by Casey Deal

Episode 214: Cheap Trick

“Surrender”

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The song “Surrender” by Cheap Trick was released in 1978. Rolling Stone called it the ultimate 70s teen anthem, and included it in their list of the greatest songs of all time. It’s in a bunch of movies and tv shows—including South Park, Scrubs, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, New Girl, and Guardians of the Galaxy. Cheap Trick formed in Rockford, Illinois in 1973. They’ve released 20 studio albums, they’ve sold over 20 million records, and in 2016 they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Rick Nielsen is the guitarist in the band. He wrote “Surrender,” and for this episode, I talked to him about how the song was made.

You can buy or stream “Surrender” here.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

footnotes
Jack Douglas, producer
Heaven Tonight, third album
KISS, band
Rockford, Illinois

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by Casey Deal

Episode 213: Fousheé

“Deep End”


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The story of how the song “Deep End” came into existence and became a hit is kind of wild. One person who really didn’t see it coming is the person who created it, Fousheé. She’s a singer and songwriter from New Jersey. You might have seen her competing on The Voice in 2018. Soon after that, she got asked to make a pack of vocal samples for the music platform Splice, where users can download samples and include them in their own songs, royalty-free. Coming up, Foushée tells the story of what happened with one of those samples, and how that led to her making “Deep End.” That song has now been streamed over 385 million times. Fousheé became the first Black female artist to hit the Top 10 Alternative Chart in over 30 years.

You can buy or stream “Deep End” here.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

footnotes
Itai Shapira, producer
Fousheé’s “Be Kind to Your Ears” sample pack on Splice
“Deep End Freestyle” by Sleepy Hallow
Fousheé’s “Deep End” TikTok video

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by Casey Deal

Episode 212: AURORA

“Runaway”


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AURORA is a singer and songwriter from Norway, who released her first EP in 2015, when she was 19 years old. It featured this song, “Runaway” and after it came out Aurora went on to win Norwegian Grammys for Best New Artist and Best Pop Artist. And she played the voice of the North Wind in Disney’s Frozen 2. This year, six years after that debut EP came out, Aurora’s song “Runaway” became a huge hit on TikTok. At the time this episode was recorded, between YouTube and Spotify, “Runaway” has been streamed over half a billion times. For this episode, Aurora looked back at how the song first began, and how it evolved over time, from the demo to the final version.

You can buy or stream “Runaway” here.

@iamauroramusic

I love this trend so much 🥀 there is so much beauty in this world. ##runawayaurora ##runaway

♬ Runaway – AURORA

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

footnotes
Magnus Skylstad, producer and co-writer
Odd Martin, producer and guitarist

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