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Mario Anzuoni / Reuters The Silence in Kelly Clarkson’s Call for ‘Action’ on Mass Shootings
At the Billboard Music Awards, the pop star asked for a “moment of action” after the massacre in Santa Fe, Texas—but kept quiet on what might prevent the next horror.
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Atlantic Records Fight Songs: Can Political Debate Make Good Music?
Kanye West and Janelle Monáe are among those artists to stage rhetorical battles between red and blue America.
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Jason Merritt / Getty Is It Futile to 'Dissect' Frank Ocean's Work?
The new season of a beloved podcast series smartly seeks not to taxonomize the monastic artist’s discography, but to contextualize it.
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Atlantic Records Rita Ora's 'Girls': The Same-Sex Pop of the Past
A song-of-the-summer contender about women kissing women is being received as anything but progressive.
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FX Donald Glover's Evolving Vision of Black Kinship
In the season finale of “Atlanta,” as in his recent “This Is America” video, the artist shows his preoccupation with the burden and blessing of the communal bond.
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Brendan McDermid / Reuters The New Prince of Pablum
In a wave of interchangeable Millennial pop stars, Charlie Puth’s dorkiness on his album Voicenotes proves an asset.
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Andrea De Silva / Reuters Spotify's Lonely Stance Against Alleged Abuse
The streaming service dropping R. Kelly and XXXTentacion from playlists is one of the very few signs of a #MeToo reckoning in the music industry.
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RCA Why the Dancing Makes 'This Is America' So Uncomfortable to Watch
The new music video from Childish Gambino weaponizes the viewer’s instinctive bodily empathy.
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RCA Donald Glover Is Watching You Watch Him
Childish Gambino’s sensational “This Is America” video implicates the viewer in the misuse of black art.
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Andrew Kelly / Reuters Janelle Monáe's Dirty Computer Is for (Almost) Everyone
The R&B singer’s album and movie are works of cheery, accessible radicalism.
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Mark Makela / Reuters Who Is to Blame for Kanye West’s MAGA Hat?
The celebrity-media feedback loop? Or the rapper himself?
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Andrew Kelly / Reuters The Dangerous Confusion of Trump's Celebrity Fans
When Kanye West and Shania Twain express admiration for the president’s communication style, they forget what’s at stake.
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BMG A Perfect Circle's Hard Rock Against Hard Times
Maynard James Keenan’s second-most-influential band is back after 14 years to elegantly vent about iPhones and plastic surgery.
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Larry Busacca / Getty Beyoncé Masters the Fierceness of Crowds
The pop star’s dazzling Coachella set further honed her career-long fascination with democratizing messages through mass movement.
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Mario Anzuoni / Reuters Music That Mourns, Whether It Wants to or Not
Jason Aldean’s new album doesn’t reference the mass shooting at his Las Vegas show last year, but that in itself is a statement.
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Carlo Allegri / Reuters When a 'Diva' Is Diagnosed
Will Mariah Carey’s battle with bipolar II disorder make people reevaluate how they’ve talked about her behavior?
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Will Heath / NBC The Revelation of Cardi B
The rapper’s debut album, Invasion of Privacy, insists that individuality can thrive amid trends and social media.
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Barbara Woike / AP The Deceptively Accessible Music of Cecil Taylor
The composer and free-jazz giant, who died Thursday at 89, has a reputation for making challenging music, but the reality is far less imposing.
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Horace Cort / AP / Mike Cassese / … King's Death Gave Birth to Hip-Hop
The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. led directly to hip-hop, an era of black American culture, politics, and art that is often contrasted with his legacy.
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BMG Telling the Pop-Star-Goes-Country Story Again
Kylie Minogue’s Golden uses Nashville to spruce up her light and fun sound, which is a better approach than some of her peers took.
