Music
Switched On Pop | Lizzo And The End of Genre (with Sam Harris of X Ambassadors)
A podcast breaking down the music of pop hits.
Switched On Pop
Published 07 May 2019
Switched On Pop

Pop music surrounds us, but how often do we really listen to what we’re hearing? Switched on Pop is the podcast that pulls back the curtain on pop music. Each episode, join musicologist Nate Sloan and songwriter Charlie Harding as they reveal the secret formulas that make pop songs so infectious. By figuring out how pop hits work their magic, you’ll fall in love with songs you didn’t even know you liked.

On her new album, Cuz I Love You, Lizzo shows off her genre bending musicality.

We speak with X Ambassador's lead singer, Sam Harris, who helped co-write three songs on the album, including its eponymous track. We discuss how Lizzo's songs glide across sixties soul, seventies rock rock, eighties new wave, and nineties hip-hop. But we find that her music is much more than a history lesson in genre.

Lizzo writes vulnerable and courageous lyrics about self love, body positivity, female empowerment, and black identity. Rather than craft a singular sound for her album, she utilizes the genre that best fits the message of any given song. Her subversion of genre to the mood of her lyric matches changes in music consumption.

According to Chartmetric, more people than ever are listening across genres to context based playlists. Does this mean genre no longer matters? Nate and Charlie try to find out with the help of Lizzo's genre busting music.

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