals, check out this episode of Vox's Today Explained.
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Songs discussed:

Brian Johnson, Gideon Glick, John Gallagher Jr., Jonathan B. Wright, Jonathan Groff, Skylar Astin – The Bitch Of Living – Original Broadway Cast Recording/2006

Duncan Sheik – Barely Breathing

Thee Oh Sees – The Dream

Liars – Mr Your On Fire Mr

The Electric Prunes – I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)

Ariana Grande – yes, and?

Robyn – Call Your Girlfriend

Randy Graff – I Dreamed a Dream

Ali Stroker – I Cain't Say No

Josh Groban, Annaleigh Ashford, Stephen Sondheim, Sweeney Todd 2023 Broadway Company – My Friends

Frank Sinatra – Send In The Clowns

Billy Bragg, Wilco – California Stars

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The b*tch of loving musical theater (with Bridger Winegar)

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