Switched on Pop

If you listen to a lot of music on YouTube, you may have been recommended a video. The thumbnail image is a striking black-and-white photo of a Japanese singer named Mariya Takeuchi. The song, “Plastic Love,” is a lush disco track with deep groove, impeccable string and horn arrangements, and a slow-burn vocal performance from Takeuchi. When the song was released in 1984, it sold 10,000 copies. Today, it’s racked up over 65 million views since its posting in 2017.  How did the relatively obscure genre of Japanese City Pop, an amalgam of American soul and funk and Japanese songcraft from the 1970s and 80s, become the sound of the moment? For Pitchfork’s Cat Zhang, City Pop’s heart-on-its-sleeve emotions and slick production resonates with the nostalgic leanings of much contemporary pop. Sampled by artists like Tyler the Creator and inspiring original material from bands around the globe, City Pop has much to tell us about cultural exchange, technology, and the enduring universal power of slap bass. Songs Discussed:Miki Matsubara - Stay With MeMariya Takeuchi - Plastic LoveMakoto Matsushita - Business Man Pt 1Tatsuro Yamashita - Marry-go-roundAnri - Good Bye Boogie DanceBoredoms - Which Dooyoo LikeToshiko Yonekawa - Sōran BushiTakeo Yamashita - Touch of Japanese ToneMai Yamane - TasogareYoung Nudy ft Playboi Carti’s - Pissy PamperTatsuro Yamashita - FragileTyler The Creator - GONE, GONE / THANK YOU 9Sunset Rollercoaster - Burgundy RedCheck out Cat’s article The Endless Life Cycle of Japanese City Pop on Pitchfork Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

J Cole is one of the most successful rappers of his generation, someone who racks up hits while sustaining critical acclaim. But that isn’t necessarily a good thing. Cole’s sixth studio album “The Off Season” finds a musician struggling to stave off complacency and keep his skills sharp. In a short documentary about the album, Cole describes the album as an attempt to “push himself,” a sentiment reflected in a line from the Timbaland-produced track “Amari”: “If you solo these vocals, listen close and you can hear grumbling.” Cole is never satisfied on this album, pushing his technique to the breaking point through verbal dexterity and rhythmic complexity.One way Cole stays on his toes is through the use of a trap beat melded with one of the oldest grooves in pop: the 12/8 shuffle. He’s far from the only artist to make use of an often overlooked, but iconic meter. Why does this pattern keep us moving? And where did its unique sound come from? We have a theory about that...Songs discussed: J Cole - Amari, Punching the Clock, The Climb Back, Interlude Brief Encounter - I’m So in Love With You Adam Lambert - Another Lonely Night Carly Rae Jepsen - Run Away With Me Disclosure ft Sam Smith - Latch  Steely Dan - Aja Toto - Roseanna  Led Zeppelin - Fool in the Rain Kanye West - Black Skinhead Billie Eilish - Bury a Friend Vulfpeck ft Bernard Purdie and Theo Katzman - Something Watch Bernard “Pretty” Purdie: The Legendary Purdie ShuffleRead more on The Off Season in Craig Jenkins in-depth review on Vulture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

One of our favorites artists right now is Rina Sawayama. She works with her producer Clarence Clarity to make this mash up of sounds from the late 90s and early aughts. She in particular recasts Max Martin pop and Nu Metal — too styles that rarely converged — to make compelling songs with a strong anti-consumerist message. I spoke with Rina Sawayama last summer about her debut eponymous album Sawayama and she shared with me the stories behind her songs XS and STFU. We're rebroadcasting our interview with her from last summer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When you think of jazz, you might think of La La Land, luxury car commercials, or fancy dinner parties. Cool, sophisticated, complex, jazz today seems to signify the epitome of class and taste. For pianist Vijay Iyer, that view gets the music completely wrong. Jazz isn’t cool. Jazz is countercultural. Jazz is alive and relevant. Jazz fights racism and injustice. And for those reasons, maybe we shouldn’t be calling this music “jazz” at all.With a trio of Linda May Han Oh on bass and Tyshawn Sorey on drums, Iyer has recorded a new album, Uneasy, that continues the defiant political legacy of improvised music. Through songs that tackles the Flint water crisis, the murder of Eric Garner, and social unrest, Iyer connects to the key of issues of our day without saying a word. While his songs speak to our chaotic present and crackle with fierce urgency, they also reach back to elders like John Coltrane, Geri Allen, and Charles Mingus—musicians who never shied away from a fight. Songs discussed:Charlie Parker - Ko KoCharles Mingus - Fables of Faubus, Original Faubus FablesVijay Iyer - Children of Flint, Combat Breathing, Uneasy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today we’re sharing something a little different - a new TV and film show from the Vox Media Podcast Network that we think you’ll like called Galaxy Brains. On Galaxy Brains, entertainment writer Dave Schilling and Mystery Science Theater 3000’s Jonah Ray explore a big, mind-expanding question raised by a TV show or movie, and take it way, way too seriously. In the preview episode we’re sharing today, they explore why the once-panned musical comedy Josie and The Pussycats may have actually been a sharp critique of capitalism that was well ahead of its time. It’s weird. It’s funny. We’ll hope you’ll give it a listen, then go follow Galaxy Brains on your favorite podcast app. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Willow Smith has a new Paramore-inspired emo-slash-pop punk track with a formidable drum groove powered by Travis Barker. Over churning guitars she sneers at fake friends: "smile in my face, then put your cig out on my back." As Nate and Charlie headbanged along to we found ourselves asking "why did we sleep on Willow Smith?"Maybe because we had not taken Willow seriously, knowing her only as the nine (!) year-old singer behind the precocious hit "Whip My Hair" back in 2010. In the ensuing decade, your hosts missed out on the rise of a talented musician. Her slow-burn, consciousness-expanding, galaxy-brain funk track "Wait A Minute!" from 2015 showcased the voice of a full-fledged artist. So why couldn't we hear her? Whether because we perceived nepotism or industry sleight-of-hand as the cause of her success, or maybe because we just didn't think a celebrity kid could also have anything to say worth hearing.Whoops. And it's not just Willow. Turns out the whole Pinkett-Smith clan have discographies worth taking a closer listen to. Who knew Jaden was sampling 1930s jazz wailer Cab Calloway? Or that Jada fronted a death metal band who got booed for being Black in a white genre? Or that the much-maligned "Getting' Jiggy Wit It" by Big Willie Style himself....actually bangs?Songs discussed:Willow Smith - Transparent Soul, Wait A Minute!, Whip My HairOsamu - Koroneko No TangoJordy - Dur dur d'être bébé!Wicked Wisdom - Bleed All Over MeJaden Smith - IconCab Calloway - Hi De Ho ManWill Smith - Gettin' Jiggy Wit ItSister Sledge - He's the Greatest DancerThe Bar-Kays - Sang and Dance Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For nearly a decade, Julia Michaels has penned hit songs for the biggest acts in pop music. She is adept at turning people’s vulnerabilities into memorable hooks — think Justin Bieber’s “Sorry” or Selena Gomez’s “Lose You to Love Me.” There are countless others, but all of them share distinctive traits. Where many songwriters might turn to the simplest, almost nursery-rhyme-level lyrics to get the message across, Michaels does the opposite. She crams as many words as possible into each phrase. Her lyrics sound spoken. On her own hit song, her 2017 debut solo single “Issues,” she sings, “Bask in the glory, of all our problems / ’Cause we got the kind of love it takes to solve ’em”; it earned her a Song of the Year nomination at the 2018 Grammys, along with a Best New Artist nod. Her rhyming may sound accidental, but that’s the pop-song illusion. Michaels’s idiosyncratic phrasing has symmetry and her rhyming is indeed purposeful, all to illuminate her primary subject: the infinite recursions of human relationships. After releasing three EPs and countless singles of her own, Michaels has just released her first full-length album, Not in Chronological Order. On this week’s episode of Switched on Pop, Nate and Charlie try to identify Julias Michaels songwriting superpowers and then Charlie speaks with Michaels about how the vagaries of the heart inspire an endless stream of songs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The story of the hitmakers behind Lil Nas X’s “Montero” Sheck Wes’s “Mo Bamba” and many more Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lil Nas X has a talent for creating productive controversy. First with “Old Town Road,” he challenged expectations about blackness in country music. Now with “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” he takes aim at anti LGBTQ+ messages propagated by the religious dogma from his youth (he came out as gay during Pride 2019). The song describes a romantic encounter without innuendo. Sure it’s raunchy, but the song doesn’t especially stand out on Billboard where explicit sexual fantasy is commonplace. But his use of religious iconography in his video and merchandise created an immediate backlash. In the video to “Montero,” Lil Nas X rides a stripped pole into hades where he gives a lap dance to Satan (also played by Lil Nas X). Despite the obvious commentary on repressive orthodoxy, religious conservatives failed to see the subtext. The song became a lightning rod. But as pundits fought on social media about the song's meaning, most critics failed to look into the song’s musical references. Produced by Take A Daytrip, the duo behind Shek Wes’ “Mo Bamba” and Lil Nas X’s “Panini,” “Montero'' mashes up genres that take the listener on a global journey, sharing his message of acceptance across cultures.MusicLil Nas X — Montero, Old Town Road, Panini24kGoldn, iann dior - MoodDick Dale and his Del-Tones - MisirlouTetos Demetriades - MisirlouAris San Boom PamSilsulim - Static & Ben ElShek Was — Mo BambaLehakat Tzliley HaudBouzouki recording from xserra from FreeSound under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 LicenseMoreListen to Gal Kadan’s project: Awesome Orientalists From Europa on Bandcamp Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Earth Day 2021 gives us the chance to pause our usual programming and consider the role pop music plays in our deepening climate emergency. On Side A, we listen to artists who have confronted the climate crisis head-on. Side B considers the environmental cost of streaming music with Kyle Devine, author of Decomposed: The Political Ecology of Music.Songs Discussed:George Pope Morris - Woodman, Spare That Tree!Joni Mitchell - Big Yellow TaxiMarvin Gaye - Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)Tower of Power - Only So Much Oil in the GroundVarious Artists - Love Song for the EarthAnohni - 4 DegreesThe Weather Station - The RobberDJ Cavem - Sprout That LifeLearn more about the environmental impact of NFTs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices