How We Heard It

Great duets have surfaced throughout the history of popular music, evoking a magic that one voice simply can't convey by itself. Duets between Bruno Mars and Rose ("APT.") as well as Kendrick Lamar and SZA ("Luther") have commanded the top of the charts in the past year, and you'll turn up other smash duets no matter how far you go back in time - Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus (2019), Lady Gaga and...

It can be hard to understand how one song casts a spell on your soul when so many others pass you by. It could be the melody or overall construction of the song, or maybe it's the message of the lyrics that grabs you. But sometimes the magic is just a matter of location, location, location. If you've ever been captivated by a song when you were away from home, be it an overnighter in another city...

Ever wonder why you hardly ever see one actor who always lights up the screen while you can't get away from another one who always leaves you cold? So do we. This week, the hosts of "How We Heard It" look at a galaxy of stars - from the old guard like Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Bradley Cooper and Sandra Bullock to new breakouts like Timothee Chalamet, Mikey Madison, Austin Butler and Jacob Elordi....

Our first impression of a new musical group often comes from their name, which can be creative or shocking or forgettable. We've all learned that a band's name typically doesn't reflect the kind of music they play - sometimes it's even the opposite of how you would expect them to sound. And over time, you'll come to love a great band with an unfortunate name or reject a blah group with a clever na...

Funny thing about lyrics: They aren't always what you think they are. Whether you hear them the wrong way or someone else heard them the wrong way and passed that misinterpretation on to you, you're often singing along to a different set of lyrics than your favorite singer. What's more, AI and other lyrics you find on Google get them wrong, too. But "How We Heard It" is here to help, whether you'r...

We've made a full trip around the sun since "How We Heard It" debuted in June of 2024, so for episode No. 52 of the weekly show, your hosts are looking at what worked and what didn't - for the audiences and for themselves - in the first year. They recap what episodes drew the biggest audiences (some shows are more surprising than others) and where the audiences are coming from (some places are mor...

Music fans have been making personal soundtracks for some 50 years, starting with the mixtape in the 1970s, then changing with technology to mixed discs in the 1990s (replacing cassette tapes with compact discs), then creating playlists in the 2000s for devices like iPods as well as streaming services like Spotify. Typically, these homemade collections are just a way to put favorite and/or related...

The music industry has always had its megastars akin to today's super-performers like Taylor Swift, Drake and Morgan Wallen. However, there was a glorious decade from the early 1980s into the 1990s when the planets aligned and money gushed out to a select few artists who commandeered the industry. Major record labels, commercial radio, and MTV conspired to create a consumer hunger for physical pro...

You don't get a second chance to make a first impression, so over the years music artists have relied on the visual cues of their album covers to help sell their product. Sexy photos, dramatic images, optical illusions, striking colors and eye-catching fonts have all been used to grab attention, titillate and intrigue. Album covers were vital in the vinyl heyday, but as consumers turned more and m...

Why do cheaters cheat? Seems like there are as many reasons as there are songs about cheaters. They cheat simply because they're tempted or because they want revenge or because they're lonely or because they don't care or because they want a thrill or because they're addicted to sex or because they're drunk. There are likewise numerous responses to being cheated on. Many are devastated or infuriat...

Are you a sweet soul? A deep thinker? A party animal? All of the above? In this episode of "How We Heard It," your hosts debate the criteria for creating a final playlist - for a celebration of life or just a celebration in general. What kind of songs would you want played at your funeral? Wayne's given it a lot of thought, but Chuck and John? Not so much. Join the guys as they get sweet and salty...

Another summer is upon us, and with it comes a new wave of summer hits that we'll remember forever. What is it about songs this time of year that makes them hit so much better? For starters, summer is the most popular season - one with the longest days, the most vacations and the best weather for being outdoors (notwithstanding oppressive heat waves). We meet new people in summer, we go to new pla...

