Spencer Kornhaber
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Jade Derosa The Internet Mocked Her as a Teenager. It’s Embracing Her Now.
The generation that grew up with Rebecca Black’s “Friday” isn’t just nostalgic for that novelty tune—it’s making music inspired by it.
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Timothy A. Clary / AFP / Getty The Generational Clash at Pride Is Actually a Sign of Progress
The kink-at-Pride debate shows that the queer movement has grown in exactly the way it should.
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Parlophone / Capitol The 2001 Album That Captured Modern Dread
Two decades later, Radiohead’s experimental Amnesiac might be the band’s best record.
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Adam Maida / The Atlantic / Tim Roney … The Aughts Seem Both Cooler and Sadder in Retrospect
A wave of young musicians is reclaiming the pop culture of the 2000s—and reckoning with the era’s dark side.
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Geffen Records Pop’s Buzziest New Songwriter Knows Exactly What to Say
Olivia Rodrigo’s sharp debut album, Sour, confirms that metaphor and ambiguity are so last generation.
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Zackery Michael St. Vincent and the Limits of Rock-and-Roll Mystique
The artist’s new record—and the accidental controversy it caused—shows how mysteriousness can be a kind of defensiveness.
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Will Heath / NBC Elon Musk Is Not Just a Celebrity
The Tesla CEO’s SNL performance was neither redemptive nor entertaining. But it served a classic purpose: glossing over his real power.
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Republic Records / Big Machine Records / The … Taylor Swift Knew Everything When She Was Young
The singer’s rerecording of her second album makes a statement about her past—and delivers a blow to her rivals.
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Noam Galai / Getty The Fierce Vulnerability of DMX
The rapper, who has died at age 50, used his gruff voice to project strength—even as he spoke honestly about human weakness.
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Jason LaVeris / FilmMagic / Getty What Made Lucille Bluth So Funny
In a long career that included Arrested Development, Jessica Walter, who’s now dead at 80, showed how playing lovably hateable was an art form.
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OBB Media Stars Now Understand That Their Destruction Is Our Entertainment
The latest in a line of revealing pop documentaries, Dancing With the Devil shares the brutal details of Demi Lovato’s drug overdose—even though sharing brings its own risks.
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Kevin Winter / Getty The Odd Pattern That Keeps Happening at the Grammys
The show has a tradition of white artists dedicating their awards to their Black peers who lost.
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Ben Blackall / BBC / HBO The Sad Déjà Vu of It’s a Sin
The beautifully made HBO/Channel 4 miniseries about gay men in 1980s London can’t help but show the way that tragedies become tropes.
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Adam Maida A Playlist for Your Next Walk
It’s time for a walk. Liven it up with a peppy playlist of an hour of new music, chosen for you by our music writer.
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Jason Kempin / Getty The Biggest Country Musician in America Is a Disgrace
After saying a racial slur and being exiled from radio, Morgan Wallen has become only more popular. What’s going on?
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Paul Spella Noisy, Ugly, and Addictive
Hyperpop could become the countercultural sound of the 2020s.
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Getty / The Atlantic The Lady Gaga Anthem That Previewed a Decade of Culture Wars
Released 10 years ago, “Born This Way” made unity sound defiant.
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Mike Ehrmann / Getty The First Super Bowl Halftime Show About the Depravity of Halftime Shows
Ladies and gentlemen, The Weeknd.
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Frazer Harrison / Getty Pop Just Lost One of Its Most Exciting Architects
The Scottish producer Sophie, who died at age 34, created addictive sounds that seemed to live inside the listener’s head.
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Geffen Records / YouTube The Breakout Pop Song of the Year Is a Cinematic Universe
Olivia Rodrigo’s smash hit, “Drivers License,” implies a world of characters—and inspires listeners to role-play as them.
