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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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Naomi Elliott A Pop-Culture Time Capsule of the 2010s
The 27 works, moments, and objects that define the best—and worst—of the past decade
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Evan Agostini / Invision / AP A Serious Conversation With the Man Who Made Cats
“If I had a comment on my own trailer … I sometimes felt there was too much fur covering [the actors’] own faces.”
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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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Mario Anzuoni / Reuters Diving Into Pop Music’s Hidden Depths
A new book, from the hosts of the Switched on Pop podcast, approaches the genre with laserlike focus and palpable enthusiasm.
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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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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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Andre D. Wagner / Universal Pictures The Best Part of Queen & Slim Is the Soundtrack
The record, which features new songs from Blood Orange, Megan Thee Stallion, and Lauryn Hill, captures the journey of the film’s protagonists while avoiding some of the story’s clichés.
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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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Krista Schlueter / The New York Times / ... The Musician Who Wants to Be the ‘King of R&B’
The Atlanta singer Jacquees continues staking a bold claim with his ’90s-influenced second album.
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Andrew Lipovsky / NBC FKA Twigs Deconstructs the Private Show
Magdalene, the avant-garde pop star’s triumphant second album, pairs tenderness and noise.
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Amy Harris / AP Kanye West Strains His Voice on Jesus Is King
The rapper’s Christian album is not a departure from his values but an intensification of them: boldness over coherence.
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IMAX / James Turrell Crater Kanye West’s Austere Reform Church
The rapper’s IMAX movie, Jesus Is King, puts a choral Christian concert into an artist’s crater to beautiful—but cold—effect.
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Alex Waespi When Music’s Sad Boys Chase Happiness
Male angst has dominated pop history. But something feels different with artists such as Rex Orange County, Hobo Johnson, and Chris Farren.
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Mario Anzuoni What Frank Ocean’s PrEP+ Party Understood
The musician named an exclusive party after an HIV-prevention drug. Why?
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Denzel Golatt The Genre-Defying Singer Inspired by Japanese Funk
Berhana, the Atlanta musician behind 2016’s “Janet,” talks about incorporating diverse geographic influences in his debut album, HAN.
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Celeste Sloman / The New York Times / ... Debbie Harry Stares Back
The Blondie singer’s memoir, Face It, wryly recounts making the most of being ogled.
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Jim Steinfeldt / Michael Ochs Archives / Getty ... The Flawed Glory of the Replacements’ Don’t Tell a Soul
In 1989, the band reached for the mainstream with its sixth album. Thirty years later, the record’s stab at timelessness ironically makes it sound dated.
