'Switched on Pop' illuminates the essential musical concepts behind two decades of chart-topping songs. The text moves through close studies of 16 modern pop classics by artists from Beyoncé to Zedd, each chapter bringing out key aspects of a particular song as well as introducing core concepts such as rhythm, melody, harmony, form, and timbre. As the work progresses, more complex concepts such as syncopation, counterpoint, rhyme, and modulation...