Switched on Pop - How The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” used retro sounds and modern bass to break every record

Episode Date: February 2, 2021

This Sunday, The Weeknd will perform his distinctly dark brand of pop at the Super Bowl halftime show. On the surface, the alter-ego of Abel Tesfaye is a strange pick for the ostensibly family-friendly main-stage — for more than a decade, The Weeknd has fused the sounds of pop, R&B, and trap into a cinematic horror-thriller about drugs, sex and the excess of fame. While his sheer volume of Hot 100 hits have rightly earned him mainstream status, even his most commercial material is hardly PG — the 2015 hit “Can’t Feel My Face” is an 80s throwback laced with on-the-nose cocaine metaphors.  But over the last year his subversive image has been rewritten by the song “Blinding Lights,” from his 2020 album After Hours. The song vaulted up the charts in March 2020, supported by a viral TikTok challenge: Using the song’s opening instrumental as inspiration, countless families performed the dance together while sheltering in place. Since then, seemingly every radio format, adult contemporary included, has played this song on repeat, making it the longest running song in the Hot 100 top five and top ten (given the songs success, The Weeknd is justly aggrieved by the Grammy’s recent snub). On Switched on Pop’s first episode as part of Vulture, we break down how “Blinding Lights” blends lyrical relatability with musical familiarity, earning The Weeknd the biggest and perhaps most misunderstood hit of his career. Songs Discussed The Weeknd - Blinding Lights Michael Sembello - Maniac a-ha - Take on Me Bruce Springsteen - Blinded By The Light Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Blinded By The Light The Weeknd - Can't Feel My Face The Weeknd - Faith The Weeknd - In Your Eyes The Weeknd - Save Your Tears The Weeknd - Until I Bleed Out More Read Chris Molanphy's "Why the Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” Is the First Chart Topper of the Coronavirus Era" Thanks to Arc Iris for the theme song reharmonization Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Euphoria of Calvin Klein, the new collection elixir. Three new elixires perfume intense. Solar, magnetic, ball. Pulsa in the banner. Do you quiz and discover your fragrance euphoria. Welcome to Switched on Pop.

I'm songwriter Charlie Harding. And I'm musicologist Nate Sloan. Nate, we have some very exciting news to share with people. We'll be moving Switched on Pop from Vox.com to its sibling publication, New York Mags, Vulture, which is known for its amazing culture, and especially music coverage. Yeah, this is like thrilling. I've been reading Vulture every single day for, I don't know, five years now.

So it's pretty cool to finally be a part of this magazine that I'm so familiar with. Yeah, and for those of you who are new listening coming from Vulture, thank you for joining us. We're really excited to have you be a part of this conversation diving deep into the world of how popular music works and why it matters. And for those of you who've been listening for a long time, just know you're going to have the same share. show the same hosts. We're going to keep having great conversations with artists, songwriters,

and producers. And you'll also be hearing voices from many of our colleagues at Vulture, some of whom have actually been on the show in the past. Like Megan, the Stallion and Cardi B, Switched on Pop and Vulture is a dream co-lab. And to mark this occasion, I think the best thing that we could do is to get right into the music and talk about what is arguably the biggest song of the last three years, potentially in some ways all time. Whoa. The weekend's blinding lights. Big claims here, Charlie.

Let's dig in. So the weekend is performing very soon at the Super Bowl, after a decade-long career proving that his vision of this nightmarish, dark R&B sound, is the sound of pop. And what we want to do today is understand this song, Blinding Lights. It is truly breaking records. What makes it work? how did it get here and what is its legacy?

