A 'podcast' to understand how affairs of state sneak into TikTok dances or your favorite songs

Popular culture, as the object of mass consumption that it is, is inevitably a sociological and political affair. Seemingly mundane things like cartoons, music groups from South Korea, or TikTok dances have a much deeper meaning in the global context. The

, which has just launched the twelfth and last episode of its first season on Spotify, proposes that the analysis of international issues be close to all audiences. Starting from a topic that everyone knows, introduces more complex ideas about what happens in our day to day.

The sound space is the result of the union of two forces, that of Charo Marcos, founder of Kloshletter and one of the creators of

, the newsletter of the Swedish audio platform, and that of those responsible for

, a means of international analysis in Spanish aimed at dissemination. She, a declared admirer of them, proposed them to delve into a series of reports to transfer them to the

genre , as she explained this Monday in a telematic conversation. Then, once with the project under their arms, they sent it to Spotify, which accepted. A few days after its launch, in November 2021, it was placed at the top of the list of the most listened to on the platform.

Geopolítica Pop

, which is produced by The Voice Village and Ricardo Villa, seeks to make the listener understand that, even without knowing it, it is part of the international political battle. It does so with chapters of a little more than half an hour in length to, according to Eduardo Saldaña, one of the directors of

, offer "well-crafted content, but at the same time attractive to the public." Therefore, it was never a question of recording one-hour political lectures. “People are not oblivious to what is happening in the world; She is interested in what happens in other countries, but we did not want to address her with academic language ”, continues Saldaña.

After the research work that each chapter requires, Charo Marcos has been especially impressed by those who start with the topics that may seem more frivolous.

"I have found it very juicy, for example, that of soap operas (episode 4).

It is exciting to compare how their themes have changed over time and how they helped people who emigrated from the countryside to the city to adapt to their new circumstances, ”says the journalist.

She was also surprised by the one dedicated to reggaeton (episode 12), a musical style with which she initially did not feel comfortable, due to the sexist lyrics of the vast majority of songs she had heard.

"Knowing where it comes from, that its origin is quite different, because the most commercial part reaches us, has brought me closer to a perspective that I did not know," he says.

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“Reggaeton is one of the best examples of the reason for this

You may not agree with that type of music, but you have to understand it if you want to understand the world in which you live ”, defends Saldaña.

He especially enjoyed the deliveries dedicated to Christmas, a Christian religious festival with pagan origins that is the center of various cultural disputes, and the electricity festival, “in which I think we have been pioneers in bringing one of the great problems to the public. that humanity has in the future, taking advantage of the debate on the electricity bill ”, he comments.

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