Switched on Pop - The case of the missing vocals, and other listener questions

Episode Date: January 9, 2024

All throughout the year, Switched on Pop gets a litany of musical questions that need answering. To kick off 2024, hosts Charlie and Nate answer some of these questions live on air! From the renewed interest in Cass Elliot's "Make Your Own Kind of Music" to the lack of multi-part harmonies on the charts, this episode takes a closer look at some listeners' musical maladies – alongside special guest star Joe Treble. Songs Discussed: Eagles - Take It Easy Jack Harlow - Lovin On Me Cadillac Dale - Whatever (Bass Soliloquy) Tate McRae - greedy Dua Lipa - Houdini Fleetwood Mac – The Chain Ariana Grande - shut up boygenius – Not Strong Enough boygenius - Without You Without Them Jerry Goldsmith - Jake And Evelyn (From The “Chinatown” Soundtrack) Terence Blanchard - Perry Sees Teddy (From HBO Series Perry Mason: Season 1) Cass Elliot - Make Your Own Kind of Music David Bowie – Space Oddity Elton John - Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going To Be A Long, Long Time) TALK - Run Away to Mars Tommy Tutone - 867-5309/Jenny Blondie - Call Me Lady Gaga - Telephone ft. Beyoncé Rico Nasty - IPHONE R.E.M. - Star 69 50 Cent - High All The Time Beyoncé – Crazy in Love ft. Jay-Z Britney Spears – E-Mail My Heart Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from Odu. Running a business is hard enough, so why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other? Introducing Odu. It's the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all-in-one fully integrated platform that makes your work easier, CRM, accounting, inventory, e-commerce, and more. And the best part, O-Doo replaces multiple expensive platforms for a fraction of the cost.

That's why over thousands of businesses have made. made the switch. So why not you? Try O-D-U for free at O-D-O-O-D-O-com. That's O-D-O-O-O-com. Welcome to Switch, John Pop. I'm musicologist Nate Sloan. And I'm songwriter Charlie Harding. Charlie Harding, it is 20-24. There's a big, bright year of music ahead of us. Love it. There are going to be some big releases, some exciting guests that we're going to have with us. But today, I think we should kick things off by going to the the people that make the show what it is. I'm talking, of course, about the listeners. And an election year, it's appropriate. Let's get Democratic. Okay. Let's go to the people,

the Vox Populi, the Hoy, Palloy, the masses. You're, yearning to be free, free of their burning musicological questions. Ah, wow. Look how I did that. Okay. Connected it all up, Nice and tight. Okay. This is really exciting. Our brilliant producer, Rihanna, has gone through our inbox over the past. I don't know. What are we talking here?

Like months of questions, right? Yeah. Rihanna has found like the most fun and provocative and meaty listener questions for us to dig into on the show. And they've gone and they've gotten most of those listeners to actually record voice notes asking their questions. So this is cool. This is like the Switch John Pop call in episode. The doctors are in. We are going to cure your musical maladies.

It's going to be fun. All right, fun. Our first listener question comes from David. I think this one will start things off with the bang. Hi, team. I've got a mystery for forensic musicologist Joe Trouble to investigate. Whatever happened to great multi-part harmonies in songs. I know group acts are rarer nowadays, but some of my favorite

groups or those that feature incredible harmonies, but we don't really see it on top 40 radio anymore. Can you help me solve this mystery? Thanks. Okay, David is requesting the services of our in-house forensic musicologist, Joe Treble. Should we see if he's available? Yeah, I mean, it's actually pretty great. I've got him on speed dial. Okay, let's give him a ring. Hello. Hey, Joe Trouble, I've got a very salient musical question for you.

Okay, shoot. What has happened to multi-part harmony on the top 40? It used to be a thing, and now it's not. I assume because I solve the mystery of the missing key change for you. Now you want me to investigate the missing multi-part harmonies. Well, songwriter Charlie Harding, let's crack this case. There's some investigators that focus on missing people. You focus on missing musical moments.

