Overview

"Pop music surrounds us - in our cars, over supermarket speakers, even when we are laid out at the dentist - but how often do we really hear what's playing? Switched on Pop is the book based on the eponymous podcast that has been hailed by NPR, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, and Entertainment Weekly for its witty and accessible analysis of Top 40 hits. Through close studies of sixteen modern classics, musicologist Nate Sloan and songwriter Charlie Harding shift pop from the background to the foreground, illuminating the essential musical concepts behind two decades of chart-topping songs. In 1939, Aaron Copland published What to Listen for in Music, the bestseller that made classical music approachable for generations of listeners. Eighty years later, Nate and Charlie update Copland's idea for a new audience and repertoire: 21st century pop, from Britney to Beyoncé, Outkast to Kendrick Lamar. Despite the importance of pop music in contemporary culture, most discourse only revolves around lyrics and celebrity. Switched on Pop gives readers the tools they need to interpret our modern soundtrack. Each chapter investigates a different song and artist, revealing musical insights such as how a single melodic motif follows Taylor Swift through every genre that she samples, André 3000 uses metric manipulation to get listeners to ""shake it like a Polaroid picture,"" or Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee create harmonic ambiguity in ""Despacito"" that mirrors the patterns of global migration.Replete with engaging discussions and eye-catching illustrations, Switched on Pop brings to life the musical qualities that catapult songs into the pop pantheon. Readers will find themselves listening to familiar tracks in new waysDLand not just those from the Top 40. The timeless concepts that Nate and Charlie define can be applied to any musical style. From fanatics to skeptics, teenagers to octogenarians, non-musicians to professional composers, every music lover will discover something ear-opening in Switched on Pop."

Full Product Details

Author:   Nate Sloan ,  Charlie Harding
Publisher:   Oxford University Press Inc
Imprint:   Oxford University Press Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 14.50cm , Height: 2.00cm , Length: 21.10cm
Weight:   0.363kg
ISBN:  

9780190056650

ISBN 10:   0190056657
Pages:   224
Publication Date:   13 December 2019
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In stock  
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Table of Contents

Introduction: Switched On Pop Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me Maybe (2011) 1: Y'all Don't Want To Hear Me, You Just Want To Dance Meter: Outkast - Hey Ya! (2003) 2: A Star's Melodic Signature Melody: Taylor Swift - You Belong With Me (2008) 3: The Harmonic Hero's Journey Harmony: Fun Ft. Janelle Monae - We Are Young (2011) 4: How The Drop Broke The Pop Song Form: Rihanna Ft. Calvin Harris - We Found Love (2011) 5: A Voice Without A Face Timbre: Sia - Chandelier (2014) 6: Painting A Musical Masterpiece Lyric: Justin Timberlake - What Goes Around Comes Around (2006) 7: What Makes Pop So Catchy The Hook: Ariana Grande Ft. Zedd - Break Free (2014) 8: Sometimes The Truth Don't Rhyme Rhyme: Drake - God's Plan (2018) 9: Drunk On Rhythm Syncopation: Kendrick Lamar - Swimming Pools (2012) 10: Music Takes You Higher Modulation: Beyonce - Love On Top (2011) 11: The Performance of Identity Counterpoint: Britney Spears - Oops I Did It Again (2000) 12: Is Collage A Crime? Sampling: M.I.A. - Paper Planes (2008) 13: Shock, Awe & Synthesis Sound Design: Skrillex - Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites (2010) 14: Finding Home In The Harmonic Diaspora Tonal Ambiguity: Luis Fonsi Ft. Daddy Yankee - Despacito (2017) 15: Does Pop Have A Sound? Genre: Kelly Clarkson - Since U Been Gone (2004) 16: I Like Everything... Except Country & Hip Hop Musical Identity: Jay Z & Kanye West Ft. Frank Ocean Conclusion: The Past, Present & Future Of Silly Little Love Songs Paul Mccartney - Get Enough (2019) Acknowledgements Notes Index

Reviews

Switched On Pop is an essential text for anyone who imagines the song to be a curious machine, burrowing its way into our hearts and minds. -- Hanif Abdurraqib, author of Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes on a Tribe Called Quest As smart and playful as the podcast that preceded it, Switched On Pop finds inventive ways to put sound on paper. -- Linda Holmes, host of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour and author of Evvie Drake Starts Over Switched On Pop is a unicorn of a book: a work of public scholarship that neither ignores the public nor skimps on the scholarship. It is musicology that thinks about feelings and feels about thinkings. A rare feat! -- Phil Ford, Associate Professor, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and co-host of the Weird Studies podcast Through rigorous but accessible dissection...the pair don't just make the case for pop's relevance-they also illuminate the discrete layers that make it so fun. -- The Atlantic

Switched On Pop is an essential text for anyone who imagines the song to be a curious machine, burrowing its way into our hearts and minds. -- Hanif Abdurraqib, author of Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes on a Tribe Called Quest As smart and playful as the podcast that preceded it, Switched On Pop finds inventive ways to put sound on paper. -- Linda Holmes, host of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour and author of Evvie Drake Starts Over Switched On Pop is a unicorn of a book: a work of public scholarship that neither ignores the public nor skimps on the scholarship. It is musicology that thinks about feelings and feels about thinkings. A rare feat! -- Phil Ford, Associate Professor, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and co-host of the Weird Studies podcast

Author Information

Nate Sloan and Charlie Harding are the co-hosts of Switched on Pop and longtime musical collaborators. Nate is Assistant Professor of Musicology at the University of Southern California. Charlie is Executive Producer of the show and a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter.

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