Switched on Pop - Chartbreakers: Lorde & Drake reboot, Worship Pop, and the shortest song ever

Episode Date: May 20, 2025

What happens when worship anthems climb the charts alongside soul revivals and nostalgia-driven comebacks? The May 2025 Billboard charts reveal a fascinating musical landscape where Drake performs a strategic reset after his epic battle with Kendrick, worship-adjacent pop dominates the mainstream, and The Marias reject conventional song structures with dreamy success. From the bizarre 34-second Minecraft soundtrack hit to the rise of "voice audition pop," we're exploring how these competing visions of pop music reflect our collective anxieties and cultural shifts. Is this beautiful chaos the new normal? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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It's free for iOS users. Welcome to Switched on Pop. I'm songwriter Charlie Harding. I'm musicologist Nate Sloan. And I'm producer Rianna Cruz. Today we have another edition of our series chartbreakers, where we look at the charts to see what are some of the things we've been missing, what are the things that are rising, and we uncover the biggest themes on the charts.

We need a theme song for this, Charlie. Don't go break in my chart. Wow. Couldn't if I tried. Billboard Hot 100 week of May 17th, 2025. I love doing this because the Billboard chart is like the Oracle of Delphi. You know, you go, you supplicate, and the chart gives you infinite wisdom. It surprises you, it gives you insights in the deeper, innermost recesses of our collective soul.

I feel like we haven't done to chartbreakers in a while. And that's probably because all 100 songs were espresso by Sabrina Carpenter. for months and months and months. Of course, of course. And finally, it feels like there has been a real shift. And so in looking at the charts today, I want to group them into some of the big mythological categories. We've got the relaunch.

We've got worship pop. We've got vibe snatching, vibe shifting. We have got the voice audition. And we are going to check in with our bingo card because there's been a major update on the charts that I'm very excited about. Let's begin with the relaunch. There are a number of legacy acts who are on the charts right. now who are trying to reframe their later half of their career. As of a few months ago,

if you would ask me that Drake was ever going to show his face again after one of the most challenging hip-hop battles in which he notoriously lost, I would not expect him to be near the top of the charts. And yet, here's Drake with his song Nokia, currently at number five. Now I feel like we need to be all along. Yeah, I love that song, Charlie. I can't believe I'm saying this, but this might be one of my songs of the summer. It's from Drake's latest record, a collab record with Party Next Door, called Some Sexy Songs for You. And I think that really sums up Nokia.

You know, it's a playful track. It uses the old Nokia ringtone as the bedrock for a silly party song. And I like that you brought up the Kendrick Drake beef because the way that I feel about this song mirrors something Kendrick Lamar said in his multi-minute discrack euphoria in which he says, keep making me dance, wave in my hand, and there won't be no threat. Meaning, Drake is at his best when he's doing goofy party songs for people to dance to in the club. And the song is that. It feels like Drake is having fun on a track for the first time in a very long time. This is a big reset. This is him relaunching and just having a good time. We have a throwback 808 drumbeat. We have

him shouting out every girl that he's calling on his phone. Something that he's done many times before. Oh, yeah. Makes me think of Hotline Bling. Yeah, for sure. You used to call me on my cell phone. Day night when you need me. He's not just calling people on a Nokia cell phone.

He's also interpolating a DMX rap. There was Brenda Letitia, Linda, Felicia, Dawn, LaShawn, Inez, and Alicia, Teresa, Monica, Sharon. Nicky, Lisa, Veronica, Karen, Vicki. There's about 25 more women than he calls out. I thought that sounded familiar. I also like that we've got his line the way I feel right now. Drake is always in his feelings.

Another big hit of his in my feelings. So yeah, he's just going back in time sort of before the beef happened, relaunching, having a bunch of fun. And he's not the only one doing this. because the wonderful British Redhead who plays an acoustic guitar and loops it to no end. Ed Shearin has a track called Azizam, and it's at number 49. Azizam. Charlie, Rihanna, I like the story of this song more than I like the song itself. Oh, come on. We had a whole episode about learning to love Ed Shearan. Come on.

It didn't take, Charlie. Okay, okay. Now let me give you the backstory. Ed Shearin co-wrote and co-produced this song. with Ilya Salmanzadei. Hopefully I'm pronouncing his name right because he is a well-established hitmaker worked with Max Martin. He's Swedish-Iranian. He's made hits for Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Rihanna. And he hasn't really had the ability to express his own cultural background in his music before. So he and Ed collaborated on this song that uses this Persian phrase, Azizam, which means my dear or my beloved.

