Music Features

Music & Culture

Beyoncé Is The 21st Century's Master Of Leveling Up

10:15am October 12, 2018

by Kiana Fitzgerald

Through her career, Bey has shown that there are more levels to her artistry than we could have imagined. And she's using those levels to delve further into her personalized elevation of black women.

Protesters gathered across the country during the Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court judge Brett Kavanaugh.

Music & Culture

A Woman's Rage: Songs About Being Fed Up

2:06pm October 11, 2018

by Ann Powers

To cope with the tumult of a difficult week and the anniversary of the #MeToo movement, music critic Ann Powers spent the week with music from women expressing one thing: Being fed up.

John Darnielle performs with The Mountain Goats at a 2015 concert in Birmingham, Ala.

Music & Culture

I Hope We Both Die: How The Mountain Goats Wrote The Ultimate Anthem To Dysfunction

5:22pm October 10, 2018

by Daoud Tyler-Ameen

"No Children" began as a darkly funny song about divorce. Today, it's something more: a vessel for raw-throated catharsis and a chance to indulge your worst self.

Natalia Lafourcade performs at the Latin Grammy Awards in 2017.

Music & Culture

Natalia Lafourcade Is The 21st Century's Guardian Of Cultural Memory

9:45am October 09, 2018

by Julyssa Lopez

In many ways, Lafourcade has left her mark on the 21st century by looking back. Her work has freed music that for many younger listeners had been trapped in amber, and imbued it with new life.

Sylvester performs with his band at the Los Angeles club Whisky a Go Go in 1972.

Music & Culture

Bigger Than Disco, 'You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)' Is A Celebration Of Self

5:13am October 08, 2018

by Rick Karr

Sylvester's 1978 dance hit transcends its moment and even the gay rights and AIDS awareness movements it came to represent. It's an anthem to liberation — of desire, and of the body.

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Carly Rae Jepsen performs in Las Vegas, Nevada in January 2018.

Music & Culture

Carly Rae Jepsen Is The 21st Century's Queen Of A Million Kingdoms

11:33am October 05, 2018

by Lyndsey McKenna

Though "Call Me Maybe" has been a defining moment of her career, it's the aftermath of her 2015 album that's come to define who Jepsen is on social media: the subject of a bottomless well of memes.

Mark Hoppus (left) onstage in 2001 with Blink-182's then-guitarist and singer Tom DeLonge.

Music & Culture

The Legacy Of 'Adam's Song,' An Anthem To Darkness, Loss — And Recovery

6:26pm October 04, 2018

by Andrew Limbong

The Blink-182 hit was a surprise in 1999: a raw look at suicide and depression from a band more known for naked antics and fart jokes. Two decades later, it stands as an unlikely salve for survivors.

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Nicki Minaj performs during the 2015 Billboard Music Awards.

Music & Culture

Nicki Minaj Is The 21st Century's Insatiable Hip-Hop Monarch

1:22pm October 03, 2018

by Sowmya Krishnamurthy

Minaj indelibly changed the hip-hop landscape in the past decade. She wanted the throne. Now that she has it, she isn't going to relinquish it to anyone — male or female — gunning for that title.

Kanye West, who performed on the season premiere of Saturday Night Live on Sept. 30, 2018.

Music & Culture

The New Kanye Reaffirms His Love For President Trump On 'SNL'

9:16pm September 30, 2018

by Rodney Carmichael

Yandhi's release is still a mystery, but Ye makes his allegiance to all things MAGA clear in another controversial album rollout week.

Students at the Dhow Countries Music Academy, dedicated to preserving the music known as "taarab," play on a balcony overlooking Zanzibar's port.

The Hot New Musical Trend In Zanzibar Is From The '80s — The 1880s

3:53pm September 29, 2018

by Amy Yee

The traditional music known as taarab was fading away — until a school began giving lessons to aspiring musicians.