So what's going on? Okay, so your listener, David, wants that throwback rich vocal harmony sound that you get from classic pop. But if you turn on the top 40 today, you don't hear any of that. Who do you think are the suspects in this case, Charlie? I mean, I guess if I were to go to the Billboard Hot 100 right now, someone like Jack Harlow, not a lot of multi-part harmony. My nemesis, Jack Harlow, we meet again.

He knows what he did. What did he do? As for another episode, Charlie, your virgin ears. Okay, let's listen to Lovin' on me. Joe, it's musicologist Nate Sloan here. Quick question. This is a sample, right, that we're hearing on this Jack Harlow track? Well, Nate, yes, this is a sample from Cadillac Dale, his song, whatever, parentheses, bass, soliloquy.

and I think you'll notice something when we hit play on this track. Very nice. But that's not what Jack Harlow samples, Charlie. Charlie, that's right. I see what you mean, Joe. He samples the part right after the vocal harmonies for Lovin' On Me. We can do whatever you want to do. I am uninhibited when it comes to loving you.

So Joe Trouble, you're saying that your nemesis, Jack Harlow, could have sampled this beautiful, lush harmony, and instead samples this isolated vocal. What's your beef? Well, I have no beef. I'm a disinterested investigator. But if we're trying to answer David's question about where did multi-part harmonies go,

this seems like a textbook case. Here, you have an opportunity to sample some rich vocal harmonies, but you don't. So what's going on here? This suggests to me that, listeners' tastes are more geared towards solo voices. As David said in his question, solo artists have really taken precedence over groups, over bands, over boy bands and girl groups. So maybe this is a sign of the musical times where we gravitate towards that solo voice.

Man, this guy is smart. Yeah, you should give him an honorary doctorate in musicology. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I don't necessarily hear this as a problem. Meaning, like, I actually don't think that vocal harmonies have gone away. Like, if you go back to the charts, you also have Tate McCrae's Greedy, which is full of lush harmonies. Early, are your ears okay? Yeah, Charlie, we're worried about you over here. What's going on?

We didn't hear a single vocal harmony there. Yeah, I'm with this Joe Trouble guy. I mean, what are you hearing here, Charlie? Well, first of all, you have, Tate McCray is doubling her vocals and making, you know, them thick and wide and chorusy like she's singing on top of herself. Not a harmony. Not a harmony. And she's also singing really nice harmonies that are lower in the mix that are boosting the

overall lead vocal and putting it, making it more prominent. I feel like you're actively undermining your own argument by playing this example, Charlie. But you've inadvertently offered me and Joe some more evidence. for why vocal harmonies might be disappearing. And I wonder if it has something to do with autotune and processed vocals, which you hear all over this Tate McCray track, and which maybe don't lend themselves to group harmonies as well as an unprocessed sort of naked vocal.

Wow, that's a fascinating insight, musicologist Nate Sloan. No, no. Joe, this guy, musicologist Nate Sloan, he has no idea what he's talking about. I totally, totally wholeheartedly disagree. I agree. I am shook that this is the example you picked. All right. Let's keep going to the charts for a second. Let's listen to Duelipa's Houdini. Listen for those harmonies.

Okay. Not only do we have vocal doubles and counter melodies, but in the chorus there, we have some really nice vocal harmonies. Come on. I will grant you that there are present some vocal harmonies. But again, I feel like every song you're giving us just kind of waters down. down your side of the story because these are such kind of light, simple harmonies.

Also, is this the chorus or is it the post-chorus, Charlie? I think it's the post-course. Post-chorus, yeah, probably. And finally, I just want to go back to David's question. He's talking about, like, Fleetwood-Max style harmonies, right? We're talking about, like, I don't know, the chain or something, like a chorus of voices singing in these thick-stacked harmonies. this is like Duolipa singing up a third above the melody

it's like it's not quite the same okay Joe what's your take I agree with everything he just said this guy's a genius man you two seem

thick as thieves should I be worried about my job I think we're gonna start our own show together Charlie I don't know how to break this to you well okay fine let me offer a different interpretation of

what I hear when I think of multi-tracked, beautiful harmonies in contemporary popular music. Okay, I'm curious what you're about to play for us. I'm all ears. I feel like multi-part backing vocals are essential to contemporary popular music. I mean, I know this.

Like, when people track a pop song, they set up a template in Pro Tools that has like a tracking track and then a lead vocal, and then countless doubles, countless backing vocals, countless harmonies, adlibs, octaves, whispers. It's super common on a basic pop chorus.

With one singer, I will allow it. Just one singer. They will track their vocals so many times you'll have 60 tracks. Super, super, super common. And you can look at an artist like Charlie Puth, who shows off exactly how he does this all the time. It's one of his favorite things to do on social media. Hello, I'm layering vocals right now,

and I thought it would be a cool time to show all of you how I'm doing it. Stacking vocals. This might be a big slap in the face to any music conservatory, but I actually write the notes down. So that's an A, so it goes, uh, F sharp, ooh,

ooh, ooh, and I'll start with that up top. The lyric that I'm singing with these first couple of notes is they don't. They don't. And then he does the next set of notes. They don't. The next set of notes.

They don't. The next side of notes. They don't. He gives us multi-part harmony. And when you put it all together, you get the following. We got boost. You never see a poot's coming. Okay, I'll grant you that one, Charlie.

All right, all right. Let me just put the cherry on top. If you want amazing multi-part harmonies and contemporary popular music, look no further than Ariana Grande, who's currently going all over social media, posting images of her in the... studio tracking vocals in front of Pro Tools, double tracking her vocals, showing off her vocal tracking powers. And it's something that we know she's amazing at. Just go back to her 2020 release,

shut up off the album positions if you want to multiple harmonies. I don't know if it was worth calling up some private investigator because I feel like I've completely answered this question. I've got nowhere. All right, Joe, thanks for your services. Get out of here. I'm tired of doing this bit. Always a pleasure.

I think he's a nice guy. It's a nice guy. Okay, Charlie, it's just you and me again. Let's see if we can find some common ground here. I hear you with the Charlie Puth, with the Ariana Grande. I do have some questions about like how well those songs performed, you know? Oh. Shut up.

That was number 47 for one week. So I'm still feeling like when it comes to top 40 pop, there is a bit of a fear of vocal harmony. And I do wonder why this is. Is it because it doesn't lend itself to the way that people listen to music these days, like out of their iPhone speakers, their computer speakers, where you might not get that full, you know, audio phonic experience of listening to multi-part harmonies? Okay, interesting. Is it because like David suggested in his question, we've moved more to like the rise of the solo artists and we want to hear their voice? Is it maybe autotune? Like I said earlier, I don't know. But I do want to conclude this little skirmish that we've had with an acknowledgement that if we go

off the charts, we can find some amazing multi-part harmonies. And I do have a couple examples of those I'd love to share if that's amenable to you, Charlie. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, how about not strong enough by Boy Genius? I thought you would bring me some Boy Genius, the ultimate contemporary demonstration of friendship through music. But I did think that you were going to give me the first song off their album without you, without them. Give me everything can get.

I want to hear your story. Well, that's lovely, Chuck. Yeah, I loved your pick, but I just like hearing the solo voices all in harmonies. So there's rich harmony out there waiting to be had. You just might not find it

in the top 40 of the Billboard chart. Or as Charlie said, perhaps, it's morphed into something else in that realm. Either way, what a stimulating question from David to start this off with? I like starting 2024 at a bit of loggerheads with you, Charlie. This is a nice new dimension for our show. I look forward to arguing with you more. It is a political year or so perhaps we'll butt heads some more. First question down.

Let's go to question number two. Let's hear from Genn. Hey, Nad and Charlie, this is again in Honolulu, Hawaii. Here's a question. I've noticed that in police and lawyer shows set in Los Angeles, there's often a kind of moody jazz soundtrack, usually with a lot of trumpet emphasis. So I'm thinking shows like Bosch and Perry Mason.