And they incorporated all these native Persian instruments, frame drums, dulcimers, plucked instruments that paid tribute to Ilya's heritage. And on paper, this just, I love everything about it. But then when I press play, I don't need to hear a butt. I don't need to hear a butt. What's your problem? Despite everything I've just described, when I hear the song, all I hear is Ed Sheeran. And what do I mean by that?

Simple chord progressions. I mean universal lyrics that are clearly trying to get like a huge radio hit and have the biggest pop appeal. And incredibly simple melodies that use the same four notes over and over and over again. As in memorable hook. See, I love this song. I think it is a fun dance track. And that's what I want from something which is going to get me dancing. I don't need the deepest lyrics in the world.

I really love the groove of this song. In fact, it's a little bit deceptive. If you just listen to the guitar in the beginning, you don't know exactly where we are in time. And then the drums come in and you realize we're in this 12-8 feel. I feel like the last dance song to break through with this vibe that really hit hard was Latch by a disclosure. The song that kicked off Sam Smith's career. I'm a sucker for that groove. What can I say?

I hear the both of you. But I do have to side with Nate because this song distills, my most serious issue with Ed Shearhan, no matter how interesting the instruments are, no matter how interesting the groove is, it's boring, he's boring. Truth. He don't have much of a personality. I find it very difficult to connect with him on a larger level. And this song is kind of infallible in the way it sounds, but I can't really connect with it. You know, it feels kind of, yeah, like meaningless lyrics, Nate, I believe that's

what you said. And I balk, perhaps, at a white guy talking about Persian, terms and saying, move me like the water. Fair, fair. I'll see you on the dance floor to Azizum sometime in the near future, and I want to prove you wrong. So we've got Drake and Ed Sheeran doing this big relaunch. And we also have another artist who's been around for a minute, Lord. She has a new song out called, What was that? It's a number 60 right now.

Like that. Indio hairs were in a sandstorm and it knocks me out. I didn't know then that you never be enough. Oh, since I was 17. I gave you everything now. We wake from a dream. Well, baby, what was that? What was that is the lead single from Lord's upcoming album, Virgin?

And I find this song more similar to Nokia than to Ed Sheeran's Persian joint because I feel like Ed Sheeran's trying new stuff, broadening his artistic scope. I find what was that very similar to Nokia in the sense that both Lord and Drake are kind of playing the hits. You could put this song on Lord's album Melodrama from 2017, and it would fit in perfectly. You know, it would flow really nicely. I think Lord's not really pushing the envelope here, and I don't know, is it working? I mean, for a fourth album in a more than decade-long career does feel like a bit of a return to form, right? She put out pure heroin in 2013, melodrama in 2017, solar power in 2021. That one kind of came and went.

I like solar power. Hey, not too much on solar power. Not too much on that. It did come and go. And she is now making a sort of return to form minimalist dance sort of sounds. I think it is not even that far from things we heard on her first album. Like, Royals has that same minimalist dance-infused vibe. I've never seen a diamond in the fledge.

I cut my teeth on wedding rings in the movie. And this return to form in minimalist dance production is laid bare in the song. She's talking about taking MDMA in the back garden. We have a sort of late 2010's pop drop synth vibe that is the chorus. Yes. It's very much looking backward. And I'm looking forward to it because, you know, I waited an hour for Lord to appear in Washington Square Park.

She had announced, hey, look out. I'm going to announce this song. Come and see me. Yeah. And only to end up in a crowd of students to be disappointed that she didn't get her permits. Everyone had to scatter. And then eventually she showed up many hours later and she danced around to this new vibe. I like the track.

I'm looking forward to it, even though I was sad that I didn't get to see her. Got to get your permits, people. Even rock stars need permits. The greatest minds of our generation have been befallen. Stymied by the New York City Parks Department. That's where real power lies. Speaking of power, if you want to feel power on the pop charts, it's everywhere right now. I want to go into our next section, from the relaunch to worship pop.

There is this trend happening right now where there are all these songs that feel sort of vaguely religious, sometimes direct references to God. Other times maybe just inspired by Imagine Dragons and the worship format. that we discovered in learning to love Coldplay. Indeed. And there are a number of tracks here. I want to start listening with Alex Warren's Ordinary. It's currently at number two.

