How John Denver got huge in Asia
“Take Me Home, Country Roads” is a song about West Virginia, but its message of homecoming has resonance far beyond Appalachia. Songwriter and producer Ian Fitchuk found this out when he was requested...
7 Mar 202333min
Chartbreakers: Jersey Club, Complicated Country, and 50s Crooners
Currently on Billboard’s hot 100 there is an unexpected UK Garage / Jersey House mashup, a disgraced country star making a questionable comeback, and an out of nowhere fifties ballad all jockeying for...
28 Feb 202330min
Five years later, the legacy of Nipsey Hussle's "Victory Lap"
Five years ago, Los Angeles rapper Nipsey Hussle released Victory Lap, his only full length album. It was the high point of a career stretching back to the mid 2000s, when Hussle started releasing mix...
22 Feb 202335min
“Flowers” and the art of the response song
“Flowers” by Miley Cyrus is spending another week on top of the Billboard 100 – quite fitting for Valentine’s Day. The disco-country track has gotten people talking for a few reasons, but most notabl...
14 Feb 202339min
Rihanna Party! ICYMI
In case you missed it, “Rihanna Is The 21st Century’s Most Influential Musician” according to NPR. Millions and millions of fans the world over agree, and while we try to avoid overt expressions of po...
12 Feb 202354min
The L.A. guitar shop that reinvented indie folk
In 2010, a photographer named Reuben Cox moved to Los Angeles to start Old Style Guitar Shop. In the years since, the instruments that he continues to repair and sell have come to define the sound of ...
7 Feb 202336min
A History of Whammies at the Grammys - Into It with Sam Sanders
It's Grammys weekend and Sam Sanders, host of Vulture's Into It podcast, is ready for disappointment! Sam is joined by Switched on Pop's Charlie Harding and Reanna Cruz to break down the Grammys' hist...
2 Feb 202324min
Wonders: Bobby McFerrin
In 1988, Bobby McFerrin recorded a song a cappella with a simple message: not to worry, and just enjoy life. That song, aptly titled “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” topped the charts and become one of the mo...
31 Jan 202334min
