Taylor Swift’s Showgirl Sound: How to actually listen to the album
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 Life of a Showgirl isn’t biography, it’s polyphonic auto-fiction, where Swift writes from multiple character perspectives while blurring the lines between autobiography and theatrical performance. The album's "showgirl sound" traces from Shakespearean tragedy (Ophelia's drowning rewritten as salvation) through Golden Age Hollywood orchestration to contemporary pop production with Max Martin and Shellback. Unusual musical choices like the jarring five-measure phrase in "Fate of Ophelia" reinforce the album's central theme: the tension between public performance and private reality. By treating the album as a theatrical show rather than a celebrity tell-all, listeners can finally hear what Swift is actually saying… or can they?
Vote for Switched On Pop in this year's Signal Awards! We're nominated for Best Music Podcast and Best Original Score/Music, linked here. Thank you!
Songs Discussed
Taylor Swift "Love Story"
Taylor Swift "Blank Space"
Taylor Swift "The Fate of Ophelia"
Taylor Swift "Elizabeth Taylor"
Irving Berlin "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody"
Fred Astaire "Puttin' on the Ritz"
Taylor Swift "Opalite"
George Michael "Father Figure"
Taylor Swift "Father Figure"
Taylor Swift "Eldest Daughter"
Taylor Swift "Tim McGraw"
Taylor Swift "Ruined the Friendship"
Weezer "Beverly Hills"
Pixies "Where Is My Mind"
Charli XCX "Sympathy Is a Knife"
Charli XCX "Everything Is Romantic"
Taylor Swift "Actually Romantic"
Mean Girls "Meet the Plastics"
Taylor Swift "Wi$h Li$t"
Stevie Wonder "Superstition"
The Jackson 5 "I Want You Back"
Taylor Swift "Wood"
Nirvana "Lithium"
Nirvana "Something in the Way"
Taylor Swift "Canceled"
Taylor Swift "Honey"
Taylor Swift feat. Sabrina Carpenter "Life of a Showgirl"
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1:09:28
The Power of the Trio (ft. Trousdale live at USC)
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 singing together as students at the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music. Since then, they've touring the world and released a sophomore album, Growing Pains, that features the trio's impeccable harmonies over 70s-inflected country-rock grooves. In this episode, Trousdale returns to their alma mater to play acoustic versions of "Growing Pains" and "Secondhand Smoke" and then speak to Professor Nate (plus an audience of music students) about how they forged their indivisible sound.
Songs Discussed
Trousdale - Growing Pains, Over and Over, Lonely Nights, Movie Star
Jackson Browne - Doctor My Eyes
MIKA - Grace Kelly
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Doja Cat is the new Janet
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 Pop has had her fingerprints all over pop music for the past few months, and it’s never been more apparent than on Doja Cat’s “Jealous Type.” The lead single from Doja’s new album Vie has all the hallmarks of the Janet Jackson sound, from breathy and percussive vocals to nods to iconic production from Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.
This episode of Switched on Pop, we go on a journey guided by Janet, and discover the implicit connections to Doja Cat – the so-called “queen of pop-rap” – in the process.
Vote for Switched On Pop in this year's Signal Awards! We're nominated for Best Music Podcast and Best Original Score/Music, linked here. Thank you!
Songs discussed:
Janet Jackson – Someone To Call My Lover
Sabrina Carpenter – House Tour
Cardi B, Janet Jackson – Principal (feat. Janet Jackson)
Doja Cat – Jealous Type
Janet Jackson – What Have You Done For Me Lately
Janet Jackson – Nasty
Janet Jackson – Feedback
Janet Jackson – What About
Prince – 1999
Janet Jackson – Throb
Janet Jackson – Control
Janet Jackson – When I Think Of You
Janet Jackson – Go Deep
Doja Cat – Cyber Sex
Doja Cat – Rules
Doja Cat – Boss Bitch
Doja Cat – Woman
Doja Cat – Agora Hills
Janet Jackson – Let’s Wait Awhile
Janet Jackson – Escapade
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Stockholm syndrome: Why we can't resist Swedish pop (ft. Zara Larsson)
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, Sweden has quietly engineered a kind of musical Stockholm Syndrome: we've all become captives to their sound without realizing it. Listen to the crystalline vocal production and deceptively simple chord progressions in tracks by Lisa, Childish Gambino, and Addison Rae, and you're hearing Sweden's sonic fingerprint so embedded in pop's DNA that it now defines the genre itself. We sit down with pop star Zara Larsson to explore her love letter to home, "Midnight Sun." As she puts it, "I can't really leave Sweden; it's just something that's like a part of who I am," a sentiment that captures how Swedish pop's unique blend of melancholy and euphoria, mirroring the country's extreme seasons, has made us all willing prisoners of Stockholm's musical empire.
Songs Discussed
Lisa ft. Rosalia: "New Woman"
Childish Gambino: "Lithonia"
Addison Rae: "Fame Is a Gun"
Bleachers: "Tiny Moves"
Zara Larsson: "Midnight Sun"
Robyn: "Show Me Love"
Robyn: "Dancing on My Own"
Nirvana "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
Brad Mehldau "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
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The music theory behind K Pop Demon Hunters' chart dominance
It's time. Nate and Charlie break down the K Pop Demonhunters soundtrack to uncover the musical secrets behind its unprecedented success. From West Side Story to Gregorian chant, Phrygian modes to musical theater clichés, we 'll explain why you can't stop listening to the sounds of Huntr/x and Saja Boys.
Songs Discussed
Huntr/x - How It's Done, Golden, What it Sounds Like
Saja Boys - Soda Pop, Your Idol
Aldred Deller and the Deller Consort - Dies Irae
West Side Story - Jet Song
Aespa - Drama
Riize - Get a Guitar
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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.
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