This song just keeps building and building from its quiet ukulele beginning to this over-the-top song, which is anything but ordinary. And I think it's worship pop because it contains both imagery of God. I mean, he's saying, you know, return me to dust. You're the sculptor, I'm the clay. The angels are jealous. By the way, Christian TikTok is very up in arms about whether or not this is actually a Christian song.

But Alex Warren is a Christian. He hasn't even spoken about being inspired by worship music in making his tracks. But I think he's clearly also influenced by pop music. I mean, there are at least two very clear allusions to me that he's listening to pop music. There's that line, oh, my, my. Rinds me of Troy Savon.

Oh my, my, my. Phrasing that was also used on Boy with Love featuring Halsey by BTS. Yes, indeed. And just so you hear it again, here's Alex Warren do the same thing. Oh, my, my, you're taking me out of the ordinary. Did he also maybe take the lay me down to where dead and buried from Billy Eilish? Birds of a Feather was written back in 2023, released in 2024. Ordinary came out in 2025, so I wonder if that might have been in his ear.

the line about being dead and buried. So I'm hearing influences from both the pop world and the worship world in this sound of ordinary. This song fits firmly into the genre that me and my partner lovingly call love is blind music, referring to the Netflix dating show in which couples learn to love each other without seeing each other and then they meet in person and get married. Songs like this play every 30 seconds in the show. And the popularity of ordinary. It makes me wonder if there's a connection between the conservative slant that America is kind of in the process of plunging into and the rise of worship pop so high on the charts. Number two. Nokia was number two. These are big songs. I'm curious, Charlie, is there more of this

worship pop? Rihanna, you're in luck. There is a lot more Love is Blind style music. The worship pop continues in the sound of Miles Smith and his song Stargazing at number 26. I would like to posit this as my least favorite song on the charts right now. Shots fired. It's got that millennial, hey, your O-O-O's, like very throwback. It's like 2010 music. Welcome back Mumford and Sons. Yeah, exactly.

This is a song that just feels like it was written by AI. Because the thing is, the A.I. often do this thing where they begin with these like soft acousticy songs that somehow build into EDM and I never want those two things together. They're just like those are two different emotions. I understand like if this is like vaguely inspirational, we have to build throughout. But those two things just they don't need to mash up together for me. The worst thing about it though is I just feel like this is a really obvious vibe snatch. Time stood still just like a photograph you made me feel. Do you hear

what I'm hearing in the intro? Sounds familiar, Charlie. There's something about the strumming pattern of that guitar, dun, ding it-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-it-a. It's, I can't first. It's just, like, the first strumming pattern every guitar player learns to play. No, it's the vocal melody.

Time stood still. Maybe this is too de minimis to actually be taken from another song, but it reminds me so strongly of Trains' Hey, Soul, Sister. We've got a very similar strumming pattern here on the ukulele. We've got that strong kick drum that we hear in Miles' song, but you get that lipstick stains.

This is a Hey, Soul Sister Rehash. It's the major third in that three-quarter note rhythm, dot, dot, duh, dot, I hear the connection. I mean, it's very simple. It's very basic, so I don't think this is like copyright infringement, but. I have to come to Miles Smith's defense here. I imagine what draws a lot of people to the song is the quality of his voice. He's got a really nice instrument and I love the way he pronounces certain words with his British accent.

Can we just hear the way he says the word last, Charlie? Oh, how do you say that? Lost. It's great. Lost. Yeah, this is one of those songs that definitely has a great vocal. It ascends, it builds and it's supposed to give this feeling of love

stargazing. It has the feeling of intertwining soul. strangers meeting, and it has that uplifting quality of the sort of worship pop. I understand why people will dig it. It's just not for me. However, there is a song that is even more explicitly worship music that I think has a great vibe, even if the lyric isn't quite my thing. Here's Forrest Frank's Your Way's Better by number 61. Oh, Lord, I need you now more than ever would you put my heart back together? I search the world to my head.

Just to find out your ways better Oh, oh Your ways better Okay, now I'm realizing what this is It's Christian trap pop or something I feel like I just got blown back to 2017 Yeah This is just like white guy chants the rapper

Literally Exactly, I guess that's Wow As only one she love as much as me As Jesus Christ and Taylor I got a future song singing for my grandma. You singing too, but your grandma ain't my grandma.

