The year that killed music (best and worst of 2025)
Episode Date: December 16, 2025From big-ticket albums by Taylor and Gaga, to a revival of the stomp-clap revival – 2025 had it all, for better and for worse. Now that the year has c...
Listen closer to pop music — hear how it moves us. Hosted by musicologist Nate Sloan & songwriter Charlie Harding. From Vulture and the Vox Media Podcast Network.
526 episodes transcribedFrom big-ticket albums by Taylor and Gaga, to a revival of the stomp-clap revival – 2025 had it all, for better and for worse. Now that the year has c...
Grammy-winning songwriter Amy Allen joins NYU Steinhardt students live to trace her path from early pitch songs to co-writing some of the decade's def...
Sombr went from crafting raw, reverb soaked songs alone in his Lower East Side bedroom to finding his life shifting in ways he never could have predic...
When it comes to improvisational loop jams, few have gone as viral as Marc Rebillet. From his 2020 lockdown-era video “How to Funk in Two Minutes,” wh...
In June 2025, indie veterans Deerhoof scrubbed their entire catalog from the world’s dominant streaming platform. The catalyst wasn't low royalties, b...
This year, there were a few records that delivered less-than-optimal returns on either the Hot 100 or the Billboard 200 – and they all came from forme...
Spanish pop star Rosalía is back with her new album, Lux. Over eighteen tracks, she trades in the dembow beats that filled her last record Motomami fo...
They say the best revenge is living well, but if you’re a pop star going through a break up, that’s false. The best revenge is releasing a searing sco...
Charlie Puth breaks down his new single "Changes," a maximalist eighties production hiding a melancholy story about drifting friendships. As he prepar...
On October 14th, the visionary musician D’Angelo passed away at 51 years old. Only releasing three albums during his lifetime, he synthesized influenc...
John C. Reilly joins to discuss Mr. Romantic, his theatrical tribute to the Great American Songbook that treats Irving Berlin and Tom Waits as equals...
Taylor Swift's twelfth album has sparked endless speculation about who each song is "really about," but that might be the wrong question entirely. The...
There's no lead singer in Trousdale. The trio of Quinn D'Andrea, Georgia Greene, and Lauren Jones, has shared vocal duties equally since they started...
This summer, one singular artist could be heard everywhere from the new Cardi B album to the TikTok charts: Janet Jackson. The incomparable Queen of P...
How does a country of 10 million people dominate the global pop charts? From ABBA's Eurovision breakthrough to Max Martin's methodical hit-making, Swe...
It's time. Nate and Charlie break down the K Pop Demonhunters soundtrack to uncover the musical secrets behind its unprecedented success. From West...
Halfway through the opening track of Joe Keery's The Crux, a line emerges that sounds like casual conversation: "My dog is at my house again, but I li...
Everyone should be in a band at some point—and Finneas and Ashe prove why. The Grammy-winning producer and rising singer-songwriter discuss how their...
Fleetwood Mac has had a phenomenal resurgence in recent years, from TikTok viral fame to Broadway plays and streaming TV series inspired by the band....
You've heard those shimmering disco strings in Miley Cyrus's "Flowers," the cinematic arrangements on Phoebe Bridgers' Punisher, and the orchestral fl...