Naughty or nice? The 2025 holiday music round up

Naughty or nice? The 2025 holiday music round up

Author: Vulture December 23, 2025 Duration: 37:06
Every Christmas season, pop stars far and wide throw their Santa hats into the ring to see who has the next "All I Want for Christmas Is You," and this year is no exception. It's a yearly tradition on Switched On Pop to explore the deluge of holiday hits, and 2025 sees formidable entries to the canon from folks like Kylie Minogue, Leon Bridges, and Willie Nelson. Links: ⁠Newsletter⁠, ⁠YouTube Songs discussed: Ariana Grande – Santa Tell Me Kelly Clarkson – Underneath the Tree Cher – Christmas Is Here Cher – Believe Kylie Minogue – Hot in December Zach Top – For You For Christmas Willie Nelson – Christmas Love Song Mickey Guyton – Sugar Cookie Meghan Trainor – Gifts For Me The Ronettes – Sleigh Ride Gwen Stefani – Hot Cocoa Train – Let's Stay in Tonight Brenda Lee – Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree Leon Bridges, Norah Jones – This Christmas I'm Coming Home Elysia Biro – The Christmas Song Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ever wonder why a certain pop song gets stuck in your head for days, or how a simple chord change can make you feel a specific way? Switched on Pop digs into those questions with a unique blend of expert analysis and genuine curiosity. Hosts Nate Sloan, a musicologist, and Charlie Harding, a songwriter, act as friendly guides through the intricate world of popular music. They don't just review hits; they dissect them, exploring the craft behind the catchiness. In each episode, you'll hear them break down a track's structure, its historical context, and the production techniques that give it its emotional punch. This isn't a dry academic lecture, though. It's a conversation between two people who love music, unpacking everything from timeless classics to today's viral trends to reveal why pop works the way it does. The Switched on Pop podcast, from Vulture, makes the familiar strange again, encouraging you to listen more deeply. You'll start to hear the clever harmonies hidden in a chart-topper, the rhythmic patterns borrowed from decades past, and the lyrical choices that resonate with millions. It's for anyone who has ever tapped a foot to a radio song and then wondered about the mechanics of that reaction. Tune in and you might just find that your favorite songs have layers you've never noticed before.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Switched on Pop
Podcast Episodes
RAYE’s maximalist masterpiece is the hope we need [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:47
RAYE names Amy Winehouse and Edith Piaf as her artistic predecessors on the opening tracks of new album This Music May Contain Hope. Both died young, undone by the same darkness they sang about, and placing them there re…
Where have all the white rappers gone? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:43
On a recent podcast interview, Kentucky rapper Jack Harlow said that, to craft his new album Monica, he “got blacker.” The problem is… Jack Harlow is white. The statement, while extremely tone-deaf, speaks to his intenti…
Jacob Collier can make anyone sing [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:02
Jacob Collier is a rare musician: an expert in so many musical languages (western harmony, negative harmony, microtonalism) and a phenomenal communicator about music. He's something like an Ambassador for Music, travelin…
Harry Styles loses himself to dance [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:38
The dance floor is where Harry Styles does his therapy, and this album is the session notes. Four years after Harry's House, Styles returns with Kiss All the Time, Disco Occasionally, a record built from minimal ingredie…
Can Bruno Mars counterprogram his way to another hit album? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 44:52
Bruno Mars is back with a new album called The Romantic, his first solo release since 2016’s 24k Magic. At first listen, the lead single, “I Just Might,” sounds like an outtake from 2021’s collaborative album with Anders…
Charli XCX’s "Wuthering Heights" fever dream [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:13
Emerald Fennell's new adaptation of Emily Brontë's 1847 gothic romance "Wuthering Heights" is the most talked-about film of the year. But for pop lovers, the soundtrack is the real event: Charli xcx, asked to write one s…
Will Sinners do for blues what O Brother did for bluegrass? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:04
It's the middle of award season, and Ryan Coogler's ode to the Black music canon Sinners has emerged as the Oscars frontrunner and the most nominated film in Academy Awards history. The love the movie has for the Delta b…
Jazz is A$AP Rocky’s secret weapon [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:54
A$AP Rocky’s latest album, Don’t Be Dumb, is a wild ride through a cacophony of sounds — punk, industrial, drum ‘n’ bass, indie rock, and of course, hip hop. But on one track, “Robbery,” he and the rising superstar Doech…
Does humor belong in music? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:19
What makes Weird Al songs so indelible? Why is Bo Burnham more than just a comic? How do the biggest pop hits make us crack up in the middle of a somber ballad? Humor is always present in music, but we rarely confront it…