Pop Unmuted

In-Depth Discussion of Pop Music

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Episode 24 – Pet Sounds At 50

On Episode 24 of Pop Unmuted, Scott Interrante and Kurt Trowbridge are joined by Missy Kyzer to celebrate and discuss the 50th anniversary of the Beach Boy’s seminal album Pet Sounds.

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On our latest episode, we discuss the popular One Direction conspiracy theory called Larry Stylinson, which suggests that Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson are in a romantic relationship and kept in the closet by their management. We talk about the politics of real person slash fiction, mysterious gay teddy bears, and a potentially fake baby.

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Episode 21 – Five Years of “Friday”

On Episode 21 of Pop Unmuted, Scott Interrante and Kurt Trowbridge analyze 2011’s most viral video, “Friday” by Rebecca Black in celebration of its fifth anniversary.

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Episode 20 – Free Kesha

Trigger Warning: Emotional and Sexual Abuse. On Episode 20 of Pop Unmuted, Scott Interrante and Kurt Trowbridge are joined by MTV News writer Sasha Geffen to talk about the legal situation going on…

On Episode 20 of Pop Unmuted, Scott Interrante and Kurt Trowbridge are joined by MTV News writer Sasha Geffen to talk about the legal situation going on between Kesha and Dr. Luke. Then, previous guests of the show send in audio tributes to Kesha discussing her music and what she means to them. Contributors include Kira Grunenberg, Megan Lavengood, and Taylor Myers.

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February 2016 Pop-Up: Let’s Talk About Love

On this Pop-Up episode of Pop Unmuted, Scott Interrante and Kurt Trowbridge get in the mood for Valentine’s Day by discussing some of their favorite love songs. Scott shares his thoughts on t…

On this Pop-Up episode of Pop Unmuted, Scott Interrante and Kurt Trowbridge get in the mood for Valentine’s Day by discussing some of their favorite love songs. Scott shares his thoughts on two older hits, “Don’t Worry Baby” by The Beach Boys and Dolly Parton’s classic “I Will Always Love You” while Kurt goes with two lesser-known songs by contemporary artists in John Mayer’s “City Love” and Celine Dion’s French-language hit “Je t’aime Encore.” The two then preview next week’s 58th Annual GRAMMY Awards episode by predicting who will win the four major categories.

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January 2016 Pop-Up: Double Choruses

On this pop-up episode of Pop Unmuted, Scott Interrante and Kurt Trowbridge explore different types of choruses that deviate from the norm: songs with choruses and post-choruses, songs with long, m…

Our latest episode talks about songs that have two choruses. Those greedy songs! What, one wasn’t enough?

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Favorite Songs Of 2015

On the last episode of 2015, Kurt Trowbridge and Scott Interrante are joined by Kira Grunenberg and Annie Dineen to discuss our favorite songs of the year. Kurt picks Carly Rae Jepsen’s &#822…

Our last episode of 2015!

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Justin Bieber’s Purpose & One Direction’s Made In The A.M.

On Episode 17 of Pop Unmuted, Scott Interrante and Kurt Trowbridge are joined by MTV Staff Writer Patrick Hosken and Prtls Creative Director Tyler Andere to talk about Justin Bieber’s Purpose…

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November 2015 Pop-Up: Adele’s “Hello”

On this Pop-Up episode of Pop Unmuted, Scott Interrante and Kurt Trowbridge discuss thew new single from Adele’s upcoming 25, “Hello” along with the records it’s already set…

On this Pop-Up episode of Pop Unmuted, Scott Interrante and Kurt Trowbridge discuss thew new single from Adele’s upcoming 25, “Hello” along with the records it’s already set and the reasons behind the Adele phenomenon.

