Switched on Pop

And the Grammy goes to…

The ultimate gauntlet of popular music is upon us once again: it's Grammy season, and this year, the competition is pretty tight across the board. Big ticket A-listers like Bad Bunny, Sabrina Carpenter, Kendrick Lamar, and Lady Gaga occupy three of the four big categories (Song, Record, and Album of the Year), while folks like Olivia Dean, Lola Young, Leon Thomas, and Addison Rae duke it out in Best New Artist. On this episode of Switched on Pop, Charlie, Nate, and Reanna take a look at the "big four" categories, and stump for their respective frontrunners in order to predict who will be taking home a golden phonograph (or two). Links: ⁠Newsletter⁠, ⁠YouTube Songs discussed: Bad Bunny – DtMF Lady Gaga – Abracadabra Sabrina Carpenter – Manchild Kendrick Lamar – squabble up Olivia Dean – Nice To Each Other Olivia Dean – Man I Need Lola Young – Messy Addison Rae – Headphones On Addison Rae – New York Addison Rae – Fame is a Gun Kendrick Lamar, SZA – luther Billie Eilish – WILDFLOWER HUNTR/X – Golden Chappell Roan – The Subway Kendrick Lamar – tv off (feat. lefty gunplay) Justin Bieber – ALL I CAN TAKE Bad Bunny – NUEVAYoL Bad Bunny – VOY A LLeVARTE PA PR Bad Bunny – LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii Bad Bunny – LA MuDANZA Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Robyn’s new songs bring “drum 'n' grace” to the dance floor

Swedish pop star Robyn emerged as a phenomenon in the mid 1990s, an ingenue whose work with Max Martin presaged the R&B crossover hits of acts like Britney and the Backstreet Boys. Since her debut, she’s released a string of albums that have shaped the sound of dance music as we know it. Now, Robyn is releasing her first new album in eight years, Sexistential, and she’s given us three singles made up of her signature combination of thumping bass and ethereal vocals, while innovating into new personal –and vulnerable — territory. With raps about IVF, references to Blondie, a return to her collaboration with Max Martin, and our introduction of “drum n grace” to the lexicon, this episode is manna for Robyn fans and tyros alike. Stick around as we unveil a new feature, “Quick Hits,” a down-and-dirty carousel ride through the most interesting new releases, from ASAP Rocky to Zach Bryan. Songs discussed: Robyn – Dopamine Robyn – Show Me Love Charli XCX, Robyn, Yung Lean – 360 remix Jamie XX, Robyn – Life Robyn – Konichiwa Bitches Blondie – Rapture Robyn – Honey Robyn – Missing U Robyn – Call Your Girlfriend Taio Cruz – Dynamite Robyn – Play Robyn – Talk to Me Robyn – Do You Know (What It Takes) Robyn – Sexistential Andre 3000 – I Swear, I Really Wanted to Make a 'Rap' Album but This Is Literally the Way the Wind Blew Me This Time Robyn – Cobrastyle Robyn – Dancing On My Own A$AP Rocky – PUNK ROCKY Zach Bryan – Plastic Cigarette David Byrne – Driver's License Moonchild – Up From Here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Audrey Hobert says the quiet part out loud

Two years ago, Audrey Hobert had never written a song. She was a staff writer on a Nickelodeon series and had recently moved in with her childhood friend Gracie Abrams in Los Angeles. About six months later, a phrase spoken by a heartbroken acquaintance caught their attention; Hobert and Abrams sang it back to each other and wrote a complete song that night. Within the following year, Hobert co-wrote songs including “I Love You, I’m Sorry” and “Risk” for Abrams’s number-two album The Secret of Us. When the television show she was working on was later canceled, Hobert made a hard pivot into her own music. What happened was Who's the Clown, a debut album where every track came from Hobert's own pen. In this live conversation recorded at NYU Steinhardt's Music and Performing Arts Professions program at Chelsea Studios, Hobert traces her path from dance classes choreographed to One Direction to eight-hour writing sessions that yield two good lines on a lucky day. She explains why she can't write in front of anyone, why she refuses to repeat a chorus three times, and why the Steve Martin documentary made her open her album with the disarmingly strange declaration: "I like to touch people." The conversation moves from craft to confession as Hobert reflects on what it means to finally be looked at, and whether the view from inside the spotlight is everything she'd imagined. Subscribe to the ⁠Newsletter⁠ to play along with our annual bingo predictions (last episode) SONGS DISCUSSED Gracie Abrams "I Love You, I'm Sorry" Gracie Abrams "That's So True" Smash Mouth "All Star" One Direction "Kiss You" Audrey Hobert "Wet Hair" Audrey Hobert "Chateau" Audrey Hobert "I Like to Touch People" Audrey Hobert "Sex in the City" Audrey Hobert "Sue Me" Audrey Hobert "Bowling Alley" Semisonic "Closing Time" Audrey Hobert "Silver Jubilee" Audrey Hobert "Don't Go Back to His Ass" Audrey Hobert "Shooting Star" Black Eyed Peas "I Gotta Feeling" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

2026 Pop Predictions: big beat, animated avatars, and Bruno Mars

It’s a brand new year, and what better way to ring it in than with the second annual Switched On Pop bingo? Like last year, Charlie, Nate, and Reanna polish their crystal balls and play Popstradamus, each throwing out eight outlandish pop predictions for the coming months. This time, there’s piano ballads, cover songs, and what Charlie calls the impending “death of auto-tune.”  Get your own bingo card to play along through our ⁠Newsletter⁠! Find us on YouTube! Songs discussed: The Prodigy – Firestarter The Chemical Brothers – Block Rockin’ Beats Basement Jaxx – Jump ’N Shout Fatboy Slim – The Rockafeller Skank Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars – Die With A Smile Benson Boone – Beautiful Things Post Malone, Ozzy Osbourne, Travis Scott – Take What You Want LCD Soundsystem – Losing My Edge Anamanaguchi, Hatsune Miku – Miku Crazy Frog – Axel F Hampton The Hamster – Hampsters Get the Blues K/DA – POP/STARS Madison Beer – make you mine Forrest Frank – YOUR WAY’S BETTER Tate McRae – Sports car Tata Taktumi, Timbaland – Pulse x Glitch PARTYNEXTDOOR, Drake, Yebba – DIE TRYING The Mighty Mighty Bosstones – The Impression That I Get Maddox Batson – Tears In The River JAY-Z – D.O.A. (Death Of Autotune) Adele – Someone Like You Bruno Mars – When I Was Your Man Lewis Capaldi – Someone You Loved Rihanna, Mikky Ekko – Stay Baauer – Harlem Shake Billie Eilish – bury a friend This Is Lorelei, MJ Lenderman – Dancing in the Club – MJ Lenderman Version WITCH – Once In A Lifetime MOLIY, Shenseea, Silent Addy, Skillibeng – Shake It To The Max (FLY) – Remix Geese – Bow Down Turnstile – LOOK OUT FOR ME Rebecca Black – Sugar Water Cyanide Bad Bunny – DtMF Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Sound of Silence from Unexplainable

A scientist asked people to sit in a silent room for 15 minutes. Almost half of them decided to give themselves a painful electric shock instead. What is it about our brains that makes our relationship with silence so strange? And should we learn how to listen to it? This is the third episode of the four-part Unexplainable series, The Sound Barrier. Links: ⁠Newsletter⁠, ⁠YouTube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices