Spencer Kornhaber
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Interscope Records / Aftermath Eminem Slips Into the Mind of the Las Vegas Shooter
The rapper’s “Darkness” video tries to fight gun violence while also glorifying it.
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AP / Star Shooter / MediaPunchInc / IPX Mac Miller Was Trying to Tell a Survival Story
The absorbing posthumous album Circles shows the rapper considering his own fragility.
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Beth Dubber / Netflix AJ and the Queen Says Drag Will Make America Okay Again
RuPaul’s patchy Netflix comedy portrays a queer art form as one of healing, not rebellion.
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Gianni Fiorito / HBO The New Pope’s Old Magic
The HBO show’s second season continues to stylishly embody the fascinating contradiction of priests as people.
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Paul Drinkwater / NBC Ricky Gervais Almost Got It Right on Hollywood Hypocrisy
At the Golden Globes, the host told celebrities not to lecture about politics—as he lectured about politics.
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Disney Imagining a Better End to The Rise of Skywalker
Three fan-fiction writers dissect the divisive ending of the Disney trilogy—and the role of romance in the series.
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Lifetime The R. Kelly Story Is Bigger Than Most People Know
Surviving R. Kelly Part II: The Reckoning elaborates on well-known allegations from last year’s documentary. It also incorporates, and interrogates, the assertions of the singer’s defenders.
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Disney The Mandalorian Knows Why Heroes Wear Masks
Like all Star Wars stories, the show’s first season humanized robots. But it also showed why humans try to make themselves into machines.
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Disney / Lucasfilm Why The Rise of Skywalker Is So Frantic
The last installment of Disney’s Star Wars trilogy takes a storytelling approach diametrically opposed to what made the original series good.
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Evan Agostini / AP Harry Styles’s Conscientious Remix of Baby Boomer Culture
Fine Line is the latest major pop album to go all in on classic rock while updating—or at least repurposing—its message.
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Naomi Elliott The 14 Best Music Moments of 2019
The year’s most memorable songs, by Beyoncé, James Blake, Hot Chip, and more
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Rebecca Sapp / Getty How Jack Antonoff Helped Define Pop in 2019
The musician, who co-created some of the year’s standout records, from Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey, is always asking, “How do you cut all the bullshit out?”
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Matthew Murphy How Alanis Morissette’s Music Inspired a Trump-Era Musical
Broadway’s Jagged Little Pill addresses headline-making issues by using pop rock of the ’90s. The play’s creators say they’re honoring what those songs were always about.
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Naomi Elliott The 18 Best Albums of 2019
Our staffers pick the most resonant and exciting music of the year.
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imageSPACE / MediaPunch / IPX/ AP How Juice Wrld Made Sadness a Celebration
The hugely popular 21-year-old rapper, who died after a reported seizure, captured inner instability with ingenious sing-alongs.
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Arthur Mola / AP Coldplay Would Like to Save the World With Vagueness
The band’s double album, Everyday Life, addresses war, violence, and environmental problems—but it reassures the singer and listener before it does anything else.
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Jessica Rinaldi / Reuters Leonard Cohen Never Left Earth
Thanks for the Dance, the singer’s posthumously released album, honors his legacy as a mystic and as a man.
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Dana Trippe ‘I Felt I Didn’t Deserve to Be Unapologetically Joyous’
Kesha opens up about being back to party-animal mode despite her ongoing struggle with the producer Dr. Luke.
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Andrew Kelly / Reuters Taylor Swift Is Waging Reputational Warfare
By going public with rights disputes with her former label, she leverages her fame as an asset.
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Action Images When the Biggest Rapper in the World Gets Booed Off Stage
Unmet hype created a viral clash between Drake and the audience at Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival, but it might just work in his favor.