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Talking About Pop

How do we communicate our thoughts and feelings on pop music? What is mainstream pop music’s cultural position and in what ways is that related to gender? On Episode 16 of Pop Unmuted, Scott …

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October 2015 Pop-Up: One-Note Melodies

On this Pop-Up episode of Pop Unmuted, Kurt Trowbridge and Scott Interrante discuss a trend they’ve noticed popping up in recent pop songs: one note melodies. They discuss some recent and his…

On this Pop-Up episode of Pop Unmuted, Kurt Trowbridge and Scott Interrante discuss a trend they’ve noticed popping up in recent pop songs: one-note melodies. They discuss some recent and historic examples of the technique, why songwriters might employ it, and what it brings to the meaning of the music.

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Fandom and Justin Bieber’s “What Do You Mean?”

On Episode 15 of Pop Unmuted, Scott Interrante and Kurt Trowbridge are joined by fandom scholars Helena Dare-Edwards and Dr. Mark Duffett to discuss pop fandom, fan screaming, and the power of fan …

New website, new season, new episode!

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Muting Pop Unmuted

Earlier this summer, we started a kickstarter campaign to help fund our podcast, expand what we do, and bring you better content! We’ve successfully reached our goal, and we couldn’t be more excited and grateful for that. Part of our plan involves building a website and moving our episodes from Soundcloud to our own domain. And originally we were planning on keeping our Soundcloud (which is where our RSS feed for iTunes and Stitcher is set up) active until we were ready to make the switch. But, because Soundcloud has been cracking down harder on copyright infringement, we’ve been forced to close our account.

What this means for Pop Unmuted: Our show will be offline until the end of September, when we’ll be back with a brand new website and a brand new episode. All of our past episodes will be reuploaded on our website and back into the RSS feed at that time.

For now, you can still stream or download ALL of our episodes on bandcamp.

We really appreciate your support and we promise that when we come back, it will be better than ever!

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On Episode 14 of Pop Unmuted, Scott Interrante and Kurt Trowbridge are joined by Annie Galvin, a PhD candidate in English at the University of Virginia and Alice Bolin, a poet and essayist to talk about different aspects of pop lyrics. The panel then discusses the latest album from country singer-songwriter Kacey Musgraves, 'Pageant Material.' As always, we end with our Unmuted Pop Songs recommendation segment.

Follow Pop Unmuted: twitter.com/PopUnmuted facebook.com/PopUnmuted

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Episode 13: Pop Anniversaries and The Weeknd’s “Can’t Feel My Face”

On Episode 13 of Pop Unmuted, Scott Interrante and Kurt Trowbridge are joined by music journalist Kira Grunenberg and Atlantic Records A&R consultant and music blogger Adam Soybel to celebrate the podcast's 1 year anniversary by discussing pop anniversaries and pop nostalgia. The panel then talks about the latest single by The Weeknd, "Can't Feel My Face" and its relationship to Apple Music. As always, we end with our Unmuted Pop Songs recommendation segment.

Check out Kira's blog Throw The Dice and Play Nice Check out Adam's blog Pop Goes The Charts

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Episode 12: Resilience, Melancholy, and Rihanna’s “American Oxygen” with Dr. Robin James

On Episode 12 of Pop Unmuted, Scott Interrante and Kurt Trowbridge are joined by Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Dr. Robin James, to discuss her new book 'Resilience and Melancholy: Pop Music, Feminism, Neoliberalism' and Rihanna's "American Oxygen." As always, we close with our Unmuted Pop Songs recommendations.

'Resilience and Melancholy' is out now on Zero Books You can find more of Dr. James's writing on her blog

Follow Pop Unmuted: twitter.com/PopUnmuted facebook.com/PopUnmuted Subscribe on iTunes

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Episode 11: Brian Wilson’s No Pier Pressure and Veteran Pop Artists

On Episode 11 of Pop Unmuted, Scott Interrante and Kurt Trowbridge are joined by music blogger Bill Smith and undergraduate Music & Culture student at University of California, Riverside Missy Kyzer to talk about the latest album from Brian Wilson, No Pier Pressure, and the phenomenon of the aging pop star. As always, we close with our Unmuted Pop Songs recommendations.

Read more from Bill Smith here  Read more from Missy Kyzer here 

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