And I like it, but where does this come from? Who created the template for this? All right, love the show, thanks. Did someone say L.A. lawyer cop shows? It's Joe Trevelled again. You couldn't keep me away. This question was made for. me.

Joe, God damn it, he's back. How do we get rid of this guy? Okay, let him answer the question. Okay, I actually can sew this one up with a ribbon for you, fellas, really quickly here, because I feel very confident that I know my L.A. Noir lore. And if I take you back to the 1974 film, Chinatown, with a soundtrack by Jerry Goldsmith,

the film that arguably started the whole second film noir craze. What sound do we hear on the soundtrack? So I feel pretty confident saying that this soundtrack establishes the trumpet as the defining instrument of that L.A. noir sound that you can now hear in Bosch and Terrence Blanchard's score for Perry Mason. This also explains why Joe Trouble, you wear a little trumpet lapel pen. That's actually an homage to a lost love, and I'd rather not talk about it, Charlie. Okay. Joe, thank you for solving this trumpet mystery. We're thankful for you. I think we've had enough of you. I'm sure there are more important, you know, investigations that you need to go work on.

Yeah, my vocal course, I have quite enough of that character. But what do you think about? Are you convinced Charlie by his hypothesis? Have you seen Chinatown? I have seen Chinatown. It's a, you know, if you're going to live in Los Angeles, you got to watch Chinatown. teaches all about the politics of how that whole city works. That's true.

All right. Cool. That was easy. Wow, I mean, wow, no animosity. No, no. We're on the same page. That was great. I love that question from Genn.

I love that show, Perry Mason, too. I'm sad it got canceled. Okay. that was robust my vocal cords need to rest. Let's take a quick break and come back and dig into some more listener questions. Support for this show comes from Odu. Running a business is hard enough. So why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other? Introducing Odu. It's the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all-in-one fully integrated platform that makes your work easier. CRM, accounting, inventory, e-commerce, and more. And the best. part, O-DU replaces multiple expensive platforms for a fraction of the cost. That's why over

thousands of businesses have made the switch. So why not you? Try O-D-O-Frey at O-D-O-O-D-O-com. That's O-D-O-O-O-O-O-D. Immigration may be Donald Trump's signature issue. President Trump is now targeting predominantly Democratic cities for ice raids and deportations. Dozens of protesters clashing with immigration and customs enforcement agents in Minneapolis Tuesday. We will begin the process of... 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 order 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. Charlie, here's a fun question from our listener, Jenna.

Hey, Nate and Charlie. My question for you guys is about this song called Make Your Own Kind of Music by Cass Elliott. So lately, I've noticed it's made a bit of a resurgence. It was used in the Barbie movie trailer, and it was also used in this series Lost when it's played on record by this character, Desmond, who keeps pushing this button to keep the world from ending. My question is, how does this very 70s-esque song work so well in both Barbie and Lost? It's, like, existential and uplifting, and I don't know how it walks that line so well. But, yeah, can't wait to hear what you guys think. Okay, this is fun because this song, I feel like I have an operating theory on how this song works as a soundtrack.

These are not the only two major pieces of media that have used it. In fact, it has become a whole meme as of earlier in 2023 when the film, the unbearable weight of massive talent came out. It was kind of a flop that was this very self-conscious film starring Nicholas Cage playing a fictional version of himself, where he goes and visits. It's a cartel, there's a whole story, whatever. There's a scene of him taking LSD with the head of this cartel. They're driving down a road, looking deep into each other's eyes with this kind of like empty stare and drug-induced smile. And this image of Nicholas Cage and Pedro Pascal, who plays the cartel head, becomes a major meme. It went all over TikTok.

And I think that this meme was such a success. The song got picked up in the world of comedy, and recently, SNL, Saturday Night Live, even did a whole sketch about the value of this song in the soundtracking, in which Mama Cass, played by Chloe Trost and her producer, played by Emma Stone, are in the studio recording the song, make your own kind of music, and they're discussing how big of a success it's going to be, not as a hit, but as a piece of soundtracking. Oh, this song is going to be...

everywhere, Mama. And then everybody's going to forget about it for a long, long time. Oh, oh, no. Really? Oh, yeah, yeah, baby. But in about 40, 50 years, I think it's going to start showing up in a bunch of movies, baby. Wow, her movies. Yeah, because it's a perfect song to go under a slow-mo montage where the main character snaps and goes on a rampant.

I think Evers Stone and this character totally captures the... the value of Mama Cass's make your own kind of music. Because this song is a sad fucking song. Whoa. Charlie Harding just cursed on air. This is unprecedented. Please go on, but I just need it to announce. This must be, you're making a serious point here.

Let's go. I'm feeling strong about this. Wow. It's like hearing Mr. Rogers curse or something. It's very shocking. Okay, go ahead. I can't fucking tie my shoes. My jacket, my sweater won't get on.

There was so much tension in this song between the apparently uplifting lyric and the swelling emotional cinematic music and how Cass Elliott delivers her vocal. Check out the first verse. Nobody can. There's only one song worth singing. I kind of feel like it's dead behind the eyes. This song has dead eyes. It's just like, it's almost monotone. A song worth singing. It's a little flat. In the verse, you mean? Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah, right here, just at the beginning of the song. I can hear that. Yeah. Yeah, I'm persuaded. Okay, dead adverse.

And the character is literally described as going nowhere. You're going to be nowhere. It may be worth going just to do your thing. And then we're supposed to believe that as the song builds up towards the chorus, we're going to overcome all these problems. But no, we don't. This chorus is some sad kind of joke. It sets up the expectation that, hey, you can get through all this loneliness.

going nowhere, you're nobody, that's fun, because you're going to sing your own kind of music. That's great. You're going to empower yourself. You're going to do a bunch of self-help. You're going to focus, you're going to do all the healing work you've got to do. And then at the end, she delivers this punchline in triplets just to emphasize that nobody is going to sing along to your song, you absolute loser. To be clear, she says, even if no one else sings a lot. No, she's very clear that. no one's going to sing along to this song. Wow, you are bringing a dark aura to this tune, Charlie.

I guess I see your interpretation. Right. So if you're a character lost on an island, whether that's out to sea or in Barbie land and you're like trying to find yourself, but you got nowhere to go because everything is fake and twisted and all these things are happening to you,

like what a perfect song to represent that feeling lost and alone and actually there's no hope. Interesting. So what these film soundtracks are responding, to in the song is the eerie dislocation that it creates throughout, especially in the verse, but even within the chorus where you'd still kind of end up on your own by the end of it. Those triplets are interesting. Da, da, da, da, da, da, da.

There is, it is a weird moment in the song. You're like, wait, what is this choice about? Perhaps I can get behind your read of it, Charlie. This is making me think of the song in a new way. I'm here for it. Frankly, the reason why this really works is because there is the contrast of the sort of musical expectations, which is uplifting, cinematic, strings, horns. It's exciting. You're going to have your own song.

How great. But the underlying tone of how it's sung, I actually think matches closer to what's happening in some of these films. And I was thinking about this question. I realized that it's not a solitary example. Like, this is a trend where films use a song that kind of mismatches the scene to highlight the darkness of what's happening. Like, it immediately took me to the film American Psycho from the year 2000 based on the 1991 book, where Christian Bell's character plays a banker who's a serial killer. And he's hanging out with one of his colleagues while preparing to murder. him with an axe, and all the while he's pantomiming what a pop music critic might say about

the latest music release, Huey Lewis's Hip to Be Square. In 87, Huey released this. Four, their most accomplished album. I think their undisputed masterpieces, hip to be square. A song so catchy, most people probably don't listen to the lyrics, but they should, because it's not just about the pleasures of conformity and the importance of trends, it's also a personal statement about the band itself. Hey, Paul!