Let's just get right into the song. Let's take a listen to the chorus. Get our first impression. I've been hearing this track so much over the last few years, but we've been shirking our responsibility, not analyzing this massive hit. And I'm excited to actually really dig deep into what are the musical properties that has made this song

get stuck in our heads for years now. You're absolutely right. This is long overdue. And in the time that we have put off, lots of other folks have thought really deeply about this track. And I want to start with an insight from one of our new colleagues at Vulture. Hi, this is Craig Jenkins from Vulture. I think the appeal of the weekends' blinding lights is twofold. Firstly, it's a catchy song about longing for human touch, which is a feeling that we can all relate to during quarantine

when we're all physically separated out of necessity for public health. But it also speaks to the deep and unsubtle 80s nostalgia. of an era where intellectual properties like the Karate Kid and Dune and He-Men and Shira are all of a sudden back in fashion. In music, relatability and familiarity are the key ingredients and the recipe for a hit record. So an illuminating breakdown from Craig here,

it's like two things go into this song's success, this nostalgia for the 80s sonic palette that we're hearing in the tune. That familiarity. Yeah. And then these lyrics that, you know, I guess unintentionally, because this song came out before COVID began, right?

Right. Yeah, it actually debuted back in November of 2019 in a Mercedes commercial in which there are some fast cars driving around, which will come up later actually in the entire imagery and rollout of this song. But yeah, it's been around for a minute. I mean, so that's like almost Nostradamus-like, the way it predicted our current lockdown state with these lyrics about longing for touch. So, yeah, okay, interesting.

Familiarity and relevance for Craig. is like two of the benchmarks of this song's success. So let's dig into those ingredients of this recipe. Let's look at relatability. You mentioned how, yeah, these lyrics seem to presage what is going to happen with the world. And they are words that have really resonated with people. They've provided a canvas in which we can paint our own experience.

This is Andre from Dallas, Texas. I think we can relate a lot of the lyrics in Blinding Lights to what we are currently living through, just pandemic and COVID-wise. If you look at the lyrics in the first verse, I've been trying to call, I'm going through withdrawals, you don't even have to do much, you can turn me on with just a touch. I feel like these are things that we are all feeling during and in a COVID world. During the bridge, I look around and since cities cold and empty, a lot of us are still quarantining and social distancing, so the cities that we're living in are cold and empty. I love that. It's uncanny. I mean, when they were writing this song, the weekend probably was coming up with this imaginative image of, you know, the busiest city, Sin City, Las Vegas being empty. And that was kind of this fantastical idea. And now it's a reality. How just how bizarre.

Right. This metaphor of blinding lights can mean so many things. In the world of the song, there are city lights. There is perhaps the metaphor of like, operati cameras, right? Right, right. Dealing with his struggles with fame. But there's also a relationship here and perhaps stories of a relationship not going well, hoping the person will come back. This is a song where there is as much sadness as there is potential, sort of that hopefulness, the bright lights, but they're also blinding us.

And I think that that paradox is something that we can see ourselves in, but it's something we can also hear. The song is built upon this musical bed, which is equally dark as it is hopeful. It is this repeating chord loop where the first half are these minor chords, an F minor, and then a C minor. But then it kind of brightens up into these major chords, a E-flat major, and a B-flat major. And it repeats again and again. So we feel all of those feelings that are this great canvas in which we can paint our own experience. Right. So in the background, the song is like constantly oscillating from dark minor to

bright major and back and forth and back and forth. Yeah, exactly. And I think while that's not a novel way of writing a chord progression, it's one where the chords really sort of match the mood, where strangely, this is a very dark song. And yet for a lot of us, we hear it as like an upbeat bop of a track. It's dark, but it's fun. Yeah. You do some angsty dancing to this, I think. Totally. And it feels familiar, as Craig said. This is part of what makes it feel comforting. I think one way that it's actually familiar is also just in the title, the main hook of the song.

And strangely, it took me more than a year to realize this. The song, Blinding Lights, doesn't actually use the words blinding lights in the lyrics at all. No, no, no. Every chorus, he sings, ooh, I'm blinded by the lights. That's right. He does. but he doesn't say blinding lights. Okay, I see what you mean.

