As everyone learned last Thursday, Taylor Swift followed Folklore with a new record,Evermore, a mere five months later. But it’s hardly the first time a major artist has given the world an entirely fresh album very soon after a major release. Here’s a brief history of the fast follow-up in …
Read More »Julien Baker is Still Learning
Julien Baker stops herself to apologize. “I don’t know why I’m now telling you the footnotes of my thesis,” she says, with a typical dose of self-consciousness. It makes perfect sense that Baker has slipped into full academic mode, talking about jazz and “the subjectivities of language” — because, lately, …
Read More »Here's How Jeff Tweedy Writes a Song
In his new book, How to Write One Song: Loving the Things We Create and How They Love Us Back, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy shares his detailed thoughts on the art of songwriting, from practical tips to philosophical observations on the creative process. It’s a fascinating glimpse into the workings of …
Read More »Roddy Ricch's Year of Thinking Outside 'The Box'
First-round Grammy voting gets underway on September 30th and runs through October 12th. For our 2021 Grammy preview issue, we asked a series of likely contenders for next year’s awards to reflect on their past experiences at the ceremony, look ahead to the future, and discuss the albums and singles …
Read More »Return of the Caribbean King: How Billy Ocean Found His Way Back to Music
In November 1984, Billy Ocean’s “Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)” dethroned Stevie Wonder’s “I Just Called to Say I Love You” to take the Number One spot on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was a brash fusion of soul, reggae, R&B, and pop unlike anything that …
Read More »And in the End
It’s a miserable Monday morning in January 1969, and the Beatles are trying to get back to where they once belonged. The Get Back project sounded like a perfect idea: just the four lads and their instruments, ready to hit the studio, return to their roots, conjure up some great …
Read More »Song You Need to Know: Dan + Shay, 'I Should Probably Go to Bed'
Whether you’re thinking of texting an ex after hours or just scooping out some late-night ice cream, Dan + Shay suggest you should really just go to sleep. The Grammy-winning country duo’s new single, “I Should Probably Go to Bed,” is a reminder that not much good happens after midnight. …
Read More »Shaggy on Revisiting 'Hot Shot' and Singing With the Little Mermaid
When Shaggy released Hot Shot in the summer of 2000, many in the music industry were ready to write him off. It had been five long years since the Jamaican-born reggae artist landed high on the American charts with “Boombastic” and his follow-up LP, 1997’s Midnight Star, was such a …
Read More »Sad Songs, Funny Guy: The Rise of Lewis Capaldi
It’s been 12 months since Lewis Capaldi released Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent, the wildly successful debut album that turned him into pop’s reigning prince of heartbreak and despair. In those 12 months, the 23-year-old Scottish singer-songwriter with the almighty bellow has played shows around the world, conquered the …
Read More »At Home With Bad Bunny
When assistant editor Suzy Exposito left New York on March 11th to begin reporting this issue’s cover story about Bad Bunny, it was hard to know how fast the world was changing. The Puerto Rican reggaeton star, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, had just filmed the outrageous …
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