Album Reviews

To quote the Smiths, fame fame fatale fame, it can play hideous tricks on the brain. That’s what’s happening in the album-opening title track from People Watching, the third LP by U.K. pop-rock star Sam Fender. “I people watch on the way back home/Envious of the glimmer of hope/Gives me …

The cover of Tate McRae‘s third album shows the pop spitfire lounging on a floor, her back turned to the viewer as she gazes at a floor-to-ceiling portrait of herself in profile — head thrown back, eyes closed, holding a facial expression that seems like she’s on the verge of …

Is self-preservation futile? Saya Gray seems to think so, weaving in and out of confidence, insecurity, grief, and the potency of being in love on her impressive debut, Saya. The Canadian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist earned her chops as the bassist and musical director for Willow Smith and Daniel Caesar, with …

Drake’s problem is he can’t help himself. It’s right there on “CN Tower,” the first track on $ome $exy $ongs 4 U, his new collaborative project with PartyNextDoor. After musing on the color of the lights on the famous Toronto skyscraper one solemn evening (they’re red), he flips it into …

Sharon Van Etten isn’t the kind of songwriter who blends into a group. She’s always had an uncanny knack for making you feel utterly alone in the dark with her songs, even when you’re hearing them in broad daylight or singing them with a crowd. Who else would begin an …

At the end of 1971’s Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Gene Wilder’s grinning candy mogul reminds Charlie Bucket, the wide-eyed naif who’s about to inherit his enterprise, of a mythical creature: “Don’t forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he always wanted.” What happened to him? …

The colors of Mogwai‘s volcanic explosions on the cover of The Bad Fire, the gloomy Glaswegians’ 11th record (by their count), are bright red, yellow, white, and periwinkle. Anyone who’s followed the post-rock group’s three-decade history knows, though, that Mogwai’s music burns neon blue — creating pure, clean heat but …

Pop quiz: Who had the Number One song of 2024? You’d be forgiven if you didn’t guess that it was the big-voiced yet tender-hearted Atlanta crooner Teddy Swims, whose desperation-tinged soul ballad “Lose Control” has been on the Hot 100 singles chart for a staggering 74 weeks as of this …

In the mid-2010s, it was Skepta and Stormzy who seemed poised to carry British rap across the Atlantic as the sound of U.K. grime had its crossover moment in the States. However, their success proved to be more of a primer than a full-scale takeover. Grime’s production style — influenced …

What exactly is the feeling of losing yourself on the dance floor? So often, it’s tied up in jubilation, in sweat, in communion with people. And if you present the question to FKA Twigs, the British polymath who has made a career as a left-of-center experimentalist, there’s also the sensation …