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

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

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

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

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

Every Christmas season, pop stars far and wide throw their Santa hats into the ring to see who has the next "All I Want for Christmas Is You," and this year is no exception. It's a yearly tradition on Switched On Pop to explore the deluge of holiday hits, and 2025 sees formidable entries to the canon from folks like Kylie Minogue, Leon Bridges, and Willie Nelson.

Links: ⁠Newsletter⁠, ⁠YouTube

Songs discussed:

• Ariana Grande – Santa Tell Me
• Kelly Clarkson – Underneath the Tree
• Cher – Christmas Is Here
• Cher – Believe
• Kylie Minogue – Hot in December
• Zach Top – For You For Christmas
• Willie Nelson – Christmas Love Song
• Mickey Guyton – Sugar Cookie
• Meghan Trainor – Gifts For Me
• The Ronettes – Sleigh Ride
• Gwen Stefani – Hot Cocoa
• Train – Let's Stay in Tonight
• Brenda Lee – Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree
• Leon Bridges, Norah Jones – This Christmas I'm Coming Home
• Elysia Biro – The Christmas Song

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From big-ticket albums by Taylor and Gaga, to a revival of the stomp-clap revival – 2025 had it all, for better and for worse. Now that the year has come to a close, it's time to take a look back at the past twelve months: what happened in the zeitgeist, what we loved listening to, and what we missed here on the show. Reanna, Charlie, and Nate talk about it all, including a look back at our predictions from January to check off boxes for Switched On Pop bingo.

Links: Newsletter, YouTube

Songs discussed:

• Taylor Swift – The Fate of Ophelia
• Alex Warren – Ordinary
• HUNTR/X – Golden
• Morgan Wallen – I'm The Problem
• Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga – Die With A Smile
• Bruno Mars – 24K Magic
• ROSÉ, Bruno Mars – APT.
• Olivia Dean – Man I Need
• Ravyn Lenae – Love Me Not
• Justin Bieber, Dijon – DEVOTION
• Bon Iver, Dijon, Flock of Dimes – Day One
• Dijon – Baby!
• Dijon – Yamaha
• CA7RIEL – SHIPEA2
• Paco Amoroso – Viuda Negra
• CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso – EL ÚNICO - Live at NPR MUSIC's Tiny Desk
• CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso – EL DÍA DEL AMIGO
• CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso – #TETAS
• Breaking Rust – Walk My Walk
• Jack Black – Steve's Lava Chicken
• Saja Boys – Soda Pop
• Snocaps – Coast
• Miley Cyrus – Something Beautiful
• Bad Bunny – DtMF
• MOLIY, Shenseea, Silent Addy, Skillibeng – Shake It To The Max (FLY) - Remix

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Grammy-winning songwriter Amy Allen joins NYU Steinhardt students live to trace her path from early pitch songs to co-writing some of the decade's defining hits. She explains why Halsey's "Without Me" needed an extended chorus but no pre-made chord loops, how Harry Styles' "Matilda" required character-driven writing for emotional safety, and what made the hypnotic groove of Tate McRae's "Greedy" demand a rare third verse. Allen also unpacks the spoken hook in Rosé and Bruno Mars' "APT" and the three-step key change powering Sabrina Carpenter's recent work. The result is a masterclass in why songs work—and why the rules worth breaking are the ones you've already learned.

SONGS DISCUSSED

• Halsey "Without Me"

• Harry Styles "Adore You"

• Harry Styles "Matilda"

• Tate McRae "greedy"

• Rosé and Bruno Mars "ATA"

• Sabrina Carpenter "Please, please, please"

• Selena Gomez "Back to You"

• Justin Timberlake "Cry Me A River" (Interpolated in "Without Me")

• Olivia Rodrigo "Driver's License"

• Sabrina Carpenter "Espresso"

• Sabrina Carpenter Short and Sweet (Album)

• Sabrina Carpenter Man's Best Friend (Album)

• Beyoncé "Love on Top"

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sombr went from crafting raw, reverb soaked songs alone in his Lower East Side bedroom to finding his life shifting in ways he never could have predicted across 2024 and 2025. His biggest tracks kept their imperfections even as world class players at Sound City added new layers, and a disco groove he began as a late night joke transformed into a breakout moment that changed his career’s trajectory. He explains how he writes, why distortion carries emotional weight for him, how he navigates the pull between bedroom recordings and studio polish, and what it felt like to watch childhood dreams come true on national stages. The result is a portrait of an artist whose rise has been so quick and so unlikely that even Sombr is still piecing together how it all happened.

Watch the interview on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Switched-On-Pop

Songs Discussed

• Sombr “12 to 12”

• Sombr “Back to Friends”

• Sombr “Undressed”

• Lizzo “About Damn Time”

• Chic “Good Times”

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When it comes to improvisational loop jams, few have gone as viral as Marc Rebillet. From his 2020 lockdown-era video “How to Funk in Two Minutes,” which features him wearing nothing but a bathrobe, to unsuspecting New York street corners, and eventually the Coachella main stage, Rebillet has come to be known as “loop daddy” for his gifted ability to harness spontaneous funk.

On this episode of Switched On Pop, Charlie interviews Marc about his process, inspiration, and pandemic success, witnessing his flow state firsthand as he graces us with some live improvisation. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In June 2025, indie veterans Deerhoof scrubbed their entire catalog from the world’s dominant streaming platform. The catalyst wasn't low royalties, but Spotify co-founder Daniel Ek’s investment in AI military technology through his investment firm Prima Materia. Greg Saunier and Satomi Matsuzaki explain why they are prioritizing their ethics over exposure. They argue that the "convenience" of streaming traps us in harmful systems. They’d prefer listeners explore alternative paths to hear their music. That’s why the band premiered their latest single on Craigslist. And it’s they half jokingly say they "would rather our fans steal our music than stream our music at this point."

SONGS DISCUSSED

Deerhoof: Immigrant Song, Scarcity is Manufactured, Life is Suffering, Return of the Return of the Fire Trick Star

MORE

Get Zach Tenorio's synth extraveganza 'Field Trip'

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices