Music Features

The Carters, Beyoncé and Jay-Z, are among the top nominees at the 2018 MTV VMAs.

Music & Culture

An Afro-Surrealistic Worldview Looms Over This Year's Video Music Awards

4:52pm August 20, 2018

by Rodney Carmichael

From Childish Gambino's dystopian vision of America to The Carters' takeover of the Louvre, absurdity is the new black and it fuels the best music videos nominated this year.

St. Vincent performs in Park City, Utah in 2017.

Music & Culture

St. Vincent Is The 21st Century's Guitar Vanguard

12:00pm August 20, 2018

by Sasha Geffen

For Annie Clark, the guitar is not an appendage, not an extension of the body. It is its own body with its own voice. She doesn't use it to embellish her songs; she uses it to build worlds.

On gospel recordings such as 1987's One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, Aretha Franklin captured something sacred in the sound of black life.

Music & Culture

The Sound Made Flesh

8:02am August 19, 2018

by Ashon Crawley

Franklin's gospel recordings presented black life itself as a sacred practice. On albums like Amazing Grace, she is less individual genius than willing instrument of the world that created her.

Aretha Franklin performs at the Fillmore West in San Francisco on March 5, 1971.

Music & Culture

Aretha's Bridge

3:29pm August 18, 2018

by Daphne A. Brooks

Amidst an instantly historic performance in 1971 that led to one of her best-known albums, Aretha Franklin's rendition of a single song carries inside it the weight of pop, soul and gospel history.

Music & Culture

Aretha Franklin Knew How To Make Us Laugh, Too

12:05pm August 18, 2018

by Jason King

The Queen of Soul had quite the sense of humor.

Aretha Franklin recording at Columbia Studios in 1962.

Music & Culture

All The Things You Are: Aretha's Life In Jazz

2:05pm August 17, 2018

by Nate Chinen

Jazz was central to Aretha Franklin's musicianship, however far she rambled. Without it we'd be remembering a different artist now, and celebrating a different body of work.

Music & Culture

More Than Keeping Time: A Melodic Drumming Demo

7:00am August 17, 2018

Drummers usually make sure beats don't speed up or slow down. But drummer Allison Miller does more than keep time. Watch a demonstration of her unique style of playing called melodic drumming.

Aretha Franklin performs in Antibes, France in 1970.

Music & Culture

'Black People Will Be Free': How Aretha Lived The Promise Of Detroit

6:50pm August 16, 2018

by dream hampton

Black Power, black leadership and the black church all converged in the city of Aretha Franklin's youth. Once she had the means, she resolved to bring Detroit's potential with her.

Aretha Franklin performs at Radio City Music Hall in February 2012 in New York City.

Music & Culture

The Queen Of Soul: Celebrating Aretha Franklin's Immeasurable Contributions

5:50pm August 16, 2018

by Talia Schlanger

It is overwhelming to imagine just how many molecules and how many mountains Aretha Franklin has moved with her music.

Beyoncé performed "Lift Every Voice and Sing" during her set at the 2018 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April.

Music & Culture

Till Victory Is Won: The Staying Power Of 'Lift Every Voice And Sing'

3:00pm August 16, 2018

by Claudette Lindsay-Habermann

Beyoncé sang it at Coachella. Kim Weston sang it at Wattstax. The song often called the "black national anthem" is still with us — in part because the struggle it describes never went away.

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