A post shared by Song Exploder (@songexploder) on Sep 25, 2017 at 8:09am PDT

Lorde (aka Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor) is a Grammy-award winning singer, songwriter, and producer. Her second album, Melodrama, debuted at number one on the charts in June 2017 – five months before her 21st birthday. In this episode, Ella breaks down her song “Sober.” You’ll hear how it started, with the original demos she made with her co-producer Jack Antonoff, and how the song changed over the course of working on it for months and months.

You can get “Sober” on iTunes.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes
Malay (producer)
Kuk Harrell (vocal engineer)
Laura Sisk (engineer)
TNGHT

A post shared by Song Exploder (@songexploder) on Sep 14, 2017 at 3:13am PDT

Rostam Batmanglij is a songwriter, producer, and composer, who first rose to prominence in 2006 as one of the members of Vampire Weekend. He’s produced songs for Frank Ocean, Solange, Carly Rae Jepsen, and more. But his September 2017 album Half-Light is his first as a solo artist. In this episode, Rostam breaks down his song “Bike Dream.” In this episode, he explains how it was influenced in part by bands like T.Rex and Coldplay. But “Bike Dream” began very differently from how it ended up.

You can get “Bike Dream” on iTunes.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes
T.Rex – I Love to Boogie
Dave Fridmann
Korg Trident

Take the Song Exploder listener survey at surveynerds.com/songexploder.

A post shared by Song Exploder (@songexploder) on Sep 5, 2017 at 9:07am PDT

The band Ibeyi is made up of twin sisters Naomi Diaz and Lisa-Kaindé Diaz. When they were only teenagers, they were signed to a record deal by Richard Russell, who had previously signed artists like Adele and Vampire Weekend to his label, XL. He also co-produces their records. In this episode, Naomi and Lisa-Kaindé take apart their 2017 song “Deathless,” featuring Kamasi Washington.

You can get “Deathless” on iTunes.

Step inside the stems of “Deathless” with this new project from Song Exploder and Google called Inside Music. Visit g.co/insidemusic on your computer, mobile device, or with your VR headset, and you can experience the song in a whole new, interactive way.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes
Miguel “Angá” Díaz
Buena Vista Social Club
Kamasi Washington
Nina Simone

Take the Song Exploder listener survey at surveynerds.com/songexploder.