I see what you mean. Huh, that is curious now that you mention it. What's that about? I think it's kind of obvious. Blinded by the light is a very famous song first written by Bruce Springsteen, covered by Megerman's Earth Band. And frankly, it's one where it's like,

maybe not calling it blinded by the light helps it work better in search engines. like it's easier to find blinding lights, you're not going to get it confused, so it has its own identity. Yeah. But using the title that we know makes it familiar in this way where it's like, you know you know it, but you can't point to it because the sort of sonic characteristics of this song are so different than the Bruce Springsteen or Nader Man's version. Okay. Yeah, yeah. I see what you're, I'm picking up what you're putting down here.

It's like, well, wait a minute, let's not call it. Let's not have the exact same title as this other song. Let's mix it up. Blinding lights. Right. Yeah. Okay. Right.

And it does it by putting it into this other category of sound. This other genre, frankly, right? And that was the other side of Craig's comment, right? It has to be relatable, which is the lyrical component, just perfectly hitting this moment. And it also has to be familiar. This is like stranger things in a pop song. And for a lot of listeners, these sounds of the 80s are what makes this song work so well. Hi, my name is NASA.

I'm a listener from Cork City in Ireland. The beat at the beginning kind of sounds like maniac by Michael Sembello. And I think you guys have talked before about the ages kind of coming back into the sound of pop. And I think Blinding Lights is definitely part of that trend. And it might explain part of why it's having such a long run. Whoa, Cork City represent. She nailed it. Yeah.

I never connected this blinding lights to the flash dance vibes I was subconsciously getting every time I listened. Yeah, wait, why do those sound so familiar? Part of it is the drumbeat maybe? Yeah, definitely. The blinding lights version here that takes a very similar drumbeat is at 171 beats per minute. It is moving right along. Yeah. And I think that the speed of the song is part of what maybe tempers the dark minor.

of it and makes it feel really fun. Yeah. Wait, give me that weekend drumbeat for a second. You know what I notice? It's fast, but it's also very simple. Very simple. It's like, boom, chip, boom, boom chip, boom chip, boom chip, boom chip. It's very straight ahead.

It's not very syncopated. Right. It sounds kind of old, I think in part because most of the drumbeats we're used to today are so complex thanks to the skittering, rattling high hats that we are familiar with and trap music, like maybe the most contemporary kind of drum sound, which are so syncopated and sort of rhythmically adventurous. This beat by contrast just is like, I'm not going to do anything fancy. I'm just going to chug along and just you're going to get swept up in it.

Do cha, do, do, do chah, do chah, do chah. This might not be a fancy drum beat, but for Ben, host of the podcast, the skip button, the drumbeat is the undergirding that gives the song all of its propulsive energy. It doesn't really let up except for maybe one time in the pre-chorus and then at the very end where you kind of get a sense of how sad the song actually is. But until then, it's just thumping away.

And it's such a basic pattern, but around it, you get to have these synth lines and these arpeggios that all syncopate around it. But the thing that makes it so danceable and the thing that makes you want to hit the replay button is the fact that that drum line do-ta-do-do-da-do never lets up. I love that.

It almost sounds like you're back in the 80s and someone just like brought one of the first drum machines into the studio. And they're like, check this thing out. Like go like, whoa, that's so cool. Just keep it going and let's do all this stuff. It's like it has that 80s spirit of creativity and newness.

Absolutely. It's also rudimentary. I love it. Yeah. It's a sound that was wildly popular in the 80s. There are so many songs that you, use this style beat as its rhythm section. And I think a song where we're getting that same kind of cognitive resonance time machine quality back to the 1980s is AHA's take on me.