Ah! Okay, love that clip. You're positioning American Psycho as maybe a genesis point of this sort of ironic use of soundtracking in films? Probably not so much a Genesis point, more like, this is the platonic ideal, because it's sort of so deeply self-aware of using the music as diagetic music. It's not even soundtrack music. And he's actually commenting on the music. which is a larger commentary about indulgence in the 1980s and consumerism

and the inherent violence of everyday life, I was kind of clueless as to where the start of this trend had happened, and so I actually called up an expert to help us out. Hi, this is Keith Phipps, one of the writers behind the reveal, and a co-host of The Next Picture Show. If there's a ground zero for the ironic use of popular songs and movies, it's probably, as writer Sean Doyle suggests in a 2016 film comment article, Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove, or how I learned to stop worrying, and love the bomb.

Kubrick ends the film with images of mushroom clouds set to Vera Lynn's World War II era hit, We'll Meet Again. Spoiler, we won't. But I think it's a trio of films from the early 1990s, perhaps not coincidentally, an era in which Generation X was coming to his own, that became the real catalyst for the device. Joe Pesci being the crap out of someone to the soaring sounds of Goddanovins' Atlantis and Goodfellas, Bill Murray being tormented by I Got You Babe in Groundhog Day. And perhaps most influential of all, Michael Madsen gleefully torturing a policeman to the tune of Steelers' wheels stuck in the middle with you in reservoir dogs. Each poured an accelerant on a trend that seemingly refuses to go away.

All right, you're flexing, Charlie. You got esteemed movie critic Keith Phipps. to chime in here. Hosted the great podcast, The Next Picture Show, also featuring our colleague, Genevue Covecci from New York Mac. So bringing back to Mama Cass, with Keith's information,

we can trace this back to the 1960s, this larger phenomenon, Dr. Strangelove maybe, as like the ortext of this satirical use of music. Yeah. And in some ways, as you point out, it's nothing new, but I do like the notion that the song itself

might need to have a little bit of ambivalence and even melancholy baked into it in order for it to function in this way. And I am compelled by your explanation of how we can hear that in Make Your Own Kind of Music. So I'm going to hear this song in a bit of a new light the next time I do encounter it in the soundtrack of a zombie killing exploitation film or something. I'm glad I was able to help you listen to this in a different way, even if no, one else listens along. Oh, God. You look so disappointed in me. I'm back just to say, you should be arrested for that. Fair. You should be behind bars. Maybe I can reclaim myself in a speed round of final questions. Unlikely, but possible. First of all, thank you, Jenna, for that great question. Now, it's off to listener Amy. Amy, unfortunately, has COVID and was unable to

record a message, sending you healing vibes, Amy. Here's what Amy wanted to hear. I would love to hear your take on a possible through line between David Bowie's Major Tom, ground control to Major Tom,

Elton John's Rocket Man, and talks, runaway to Mars. Runaway to Mars was my top Spotify song for this year, and considering I clocked 46 straight days listening to music. I thought I should ask the experts what your thoughts are. Are big space

hits reflective of some part of our culture? Love the show, Amy. I love this question because it plays this very silly thing that I do when I watch movies with my wife, which is pretend that the characters have a narrative throughline in every movie that that actor has been in. So if you watch a George Clooney film. Like, if he's floating out in space and gravity, he's also been a real estate guy in Hawaii. He's also been a consultant who flies from place to place, and all those are the same world.

Am I making any sense here? You're making sense. I'm just not sure to what end. This just sort of titillates and amuses you during movie night. It would turn all films into a cinematic universe if this had to be considered by screenwriters, that every actor had to somehow fit into their larger narrative arc. It would just make movies and television a whole lot worse, but maybe a lot more fun. Okay.

