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Mario Anzuoni / Reuters No One Knew Why Eminem Was at the Oscars
“Lose Yourself” was not celebrating any anniversary, nor gaining new relevance. But it did pass the time okay.
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Shannon Stapleton / Reuters The Serious Message in Shakira and J. Lo’s Halftime Show
With an overwhelming spectacle, the two stars acknowledged that Latin identity is bigger than any one performance.
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Netflix Taylor Swift’s Adulthood Blues
The Netflix documentary Miss Americana portrays a pop star facing a daunting challenge: redefining success.
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Patrick McMullan / Getty How Pop’s Biggest Weirdo Swept the Grammys
Billie Eilish’s whispery goth pop is genuinely odd—but she’s benefiting from old biases concerning race and genre.
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Matt Sayles/Invision/AP Demi Lovato Makes a Powerful Confession at the Grammys
The pop star’s first new song since a near-fatal overdose offers no comfort other than the mere fact of its existence.
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Mario Anzuoni / Reuters Halsey, Selena Gomez, and Pop That Acknowledges Mental Struggle
Two new albums, Manic and Rare, air inner turmoil bluntly while staying catchy and controlled.
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Interscope Records / Aftermath Eminem Slips Into the Mind of the Las Vegas Shooter
The rapper’s “Darkness” video tries to fight gun violence while also glorifying it.
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Naomi Elliott A Pop-Culture Time Capsule of the 2010s
The 27 works, moments, and objects that define the best—and worst—of the past decade
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Evan Agostini / Invision / AP A Serious Conversation With the Man Who Made Cats
“If I had a comment on my own trailer … I sometimes felt there was too much fur covering [the actors’] own faces.”
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Evan Agostini / AP Harry Styles’s Conscientious Remix of Baby Boomer Culture
Fine Line is the latest major pop album to go all in on classic rock while updating—or at least repurposing—its message.
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Mario Anzuoni / Reuters Diving Into Pop Music’s Hidden Depths
A new book, from the hosts of the Switched on Pop podcast, approaches the genre with laserlike focus and palpable enthusiasm.
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Naomi Elliott The 14 Best Music Moments of 2019
The year’s most memorable songs, by Beyoncé, James Blake, Hot Chip, and more
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Rebecca Sapp / Getty How Jack Antonoff Helped Define Pop in 2019
The musician, who co-created some of the year’s standout records, from Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey, is always asking, “How do you cut all the bullshit out?”
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imageSPACE / MediaPunch / IPX/ AP How Juice Wrld Made Sadness a Celebration
The hugely popular 21-year-old rapper, who died after a reported seizure, captured inner instability with ingenious sing-alongs.
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Andre D. Wagner / Universal Pictures The Best Part of Queen & Slim Is the Soundtrack
The record, which features new songs from Blood Orange, Megan Thee Stallion, and Lauryn Hill, captures the journey of the film’s protagonists while avoiding some of the story’s clichés.
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Dana Trippe ‘I Felt I Didn’t Deserve to Be Unapologetically Joyous’
Kesha opens up about being back to party-animal mode despite her ongoing struggle with the producer Dr. Luke.
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Andrew Kelly / Reuters Taylor Swift Is Waging Reputational Warfare
By going public with rights disputes with her former label, she leverages her fame as an asset.
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Krista Schlueter / The New York Times / … The Musician Who Wants to Be the ‘King of R&B’
The Atlanta singer Jacquees continues staking a bold claim with his ’90s-influenced second album.
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Andrew Lipovsky / NBC FKA Twigs Deconstructs the Private Show
Magdalene, the avant-garde pop star’s triumphant second album, pairs tenderness and noise.
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Amy Harris / AP Kanye West Strains His Voice on Jesus Is King
The rapper’s Christian album is not a departure from his values but an intensification of them: boldness over coherence.
