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Kathy Willens/AP The Symbolism in Jay-Z's Choice of Champagne
When the rapper dropped Cristal for Armand de Brignac, he was sending a message that his business would go to a brand that appreciates hip hop.
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Mason Poole/AP Beyoncé Shows Superheroes How It's Done
A fanfic Twitter account that imagines the performer has actual powers brilliantly parodies the masculine superhero complex, and her perfect hair.
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Harrison McClary/Reuters The Dream of Country-Music Gender Equality, Made Visible for One Night
Packed with outspoken women performing and winning, the CMAs looked female-friendly, even if the industry it celebrates still isn't.
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Arallyn!/Flickr The Purest Halloween Music Ever Written
Halloween deserves music fit for jangling bones and moldering souls. Halloween deserves Camille Saint-Saëns’s 1874 classical masterpiece, Danse Macabre.
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Kieran Doherty/Reuters Pop Stars Actually Do Die Too Young
New research suggests famous musicians face higher rates of accidental death and suicide.
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Big Machine Records Taylor Swift's 1989: First Thoughts
She has left country behind, but her new album's a blast.
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Powers Imagery/AP Annie Lennox, Let Twerkers Twerk
When the Scottish singer disses the likes of Miley and Rihanna, she makes feminism smaller.
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NBC The Fall of the House of Simpson
Ashlee Simpson's lip-sync debacle on Saturday Night Live a decade ago was the beginning of the end for her—and for her family, once a celebreality dynasty in the making.
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Mario Anzuoni/Reuters Iggy Azalea and Snoop Dogg's Feud Wasn't as Pointless as It Seemed
Hip-hop's complex history with race and gender, dramatized in two rapper's insulting tweets
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MattysFlicks/Flickr In Defense of Christmas Music in October
Idina Menzel is confused that her Christmas album is out before before Halloween—but the early release is actually a good thing for her, and for the public.
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Mario Anzuoni/Reuters The Saddest Thing About the Kesha/Dr. Luke Lawsuit
It's how familiar it all is.
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Steve Marcus/Reuters Taylor Swift Hasn't Changed
"Out of the Woods" at first sounds like the work of a new artist. Then you listen to the lyrics.
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Go Ahead, Mute Katy Perry at the Super Bowl
The halftime performance is about images, not music, which means Perry should do just fine.
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Toru Hanai/Reuters The Millennials Are Coming for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Green Day's nomination means that the eligibility period has reached a new era, and it's another generation's turn to feel old.
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Tim Larsen/AP Dave Matthews Band, Happy Rebels
Twenty years ago, the group's studio debut offered a sound like no one else's. Why do their many detractors talk so much about the fan base, instead of the music?
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Youtube Women Appreciate Good Booty-Shaking, Too
Jennifer Lopez, Iggy Azalea, and Nicky Minaj twerk for the camera—and a same-sex audience.
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STR New/Reuters The Nation That Janet Jackson Built
Twenty-five years later, the political message and musical innovation on Rhythm Nation 1814 is more significant than ever, though less appreciated than it should be.
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EGBA Entertainment Snoop Dogg, Son of Memphis Soul
Unlike some histories of the blues, the documentary Take Me to the River revitalizes its subject by grappling both with racism and contemporary pop.
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Kvork Djansevian/Reuters Sympathy for the Celebrity's Bad Side
So Ariana Grande strains to put her best face forward. Who doesn't?
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Mario Anzuoni/Reuters The Poignance of Blue Ivy Carter
Amid the falseness of the VMAs, as her parents try to sell an image, Beyoncé and Jay Z's kid keeps it real.
