Lana Del Rey criticised for wearing mesh mask to poetry reading
Musician posed with fans at a Los Angeles bookshop wearing a glittery mesh mask that did not fully cover her nose and mouthFans of Lana Del Rey have criticised her for wearing a glittery mesh mask that...
View Article'We have to nurture each other': how Olivia Rodrigo and Gen Z reinvented the...
Olivia Rodrigo’s global hit Drivers License is the epitome of new-school pop songwriting, where sexuality is complex, emotions are specific and bombast is traded for intimacyThe biggest song in the...
View ArticleLana Del Rey: Chemtrails Over the Country Club review | Alexis Petridis's...
(Polydor)Her usual themes of nostalgia, troubled fame and ne’er-do-well lovers are trotted out again – but the melody writing is stronger than everThere is boldly talking your new album up, and then...
View ArticleLana Del Rey: Chemtrails Over the Country Club review – bold and beautiful
(Polydor)On her strikingly assured seventh album, Del Rey reflects on fame, love, loneliness and the solidarity of fellow female songwriters, from Joni Mitchell to Weyes BloodLana Del Rey’s latest...
View ArticleDry Cleaning, Taylor Swift and more: April’s best album reviews
Discover all our four- and five-star album reviews from the last month, from pop to folk and classicalContinue reading...
View ArticleBillie, Lorde, Lizzo: has being a female pop star in 2021 become unbearable?
New releases by three pop icons reveal their extreme attempts to protect themselves from the damage caused by fame. Pop stardom has never seemed less aspirationalThe mechanisms of pop stardom have...
View ArticleWhy artists such as Anderson .Paak and Taylor Swift are already considering...
From tattooed pleas regarding posthumous releases to rerecordings of old material, younger musicians are getting their estates in order earlyFor reasons sometimes beyond their control, musicians...
View ArticleLana Del Rey: Blue Banisters review – as perplexing as she is captivating
Despite weaving relatable scenes of Zoom calls and lockdown weight gain into her distinctive aesthetic, the stylised singer remains as elusive as ever on her eighth albumDespite some misguided early...
View ArticleBlue Banisters by Lana Del Rey review – a singer looking to her legacy
(Polydor)The singer’s eighth album feels familiar, but also pushes at the edges of her usual themes“Most men don’t want a woman with a legacy,” asserts Lana Del Rey on the title track of her eighth...
View ArticleThe 50 best albums of 2021: 50-10
Tuareg blues guitarist Mdou Moctar kicks off our Top 10, as we count down one LP per day to the best album of the yearThe best songs of 2021More on the best culture of 2021This list is drawn from votes...
View ArticleGo easy on me: why pop has got so predictable
Adele, Ed Sheeran, Abba, Lana Del Rey and Drake all found success in 2021 by delivering more of the same – a result of how our chaotic lives, on and offline, are informing our tasteThe biggest album...
View ArticleLana Del Rey’s greatest songs – ranked!
As her breakthrough album Born to Die turns 10, we pick the best of an artist whose beautiful, damned aesthetic changed the course of popApparently inspired by the suicide of a friend and remixed by...
View ArticleRick Rubin: Def Jam founder and producer announces debut book
The Creative Act: A Way of Being will be ‘a book about what to do make a great work of art’ and ‘a book about how to be’Rick Rubin, founder of Def Jam Records and the most highly regarded music...
View ArticleJulia Jacklin finds the light: ‘I’ve wasted a lot of energy in my life trying...
Jacklin’s 2019 album Crushing struck a raw chord with young audiences. For its follow-up, she reconnected to the sounds that once made her feel the sameIn the wake of her second album, Crushing, Julia...
View ArticleBleachers review – in-demand producer Jack Antonoff cuts loose with his band
O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, LondonWhen he’s not producing for the likes of Taylor Swift and Lorde, Antonoff’s band offers him an outlet that’s joyful to the point of occasional indulgenceJack Antonoff...
View ArticleThe 100 greatest BBC music performances – ranked!
As the Beeb celebrates its centenary, we take a look at its most memorable pop moments, from the birth of grime to the first sightings of Bob Dylan and Bob Marley, plus TOTP goes Madchester and...
View ArticleThe ex factor: Miley Cyrus smashes records with breakup anthem
Shakira and SZA have also found recent chart success with songs celebrating female empowermentMiley Cyrus can buy herself flowers, she can write her name in the sand. She can take herself dancing, and...
View ArticleArctic Monkeys, Guns N’ Roses, Elton John: all-male Glastonbury headliners a...
‘We’re trying our best,’ says organiser as she unveils first 54 names on 2023 lineup and calls on music industry to develop headline-worthy female actsFestivals are struggling with a dearth of viable...
View ArticleLana Del Rey: Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd review –...
(Polydor)The songwriter’s ninth album is heavy and disarmingly truthful, yet expands its close lens thanks to her wide-ranging, alluring aesthetic loosenessYou could describe Lana Del Rey’s career thus...
View ArticleLana Del Rey: Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd review –...
(Polydor)Shimmering strings meet trap beats as the songwriter looks back in languor on her richly textured ninth albumFor all the lacquer and haze of Lana Del Rey’s heavily stylised albums, they have...
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