Episodes

  • Has Taylor Swift jumped the shark?

    Has Taylor Swift jumped the shark?
    Oct 6 2026
    One year after the release of her twelfth studio album The Life of a Showgirl, Taylor Swift is back with an encore. Specifically, The Encore, four tracks that have polarized critics and Swifties alike, from the country-esque number one hit “Patient Zero” to her ode to married Ohioan bliss, “Cleveland!” For some, the new songs lean into Swift’s worst writing impulses. But for others, including our hosts (and resident Swiftologists) Charlie and Nate, the tracks call back to earlier eras of Swift’s songwriting, and perhaps evoke more nuanced discussion about what it means to release music as the biggest artist in the world. The question is: are we ready for it? CREDITS Reanna Cruz: Producer Iris Gottlieb: Illustrator Charlie Harding: Host, Executive Producer Dion Lee: Art Director Brandon McFarland: Audio Engineer Nick Ripps: Video Editor Nate Sloan: Host Lissa Soep: Editor Zach Tenorio & Jocie Adams: Theme Composers Switched On Pop is a co-production of Vox Media Podcast Network, Vulture, and Rock Ridge Productions. Links: ⁠⁠Newsletter⁠⁠ Songs discussed: Taylor Swift, “Patient Zero” Taylor Swift, “Cleveland!” Taylor Swift, “Pink Clouding” Taylor Swift, “Babylon” Taylor Swift, “Red” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    45 mins
  • Carly Rae Jepsen’s pop pedagogy

    Carly Rae Jepsen’s pop pedagogy
    Sep 29 2026
    Five years after her first appearance on Switched on Pop, Carly Rae Jepsen returns to the podcast to talk all things Day and Night, her latest album. Born out of Swedish disco, big emotion, and substantive life change – including becoming a wife and a mother – the double album is a tour through the organic and the synthetic, both in equal measure. For Charlie and Nate, this is a full circle moment, and along with discussing the record, the two talk to Jepsen about the origins of the show, her songwriting process, and what it means to be such an important champion of pop music. CREDITS Reanna Cruz: Producer Iris Gottlieb: Illustrator Charlie Harding: Host, Executive Producer Dion Lee: Art Director Brandon McFarland: Audio Engineer Nick Ripps: Video Editor Nate Sloan: Host Lissa Soep: Editor Zach Tenorio & Jocie Adams: Theme Composers Switched On Pop is a co-production of Vox Media Podcast Network, Vulture, and Rock Ridge Productions. Links: ⁠⁠Newsletter⁠⁠ Songs discussed: Carly Rae Jepsen, “After All” Carly Rae Jepsen, “Versailles” Carly Rae Jepsen, “Don’t Leave Me on the Dance Floor” Carly Rae Jepsen, “Near or Far” Carly Rae Jepsen, “Motivation” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    49 mins
  • Tove Lo wants her music to sound out of control (ft. Tove Lo)

    Tove Lo wants her music to sound out of control (ft. Tove Lo)
    Sep 22 2026
    Swedish singer-songwriter Tove Lo’s new album ESTRUS can be summarized in the opening lyrics of the album’s closing track, “source of life”: “Feral, fragile, numb, ecstatic / sad, euphoric, catatonic / Horny, repulsed, proud and shameful / Good, demonic, contradictions.” A songwriter with a string of multi-platinum hits in the 2010s, Tove Lo has crafted a career founded on musical contradiction, with songs that straddle the line between messy and controlled. Her lyrics tend to skew both horny and sensitive, and her latest record features both of those vibes in equal measure. On this episode of Switched on Pop, Charlie and Nate sit down with her to talk all things ESTRUS. CREDITS Reanna Cruz: Producer Iris Gottlieb: Illustrator Charlie Harding: Host, Executive Producer Dion Lee: Art Director Brandon McFarland: Audio Engineer Nick Ripps: Video Editor Nate Sloan: Host Lissa Soep: Editor Zach Tenorio & Jocie Adams: Theme Composers Switched On Pop is a co-production of Vox Media Podcast Network, Vulture, and Rock Ridge Productions. Links: ⁠⁠Newsletter⁠⁠ Songs discussed: Tove Lo, “a lot of feelings, no solutions” Tove Lo, “I’m your girl right?” Stromae, “Alors on danse” Tove Lo, “des fleurs x Stromae” Tove Lo, “DNH” Tove Lo, “F.A.M.T” Tove Lo, “are we on a break” Tove Lo, “idiot” Tove Lo, “source of life” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    38 mins
  • Lizzy McAlpine summons Nick Drake & Joni Mitchell

