Style
The Soft Power of BTS
The mega-popular K-pop stars have been on hiatus for nearly four years. Their new album, “Arirang,” tests the group’s staying power in the…
Tag
albums
Culture
Why Albums Drop and Movies Launch
For this week’s Infinite Scroll column, Brady Brickner-Wood is filling in for Kyle Chayka. In the summer of 2007, Kanye West and 50 Cent…
News
Natalia Lafourcade Reimagines Mexican Folk Music
After the incident, she needed reconstructive surgery, and had brain inflammation so severe that when she tried to look up, all she saw…
Culture
25 Best Albums of the 21st Century, Ranked
Albums are one of the newest art forms overall, as despite music being around for who knows how long, packing a collection of songs…
Culture
The 25 Greatest Classic Rock Albums of All Time, Ranked
Definitions aren’t really much fun to read, but at least one is necessary for present purposes. Just what the hell is “classic rock?” It’s…
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Style
A Year of Listening Beyond the Algorithm
My habit of seeking out new music began with a few strokes of good luck. I grew up in a college town in the early to mid-nineties, during…
Culture
The Best Albums of 2025
Looking back at the songs I played the most in 2025, I can sense my own hunger for music that felt wounded, carnal, unfamiliar, tactile,…
Celebrity
Taylor Swift’s ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ Hits Milestone One Month at No. 1 on Albums Chart
One month after its release, Taylor Swift’s “The Life of a Showgirl” logs a major milestone as it hits a fn uninterrupted four weeks at…
Celebrity
Taylor Swift Adds Third Week at No. 1 on Albums and Songs Charts; Olivia Dean and Leon Thomas Enter Top 10
Taylor Swift’s “The Life of a Showgirl” era continues as the record notches a third straight week at No. 1 with 194,000 equivalent album…
Celebrity
Do We Still Like Taylor Swift When She’s Happy?
If I were writing a song about Travis Kelce, a man I’ve never met, I would mention that he plays football, and that he has a podcast. I’d…
Celebrity
Taylor Swift Sells 2.7 Million Copies of ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ on Day 1 — Already the Second-Best Tally for an Album’s First Week in History
Taylor Swift‘s “The Life of a Showgirl” has the second-highest weekly sales tally for any album, ever… after just one day. Per Billboard,…
Style
The Uneasy Prophecies of Cate Le Bon
There’s a scene in Netflix’s “Too Much” in which the heroine, an American transplant in London, listens to a playlist curated by her new…
News
Ethel Cain’s Anti-Pop Stardom
Midway through the music video for “American Teenager,” a feel-good pop song that has been streamed more than a hundred million times, the…
Culture
Benson Boone’s ‘American Heart’ Debuts at No. 2 on Albums Chart
Benson Boone‘s “American Heart” has made its debut on the Billboard 200 at No. 2 as the Grammy-nominated artist‘s second top 10 album.…
Celebrity
Taylor Swift’s ‘Reputation’ Reenters Top 5 of Billboard Album Chart After She Buys Rights to Original Albums
To listen to “Reputation” or not to listen to “Reputation”? For years, that has been the question for Taylor Swift fans, who have largely…
Culture
‘Something Beautiful with Miley Cyrus’ Review: The Star Co-Directs an Album’s Worth of Her Music Videos, Celebrating Her Sexuality…and Herself
It’s the rare pop star who doesn’t use his or her sexuality in some way. But the current moment, typified by stars like Chappell Roan,…
Celebrity
Taylor Swift Shocker: Singer Buys Back Her First Six Albums — Even as ‘Reputation (Taylor’s Version)’ Is Still on the Way
In one of the more dramatic business developments in pop music history, Taylor Swift has purchased her catalog of recordings that were…
Style
On “I’m the Problem,” Morgan Wallen Goes Back to God’s Country
Morgan Wallen is a country singer, almost defiantly so, though he is also popular on a scale that seems to circumvent genre entirely. Each…
Culture
“Mayhem,” Reviewed: Lady Gaga’s Return to Form
In the spring of 2011, Lady Gaga, then twenty-five years old and on the cusp of releasing her second full-length studio album, “Born This…
Culture
Kendrick Lamar’s ‘GNX’ Returns to No. 1 on Albums Chart
Another win for Kendrick Lamar: His “GNX” album returns to the top of the Billboard 200 with 236,000 equivalent album units following his…
Culture
The Best Albums of 2024
There is perhaps no moment in history when being a music critic felt like a respectable, lucrative, or essential position, though there…