Point being, this worship pop stuff, it's all over the charts right now. Well, we'll have to keep ruminating on the reasons for this religious revival on the pop charts. I think certainly what Rihanna said about our sociopolitical climate is probably relevant. For sure. But, you know, when we were listening to that Miles Smith track, there was something else that came up that I feel like we could explore further. It's a concept we've discussed on the show before. It's The Vibe Snatch, aka interpolating previous pop hits into new compositions. And I feel like this is having a moment again on the Hot 100, as evidenced by a track that sits

at number nine right now, Dochi's Anxiety. The Doche Sants continues, folks. I mean, this artist can do it all, rap, sing, interpolate your favorite. Goetier song into a new hit track about anxiety. I'm talking, of course, about somebody that I used to know featuring Kimbra. There's that iconic Glockenspiel line. And interestingly, we're in a bit of an interpolation wormhole here because Goetier is actually doing his own interpretation in that track from, what was that, 2012, I want to say? 2011. 2011, okay. Because he took a small sipet of a instrumental track by the Brazilian guitarist Luis Bonfa, his 1967 composition,

Seville. So we're like interpolating on interpolations here. That song is an assemblage of many samples. We actually spoke with Kimbra years ago about the making of that track. And I think it's kind of neat that someone has revived it. It feels like it's about time. And I feel like this song is getting all kinds of reception. But one thing I really like about how Dochi took this song is that I think she really redefined the meaning of it. You can really feel the sense of anxiety in her voice. And she gives us an entirely new melody. The beat is so iconic that I think it would have been over the top to borrow the chorus.

Instead, she creates a new hook on top of that iconic track. And all of the ways in which her voice is sort of talking on top of herself from whispered vocals, sung vocals, wrapped vocals, you can feel the sense of anxiety that I think is buried in this very interwoven multi-sample track. I gotta say, Charlie, you said that the Miles Smith song was your least favorite song on the Hot 100. I think I gotta go.

I think I gotta go with anxiety as my least favorite. It feels like every time I hear it, it's like boring a hole into my brain. I don't appreciate it, and I love Dochi. Like, Dochi's my girl.

But this is a little bit much, even for me. It's tough when you're sampling one of the most played radio hits of the last decade. If that's something that's already been driven in cheery year as an earworm. See, but I love that song, though. That's the thing. Maybe that's it. You know, maybe I love that Gotea track so much that anything over it is kind of sacrilege. Okay.

Can I give you another one maybe to not like? Hit me. All right. Here's a vibe snatch that I'm not getting down with. It's Lil Tecca's dark thoughts. at number 48. Wow, I'm honestly quite surprised that you're spending your cash on the bitch you never had.

I'm a tommy boy don't last so I ain't going to slide if that shit ain't by the bag, yeah. Wow, I'm honestly quite surprised that you brought up Lil Teca on Switched on Pop in 2025. I feel like I hadn't heard of this dude since 2019 when his song Ransom blew up and it peaked at number four on the Hot 100 actually. That was the last Little Tekka track that I tuned into. I love that song. I don't really tapped in with what you want. Hop outside of ghosts and hop up in a fan on.

I know I'm about a blow. Are you done? They try to take my floor. I take their assuress on. I love that song. I had really tapped in with what was going on in Teca World in the years since. But this feels very much in his wheelhouse. It's kind of auto-tuned, funky, dancey rap.

Tech is young. You know, he's only 22. So this is a very youthful track in line with what Bro has been doing over the past few years. I've got an issue with it, though. The second I hit play on the single Dark Thoughts, I'm like, whoa, I can't believe he got, he got Farrell Williams on this track? What? Now, for those of us who aren't familiar, Ferrell Williams has this producer tag that is a little bit more mysterious than most. We don't get a, it's Farrell Williams on the track.

Instead, he just does this little four-beat thing at the beginning of his songs, right? Milkshake by Kalees. Or All right by Kendrick Lamar. Or Fronten by Jay-Z. You get those four beats to Farrell hit. And I'm hearing the same exact thing on Dark Thoughts, including that very identifiable, punchy, electric guitar that we hear on Fronten. But here's the problem.

You go and you check the credits. Produced by Lucas Schraff and Foley's. Oh, so they're just jacking Farrell's whole swag. They're just jacking Farrell's thing. It's one thing to be like, you know, I'm really into those Ferrell things that happened back in the 2000s. I want that kind of sound. It's another to begin your track in the exact same way that Farrell would have. I know it's not quite a producer tag, but it is his thing.

