With the Academy Awards around the corner, Charlie and Nate try something new: a break down of the movie musical La La Land through two of its key songs, "City of Stars" and "Start a Fire." These numbers, one by composer Justin Hurwitz, the other by Hurwitz and John Legend, might represent the two poles of the film's dramatic structure. But a deep dive into ... Show More
Today
Hrishikesh Hirway made an album “the old-fashioned way.” He nearly exploded.
Hrishikesh Hirway, host of Song Exploder, returns with his first album in fifteen years, In the Last Hour of Light, made under a premise that's almost contradictory for a podcaster built around isolated stems: session players who had never heard the songs, vocals tracked live in ... Show More
43m 4s
Apr 17
Maggie Rogers: going viral is a trap
Ten years ago, Maggie Rogers was a senior at NYU, scrambling to finish a song for a music production class she was close to failing. The guest critic that week happened to be Pharrell Williams. She played him "Alaska," a track she'd written in about fifteen minutes. It is a bit o ... Show More
37m 36s
Jan 2021
"Space Oddity" and "Starman" by David Bowie
<p>Let the children lose it, let the children use it, and let all the children join in for Strong Songs year three!</p><p>Kirk kicks off the new year with a pair of classics by the great David Bowie: 1969's melancholy "Space Oddity" and 1972's triumphant "Starman." What goes up, ... Show More
53m 46s
Mar 2024
Oscars 2024 Best Picture Special
With the 2024 Academy Awards taking place on Sunday, the most trusted voices in film Mark and Simon are here to guide you through the 10 films in the running for Best Picture. Featuring highlights from interviews with directors Greta Gerwig, Celine Song and Jonathan Glazer, and a ... Show More
1h 6m
Jun 2025
Ashley Henry and Amy Harman on Bowie and Beethoven
Jazz pianist Ashley Henry and bassoonist Amy Harman join Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe to add five more tracks to the playlist, taking us from a Bowie dance classic to Marvin Gaye via an unexpected rare, live, performance by a jazz icon in a school in California, surprisingly re ... Show More
42m 53s
Mar 2021
"Wuthering Heights" by Kate Bush
<p>Heathcliff! It's us, it's Strong Songs, we've come home!</p><p>The time has come for a deep dive into the music of the great Kate Bush, and what better song to analyze than her breakthrough 1978 hit, "Wuthering Heights." This song has it all - odd phrasing, shifting key center ... Show More
57m 14s
<p>Who's gonna lay the wedding table? Who's gonna make the wedding bed? And what about the rings? Funny you should ask.</p><p>On this episode, Kirk takes a deep dive into "Wedding Song," one of the signature numbers from Anaïs Mitchell's 2019 musical <i>Hadestown</i>. It's time f ... Show More
