When the original lineup of the legendary R&B band Tony! Toni! Toné! reunited for a tour last year, co-founder and key creative force Raphael Saadiq had high hopes of recording what would have been the band’s first new album since 1996. But now that the tour is over, Saadiq says …
Read More »D'Angelo Is Hard at Work on the Follow-Up to 2014's 'Black Messiah'
“I do want to put a lot of music out there,” D’Angelo told Rolling Stone in 2015, shortly after the release of his acclaimed, long-delayed third album, Black Messiah. “I feel like, in a lot of respects, that I’m just getting started.” He still has yet to release a follow-up, …
Read More »Meet the Rock Band the U.S. Enlisted to Help Win the Vietnam War
W illiam Nevious had just grabbed his drum kit from the back of the truck, but this wouldn’t be a typical gig. As the percussionist in the Screaming Eagles Combo, Nevious knew part of the reason he ended up in South Vietnam during the final months of 1967. When he …
Read More »Chris Housman's Queer Country Music Journey
Chris Housman was raised on country music, playing guitar and fiddle in a family band in small-town Kansas. Right out of high school, he made the move to Nashville to pursue a career in music, one that was likely destined to be behind the scenes: As a gay man, Housman …
Read More »Katy Perry's Messy '143' Rollout: A Timeline of Her Controversial Comeback
Katy Perry’s album 143, which is out Sept. 20, has been a long time coming, marking her first LPsince 2020’s Smile. The singer officially launched her 143 era in June when she dropped the lead single “Woman’s World.” The song immediately faced pushback for its stereotypical imagery — which Perry …
Read More »Tzuyu Is Ready for Her Solo Moment
On a late-summer evening in Seoul, TWICE’s youngest member, Tzuyu, appears on screen for a Zoom interview. She is at her management company, JYP Entertainment, dressed in a crisp dalmatian-themed white T-shirt and has her shoulder-length blonde hair styled in the Gen Z-favored middle part. Tzuyu cheerfully smiles and waves …
Read More »Corey Kent Was Paving Roads. He's Poised to Be Country's Latest Red Dirt Star
If you’re going to title your highly anticipated album Black Bandana, Corey Kent knows you better commit to the look. Sitting on oversized couch at the Standard, one of the oldest clubs in Nashville, the Oklahoma singer-songwriter is notably wearing a black bandana while he ruminates on a record that …
Read More »With a Debut Album This Good, Being a Nepo Baby is Not Laila!'s Problem
The pandemic encouraged much of the world to pursue new (and likely temporary) hobbies — kitchen chemists experimented with sourdough starters, homeowners convinced themselves to be home renovators, and binge-watchers got really into Tiger King. For a then 14-year-old Laila Smith, it was GarageBand. Experimenting with Apple’s free music production …
Read More »Halsey, A$AP Rocky, Camila Cabello and All the Songs You Need to Know This Week
Welcome to our weekly rundown ofthebestnewmusic — featuring big new singles, key tracks from our favorite albums, and more.This week, Halsey has a rock-heavy ego trip, A$AP Rocky taps J. Cole for a melancholic mediation, and Camila Cabello wishes her ex well on a deluxe track from her recent C,XOXO. …
Read More »How Doechii Made a Mixtape That Could Be the Best Rap Album of the Year
To be clear, Doechii’s full-length debut, Alligator Bites Never Heal, is a mixtape according to her; one that she says came together just a month before its release last week. “I literally called my label and I was like, ‘I am going to drop a mixtape on August 30th. This …
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