Pop Drops and Chipmunk Soul

Switched on Pop

Vox Media Podcast Network

Music Interviews, Music History, Music, Music Commentary

4.6 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 25 August 2016

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A strange syndrome is wreaking havoc on the voices of our biggest pop stars. From Rihanna to Justin Bieber, no one is safe from having their beautiful vocals chopped up, screwed down, repitched and repurposed. As dance music takes over the charts and new software grants vocal manipulation at the click of a button, this uncanny production technique has become nearly ubiquitous. But is this ultramodern sound really that new? We dig deep into the roots of the sound of the moment. Featuring: • Kiaara - Gold • Coldplay - Hymn for the Weekend (Seeb remix) • Hailee Steinfeld ft. Grey & Zedd - Starving • Calvin Harris ft. Rihanna - This is What You Came For • Mike Posner -I Took a Pill in Ibiza (Seeb remix) • DJ Snake ft. Justin Bieber - Let Me Love You • Cold Crush Brothers - MC Battle (Live) • Cerrone - Rocket in the Pocket • Wu Tang Clan - Tearz • Wendy Rene - After Laughter • Kanye West - School Spirit • Whistle - Just Buggin • Nu Shooz - I Can't Wait Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This episode is brought to you by Lionsgate Plus. The third season of a Lionsgate Plus original
0:05.3	series that the Great is available to stream on Friday July 14 exclusively on Lionsgate Plus.
0:10.8	Follow Catherine the Second, played by Elle Fanning and Peter the Great, played by Nicholas
0:14.5	Holt, as they hilariously attempt to make their marriage work after some seemingly insurmountable
0:18.8	problems, from attempt to murder and the imprisonment of close friends to their never-ending
0:22.7	legal responsibilities. The Great, season 3 is available to stream on Friday July 14 exclusively
0:28.2	on Lionsgate Plus.
0:29.2	Welcome to Switch Down Pop. I'm songwriter Charlie Harding.
0:32.7	And I'm musicologist Nate Sloan. And today I want to get right to the center of the question,
0:38.0	which is Nate, what's wrong with everybody's voice? It's weird, man. I don't know. There's
0:43.7	some epidemic. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah, I think I do. Tell me about it. I mean,
0:48.6	I think you're referring to a pandemic that we're experiencing in which people's voices
0:53.9	become distorted, pitched up, chopped, totally altered, and yeah, completely. So I'll just
1:01.0	play you a couple of songs that I think exemplify this pretty well.
1:05.3	This is Gold by Kira. We also have Cold plays him for the weekend, remixed by Seed.
1:15.8	Also, using this technique, Haley Sinefeld and Zed starving.
1:24.7	And of course, we have Calvin Harris featuring Rihanna. This is what you came for.
1:34.8	DJ Snake featuring Justin Bieber. Let me love you.
1:50.2	Finally, we have Mike Posner's. I took a pill in a visa, also remixed by Seed.
2:06.1	Nate, these songs are all on the charts right now, and they're all using the exact same
2:18.6	technique.
2:23.4	This is crazy. I feel like we've stumbled in on some secret illuminati thing, DJ meeting
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Vox Media Podcast Network, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Vox Media Podcast Network and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.