There's the beat. Right. Here we also get a synthesizer, kind of what Ben was saying. It dances all around the beat. All of a sudden it becomes way more interesting. It's like you can dress up that drum beat in so many different ways. Yeah, I don't think. I think I realized until now what an 80s formula that is. Like get that drum be going and then like drop some synths on top and you'll probably have a hit. And it's a sound that many listeners enjoy. Hi, I'm Holly. My favorite musical moment in the song is in the introduction of the song where there is a quiet synth that prepares you for the larger synth that transcends you into this bigger picture of the song.

And it goes like, Then it pauses, then it goes into this drumbeat that goes like, do you check, do you check, do check, do it has a pretty haunting beginning sound, but then it transforms into this danceable, upbeat song like blinding lights. Wait, I want to be able to purchase a version of the song where Holly just sings every single part. So the a cappella. I'm just going to put that out into the world and see what she does with that. Oh, it's truly joyous. And part of the connection to the 80s, through its synthesizers, I think is that joy. It is the comforting nostalgia. And I think

that the weekend is really smart here. He is working with material that he has mined before. You know, if we go back to a song like Can't Feel My Face, which we broke down all the way back on episode 20 back in 2015. That song likewise will be the death of me, at least we'll both be known. And she'll always get the best of me. The worst is yet to come. That song likewise really feels like it's sort of pulling on a, you know, Michael Jackson sort of aesthetic. Right.

And part of what he does that I think is so brilliant is taking those elements that, yeah, you're like, I know exactly what that is, but I can't quite place it. Like it's not quite aha. It's not quite like a maniac. It's its own thing, but it's all of those combined. Right, that's interesting too because he's also working with one of the same collaborators from I Can't Feel My Face, the kind of dean of modern songwriting, Max Martin. Right. The guy who's composed hits from everyone from Britney Spears to Taylor Swift and has kind of this magic touch for modern pop. Right, and he's kind of elusive in that he's able to very easily slip.

between styles, the only way that I know that I'm hearing a Max Martin production and songwriting is that just like everything clicks. But other than that,

he's a chameleon. And when we listen to blinding lights, it's very clear that he's choosing along with the weekend and the other collaborators here,

very deliberate points of reference in the 1980s, but still making the song sound entirely contemporary. One of the ways that we can hear that contemporary quality

is the underlying base because it's doing something we wouldn't have heard in the 1980s, something which is thoroughly of the 2010s and what are we in now? The 2020s? I can't believe 2020. Yeah, we're in the 2020s.

Pretty sure, yeah. It's that 808 style baseline. Yeah, that synthesized base that's so low, it's so deep, it's almost subterranean. It's like it's a very modern sound because it's almost at the edge of audibility and it's like yeah as much

felt as it is heard absolutely it's like you perceive the pitch but you also just kind of like feel this like deep vibration in your gut and that is the like the kind of hallmark sound of a lot of modern bass production that 808 drum that just like kind of cuts you to the quick and like literally makes your whole body vibrate that's what we've got going on here. Yeah, absolutely. It's the connective tissue across Billboard's Hot 100. If you listen to songs across genre, you hear that

808 bass sound. I mean, let's just check it out really quickly. Let's see what we have. Like, 34 plus 35 remix, Ariana Grande and Dojicat. There's the subterranean 8.08 bass. Another frequent

Max Martin. collaborator, actually. That's true. But she's not alone. Let's see. What else we have? AJR's bang. The song is called bang. It's got to have a deep bass. There it is. Yeah, and now we're in like a very different style than Ariana Grande's R&B. We're in some, I don't know what we call this post-rock polka or something. But still, there's that deep, sludgy, subterranean bass once again. Yeah. Right. And of course, this sounds. can be heard most prominently in the world of hip hop and trap

which pioneered the deep 808 bass. Let's see, we could take on the Hout 100 right now little babies on me and I'm sure it's got an 808, let's see. There's that deep 808. And hey, the weekend, Max Martin, the rest of the songwriting team, smart enough to realize you can even

