Stockholm syndrome: Why we can't resist Swedish pop (ft. Zara Larsson)

Switched on Pop

Vox Media Podcast Network

Music Interviews, Music History, Music, Music Commentary

4.6 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 23 September 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

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" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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0:27.6	Gamblingware.org
0:29.6	Gamblingware.
0:31.6	Switch on pop
0:34.6	Welcome to Switched on Pop. I'm songwriter Charlie Harding. And I'm musicologist Nate Sloan.
0:42.6	Conspiracy theory alert. Uh-oh. Nate, does Sweden secretly control all of pop music? This is a new one. You're thinking about it. Well, Max Martin is probably the biggest hitmaker of the last three decades. He's Swedish.
0:54.7	Maybe there's something there, Chuck.
0:56.8	Okay, okay.
0:58.1	And he's making a comeback.
0:59.7	Taylor Swift has her forthcoming album.
1:01.9	Many are very excited about it, specifically because she's bringing back Max Martin,
1:06.3	who helped her make the 1989 album, which really helped her crossover into pop music. We've reported
1:12.2	on the impact of Max and the world of Swedish pop music in the past all the way back on
1:18.3	episode 24. Wow. But given that he's coming back on that record and that the impact of Swedish
	...

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