And so if you're taking his sound and the way he would introduce it. it. If I were Farrell, I'd be pissed. Yeah, but, you know, Farrell clearly took that four-beat opening from the proud tradition of Balkan Bras music. What? Goran Bregevich's Kalishnikov. We don't talk about the Balkan influence on Western popular music nearly enough on the podcast. You made a point.

That's a heater, bro. Yeah. I love that. I surprised Nardwar hasn't asked him about that in one of their many conversations. There's another thing that Lil Tech is doing, which I feel like we need to explore on a future episode, which is that he is so constantly ahead of the beat. I get dark thoughts too, but I keep him. Sure you got a friend group of hoax, so I treat him. Like, we are no longer rhyming in time.

We don't need to. He's just like all over the place. It's a very popular phenomenon. It's not for me, but it's a thing that's going on right now. So those are our vibes snatches. I'm sure there's many more on the charts, but more than just vibe snatching. we also hear a real vibe shift that's taking place in pop music. And we're going to listen to that right after the break.

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New episodes drop Wednesdays on YouTube or in your favorite podcast app. Charles, I'm glad you brought up the vibe shift that we're hearing on this week's Billboard Hot 100 because I was very pleased to see one of my favorite bands represented on the Hot 100. It's the Marias. And they have a sound that is so distinct, I think, from anything we've listened to. It's kind of washy and gauzy and close-miked and mysterious. It really stands out on the charts. And I'm so excited to hear No One Noticed at number 28. I've been a fan of the Marias for a while. And what pleased me about encountering this track is that I feel like they haven't sacrificed any of their signature sound to achieve a higher level of success.

What is that sound? One thing they like to do are these harmonic progressions that feel very cyclical. Like, in this case, we're in the key of G major. But every time we get to that G major chord, they never give us like a true home. First, we have this G major seven chord, then it immediately goes to a G7 chord, then it goes to an A minor chord, and a D7 chord. So even if you don't understand exactly what those names mean, what I'm trying to convey is that you never feel like there's this clear tonal home in the song. There's no sense of rest. And what that does is bring this lyric to the four.

You know, no one noticed. There's this feeling of like being unsettled, not having a home. The song is about trying to make this like connection with someone, but you're always stymied by technology. And I feel like that unresolving core progression kind of gives us that feeling. Then there's the lead singer Maria Zardoya's voice, which is so delicate. She's always miced super close so you can hear her lips moving as she intones each word. And some of these guys love to do that you rarely hear these days is instrumental solos, trumpet solos, guitar solos, keyboard solos. Nice.

And we get one here. You get lost in these songs. The sense of time. It's like being in a casino. There's no clocks. You're like, where does it begin and where does it end? Is it three minutes or ten minutes? You don't know.

It's a really cool effect, and I'm glad to see them getting some shine. I mean, to be clear, they've also had features with Bad Bunny. They're not unknowns by any mean. But I don't know that they've had a song on the charts before. Now, this one's been on the charts for a whole 32 weeks, so maybe this represents a new step for them. We'll have to see. I think this is the best example of a vibe shift

because it's also representing part of the big form. shift, which is happening in pop music, it completely rejects the verse chorus structure. Right? Yes. We kind of get like a verse and then a second verse, an instrumental solo. And then this just like ongoing endless coda that goes off into infinity. It keeps on going and going. It repeats this very simple melody as more layers add on top.

It feels like music to end a film. It doesn't feel like a typical pop hit. It's something entirely new. It's a vibe shift for me. It feels very indebted to Bad Bunny's experimentation with song form. Maybe something they picked up as a result of collaborating with him. It's like if you mix Bad Bunny Songform with Billy Eilish aesthetics. Oh.

I don't know if I have a neat, tidy term for the vibe shift that the Marias represent. Dream pop, perhaps, comes to mind. ORA. Just aura. Yeah. I love it. But with another artist on the charts, Raven Lanay, I feel like we have a clear term to describe this vibe shift.

It's a soul revival. Her song, Love Me Not, is at number 41. I love that song, Dave. It feels like the type of song that when you hear it for the first time, it feels like you've known it your entire life. It's so familiar and yet so interesting. It's probably doing that through the familiarity. of its genre references.