use this sound to make an 80s kind of production sound totally modern. Is that an technically? That's an interesting question, right? Yeah, I think we've talked about it briefly, but basically the 808 is the 808 drum machine. It's known for its very deep bass sound. Producers figured out that they could pitch that bass sound really, really, really low, and it actually becomes a bass sound, not a bass drum, but actually like a bass instrument. Now people use samples and synthesizers to sort of approximate that sound and to make it even

more rich and harmonic. So my guess is no. Okay, cool. Just wanted to clarify that. This is cool because I'm hearing this very familiar song in kind of a new way, right? These like classic 80s elements, the pulsing drums, the screaming synthesizers, but underneath it this very modern bass sound, that gives us this familiarity. The lyrics have just enough ambiguity that they can touch on our present moment in this surprising way. I'm starting to understand now why this song has been a hit with such longevity. Yeah, I think those are some of the essential components that make this song a hit.

Though this is kind of the uncomfortable thing is that every pop song is successful, both because of its catchiness, its artistry, the thing that I think you and I are most attracted to, but also because of commerce. And there are a lot of non-musical factors that help drive this song up the chart and have maybe even distracted us from the song's larger meaning, all of which we'll explore right after the break. Maria, you have a podcast now and you need to start. acting like it. What's the first step as a podcaster? Well, you have to ask lots of questions. I'm Maria Sharpova and I'm hosting a new podcast called Pretty Tough. Every week, I'm sitting down

with trailblazing women at the top of their game to discuss ambition, work ethic, and the ups and downs that come on the path to achieving greatness. I have a few pretty tough questions for you. Okay. Ready? Ready. Do not sugarcoat something for me. No, no. We'll dive into their stories and get valuable insights from top executives, actors, entrepreneurs, and other individuals who have inspired me so much in my own journey. Pretty tough is your front row seat to the women who have demonstrated the power in being unapologetic in their pursuits. I hope you'll join us. New episodes drop Wednesdays on YouTube or in your favorite podcast app. Immigration may be Donald Trump's signature issue. President Trump is now targeting predominantly Democratic cities for ice raids and deportations.

protesters clashing with immigration and customs enforcement agents in Minneapolis Tuesday. We will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came. But what we want to do in this space is talk about America and politics beyond the current president. So what do most Americans think about deportation and border security, period? I think that Americans are definitely against the kind of violent displays that we've seen in the street from ICE. when it comes to the question of deportation, the answer is more complicated. My sense is that people want border at the border. They don't like the idea of having no idea who's coming into the United States at any given time.

The view on immigration from the bottom up instead of the top down. That's this week on America Actually. Every Saturday in your audio and video feeds. Okay, so inside A, we explored some of the musical reasons why this song has gotten stuck in our heads. But you're saying there's also some, I guess, extra musical reasons. Some things happening in the world that have, like, pushed this song to the front of our consciousness.

Yeah, I need to know more about this. What's going on? You know, now we're getting into the territory that is not my expertise. So I had to call up chart whisperer Chris Malanfi from the podcast, Hit Parade, who told me that no one could really see coming. What kind of impact this song was going to have? I don't think it's possible for any label or any artist to foresee that a song is going to connect the way this one has. The sheer longevity.

It is basically breaking longevity records left, right, and center. Chris told me that Blinding Lights is the longest running song in the top five and top 10. It's piling up new records every single week. Like, by the time this is out, it will have some other record. But what's curious is that this song actually only had a very short run at number one, just four weeks back at the start of the pandemic, due to the success of a viral dance. Right at the start of the pandemic, there were all these TikTok videos of little assemblages of friends and family who were in their bubbles together, doing little sprockets like dances. Do you remember these back in March and April? No, I think I missed this trend.

