Beyoncé brings rodeo to London
The popstar’s country-music transformation is complete.
ByPop music
The lost futures of Stereolab
In an age of genuine instability, do we still want to get our politics from pop music?
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Lorde’s Brat moment
The pop star is supposed to be above this kind of self-conscious marketing.
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I’m doing what I should have done all along: recuperating
I am struck by how ill-designed bodies seem to be: miraculous in so many ways, but so beset with flaws.
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Capitalism (Taylor’s Version)
Swift is a self-made billionaire and the most profitable live musician in history. What can her ascendance teach us?
By Ben and I are preparing for our first live gig together in 25 years – and I’m terrified
In our basement studio, we’re surrounded by our own history, our own inspirations.
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The rise of Gracie Abrams
That Abrams is not quite ready for and a little startled by her early fame is part of her appeal.
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On Mayhem, Lady Gaga makes a chaotic return to form
The singer’s new album attempts to recapture the intense art-project pop of her early records.
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James Blunt live: a nostalgia karaoke
It is 20 years since Back to Bedlam – and its songs have ascended to anthemic status in the years…
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Remembering the real Marianne Faithfull
The singer who embodied the Swinging Sixties in her youth gained a power in her later years that suited her…
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The end of the Eras
After 149 shows over nearly two years, Taylor Swift’s blockbuster, career-defining show comes to an end. Has it changed pop…
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Why Paul McCartney cannot let it be
The great Beatle and the shadow of John Lennon.
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Charli XCX’s victory lap
A recent London show proved Brat is the album of the year, and she is the artist of the moment.…
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The understated power of Charlotte Day Wilson
Her cool style only makes her music more emotionally powerful, especially live.
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Quincy Jones’s gift to music
The venerated producer, who has died at the age of 91, brought a jazz sensibility to pop.
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How Kraftwerk’s Autobahn remade pop
Half a century ago, the art-rock band introduced the world to the vocoder. Their sound – and pop music –…
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Against child stardom
As another former teen idol’s story ends in tragedy, we must ask: should we let children become famous?
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Self Esteem: “I’ve been maturing my disgust at societal norms”
Rebecca Lucy Taylor’s hit record Prioritise Pleasure was a loud rejection of the status quo. Her next album is “a…
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The media is damaging public life by “sanewashing” Donald Trump
Should we avoid reporting reality simply because it isn’t new? Plus: unease at the Observer and the tragic death of…
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Liam Payne was a victim of the pop pin-up machine
The dream that One Direction represented now seems an obvious nightmare.
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