I mean, we have classic, you know, electric guitar arpeggiating. We have a bass line and kick drum that feel very throwback soul. The voice is produced in a way that sounds like it's 50 years old. Yeah. It's a little bit of like slapback echo on it. Yeah, and it's sort of band limited through a like a low quality microphone. It's got a reverb that sounds like a soul reverb. What I think makes this song representative of a vibe shift, though, is that it's also adding to those nostalgic

touches. Because otherwise, I feel like we've been here before. You know, Rihanna, love on the brain, for instance, like really minds this same sound. But what Raven Leney does is puts in like these kind of weird touches that make it so it's not just a carbon copy of sounds from the past. There's a moment when she goes to the second verse when this really comes to the four. First, we get this weird, like electronic effect that sounds almost like a turntable being wound backwards. And then she switches up her voice. It's almost like Nikki Minaj-esque a little bit. She's like playing this character.

So there's almost an ironic distance to this sound. Let's check it out. Reverse beat. That's nice. Her vocal control is insane. I'm excited to see this artist and this sound maybe cast a wider net in the future. Well, I mean, I feel like there's a lot of other people pulling on the soul sound. Leon Thomas has a song called Mutt at number 13 right now, which begins with a soul sample,

and then gives us like P, Funk and R&B combined. Funknb, is that a thing? I don't know. Let's say listen. She said take your time with the rush. Think your time. A few years ago, we talked about Steve Lacey's bad habit, taking number one on the Hot 100. This track, Mutt seems to be from that same school of new.

wage R&B. It's pulling from the past but sounds entirely new. I mean, it's based off of a 1977 sample of a song called Silly Love Song by Enchantment. And yet, it doesn't feel like a 70s throwback by any means. Which I might not say the same for someone like Teddy Swims, who's also pulling on this soul revival. You know, his song like Bad Dreams at number 30. You know, Charlie, me and you joke around because I feel like this dude Teddy Swims.

kind of came out of nowhere. This is the second track I've heard from Teddy Swims, the first being, of course, his song, Lose Control. Lose Control, you know, this white guy's soul anthem. It has the longest consecutive climb to number one of all time on the Billboard Hot 100. It's one of the biggest songs of this decade so far. Oh, gosh, wow.

I think that success really hinges on one moment in the song. I really do believe this is why people keep coming back to the song. It's the chorus, it's the title line, and the way he sings it, I lose control. I mean, that is sublime text painting. We literally hear his voice go from this tight control. I lose, cun, downbeat, downbeat, downbeat, melisma, trollo. Like, you feel that in your bones when he does it. you're like, oh, I know that feeling of losing control.

Now, to be clear, he's also like nailing that vocal run perfectly, which is also very satisfying. Yeah. But I just think you come back to that again and again and it never fails to hit. What about his next single Bad Dreams? Is it doing it for you? I mean, I find it really satisfying in the same throwback way as lose control. I don't know if it quite will reach the same dizzying heights of that previous single.

Yeah. But yeah, I think it's super effective. I don't know. What about y'all? I feel like it's kind of a neat maybe interpolation or it reminds me of actually not a soul song, but rather a song that comes out in the folk and then rock tradition as soul is coming about. I think that this might have been inspired by Bob Dillens all along the watchtower. Wow. Am I crazy?

I don't know. I could see it. You're on to something, Charlie. The rhythm and the motion of those first two chords is spot on. And yet, I feel like this is a coincidence. I mean, this song is in collaboration with Julian Bonetta, who gave us the world of espresso, so much one-direction music. This guy's a music head, and so I wouldn't be surprised if this was an intentional

a little nod, or maybe something he's just absorbed as a music head. I'm glad we're talking about this Teddy Swims track, because I feel like we can also use it as a pivot to another category that's not ours to identify. It's actually from the Rolling Stone author Larisha Paul. she describes the music of Teddy Swims and two other chart toppers, Benson Boone, and the aforementioned Alex Warren, as a genre she calls voice audition pop. And what that means for those unfamiliar is the reality singing competition, the voice, this is the voice. And the kind of material that lends itself to performances on that show and perhaps American Idol as well and other shows of this nature.

Yeah. Inspirational, belty, slightly generic white guy pop. Yeah. This is an article that really made the rounds, I think, in our musical communities because it did that thing where you read and you're like, oh, yeah, I know exactly what she's talking about. Yeah. So we just heard Teddy Swims, Bad Dreams.

