The best songs of 2025 worked admirably toward the daunting task of attempting to describe what it feels like to be alive in the unpredictability matrix of the mid-’20s. Songwriters expressing pangs ...

As one of the most recorded guitarists in history, Louie Shelton has stories to tell about recording tracks by Boz Scaggs (“Lowdown”), Whitney Houston (her global breakthrough “Saving All My Love for ...

The hit that dominated 1976 owes its success to a story that’s even wilder than the lyrics suggest. "Fernando" was included on ABBA's Greatest Hits album, released in the midpoint of the decade. But ...

Polling also suggests British young people today are about twice as likely to have a mental health problem POP music has become moodier in the past 50 years owing to the misery of modern life, ...

Popular music has become progressively darker, more stressed, and linguistically simpler over the past 50 years, tracking alongside America’s growing mental health crisis, according to research that ...

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results. The Weeknd's Open ...

Our staff's favorite albums from the year that was. Is pop now officially an albums-driven genre? The year 2025 made a strong argument for the answer being “yes.” Acclaimed sets from rising stars like ...

In an unexpected move, Just B member Bain came out during a concert performance in Los Angeles. “Tonight I’m going to share something with you guys,” he told the audience. “I’m fucking proud to be a ...

Listen to 48 tracks that broke new artists, blew apart genres and revived beloved sounds. By Jon Caramanica and Lindsay Zoladz Jon Caramanica On the one hand, living in an environment in which sounds ...

The Korean pop outsider Effie and the Brooklyn indie-rock band Geese top our critics’ lists this year. By Jon Caramanica and Lindsay Zoladz Jon Caramanica Musicians know how to make music, and they ...