@article{intel:/content/journals/10.1386/rjao_00054_1, author = "Skjerseth, Amy", title = "Ride-along listening: Inclusive modes of musical analysis in Switched on Pop", journal= "Radio Journal:International Studies in Broadcast & Audio Media", year = "2022", volume = "20", number = "Podcasting and Popular Music", pages = "33-48", doi = "https://doi.org/10.1386/rjao_00054_1", url = "https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/rjao_00054_1", publisher = "Intellect", issn = "2040-1388", type = "Journal Article", keywords = "inclusive musicology", keywords = "ride-along listening", keywords = "song-dissection podcasts", keywords = "popular music", keywords = "Switched on Pop", keywords = "Lizzo", keywords = "Janelle Monáe", keywords = "embodied listening", abstract = "Popular music and pop song-dissection podcasts often compete for top 40 listeners’ attention, but podcasts interject hosts’ opinions of songs that listeners may not share. This article introduces a phenomenon I call ‘ride-along listening’, where podcast hosts play isolated musical features to closely examine a song’s production and reception. Hosts’ instantaneous explanations of musical terms have the potential to make pop podcasts more inclusive for non-musically trained listeners. As I show, Switched on Pop’s Episode 80 dissects Janelle Monáe’s ‘Make Me Feel’ by playing the single’s harmonies and rhythms back-to-back with those of the blues, Michael Jackson and Prince. But guest host Lizzo – a classically trained flutist, songwriter, singer and rapper – especially makes Monáe’s social message of fluid sexuality palpable for specialist and non-specialist listeners alike. By foregrounding performing musicians’ embodied listening and knowledge, ride-along listening can provide inclusive ways of dissecting the medium and the message of pop music.", }