How about Benson Boones? Sorry I'm here for someone else, which is what number on the charts, folks? It's currently a number 32. I think it's so fitting that you bring up. up Benson Boone in this quote unquote voice audition song category. Because Benson Boone actually got a start on a voice show. He was a contestant on American Idol in 2021. I didn't know that. Me neither. Yeah. So this is his bread and butter, you know, these vocal showcases. He's in a different category, I think, than Teddy swims. Like, Teddy really convinces me when he's

losing control, but he actually has complete control. I think part of what Benson Boone's voice does for us, when Larisha Paul gives us the sort of like voice audition analogy is that he's kind of pushing into a range where he can't quite hit it. And I think there's something about those sort of frailty and those upper notes that is relatable. Like when you go out into karaoke, when you are auditioning for your voice dreams, like it feels just a little bit, I don't mean to me mean, but it's a little amateurish. Right? It's like a little bit untrained. Yeah. I think there's this characteristic of not necessarily bad singers.

Like usually singers with a lot of gumption do this, even though they can't hit the notes. They strain. And when you strain, you start screaming. Because you can't exactly hit the notes traditionally. So you're pushing your voice to the limit and you just end up yelling. Right. That's, I think, what bumps for me about Benson Boone. It's a lot of yelling.

It's very loud. When I went to Coachella, Benson Boone was on the main stage and the outdoor stage next to that had Tyler on it. And they were performing at the same time, and I literally could not hear Tyler, despite being directly in front of her stage because Benson Boone was yelling so loud that it dominated every other stage at Coachella at that time. So he's a loud dude. And I know that it works for people, but that's why his voice does not work for me. I mean, he's being presented as a Freddie Mercury-like singer. Visually, that's how they're presenting him. He literally had Brian May from Queen come out and they did Bohemian Rhapsody together at Coachella.

I didn't find it entirely convincing because Benson Moon is not a Freddie Mercury four-octive range kind of performer. He's kind of the karaoke version of it. You can hear the sort of voice break in his other big hit, beautiful things. Which hit number two. You can hear the voice straining and rasping. You can hear him spitting trying to get to those notes. Yeah. Guys, gumption pop.

We just discovered a new category. Gumption. Love the word gumption. Gumpchin pop. Anything else in voice audition chor here? Well, I have a song that I'm going to bring to the table that's slightly different in that it's not necessarily voice audition pop in this traditional sense, but it comes from a talent show. Wait, what?

I'm talking about the girl group Katzai and their song Narlie, which is currently at number 92. So I can imagine you hear that. You're like, what the hell is going on here? Who is Katzai? Yes. It's six women. They were put together in the show Dream Academy, a la show like making the band or how people are put together on shows like The X Factor to form bands like Fifth Harmony in one direction. Dream Academy is a show produced by Hybe, which is a K-pop label and Geffen records. And for all intents and purposes, Katzai was put together to serve the same purpose as a K-pop group. Okay, but then how on earth did they end up with a jock jam's sound alike? I mean, is this like an interpolation of get ready? No, you're warm, Charlie, but it's actually

the Mortal Kombat theme song. Kidding me? And then they have the sound effects of like the sword being taken out of the sheath, too. It could also be like a Romstein riff that's downsample. bold, I don't know. What a bizarre track. It's crazy. And the lyrics of the song are notable because they're so irreverent. Just listen to the first verse. They could describe everything with one single word. You know? Like nobody. Tesla. Fried chicken. Oh my God. That new beat. So the first time I listened to this, I said, wow, this sounds familiar. And I think I have a little bit of

unique insight as to why the lyrics sound like this. So as the both of you know, I have been deeply invested in the underground hyperpop scene for the better part of a decade. This track is a hyperpop track for all intensive purposes. Right? Like we have those glitchy textures. We have those Sophie snares. And this song has a writing credit from an artist named Alice Longue Gow, who is really notable in the underground hyperpop scene. She's worked with artist like Dylan Brady. And I remember a while ago seeing a video of Alice Longue Gow singing this very song with surprisingly enough the chain smokers. What? They could describe everything with one single word. Yeah. You know, like Boba Tea.

Barley. Tesla. Fried chicken. Marley. Smash on the Hollywood Hills. This song. You're saying that this song started as a TikTok video with the chain smokers? You know, like Boba Tea. Wow. Have I ever heard a song about Boba Tea? I love Boba Tea, and I like Narley. I like Alice's vibe and what she's bringing to Katzai. I like it too.

