Today's episode is brought to you by Into the Mix, a Ben and Jerry's podcast about joy and justice produced with Fox Creative.

Their second season tells real stories from real people directly impacted by some of today's most pressing issues.

Their latest episode of Into the Mix takes listeners to the dairy barns of rural Vermont to tell the story of how grassroots activism for safe conditions, competitive wages, and humane working hours

led to an innovative worker-led program that let workers decide for themselves what dignified working conditions look like.

Hear their story on Into the Mix, out now.

Welcome to Switched On Pop, I'm songwriter Charlie Harding.

Nate is out for two weeks and so I'm going to bring you interviews with two of my favorite new artist wildies away.

This week I speak with Louth, a multi-talented songwriter, producer, and artist who has a unique capacity to dress up a sad song and happy clothing.

Louth is debuting his first full-length studio album How I'm Feeling.

The singles on here all have me bopping my head while simultaneously crying my eyes out, a twisted duality that is a staple of Louth's music.

I think you're going to really enjoy hearing how he makes his work. In fact, he can be so passionate that there will be some exuberant but totally harmless cursing in this episode.

Alright, here's Louth.

Welcome to Switched On Pop, I'm songwriter Charlie Harding, and today I am joined by...

Hey, what's up? My name is Louth, I'm an artist singer, songwriter, producer.

So, I want to jump right in and start with a song.

Hey, so your song, Fuck I'm Lonely, dresses up a sad song and happy clothing. Why do you set up this contrast?

I feel like there's actually a subconscious thing I do. People say that a lot, like if you look at my lyrics, there's a lot of songs that sound or that read as if they're sad.

But I feel like somehow they end up feeling uplifting, which I don't really know how it happens. It just kind of is a subconscious thing for me.

So, I find that this song, your lyrics are extremely vulnerable. Do you feel that putting words to music gives you more safety to say things you might not otherwise say out loud?

Yes, absolutely. Actually, something I've been doing a lot recently that is a great example of that is this year I've started freestyling.

And I've found that if I just pick up a mic and without any thought, just put words to melody or even without melody, just freestyle rap, I find myself saying things that are way more direct and honest and they weren't put together in my head. They just kind of come out, which is honestly my new favorite way to write.

Has that made it into your songwriting and things we're here on this album?

...