    Lizzy McAlpine summons Nick Drake & Joni Mitchell
    Sep 18 2026
    Lizzy McAlpine opens up about her 4th album Angel alongside collaborators Mason Stoops and Taylor Mackall. Recorded live at Power Station at Berklee NYC. Songs Discussed Lizzy McAlpine "Anybody's Fool" Lizzy McAlpine "A Car Wash and a New Pair of Pants" Nick Drake "One of These Things First" Lizzy McAlpine "Two Elevens" Adam Guettel "Through the Mountain" Lizzy McAlpine "Our Strange Ways" Joni Mitchell "Hejira" Lizzy McAlpine "Soldier of the Road" Lizzy McAlpine "Peach" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    58 mins
  • The power of singing together (ft. Tiny Habits)

    The power of singing together (ft. Tiny Habits)
    Sep 15 2026
    Throughout pop history, groups from The Ink Spots to the Beach Boys to Fleetwood Mac all forged their sound in the alchemy of vocal harmonies, harnessing the magic that happens when different voices join as one. Then suddenly, right around the 1980s, vocal harmonies started to wane in pop. Whether it was Michael Jackson creating a new model of the solo star, music technology making the voice more like an instrument, or simply audiences wanting a new sound, today the art of vocal harmony is hard to find on the charts. But bands like Tiny Habits, whose originals and covers showcase intricate and delicate harmonies, are bringing the sound back to the people, with a message that everyone needs to sing more, and to sing together. CREDITS Reanna Cruz: Producer Iris Gottlieb: Illustrator Charlie Harding: Host, Executive Producer Dion Lee: Art Director Brandon McFarland: Audio Engineer Nick Ripps: Video Editor Nate Sloan: Host Lissa Soep: Editor Zach Tenorio & Jocie Adams: Theme Composers Switched On Pop is a co-production of Vox Media Podcast Network, Vulture, and Rock Ridge Productions. Links: ⁠⁠Newsletter⁠⁠ Songs discussed: Fleetwood Mac – The Chain The Roches – Hammond Song Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – Suite: Judy Blue Eyes Pérotin, The Hilliard Ensemble – Viderunt omnes Mbuti men – Elephant Hunting Song Bulgarian State Television Female Choir – Pilentze Pee The Golden Gate Quartet – Stormy Weather The Jackson 5 – Who’s Lovin’ You Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons – C’mon Marianne The Beach Boys – Barbara Ann Michael Jackson – Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough Tiny Habits – Right In Front Of Me Tiny Habits – Anything He Was Tiny Habits – one more (live acoustic) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    41 mins
  • Questionably Country

    Questionably Country
    Sep 1 2026
    For the first time in history, five country songs were at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. Ella Langley, Morgan Wallen, Taylor Swift and Stella Lefty all have songs that range from two-stepping hits to borderline Americana: what do these songs say about the state of country music? CREDITS Reanna Cruz: Producer Iris Gottlieb: Illustrator Charlie Harding: Host, Executive Producer Dion Lee: Art Director Brandon McFarland: Audio Engineer Nick Ripps: Video Editor Nate Sloan: Host Lissa Soep: Editor Zach Tenorio & Jocie Adams: Theme Composers Switched On Pop is a co-production of Vox Media Podcast Network, Vulture, and Rock Ridge Productions. Links: ⁠⁠Newsletter⁠⁠ Songs discussed: Dolly Parton, “9 to 5” Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers, “Islands In the Stream” Dolly Parton, “Rockstar” Ella Langley, “Choosin’ Texas” Ronnie Milsap, “Smoky Mountain Rain” George Strait, “Amarillo By Morning” Johnny Cash, “Folsom Prison Blues” Brad Paisley, “Cluster Pluck (feat. James Burton, Vince Gill, Albert Lee, John Jorgenson, Brent Mason, Redd Volkaert & Steve Wariner)” Buddy Holly, “That’ll Be The Day” Stevie Ray Vaughan, “Texas Flood” George Strait, “All My Ex’s Live In Texas” The Pointer Sisters, “Slow Hand” Conway Twitty, “Slow Hand” Morgan Wallen, “Been By Now” Ella Langley & Morgan Wallen, “I Can’t Love You Anymore” Taylor Swift, “I Knew It, I Knew You (From ‘Toy Story 5’)” Squeeze, “Tempted” The Velvet Underground, “Sweet Jane” Taylor Swift, “I Knew You Were Trouble.” Taylor Swift, “cardigan” Stella Lefty, “Boston” Noah Kahan, “Stick Season” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    35 mins
  • Phoebe Bridgers opens her Moleskine