That's a thought exercise. So maybe these three songs about space, do they do the same thing? Are they in conversation with each other? Okay, so that's where we're going. Wow, wow. What a walk to get there. Okay, so you're positing that there is some invisible thread connecting these songs. I mean, first of all, Charlie, we need to listen to this song.

talk runaway to Mars. I assume you're familiar and listeners are familiar with David Bowie Space Auditie and Elton John's Rocket Man, but talk runaway to Mars. Have you heard this one, Charlie? No, that one's new to me. Let's spin it. First question, is this Elon Musk's personal anthem? Well, I was just going to say, or Bezos or any other, you know, billionaire with too much money and not enough taxes. there is something interesting where this song could be heard as the sort of temporal equivalent of a song like Space Oddity. So what I mean is Space Oddity came out in 1969.

That's 10 years after, you know, the moon landing. Right. Like this idea of space is probably still kind of new at this point, still kind of nascent. So something about like wondrous possibility and questions of what's out there. Now fast forward to run away to my mind. Mars in 2022, and it's more of a sense of like, I need to go to space. I need to go to Mars to escape this reality. Right. And that is exactly what, you know, some of the, some of the thinking behind Musk and Bezos and all these other designs on colonizing Mars is. It's like this, this planet is not doing so well.

So let's escape to Mars, to another planet, where, of course, we'll replicate all of the same mistakes and ruin that planet and then presumably go to another plant. So I do find this question so interesting because I think you could hear this song, even though musically it's a little different, like it is the modern equivalent of what like those earlier space anthems were relating to. And there's some lyrical through lines too. The if I run out of oxygen line does remind me of the Bowie where our space band sort of disappears into space and we don't don't know if he's okay. Maybe he's been picked up by aliens or maybe he's just drifting off into infinite darkness. Amy, I hope we answered your question. Feel better soon. Speed round two. It's Brian.

Hi, switched on pop. Recently, I noticed a small cluster of songs all about communication and getting in touch playing on my local alternative rock station. Dial Drunk by Noah Khan, you've already talked about, but it's getting played alongside emergency contact by Pierce the Vale. and all caps by Weathers. Is there a little mini boomlet in songs about texting and cell phones happening now? That's really funny. Love this question. I don't want to give away too many of our methods, but when I have one of these promenicians,

I generally believe that I don't have any original ideas and that someone else has already come up with it and I can probably find it. And usually when there is a musical trend that is bubbling up, there's like seven Spotify playlist that have already been. made. So let's check this out. If we just go Spotify, songs about phones. Playlists by user G-W-R-S-P-T, songs about phones. Immediately, it's very clear that this is a trend that's been running on forever, right? So here we have 76 songs, over four hours long about phones. Obviously, right at the top, Tommy Two-Tone, 867-5309 slash Jenny. We've got Blondies call me.

Call Me Maybe by Carly Wright-Jepson. Hello by Adele. About a phone call. Call to say, I love you by Stevie Wonder. Can't forget Lady Gaga and Beyonce's telephone. That's operator. Abba's Ring, Ring. There's so many fun ones here.

One of my favorite songs about phones that's a little bit more recent is Rico Nasty's iPhone from 2020. I love this song because it's like a song that I think an iPhone, if it were self-aware, would sing. This is the sound of an iPhone. And so often singing about a piece of technology like a phone call and a specific piece of technology like an iPhone, I think can date a song. But it really works for me on Rico Nasty's clip. If you go back in time, though, and look at other songs about telephone technology, I don't think they age that well. So I wouldn't recommend contributing to this trend, especially if you're being hyper-specific about the technology that you're using to communicate with your loved one, take, for example, REM's Star 6-9.

If you don't recall before the time of caller ID, if someone called you and you didn't know what was, you would have to ring star 69, and that would take you back to that phone call. That's good. It gets worse when you go to 50 cents high all the time. We got a fax machine in this song. but immediately dates the song. This issue of using technology in your song, I think it's usually an issue until I realized that Crazy in Love

by Beyonce and Jay-Z features prominently a pager. You catch that? Did she get a page during the recording? Got me looking so crazy right now, love. Got me hoping you'll page me right now. Wow. No, I have to say I miss that particular. line, fascinating.

