SZA's Endless Melody

Switched on Pop

Vox Media Podcast Network

Music Interviews, Music History, Music, Music Commentary

4.6 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 18 January 2023

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Why does SZA's latest album SOS hit different? It's the way her melodies don't repeat where you expect them to, defying all the rules of pop songwriting. We break down how her endless melodies echo the intimate themes of her most recent release, and how they connect to genres ranging from gospel to Wagnerian opera. Songs Discussed SZA - Kill Bill, SOS, Shirt, Notice Me, Seek & Destroy, Gone Girl, Low, Smoking on My Ex Pack, Ghost in the Machine (ft Phoebe Bridgers), F2F Sam Smith & Kim Petras - Unholy Taylor Swift - Anti-Hero Jazmine Sullivan - Girl Like Me (ft H.E.R.) Summer Walker - No Love (ft. SZA) Jessye Norman - Isoldes Liebestod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Your plans? Today it's dinner with the parents at your spot.
0:04.4	We gotta come back here.
0:06.0	Now they're spot. Or you're on the edge of your seat at the game.
0:10.0	Come on, just one time!
0:12.0	And it's the one!
0:14.0	Or maybe you're catching the max flight to...
0:18.0	Now boarding flight 1850.
0:20.0	Oh, that's you!
0:21.0	The choice is yours. And when you're with AMACs,
0:24.0	it's not if it's going to happen.
0:26.0	But when? American Express.
0:28.0	Don't live life without it.
0:36.0	Switched on and pop.
0:42.0	Welcome to Switched On Pop.
0:44.0	I'm a musicologist, Nate Slun.
0:46.0	And I'm songwriter, Charlie Harding.
0:48.0	When we hit play on the number three song on the charts right now,
0:52.0	number three on the charts, number one on our hearts, Charlie.
0:54.0	Yes.
0:56.0	We hear something that doesn't obey many of the rules that a top ten hit is supposed to follow.
1:16.0	What surprises me about the beginning of this song is the way that it uses melody.
1:22.0	It's very meandering. It wanders.
	...

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