I feel like this song has gotten a lot of unnecessary hate. Perhaps I think people are expecting a lot of Katzai for being a quote unquote global girl group. People are expecting something like Black Pink. We're in a Black Pink drought right now since all the members are doing their solo projects. wears new jeans, nowhere to be found. So I think people are expecting a lot of this group and this kind of stripped back experimental hyperpop song is not what people are expecting. That being said, though, I really enjoy it. I'm kind of on the cat's eye train.

Nariza Bob. I got Siriana, if I'm going to have to do a voice audition, I now know which song I'm going to pick. Y'all, I have the perfect segue, right? Okay. We just heard that lyric about fried chicken being gnarly. Yeah. Narnly. It brings us so perfectly to our final selection of the day.

I'm talking about a song that has just set a new Billboard record. It's currently at number 98, though it was higher a few weeks ago. And the record it is set is that it has officially become the shortest song to ever appear on the Billboard Hot 100. I'm talking, of course, about Jack Black. and Steve's Lava Chicken from the Minecraft movie soundtrack. So then for fair use reasons of a 34-second song, we'll play like five seconds of it. Uh, what?

Okay, full disclosure, I have not seen the Minecraft movie. I was going to say, Nate, do you want me to provide some context? Rihanna, B.R. Gen Z Whisperer. So in the Minecraft movie, Jack Black plays this character, Steve. Okay. And basically, all these people in the real world get transported to the Minecraft world, and Steve's showing them around because he's been living in the Minecraft world for a grip. So he's showing them all around, takes them to his food

stand, and he makes lava chicken, where he puts a pixelated chicken in this oven situation, lava gets poured on it, boom, we have chicken that you can rip off like a rotisserie and eat it. Okay, so you just explained what happens. You did not make sense. I'm fascinated by the song for a few reasons. One, Jack Black is the co-composer with Jared Hess. Does that ring a bell for anyone? Director of Napoleon Dynamite. Director of Napoleon Dynamite.

Director of the Minecraft movie as well. Very happy to see him on the pop charts. And not only is it setting this new record for shortest song on the Billboard, just beating out Kid Cuddy's beautiful trip from 2020, which was three seconds longer, 37 seconds. But y'all, this also allows us to cross off one of our Switched-on Pop 20-25 bingo squares where we had a prediction that we would encounter a sub two-minute song on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. Y'all, we surpassed that prediction by our wildest imagination.

We have not only have a sub-two-minute song, we have the shortest song in Billboard history, thanks to Steve's lava chicken, a sentence I never thought I would utter in my life. And I'm so grateful that I was able to. Again, you've explained it, but you're not making any sense. And I feel like we've done the same thing about the charts today. It is really all over the place, right? Like, we have seen major relaunches of careers. We have worship pop on the charts.

People are vibe snatching, vibe shifting, souls return, auditioning for the voice, singing about Lava Chicken. I don't even know what's going on. But it has been a really fun time doing chartbreakers with you all. And so I figure we will check back in in a few more months and see where the charts are Until then, Thanks for listening. No, that's what we do in our credits.

Shoot, we're ahead of ourselves. Roll credits. Switched on Pop is produced by Raina Cruz, edited by Art Chung, engineered by Brad McFarlane, illustrations by Iris Gottlieb. Our theme music is by Jossi Adams and Zach Tenario of Arc Iris,

or member of the Vox Media Podcast Network, a production of Vulture, which is part of New York Magazine. You can subscribe at mymag.com. Find more episodes anywhere you get podcasts, and head over to our website, switchonpop.com to sign up for our email. list will only blast you once a week with an email going deeper into some of the themes from our show.

It's also where you're going to get your bingo card if you want to follow along and potentially win the prize of, I don't know, being the best musical follower of the year. Well, I don't want to give it away too much, but, you know, this song, Steve's Lava Chicken, could actually X out two of your bingo cards because another one we have on there is a hit from a movie soundtrack. So it's kind of a two-for-one with Steve's Lava Chicken. Wow, this song just keeps giving and giving. We'll be back again next Tuesday with an episode about another Billboard hit that we didn't talk about today.

And that's Charlie X-DX's Party for You. Wow, five years after. Exciting. Until then. Thanks for listening. Attention Spotify. Has arrived on the new Good Girl Jasmine Absolute of Caroline Herrera, a fragrance intense with character Gourman and addicive.

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