    Phoebe Bridgers opens her Moleskine
    Aug 25 2026
    Many of us keep a journal, but few of us are able to turn our unvarnished thoughts into cultural moments touching on love, death, and guitars quite like Phoebe Bridgers. Her new album Lost Weekend isn’t just throwing the pages of her personal life into song, it’s much more than that: A beguiling, hyper-compositional meditation on the last six years of her life. The genres range from bluegrass to electronic, and collaborators pepper the record – from her boygenius bandmates Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker, to Americana outfit Nickel Creek, to a mysterious presence who may or may not be Geese singer Cameron Winter. The end result is one of the most immersive and heartbreaking albums of the year thus far, transforming the specificity of one person’s story and observations into a universal reflection on life’s fragility. CREDITS Reanna Cruz: Producer Iris Gottlieb: Illustrator Charlie Harding: Host, Executive Producer Dion Lee: Art Director Brandon McFarland: Audio Engineer Nick Ripps: Video Editor Nate Sloan: Host Lissa Soep: Editor Zach Tenorio & Jocie Adams: Theme Composers Switched On Pop is a co-production of Vox Media Podcast Network, Vulture, and Rock Ridge Productions. Links: ⁠⁠Newsletter⁠⁠ Songs discussed: Phoebe Bridgers – The Outside Phoebe Bridgers – Lost Boys Phoebe Bridgers – Kill Me Phoebe Bridgers – The Governor’s Waltz Phoebe Bridgers – Lost Weekend Phoebe Bridgers – Haunted Phoebe Bridgers – Still Standing Phoebe Bridgers – Never Going Back! Phoebe Bridgers – I Can’t Wait Phoebe Bridgers – Lost Weekend (Reprise) Paul Lansky and Hannah MacKay – Notjustmoreidlechatter Phoebe Bridgers – I Know The End Phoebe Bridgers – Motion Sickness Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    36 mins
  • We have Confessions to make...

    We have Confessions to make...
    Aug 18 2026
    Madonna has returned this summer with Confessions II: an album full of huge hooks, pounding bass, and sincere emotion. It’s the queen of pop's first record in seven years, and serves as a sequel to her 2005 smash hit, Confessions on a Dance Floor. The record ties together threads that have existed throughout Madonna’s entire discography, but it also serves a greater purpose. Confessions II is Madonna’s biopic, allowing her to tell her story on her own terms. On this episode of Switched on Pop, producer (and Madonna superfan) Reanna Cruz walks Charlie and Nate through the record, and makes the case for it being the best Madonna record of the last twenty years. CREDITS Reanna Cruz: Producer Iris Gottlieb: Illustrator Charlie Harding: Host, Executive Producer Dion Lee: Art Director Brandon McFarland: Audio Engineer Nick Ripps: Video Editor Nate Sloan: Host Lissa Soep: Editor Zach Tenorio & Jocie Adams: Theme Composers Switched On Pop is a co-production of Vox Media Podcast Network, Vulture, and Rock Ridge Productions. Links: ⁠⁠Newsletter⁠⁠ Songs discussed: Madonna, Sabrina Carpenter – Bring Your Love Madonna – Express Yourself Madonna – Hung Up Madonna – Danceteria Madonna – Vogue Lou Reed – Walk On the Wild Side Madonna – Get Together Madonna – I Feel So Free Donna Summer – I Feel Love Madonna – One Step Away Madonna – Nothing Fails Madonna – Everything Madonna – Fragile Madonna – Frozen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    39 mins