If you've heard Latto's swaggering track "Big Energy"—and after 30 weeks on the Hot 100, you probably have—you may have heard a resemblance to Mariah Carey's 1995 hit "Fantasy." That's because both songs borrow a groove from the 1981 hit "Genius of Love," a genre-defying smash made by Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth. "Genius of Love" was made when Frantz and ... Show More
Nov 18
Is there a Disney curse?: Demi, Selena, and Miley
This year, there were a few records that delivered less-than-optimal returns on either the Hot 100 or the Billboard 200 – and they all came from former Disney pop stars.
Demi Lovato’s latest album peaked at number nine on the Billboard 200, where it spent one week and then fell ... Show More
48m 6s
Nov 11
Rosalía's 'LUX' brings the symphony to the club
Spanish pop star Rosalía is back with her new album, Lux. Over eighteen tracks, she trades in the dembow beats that filled her last record Motomami for maximalist orchestral sounds more in line with Björk than Bad Bunny. The album is dense: there's four movements, thirteen langua ... Show More
44m 2s
Nov 4
Lily Allen and Tate McRae revive the revenge anthem
They say the best revenge is living well, but if you’re a pop star going through a break up, that’s false. The best revenge is releasing a searing scorched-earth revenge banger that calls out your ex and, ideally, rides that vengeance to the top of the Billboard charts. That’s ex ... Show More
33m 50s
Oct 2022
Give Up the Funk Edition Part 2
In the ’70s, funk was pop—the cutting edge of Black music and the way listeners got their groove on, before disco and hip-hop. After James Brown taught a generation a new way to hear rhythm, and George Clinton tore the roof off with his P-Funk axis, nothing would be the same. Ris ... Show More
51m 51s
Aug 2021
What a Fool Believes, Part 2
In part 2 of this episode of Hit Parade, Chris Molanphy continues his deep dive on Yacht Rock, the retroactive genre label for the sleek, jazzy, R&B-flavored sound that cropped up in the late '70s and early '80s amongst polished, perfectionist West Coast studio musicians. Whateve ... Show More
45m 8s
Mar 2022
Dannic presents Fonk Radio 289
This week sees the release of Dannic’s first single for 2022, so you’ll be able to hear that on the latest edition of Fonk Radio… And that’s before we get into new music from the likes of Vintage Culture, Don Diablo, Gregor Salto, Fedde Le Grande, Nicky Romero, Yolanda Be Cool, a ... Show More
59m 53s