Switched on Pop

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”

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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"
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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)

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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”

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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

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