Switched on Pop’s Nate Sloan and Charlie Harding love fresh vegetables and guitar pedals

The duo recently brought their deep dives on the art of pop music to Netflix.

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The duo recently brought their deep dives on the art of pop music to Netflix.

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

As if you needed more reason to love Carly Rae Jepsen’s “ Call Me Maybe ” beyond its pop perfection, it is also, according to lore, the genesis for Switched on Pop , one of the best music podcasts out there. Cohosts Nate Sloan and Charlie Harding obsessively dissect pop songs, from the theory behind their musical choices to their production techniques. If you’re a student of pop music, then this is a must-listen podcast.

Sloan is a composer and professor of musicology at USC Thornton School of Music, where he researches pop, but also jazz and even Tin Pan Alley. Harding is a songwriter, music journalist, and a professor as well. Their combined knowledge is near encyclopedic. Whether they’re talking about text painting in Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” or Taryn Southern’s AI experiments, the two reveal the rich tapestry of even the most simple-seeming songs.

Now, after 12 years and nearly 500 episodes, the show recently made the leap to video on Netflix, featuring guests like Aaron Dessner (The National), Trevor Horn (The Buggles, Yes), and Cypress Hill. Sloan and Harding told us about the importance of the metronome, fresh vegetables, and what seems to be a slightly problematic relationship with guitar pedals.

Switched on Pop is a production of New York Magazine’s Vulture and the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Charlie Harding: The Martin D-28 is the platonic idea of both what a guitar sounds like and, I’m ashamed to admit how much this matters to me, how a guitar looks. You’ve heard it on “Blackbird,” “Wish You Were Here,” and “Big Yellow Taxi.” I found one from 1970 sitting in an antique shop in Maine. But I’m still waiting for it to produce a timeless classic for me.

Nate Sloan: Sibelius music notation software. Whenever I’m analyzing a song, I don’t truly understand it until I transcribe its melody, harmony, and rhythm.

CH: Keyboard shortcuts and the app Rectangle save me hours of my life every year by doing the mundane task of repositioning windows on my computer. And they also make me feel like I’m mission control on some kind of spaceship.

CH: This is very nitpicky, but it drives me mad. I extensively use focus modes on iOS to help keep away distractions. But I also need people in my family to be able to reach me, so they get exceptions to the focus modes. However, that means any group messaging chain with just one family member blows up my notifications when I’m presenting to a lecture hall full of songwriting students. This means I’m urgently notified every time my recently retired father catches a fish. I am happy for my dad, but I’d be more happy to find out after 5 pm when I’m off “do not disturb.” If this makes me sound like a curmudgeon, I am.

CH: 92… but they are nicely organized into groups that only I understand.

NS: Two.