Chartbreakers: Lorde & Drake reboot, Worship Pop, and the shortest song ever

Switched on Pop

Vox Media Podcast Network

Music Interviews, Music History, Music, Music Commentary

4.6 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 20 May 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What happens when worship anthems climb the charts alongside soul revivals and nostalgia-driven comebacks? The May 2025 Billboard charts reveal a fascinating musical landscape where Drake performs a strategic reset after his epic battle with Kendrick, worship-adjacent pop dominates the mainstream, and The Marias reject conventional song structures with dreamy success. From the bizarre 34-second Minecraft soundtrack hit to the rise of "voice audition pop," we're exploring how these competing visions of pop music reflect our collective anxieties and cultural shifts. Is this beautiful chaos the new normal? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for this show comes from Sonos.
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0:14.8	space.
0:15.9	Whether you're enjoying a podcast inside or taking your music on the go, why not try the Sonos Ace headphones, crafted
0:23.2	for comfort with a battery that lasts. Ready for better listening? Visit sonos.com today and learn more.
0:43.0	Welcome to Switched on Pop. I'm songwriter Charlie Harding.
0:46.2	I'm musicologist Nate Sloan. And I'm producer Rihanna Cruz.
0:56.3	Today we have another edition of our series, chartbreakers, where we look at the charts to see what are some of the things we've been missing, What are the things that are rising? And we uncover the biggest themes on the charts.
0:58.6	We need a theme song for this, Charlie.
1:02.8	Don't go break in my chart.
1:03.4	Wow.
1:06.0	Couldn't if I tried.
1:10.6	Billboard Hot 100 week of May 17th, 2025. I love doing this because the Billboard chart is like
1:14.6	the Oracle of Delphi. You know, you go, you supplicate, and the chart gives you infinite wisdom.
1:21.7	It surprises you, it gives you insights in the deeper, innermost recesses of our collective soul.
1:27.9	I feel like we haven't done to chartbreakers in a while.
1:30.1	And that's probably because all 100 songs were espresso by Sabrina Carpenter for months and
1:35.2	months and months.
1:35.8	Of course, of course.
1:36.3	And finally, it feels like there has been a real shift.
1:39.2	And so in looking at the charts today, I want to group them into some of the big mythological categories.
	...

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