Spencer Kornhaber
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Mark Makela / Reuters Eminem Makes a Vicious Strike in the War of Generations
The rapper’s surprise new album, Kamikaze, insults those who’ve leached away his buzz—but also reiterates what their appeal is.
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Charles Sykes / Invision / AP Troye Sivan’s Oh-So-Gentle Rebellion
Bloom, the second album from the aspiring pop star, puts a modest, queer twist on familiar formulas.
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Charlotte Rutherford Dr. Luke’s Queasy Two-Front Comeback Effort
As the once-ubiquitous pop producer accused of abuse by Kesha continues his court battle against her, the appealing new voice of Kim Petras sells his songs.
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Universal Pictures Cher’s Glorious Cyborgification of ABBA
When one legend of pop camp covers another, the results are preposterous—and weirdly moving.
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Lucas Jackson / Reuters Ariana Grande’s Weird Take on Love
The singer’s new album Sweetener semi-successfully upends pop’s usual approach to scale and tension.
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Lucas Jackson / Reuters Madonna’s Tone-Deaf Tribute to Aretha Franklin
At the MTV VMAs, the big memorial for the Queen of Soul came in the form of lengthy self-mythologizing by the Queen of Pop.
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Mario Anzuoni / Reuters How the Song of the Summer Is Changing
2018’s race for the song of the summer makes clear just how profoundly the center of popular music has shifted.
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Bao Ngo The Dangerous Desires in Mitski’s Songs
The indie singer’s new album, Be the Cowboy, smartly considers what happens when emotions take over.
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Gilles Petard / Redferns / Getty Remembering the Incomparable Aretha Franklin
The legendary soul singer, who died at 76, leaves behind the definitive testament to the capabilities of the human voice.
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Mario Anzuoni / Reuters Nicki Minaj Guards a Shrinking Kingdom
The rapper emphasizes her smarts and ferocity on her fourth album, Queen, but to what end?
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Anne Marie Fox / HBO ‘The Music Is All About Surviving’: Inside the Sonic World of Sharp Objects
Susan Jacobs, the music supervisor of the HBO series, explains why Led Zeppelin became the protagonist’s voice of escape.
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Andrew Stuart What Seven Dave Grohls Have to Say
The Foo Fighters frontman positions himself as the inspirer of a new generation of rockers by playing all the instruments on his new project “Play.”
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Danny Moloshok / Reuters When the Reality of Addiction Meets the Fantasies of Pop Stardom
Demi Lovato’s long struggle with sobriety—and her transparency about it—complicates the expected celebrity narrative of “overcoming.”
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AMC Tragedy Has Reinvigorated Better Call Saul
The show’s soulful fourth season uses death to springboard to Breaking Bad levels of emotion.
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Paul R. Giunta / Reuters David Byrne’s Joyful and Uncomfortable Reinvention of the Rock Concert
The Talking Heads singer’s “American Utopia” tour creates a new world—and forces audiences to reckon with a tragic reality.
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Carlo Allegri / Reuters The Real Reason Grimes and Elon Musk’s Relationship Is So Surreal
In the brouhaha over the musician dating the billionaire, no one is even bothering to argue that romance transcends politics.
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Mark Peckmezian The Heaviness of Robyn’s ‘Missing U’
The beloved singer’s first single in eight years reckons with loss—powerfully, and danceably.
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Matt Sayles / AP Beyoncé’s Vogue Takeover Is a Show of Power
The pop star’s reported shaping of the September cover hints at the shifting relationship between the media and their subjects—and between creators of color and traditional gatekeepers.
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Courtesy of The Armed Some Screaming Albums for Summertime
Savoring the sweetness amid the heavy noise of Birds in Row, Deafheaven, and The Armed
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HBO Sharp Objects’ Music Contains a Chilling Message
Like with Big Little Lies, almost all of the HBO drama’s songs are diegetic—and connected to the larger mystery.
