Will Sinners do for blues what O Brother did for bluegrass?
It's the middle of award season, and Ryan Coogler's ode to the Black music canon Sinners has emerged as the Oscars frontrunner and the most nominated film in Academy Awards history. The love the movie...
17 Feb 51min
Jazz is A$AP Rocky’s secret weapon
A$AP Rocky’s latest album, Don’t Be Dumb, is a wild ride through a cacophony of sounds — punk, industrial, drum ‘n’ bass, indie rock, and of course, hip hop. But on one track, “Robbery,” he and the ri...
10 Feb 35min
Does humor belong in music?
What makes Weird Al songs so indelible? Why is Bo Burnham more than just a comic? How do the biggest pop hits make us crack up in the middle of a somber ballad? Humor is always present in music, but w...
3 Feb 48min
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 Carpente...
27 Jan 52min
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, sh...
21 Jan 46min
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...
13 Jan 55min
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, ...
6 Jan 58min
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 relationshi...
30 Dec 202530min