There are still people who work in the medical profession who get pages. The technology is somehow still around, but if you're going to drop technology in your song, it might kind of run its course. Crazy and love aside. Right. Well, I was going to say, I don't know,

because some of those songs have aged pretty well, even though they have these dated references. You know a song I like with them that talks about the telephone? Hello, my baby. Hello, my honey. Hello, my ragtime girl. Wait, what is it doing? Is that like just a really annoying phone call that you didn't want to receive?

Send me a kiss by wire. Baby my heart's on fire. If you refuse me, honey, you lose me. Then you'll be left alone. Oh, baby, telephone. And tell me that I am your own. Oh, okay, telephone. But it also has a telegram in there.

Send me a kiss by wire. That's true. But here's the thing. That song was written in 1899, Charlie. Wow. It's got staying power. And what it shows us is that, I mean, I'm just continuing your argument.

Pop music has always been obsessed with, like, communication devices, going back to the start of the pop music industry. I'll make a wager with you that one of these technologies is here to stay and is seriously underused in pop music. It's passenger pigeons. Rihanna, cue up Britney Spears. Email my heart. Important revelation.

I just realized that song is about sending an... email to her heart, not including her heart in an email. Yes, this is not a heart emoji. This is before the times of emoji. Yeah, no, that's, that's, that's illuminating. To be clear, this song is from 1999 when there was all kinds of dot com hype about the internet. And so, yes, this song sounds dated, but the concept of email is not just in 2022, Sabrina Carpenter put out a whole album emails I Can't Send.

Ah, yeah. And this very podcast relaunched its own email newsletter that gives people deeper and personal insights into the songs you talk about on each show. You did it. It gives you exclusive playlists and music news stories that you don't want to miss via all that nasty algorithmic stuff that you scroll through every day. You don't know what you're going to get if you want to get more. Switched on Poppin your life. You got to sign up. Email newsletter and your hearts. You can find it in our show notes and on our website. Please subscribe. You did it. They said it couldn't be done. Smooth as a Britney ballad. Wow. Look at that. This has been an absolute blast. So what a fun way to kick off 2024. Charlie, we got to do this again. I love hearing these questions. Look at all these wonderful tangents and even, you know, combative arguments that these Questions have started for us. We got to make this at least an annual tradition.

And don't forget about me. My invoice is in the mail. I take Venmo or Zell. Well, Joe Chappell's very up to date in his technology. He needs the money, Charlie. Let's be honest. All-timey profession, but technologically savvy. If anyone has a song they know about Venmo or Zell, please let us know.

Great. Wow. Great. Yeah, where's the, where's the, it's going down in the Venmo comments. That's, what about a song about how you, you finding out that your partner's cheating on you because you see a Venmo to their, to their lover or something? It's a hit. That feels like some, some uncharted territory. Let's write it.

This episode of Switched on Pop was produced and DJed by Rihanna Cruz. Yes. Also produced by Nate Sloan and myself, Charlie Harding, edited by Julia Myers, engineered by Brandon McFarney. Maryland, illustrations by R. Scott Lead community management by Abby Barr. Our executive producer is Nashal Kerwa. Remember of the Vox Media Podcast Network, a production of Vulture and New York Magazine. You can subscribe to New York Magazine at New Yorkmag.com slash pop.

Thanks so much to all the listeners who contributed questions. If we didn't get to yours, we offer our sincere apologies. There was too many good questions simply to include. We might answer a few more in our newsletter via email. The newsletter plugs keep coming. But you know what? There's good stuff in there. I do, I do recommend people sign up. You can find all of our stuff, obviously, at our website, switchedonpop.com, socials.

I mean, there are so many socials at this point. We're on all of them at Switched on Pop. I mean, I think most of them. We're not on the dating services. I don't think a podcast can join a dating service. Discord, my heart. Is that another potential Discord, my heart? Blue Sky, My Heart.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Find us at Switched on Pop. We'll be back again next Tuesday. And until then, thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Attention Spotify. Has arrived the new Good Girl Jasmine Absolute of Caroline Herrera. A fragrance intense with character gourmet and addictive.

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