Lil Nas X transforming his cool country-trap song “Old Town Road” into the biggest song in the world was a masterclass in sticking it to jerks (Billboard wouldn’t count it as country music, so he got Billy Ray Cyrus to sing a verse and turned it into one of the most popular songs of all time, transcending the country…
There’s a lot of music out there. To help you cut through all the noise, every week The A.V. Club is rounding up A-Sides, five recent releases we think are worth your time. You can listen to these and more on our Spotify playlist, and if you like what you hear, we encourage you to purchase featured artists’ music…
Taylor Swift is releasing her re-recorded version of 2008’s Fearless on April 9, and she’s promised fans that this Fearless would feature some songs “from the vault” that were written during that era but didn’t make the cut the first time around. The first preview of this previously unheard material is “You All Over…
[Note: This article contains descriptions of sexual assault.]
The long and complicated saga of Britney Spears’ conservatorship—the legal arrangement that has dominated and controlled the musical superstar’s life and finances for more than a decade—has reached another, not wholly surprising step this week. Variety reports that an attorney for Spears has moved to finally request…
One of the easiest ways to tell if a drummer is into Rush is to take a look at their kit. The more ridiculously expansive their set-up, the higher the likelihood that they worship at the altar of Peart. YouTuber Deden Noy, however, shows that not every Rush die-hard needs to sink a ton of money into their set-up in…
Prince has never done things ordinarily–not even in the afterlife. On April 21, the fifth anniversary of Prince’s death, fans will be able to pay respect to the legend by visiting his home and studio, Paisley Park, free of charge. While there, they’ll have the chance to view his ashes, contained within the Paisley…
Let’s address the elephant in the review: No matter what album Lana Del Rey would’ve released in 2021, it would still be marred by her controversial statement announcing the record. Back in May, Del Rey posed a “question for the culture,” writing that since Doja Cat, Cardi B, Kehlani, Nicki Minaj, Beyoncé, and others…
In the internet age, getting meme’d into stardom is a surefire way to get your two minutes in the spotlight—before becoming a shelved memory that people occasionally Google to relive 60 seconds of comedic gold. Sure, some songs that have become memes should stay memes (e.g., “Photograph” by Nickelback), but there are…
Whitmer Thomas’ HBO stand-up special The Golden One premiered in February 2020, but it wasn’t until the next month that he became a viral sensation. Merely a week after COVID-19 stay-at-home orders went into effect, Thomas uploaded a new video to Instagram and Twitter; “Big Baby” finds the comedian, his face digitally…
You could make a lot of different arguments about why “Maneater,” released in 1982, pretty much instantly became the biggest hit of Daryl Hall and John Oates’ collaborative career. There’s that opening bass beat, of course, drilling its way into your head even before the moody keys can kick in. There’s the abrupt,…
Today, in collaborations we can genuinely say we weren’t expecting to see news: Justin Bieber has graciously offered up a songwriting credit to up-and-coming public figure Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on his new album Justice. In fact—and as several reviewers have noted—Bieber gave King the lead-off spot on the new…
There’s a lot of music out there. To help you cut through all the noise, every week The A.V. Club is rounding up A-Sides, five recent releases we think are worth your time. You can listen to these and more on our Spotify playlist, and if you like what you hear, we encourage you to purchase featured artists’ music…
A year into the pandemic, most of us have acclimated to our new bleak reality. Concerts seem like a distant memory and the thought of being in an open field surrounded by drunk, sweaty strangers feels like a pipe dream. But San Francisco-based music fest Outside Lands is still hopeful that this COVID-19 thing will end…
Move over, Justice League, there’s another Justice battle this week.
Manufacturing company Topps shared their limited edition Grammy-themed Garbage Pail Kids sticker collection on Tuesday, featuring Garbage Pail Kid versions of Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Megan Thee Stallion, BTS, and other nominees. But the BTS one stood out because of its problematic, ill-timed depiction of the…
Many things were promised to us for this future dystopian society we now find ourselves in: flying cars, off-world colonies, robot workforces, android Ryan Goslings. Unfortunately, the least-fun of those seems to be the only one accurately predicated for 2021: automated A.I. replacing both industrial workers as well…
With the release of their debut LP, Strange House, in 2007, The Horrors introduced themselves in the midst of the MySpace emo era with a campy goth aesthetic. The album fit perfectly at the time, but as the pop culture landscape changed, so did The Horrors. Primary Colours (2009) and Skying (2011) became some of the…
It’s rare for an artist to go from being unknown to becoming one of the most talked-about indie artists of the year within months, but Bartees Cox—who goes by the moniker Bartees Strange—has achieved just that. Strange introduced the world to his solo work with his EP Say Goodbye To Pretty Boy on March 13, 2020, a…
Over the course of his long career in show business, Elton John has written a ton of great songs. Though—while tracks like “Rocket Man,” “Tiny Dancer,” and “Your Song” have enjoyed plenty of acclaim—his improvised tune about Richard E. Grant’s oven manual has never really caught on.
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