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Suffo Monclao The Rising French Star Creating Subversive Synth-Pop
On her new album, Christine and the Queens makes the gender revolution hummable.
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Richard Shotwell / Invision / AP John Legend’s EGOT and the Seduction of Symbolic Racial Progress
Are the singer’s Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony wins signposts of meaningful change within the entertainment industry or false flags?
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Courtesy of Andy Tennille The Folk Alchemy of Hiss Golden Messenger
A new compilation of the band’s albums showcases one of the most impressive bodies of songwriting of the past 10 years.
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Gene Ambo / AP The Light and Dark in Mac Miller
The 26-year-old rapper had a relatable voice, adventuresome sound, and an interest in life’s hardest struggles.
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Juliette Larthe The Ecstatic Sound of Midlife Melancholy
Spiritualized’s And Nothing Hurt sees the venerated space-rock act inflate weariness into something gorgeous.
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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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Lucas Jackson / Reuters The Complicated Female Genius of Lauryn Hill
Twenty years after the release of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, the artist has been granted something rarely afforded to women: the space to make mistakes—and still be considered great.
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Getty / Thanh Do / The Atlantic Aretha Franklin Finally Gets Credit for the Term She Popularized
Not only did the Queen of Soul change the course of music with her smash hit “Respect,” she also introduced a now-ubiquitous slang word into the American lexicon.
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Kristian Buus / Getty Viv Albertine’s Got Something to Say
For her second memoir, the irreverent punk icon mixes a bit of vulnerability with a lot of grit.
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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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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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Associated Press Aretha Franklin’s Revolution
The soul singer was an architect of the civil-rights movement as much as a witness to it.
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Walter Iooss Jr. / Getty The Perfect Aretha Franklin Song
“(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” best captures the effect the Queen of Soul had on audiences worldwide.
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Paul Natkin / Getty Before and After Aretha
The artist was unrivaled in her ability to shape her own work and image without bending to constraints.
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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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David LaChapelle / National Portrait Gallery, London Chasing the Myth of Michael Jackson
A new exhibition in London, titled On the Wall, seeks to understand what the superstar—and, more importantly, what his image—meant to the world.