One-hit wonders come from all directions, from serious artists who expected a long career of hit songs to novelty acts who never even expected that first one. But the end result is always the same: It's one and done for the performer. In this episode of "How We Heard It," your hosts look at an array of their favorite and their most hated one-hit wonders over the years, ranging from before they wer...

This week "How We Heard It" is going to the dogs ... and cats and horses and any other critter you can think of. When your hosts decided to explore songs about animals, they couldn't believe how many old and new gems they turned up, as well as some truly terrible songs. Artists of every genre have found excuses to do songs about animals, and they've come up with just about everything. Songs about...

Songs do a great job of marking all the chapters of a relationship - titillation, infatuation, obsession ... followed by the comforting warmth of deep and abiding love ... (sometimes) followed by hurt, misunderstanding and betrayal ... followed by anger, separation and acceptance. Yet once the breakup is over and done, we sometimes get stuck, unable to move forward or go back, awash in residual ne...

Your hosts at "How We Heard It" love movies just as much anyone, and like everyone else, they'll watch their favorite films again and again. But there are some good movies - some great movies even - that they never intend to watch again. In this week's episode they go through several acclaimed, or at least popular, films they won't be replaying, and they explain why. Their reasons are many and the...

Songwriters in most every genre dabble in themes of alcohol and drug use - some of them just looking for a good time, some of them looking for a serious escape from their lives and some of them looking to feed an addiction. On this episode of "How We Heard It," the guys take it all in, from the playful and silly party songs to the sobering cries for help from artists who are no longer with us. If...

Forget about sappy love songs and happy party songs. Sometimes you've just got to rip somebody a new one, and you don't want to be nice about it. The cathartic power of a mean song can't be underestimated, whether you just need to get something off your chest or you need to dig deep and drive someone completely out of your life. So this week the hosts of "How We Heard It" are mad as hell and they'...

The whole world is full of great music, so this week the "How We Heard It" guys travel the globe to unveil some of the artists who have caught their attention - from Latin America to Asia to Europe to Africa. Some sing in English, some don't. Some play contemporary popular music you might hear throughout the United States and Great Britain, others don't. And some of these acts you might already kn...

Music is in a constant state of change, keeping it in line with shifts in popular culture overall as genres rise and fall in popularity and technology trends change how music is made and how we listen to it. They say change is good, and often that's the case, but veteran music critics Wayne Bledsoe and Chuck Campbell and their musician friend John Baker have been irritated and incensed by some of...

We're constantly passing judgment on others, even if subconsciously - including when we're deciding what movie to watch or what music to hear. The words and actions of celebrities are met with our approval and our disdain, coloring our interest in their work. It's no different for critics, who have to teach themselves to be fair and neutral when evaluating the work of performers. Or do they? In th...

While searching and scrolling through music videos on YouTube, most of us have found ourselves watching videos of people watching the videos we came to see. And they're commenting and reviewing these videos, pausing them and replaying parts, sometimes talking over them and sometimes talking more about each other than about the videos. They typically claim to have never seen the music video before,...

All the time they tried their best, is this the kind of thanks they get? Veteran journalists Chuck Campbell and Wayne Bledsoe have made careers of keeping up with and analyzing music, and in this episode of "How We Heard It," they unload on the pitfalls - like slogging through terrible albums, dealing with pushback from disgruntled fans and shaking their heads at undeserving bands and singers who...

Veteran entertainment writers (and friends) Chuck Campbell and Wayne Bledsoe and their engineer/musician friend John Baker love a good laugh. So on this episode of "How We Heard It," they check off a list of the best comedians in the business these days. From the cleanest of the clean to the ones who constantly teeter on the line of getting cancelled, these comedians have all found their niches. I...

Most bands and singers do at least an occasional love song now and then, and love is the most common subject in popular music. But good love songs can be hard to find - some of the best singers aren't quite convincing as they try to manipulate us with formulaic schlock, and hardly anything is worse than a bad love song. So in this episode of "How We Heard It," veteran music critics Chuck Campbell...