Okay, well, it was basically the moment when seemingly every millennial and boomer took over TikTok because people decide, all right, they've got a shelter in place at home, and what are we going to do? We're going to do TikTok challenges together as a family, and Blinding Lights has this just absurdly simple but very fun kind of running in place, silly arm movement, dance routine that became a massive TikTok challenge. It actually just plays along to the instrumental section at the beginning because Blindingieding Lights, strangely doesn't start with a chorus or a hook. It actually has this very long, dramatic instrumental, who knew, perfect for composing a viral dance too. Blinding Lights was the mass appeal consensus record, especially in a tough year where people needed comfort food, that radio stations felt comfortable playing just through the winter, the spring, the summer,

and the fall. From TikTok, radio stations pick up on this song. And remember, it's important to note that Billboard's Hot 100 is built up of streaming as well as sales and still radio play. Still very powerful part of the songs that chart. And Blending Lights happens to be this cross-generational, cross-format song that has gone from pop to as far as even adult contemporary radio. The reason it plays on adult contemporary now is that it's not going to weird out a 45-year-old listener in addition to its top 40 airplay and its R&B radio. airplay. You know, it, short of country, it kind of works everywhere. Radio play is what takes this song from a short number one hit viral sensation to this multi-month record-breaking track,

where it's safe to play it alongside an aha or Phil Collins and being associated with these icons, I think, makes it just a wide mainstream pop song that alongside the lightheartedness of the TikTok dance has really shifted the perception of the weekend and given him, frankly, the biggest platform that he'll probably ever have. I don't think the weekend gets the Super Bowl halftime show if Blinding Lights doesn't happen. Blinding Lights is mass appeal, middle American pop music like nothing he has released before has been. Right. If we look back to the weekend's larger catalog, there is a lot of darkness in the lyrics and behind the madness. Oh yeah. Sex, drugs. Yeah. Loneliness. Right. It's a very noir-like canvas that he uses.

Can't Feel My Face is a song about cocaine use. It was a big hit, but also one which is not as safe for what can be very conservative pop radio. And definitely not one that feels like it should be seen by family sitting around on their sofa watching the Super Bowl. giving him this Super Bowl is a big opportunity. And as Chris said, it doesn't happen without blinding lights. It probably doesn't happen if not for all of these TikTok dancers that make it feel like, hey, this is our own thing. Right. And then all the radio DJs who are like, oh, I can play this over and over and people will enjoy it of all ages.

Totally. In some ways we can think of this as almost like the consolation for the fact that the weekend had a major snub at the Grammys. because this larger work that he has with the record after hours, there is some very heavy stuff there. And perhaps the mass appeal of blinding lights has even distracted us from the larger artistic purpose. I think that this is one of the most expertly executed rollouts of a song and album that I've ever seen.

The weekend has been trying so hard to deliver his message, and everybody just wants to do a fun dance on the side. For over a year, the weekend has been appearing in this 1980s red blazer with these sunglasses, he's got a new look mustache, new hairdo, it looks like he's out on the town in Las Vegas, and each time we see him, it's in an increasingly worse state. The first video for Heartless has him out on the town, the Blinding Lights video, continuing the same look in the same evening, has him in a bender. He might have gotten in a car crash driving those fast cars that we had seen in the Mercedes commercials, which first initiated the song. And he's looking bruised and beaten up, bloodied. It continues. He does all of these live events.

He goes on the Kimmel stage. He goes to the VMAs. He goes to the AMAs. And each of these events, he's still in that suit. time looking progressively worse the bandages coming off he eventually by the end of it in the recent video for save your tears that comes out a full year later in january of 2021 it's revealed that he is in a full new face of really sort of botched plastic surgery looking puffy and really not very good performing on a club award show kind of stage maybe even a little nod to the grammies who he's

upset with for not acknowledging this record It's a brilliant rollout of this image, which feels like, yeah, the washed up rock star kind of style. We can see the struggles with fame, the struggles with substance abuse, the struggles with alienation from everything. This is like a Joaquin Phoenix level of commitment to a bit. he is really he's really going for it I commend him for for that kind of commitment that's cool and sounds like what you're saying is this is all pushing us to read the lyrics of blinding lights in a different way that's exactly right because it's much more than just visual which is queuing us to understand the true meaning of blinding lights when we spend time with the rest of the

music on after hours we realize that there is a much more challenging message to blinding lights If we listen to the song preceding blinding lights, a song called Faith, we get a sense of what might really be happening. Wow, I haven't heard that before. It's very chilling. I mean, especially knowing that the weekend, real name Abel Tesfay has struggled with drug addiction and brought that into a lot of his music. I mean, this is a very dark notion here. It's very solemn, you know, overdosing with someone right beside you. That's a heavy thought.

