Song 2: S.6. Ep.1 - Jake Bugg, 23/10/2026

"maybe it's more important than I realised. Narratively, it's very important on this record I'm about to put out.” Elly Jackson Is the second track on an album really its most important? La Roux joins Stephen ‘Steps’ Lowe to put the theory to the test, and ends up questioning a few of her own decisions along the way. Best known for hits including Bulletproof and In for the Kill, Elly Jackson, aka La Roux, has spent much of her career doing things her own way. But when presented with the Song 2 theory, that the opening track introduces an album, while the second has to convince you to stay, she admits it's something she's never really considered. As the conversation develops, however, she begins to see the argument differently. Discussing her forthcoming album, Jackson explains how she's moved away from sequencing songs primarily by key and tempo towards building a narrative, with Cabin Fever occupying a particularly important position. “Yeah, maybe it's more important than I realised. Narratively, it's very important on this record I'm about to put out.” From the art of album sequencing to the danger of putting all your biggest songs at the beginning, it's a revealing, entertaining conversation about how records are put together, and whether track two deserves a little more credit. Listen to the latest episode of Song 2 and find out whether La Roux agrees with the theory, or manages to pull it apart.

“Once we got the final track list down, we were like, let’s listen back and see if it feels right.” - Wishy Does track two really deserve its special status? Wishy's Kevin Krauter and Nina Pitchkites take on the Song 2 theory, make a surprisingly strong case for Covergirl, and talk about why, even in the age of streaming and shuffle, getting an album's running order right still matters.

“Tracklisting is a huge part of it. It can change the whole entire context of the record.” - Jake Bugg Is track two really the most important song on an album? Jake Bugg puts the Song 2 theory to the test as he discusses tracklisting, taking listeners on a journey and why the running order can completely change the context of a record. And with forthcoming Alamo track two, Never Can Tell also serving as the new single, our theory may just have found another believer. (image courtesy of Sony Music)

Five seasons, countless guests and an awful lot of unexpected detours later, Song 2 is back for a sixth season on RTL Today Radio. The idea remains beautifully simple; the opening track gets you through the door, but track two is where an album has to convince you to stay. So, is the second song secretly the most important position on a record? Over the years, Stephen “Steps” Lowe has tested the theory against some fairly serious evidence. Blur, Björk, Dua Lipa, Linkin Park, Fontaines D.C., Pink Floyd, De La Soul, The Vaccines, Foals and countless others have supplied the songs, while artists including Alice Cooper, Billy Bragg, Gavin Rossdale, Pete Doherty, Chino Moreno, Tim Burgess, Skin, Biffy Clyro's James Johnston and E from Eels have weighed in on the argument themselves. Some swear by tracklisting. Some think Song 2 has a special job to do. Others think the whole theory is nonsense. All of which rather helps the podcast. Now Season Six is ready to start the argument all over again. More classic albums, more brilliant second tracks, more artists explaining how records are actually put together, and probably considerably more evidence that there is no universally accepted answer. Because in the age of playlists, algorithms and shuffle, the bigger question may no longer simply be whether Song 2 is the most important track on an album, but whether where we put songs still matters at all. Song 2, Season Six. Coming to RTL Today Radio and RTL Play.

On this episode of Song 2, we’re making the case for why track two might be the most important slot on any album, and today’s example is Aretha Franklin an The song appears on her 1968 album Aretha Now, released during the peak of her legendary Atlantic Records run, when everything she recorded felt deliberate and powerful. Interestingly, the song didn’t start with Aretha, it was written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, and first recorded by Dionne Warwick a year earlier. The writers were inspired by the anxiety of the Vietnam War era, particularly the fear of loved ones being sent overseas, which adds surprising emotional depth to what sounds like such an upbeat pop classic.

“I don’t wake up trying to write the big song. I wake up trying to make a great album.” Welcome back to Song 2, the podcast still fighting the good fight for track number two. Five seasons in, we’ve converted a few believers, and this week might add another. With We Will Always Be The Way We Were on the horizon, Jack Savoretti joins the debate and, as it turns out, he doesn’t just agree with the theory… he’s been quietly living by it for years.

“It’s not my favourite song on the record… but it’s the point where you realise it’s not going to be another acoustic singer-songwriter album.” Welcome back to Song 2, the podcast where we keep pushing the idea that track two might just be the album’s quiet MVP. This time, it’s Heather Woods Broderick stepping into the debate, reflecting on how the second song on her record Labyrinth shifts expectations and resets the listener’s compass. It’s less about being the “best”, and more about being the moment you realise what kind of journey you’re actually on.

“The second song is kind of like another opening track… if the first one doesn’t work, then the second one has to.” Welcome back to Song 2, the podcast that continues to argue (no convince) that the second track on an album might just be the most important one. This episode features a conversation Sarah Tapp had with Sprints (a little time back now) but timely, as it lands ahead of their show at Den Atelier, one of Luxembourg’s premier live venues. The band were promoting their album All That Is Over, and what followed was a refreshingly honest look at the chaos, compromise and near-existential spirals that come with finalising a tracklist. From vinyl-side constraints to anxiety-inducing sequencing, Sprints pull back the curtain on how albums are actually ordered, and whether track two really carries that much weight. (image: David Wallis)

Nobody Knows might not be the biggest song on Hugo, but it’s the one that grounds the album and tells you exactly what kind of record you’re listening to Welcome back to Song 2, the podcast that keeps flying the flag for track number two. This week we rewind to 2022 and dive into Hugo, the Mercury-nominated album from British rapper and poet Loyle Carner. Sitting second on the record is Nobody Knows, a track that doesn’t shout the loudest, but quietly defines everything that follows.

“If you listen to it as one piece, it’s almost like one song anyway… it’s about taking the listener on a journey.” Welcome back to Song 2, the podcast where we try, sometimes stubbornly, mostly enthusiastically, to convince you that the second track on an album is either the best or the most important. Sometimes we win the argument. Often we don’t. This time, we put the theory to Harry from Maruja, in a slightly chaotic pre-Christmas chat recorded from a car park in Germany with questionable Wi-Fi and strong opinions on tracklisting. (image: Sony Music) Harry doesn’t fully buy into the “second song supremacy” idea but what he does offer is something arguably more interesting: a defence of albums as cohesive journeys in a streaming world that increasingly fragments them.