Spencer Kornhaber
-
![]()
Patrick Semansky / Pool via REUTERS The Surprising Thing About Biden’s Inauguration
The colorful and joyful ceremony didn’t feel like a crisis-era bureaucratic procedure.
-
Subscriber Weekly: What the Past Four Years Revealed About American Culture
Trump the person exited the stage. But the Trump industrial complex may linger. This is The Atlantic’s weekly email to subscribers, a close look at the issues our newsroom is watching.
-
![]()
Shannon Stapleton / Reuters The Superhero Fantasies of Trump’s Mob
The insurrectionists have been sold a fiction, and their costumes warp the works that inspired them.
-
![]()
Aaron Denton The Eeriness of the 2020 Disco Revival
As pop stars time-warped back to the ’70s and most nightclubs remained closed, dance music’s tensions felt oddly relevant.
-
![]()
Charlie Maignan The 16 Best Albums of 2020
A selection of the most illuminating music to come out of a dark year, handpicked by our staffers
-
![]()
Beth Garrabrant Taylor Swift Could Use an Editor
Evermore, the singer’s second surprise folkie album of the year, sees the cringes-to-chills ratio move in the wrong direction.
-
![]()
Denise Truscello / Getty Miley Cyrus Is Perfect for the Rock-and-Roll Revival
The pop star’s career is a case study in courting public expectations by rebelling against them.
-
![]()
Getty / Arsh Raziuddin / The Atlantic The Pandemic Clarified Who the Kardashians Really Are
As Keeping Up With the Kardashians nears its 20th and final season, its family of influencers has lost the capacity to balance relatability and spectacle.
-
![]()
Mandelb Ngan / AFP / Getty Donald Trump’s Reelection Campaign Is Total Camp
As the president shimmies to The Village People, he crystallizes the way that even sincerity and irony have become politically polarized.
-
![]()
NBC What Was Adele Doing on Saturday Night Live?
The vocalist flaunted her personality, not her pipes—in an assertion that her stardom is bigger than singing.
-
![]()
Getty / The Atlantic De-stress With an Election-Anxiety Playlist
Twelve songs to help you express impatience, agitation, and hope
-
![]()
Getty / The Atlantic For Celebrities, Apathy Can Be a Form of Political Credibility
Stars are focused less on candidates than on democracy itself this year, and using their own past indifference as a tool.
-
![]()
Getty / Redux / Arsh Raziuddin / The ... There’s Never Been a Story Like Britney Spears’s
Fans are rallying to liberate the singer from her father’s control. But emancipation narratives from Mariah Carey and other pop stars show how complex independence can be.
-
![]()
Evans Richardson Sufjan Stevens’s Problem With America
The acclaimed singer was once famous for mythologizing the U.S. Now his “bossy and bitchy” new album expresses discomfort with the country.
-
![]()
Langston Amadi How Pop Music’s Teenage Dream Ended
A decade ago, Katy Perry’s sound was ubiquitous. Today, it’s niche. How did a genre defined by popularity become unpopular?
-
![]()
(Ryan Pfluger / The New York Times) What Ellen’s Kindness Concealed
The recent scandal at her talk show suggests that the host’s smiling facade covers up something dark—and hints at why that facade had to be created in the first place.
-
![]()
Shutterstock / Getty / Arsh Raziuddin / The ... Kanye West, Political Pawn
The rapper is pitching his presidential run as a way of disrupting the two-party system. But his bid is caught in the same fights that characterize any election year in America.
-
![]()
Getty / The Atlantic Ellen’s Celebrity Defenders Aren’t Helping Her
The comedian’s employees say that fame has enabled callousness and abuse on her show. The warm testimonies of her superstar friends highlight their point.
-
![]()
Beth Garrabrant Taylor Swift Is No Longer Living in the Present
Folklore, the singer’s surprise eighth album, gorgeously and empathetically challenges the public’s voyeurism.
-
![]()
The Atlantic The Song of the Summer Is in Chaos
America’s biggest hits right now aren’t particularly sunny, but what does popularity even mean during a pandemic?
/media/img/mt/2020/12/6_Atlantic_How_Disco_Defined_2020/original.png)
/media/img/mt/2020/10/Atlantic_coolvote_v1/original.png)
/media/img/mt/2020/08/Atlantic_ellen_v1/original.png)
