Slate Archives - Chris Molanphy

On his latest No. 1, the singer shows why he might just be our era’s most defining star. With less than a month to go in the 2010s, the decade that has utterly confounded our understanding of what genre even means in popular music, perhaps it’s appropriate that genre-obliterator Post Malone has the top song [...] Read more

Hit Parade Slate

Hit Parade: Rolling in God’s Royal Uptown Road Edition

27 November 201930 November 2019

How memes, streams, and crossover dreams drove the hits of the 2010s. <audio title="Rolling in God’s Royal Uptown Road Edition" src="https://traffic.megaphone.fm/SLT5546651747.mp3" class="audio-player" tabindex="0" preload="metadata" controls></audio> <iframe title="Rolling in God’s Royal Uptown Road Edition" src="https://player.megaphone.fm/SLT5546651747?light=true" frameborder="no" height="200" scrolling="no" width="100%"></iframe> View Transcript Listen & Subscribe Choose your preferred player: Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts TuneIn Spotify Stitcher Overcast [...] Read more

Hit Parade Slate

The Bridge: Genre vs. Generation, ’80s to ’10s

15 November 201930 November 2019

Chris Molanphy and Ned Raggett discuss the ’80s wave of British alt-rock. <audio title="The Bridge: Genre vs. Generation, ’80s to ’10s" src="https://traffic.megaphone.fm/SLT5231165333.mp3" class="audio-player" tabindex="0" preload="metadata" controls></audio> <iframe title="The Bridge: Genre vs. Generation, ’80s to ’10s" src="https://player.megaphone.fm/SLT5231165333?light=true" frameborder="no" height="200" scrolling="no" width="100%"></iframe> View Transcript Listen longer Slate Plus members get ad-free versions of all Slate podcasts, plus [...] Read more

Slate Why Is This Song No. 1?

Why America Was Finally Ready for Selena Gomez to Have a No. 1 Hit

8 November 201930 November 2019

2019 is the year women figured out how to take back the pop charts. One year ago—52 weeks, on the button—an accomplished, social media–commanding pop star scored her first-ever No. 1 hit by portraying herself as the graceful heroine of her story and revealing just enough about her personal life to establish a sense of intimacy [...] Read more

Slate Why Is This Song No. 1?

Why This Scottish Bloke Has the No. 1 Song in America

1 November 201930 November 2019

Lewis Capaldi can thank Adele, Dancing With the Stars, and his song’s complete lack of bells and whistles. Memo to Adele: You … are recording a new album, right? It’s been about four years now. Surely you’re cooking something up for before Christmas? You might wanna get on that, because, just FYI, the whole world [...] Read more

Hit Parade Slate

Hit Parade: The Lost and Lonely Edition

31 October 201930 November 2019

Three decades ago, the biggest alternative rock came with a British accent—and morose lyrics. <audio title="The Lost and Lonely Edition" src="https://traffic.megaphone.fm/SLT3930490706.mp3" class="audio-player" tabindex="0" preload="metadata" controls></audio> <iframe title="The Lost and Lonely Edition" src="https://player.megaphone.fm/SLT3930490706?light=true" frameborder="no" height="200" scrolling="no" width="100%"></iframe> View Transcript Listen & Subscribe Choose your preferred player: Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts TuneIn Spotify Stitcher Overcast RSS Feed [...] Read more

Hit Parade Slate

The Bridge: Rain Sounds and Moody Goths

11 October 201930 November 2019

Chris Molanphy and Aisha Harris talk about the song template Janet Jackson’s producers spun into five hits. <audio title="The Bridge: Rain Sounds and Moody Goths" src="https://traffic.megaphone.fm/SLT3724819272.mp3" class="audio-player" tabindex="0" preload="metadata" controls></audio> <iframe title="The Bridge: Rain Sounds and Moody Goths" src="https://player.megaphone.fm/SLT3724819272?light=true" frameborder="no" height="200" scrolling="no" width="100%"></iframe> View Transcript Listen & Subscribe Choose your preferred player: Apple Podcasts Google [...] Read more

Hit Parade Slate

Hit Parade: State of the World Edition

27 September 201930 November 2019

Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation redefined pop style 30 years ago—and generated more hits than any album, ever. <audio title="State of the World Edition" src="https://traffic.megaphone.fm/SLT1902110333.mp3" class="audio-player" tabindex="0" preload="metadata" controls></audio> <iframe title="State of the World Edition" src="https://player.megaphone.fm/SLT1902110333?light=true" frameborder="no" height="200" scrolling="no" width="100%"></iframe> View Transcript Listen & Subscribe Choose your preferred player: Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts TuneIn Spotify Stitcher [...] Read more

Hit Parade Slate

The Bridge: Ladies of the Canyon and the Rhythm Nation

13 September 201921 September 2019

How a couple of major hit-makers fulfilled their chart destinies from the ’60s to the ’90s. <audio title="The Bridge: Ladies of the Canyon and the Rhythm Nation" src="https://traffic.megaphone.fm/SLT3707036581.mp3" class="audio-player" tabindex="0" preload="metadata" controls></audio> <iframe title="The Bridge: Ladies of the Canyon and the Rhythm Nation" src="https://player.megaphone.fm/SLT3707036581?light=true" frameborder="no" height="200" scrolling="no" width="100%"></iframe> View Transcript Listen longer Slate Plus members [...] Read more

Slate Why Is This Song No. 1?

Why It Took an Inflatable Butt for Lizzo to Finally Score Her First No. 1

6 September 201921 September 2019

The singer has long been a hit with parents. “Truth Hurts” finally won over their kids. Tweet Share Comment <img src="https://compote.slate.com/images/51fb9b74-0ef8-4e08-9bff-6b7b76e582cb.jpeg?width=780&height=520&rect=1560x1040&offset=0x0" alt="Lizzo onstage at Coachella." /> Photo illustration by Slate. Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Coachella. Recently in Music America’s New Favorite Song Cements This as the Summer of Gen Z Taylor Swift’s [...] Read more

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