Switched on Pop

The flowers are blooming and the calendar says May. That can only mean one thing: the Eurovision Song Contest is upon us once again. This year, thirty-five countries face off to determine the best song that Europe and adjacent continents have to offer. However, the competition comes with a big asterisk: while Eurovision prides themselves on being “apolitical,” the inclusion of Israel in the competition has led to a massive boycott, and the nations of Ireland, Spain, Iceland, Slovenia, and the Netherlands all withdrawing their participation.

These are very real concerns impacting the general tenor of the competition this year, and are worth deeply considering. Since  Eurovision is music news, and proves fundamental in discovering new sounds in global pop, as reporters, Nate, Charlie, and Reanna run down the top contenders according to bookmakers as of this recording. If you’re not watching this year, you’ll still know what’s going on. 

But if Eurovision isn’t of interest, it’s all good. At the end of the episode, Nate, Charlie, and Reanna also take some time to run down the current state of Switched On Pop bingo.

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Links: ⁠Newsletter⁠, ⁠YouTube

Songs discussed:

Céline Dion – Ne partez pas sans moi

ABBA – Waterloo

Joost – Europapa

JJ – Wasted Love

Delta Goodrem – Eclipse

Søren Torpegaard Lund – Før Vi Går Hjem

Ariana Grande – One Last Time

Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper – Shallow

Akylas – Ferto

Käärijä – Cha Cha Cha

Linda Lampenius, Pete Parkkonen – Liekinheitin

Windows95man – No Rules

Erika Vikman – ICH KOMME

DARA – Bangaranga

Alexandra Cǎpitǎnescu – Choke Me

Satoshi – Viva, Moldova!

PinkPantheress, Zara Larsson – Stateside

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How do you write a rap verse that's clever without saying so? Samara Cyn, one of the sharpest young writers in hip-hop, joins us to talk about Detour, her new EP about going analog. We get into wordplay versus narrative, the Missy Elliott blueprint behind "oooshxt!", and why she takes a knee in the vocal booth when a line won't come out.

Songs Discussed

Samara Cyn — "Sinner"

Samara Cyn "BUSHWICK"

Samara Cyn — "FREE"

Samara Cyn — "Highest"

Samara Cyn — "oooshxt!"

Samara Cyn — "summer's turning"

Samara Cyn — "over influence"

Samara Cyn — "Nomad"

Samara Cyn — "Bad Brain"

Newsletter: https://switchedonpop.substack.com/
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Olivia Rodrigo's chart-topping new single "drop dead," the lead single from her forthcoming third album you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love, breaks one of pop's oldest rules by abandoning the traditional second verse and replacing it with something entirely new. From Mariah Carey's "Fantasy" to Sabrina Carpenter's "Manchild" and Chappell Roan's "Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl," a growing wave of today's biggest pop stars are ditching the verse-chorus formula listeners have been trained to expect for decades. Rodrigo didn't invent the second-verse switch-up, but on "drop dead" she may have just killed off the predictable second verse for good.

Songs Discussed

Frank Zappa "Charlene"

Olivia Rodrigo "drop dead"

The Cure "Just Like Heaven"

Jean-Baptiste Lully "The Tragey of Armide" Ryan Brown conducting Opera Lafayette

Olivia Rodrigo "drivers license"

Olivia Rodrigo "good 4 u"

Olivia Rodrigo "vampire"

Olivia Rodrigo "ballad of a homeschooled girl"

Arnold Schoenberg Pierrot Lunaire — Patricia Kopatchinskaja

Mariah Carey "Fantasy" (ft. Ol' Dirty Bastard)

Blackstreet "No Diggity" (ft. Dr. Dre, Queen Pen)

Peter Gabriel "Don't Give Up" (ft. Kate Bush)

Kendrick Lamar, SZA "luther"

Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars "Die With a Smile"

Post Malone, Swae Lee "Sunflower"

HUNTR/X "Golden"

Joshua Bassett, Olivia Rodrigo "Start of Something New"

Matt Cornett, Olivia Rodrigo "What I've Been Looking For"

Olivia Rodrigo "All I Want"

The Avett Brothers "I and Love and You"

Sheryl Crow "Strong Enough"

Sabrina Carpenter "Please Please Please"

Sabrina Carpenter "Manchild"

Chappell Roan "Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl"

Chappell Roan "HOT TO GO!"

Chappell Roan "Red Wine Supernova"

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Hrishikesh Hirway, host of Song Exploder, returns with his first album in fifteen years, In the Last Hour of Light, made under a premise that's almost contradictory for a podcaster built around isolated stems: session players who had never heard the songs, vocals tracked live in the room, no click track, and no overdubs. 

The layered style that defines current pop production is itself a relatively recent development. Hirway's record  reaches back to the older live-tracking tradition that shaped the 1950s and 60s Bollywood recordings he grew up listening to in his parents' house. The album is about memory and so it’s appropriate that the music is recorded whole  in all its beautiful imperfections.

Songs Discussed

Hrishikesh Hirway "Things Change Even Now"

Hrishikesh Hirway "Stray Dogs"

Hrishikesh Hirway "The Ocean"

Hrishikesh Hirway "Home Movies"

Adrienne Lenker “Anything”

Chuck Berry "Maybellene"

The Beatles "Twist and Shout"

James Brown "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag"

Sidney Bechet "The Sheik of Araby"

Les Paul & Mary Ford "How High the Moon"

The Beach Boys "Good Vibrations"

The Beatles “A Day In The Life”

Queen "Bohemian Rhapsody"

Jacob Collier "With the Love in My Heart"

Brandi Carlile "You and Me on the Rock"

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BTS is back. The best selling K Pop group of all time has been on hiatus for four years. They haven’t released an album in six. They were once the biggest band in the world. Can they regain their throne? Or has the world moved on. Leaning on traditional Korean sounds and a bevy of international producers, from Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker to JPEGMafia, is their album Arirang the future or the past of K Pop? Hye Jin Lee, communications professor at USC and K Pop scholar, joins to break down the album's references and ponder how longtime fans will respond.

Songs Discussed

BTS - Body to Body

Koreana - Hand In Hand

Lee Chun-Hee - Arirang

BTS - Hooligan

Michel Magne - Yang Tse Kiang - Bande originale du film "Un singe en hiver"

ROSALÍA - MALAMENTE - Cap.1: Augurio

Prefuse 73 - The End of Biters - International

BTS - Aliens

Kim Young-gil and Yoon Ho-Se - Ajaeng sanjo - Jungmori

BTS - FYA

Junior Sanchez - Lookin 4 Love - Extended Mix

BTS - No. 29

BTS - SWIM

BTS - Merry Go Round

Tame Impala - New Person, Same Old Mistakes

BTS - NORMAL

BTS - they don’t know ’bout us

The Four Freshmen It's A Blue World

BTS - Paldogangsan

BTS - No More Dream

BTS and Zara Larsson - A Brand New Day

Agust D - Haegeum
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