And he's being blinded by lights. We start to hear what those lights may be when we get towards the outro of faith. So we hear what sounds like sirens, back in the flashing car, lights blinding him, arguably potentially in an ambulance from overdose that he talks about. It's a very dark scene in this album right about the midpoint of this album before we launch into the major pop's mess, which is blinding lights, and it takes on a really different feeling now. It starts truly dark.

The part that we dance to feels cinematic and angsty, and the pulse of the song feels like, get me to safety in the first line of the song. I've been trying to call. He's reaching out for help. Yeah, so now all of a sudden, these blinding lights, maybe not paparazzi, you don't think? You don't think fame.

You think ambulance. You think overdose. You think drunk driving, maybe. You think addiction. It's very dark. It's very heavy. I don't want to do a TikTok to answer this song anymore. This is a metaphor that continues throughout the rest of his album After Hours, which is worth a listen.

I think it's his strongest work by far. The metaphors of blinding lights occurs in the song, in your eyes. The final song on the record is called Until I Bleed Out. in which he says, I can't move. I'm so paralyzed. I can't even explain why I'm terrified. And I don't mean to imply that this is a literal experience by any means, but I think he's taking his personal struggles

and building a very compelling arc throughout the entirety of this work using the challenges of his substance abuse. I think to comment on all of those other things that we're also hearing, the issues of fame, the challenges of relationship. But underlying the record is this really heavy stuff that we've been hearing from the weekend for the last decade or so. And you know, that's, I mean, this has been a great discussion because that gets it something that is like pretty special and magical about pop music, is that you can be

performing on the Super Bowl, one of the biggest stages, this song that has multiple meanings. Some of them really kind of light and friendly and others like really dark and heavy. And it'll reach people in different ways. And people will dance to it and people will cry to it and like do all these things. That is the power and the poetry of good pop. So props to the weekend. I entirely agree with you. As much as this song is a dark, subterranean 8-08 bass. It is also an 80s upbeat smash, and I think we can take the lyrics and play with them.

I think we can take the music and play with them. I love that people, you know, I don't think you and I are going to do a TikTok dance to this. It's not a likely outcome. But it's a beautiful thing that we have all made it our own. And I think that part of its success in this long run that seems to not be going, anywhere. It's still in the charts right now as we speak.

I think it's because we've all found a way to put ourselves into the song. Switched on Pop is produced by Nate Sloan, Bridget Armstrong, me, Charlie Harding. We're mixed, engineered, and mastered by Brandon McFarland, though this week by our friend Bill Lance, social media by Abby Barr, illustrations by Iris Gottlieb, and our executive producers are Nashak Kerwa and Hanna Rosen. I want to say a great thanks to all of our colleagues at Fox,

especially Liz Kelly Nelson, who's been EPing us for the last two years or so. We're truly grateful for all of your support and work on the show. Thanks too to Craig Jenkins, Chris Malanfi, and all the listeners who sent in voice notes about blinding lights. Jump into the conversation with us on Twitter at Switch Jump Pop, Instagram, same deal. There's a lot of lively stuff happening there. It's really fun. And tune in next week. We're going to have a brand new episode, and it's going to be about a show that you shouldn't watch with your parents, Bridgeton. It's going to be a lot of fun, really excited about it. Until then, thanks for listening.

in shopify.com. S bar records.