Dua Lipa, 'Future Nostalgia': A Dance Floor Escape in a Time of Isolation
"You wanna turn it up loud, Future Nostalgia is the name..." The world looks drastically different than how it did just over four months ago when Dua Lipa dropped "Don't Start Now," the lead track off of her sophomore studio album. It would have been impossible to predict then, while the…
'Norman Fucking Rockwell!': Lana Del Rey (Album Review)
"So this is the American dream, right now. This is where we’re at—Norman fucking Rockwell. We’re going to go to Mars, and [Donald] Trump is president, all right. Me and Jack [Antonoff], we just joke around constantly about all the random headlines we might see that week, so it’s a slight cultural…
'Madame X': Madonna Gets Lost in the World, But Isn't Lost
If we took a holiday, took some time to celebrate – just one day out of life, even - it would be so nice. Right? Well then, let’s do it. Yes, I’m dead serious. You still got your passport? Good. I’ve got a friend of a friend who lives in Portugal we can stay with. Actually, she might be in Brazil…
'She Is Coming': The Reintroduction of Miley Cyrus Begins (Review)
What's a girl like Miley Cyrus to do in 2019? She's already conquered tween-pop, followed by the requisite Disney princess-gone-bad rebellion era. She dove in head - err, sorry - tongue-first to #SomethingMoreUrban territory, twerking her way around hip-hop beats and cultural appropriation…
'Still On My Mind': Dido Makes a Warm, Welcome Return (Album Review)
Six years after the release of her last studio album, 2013's Girl Who Got Away, Dido - Ms. Florian Cloud de Bounevialle O'Malley Armstrong, if you're nasty - didn't really need to come back. She's sold over 40 million albums worldwide, and is responsible for co-inventing the concept of a "stan"…
'Honey': The Sad, Sweet Resilience of Robyn (Album Review)
"It’s not about getting to the end, but enjoying where you are in the moment." Call your girlfriend, and tell her the old Robyn can't come to the phone right now. Or...ever again. Nearly a decade after her last studio album, the culmination of three mini-albums packed full of floor-filling…
An 'A Star Is Born' Soundtrack Guide for Fellow Basic Gays
So, you saw A Star Is Born starring Stefani Joanne Angelina I'm An Italian Girl From New York Germanotta and Bradley There Can Be 100 People In The Room and 99 Don't Believe In You, You Just Need One to Believe In You Cooper, and you really liked it like I did. Or, maybe you didn't even like it,…
'Dancing Queen': Cher Does ABBA Cheraoke and Everybody Wins (Review)
Cher didn't need to do anything. A well-documented non-fan of her own work (and certainly not too keen on Madonna, either), the 72-year-old living legend could have easily kicked off her fourteen millionth farewell tour next year with just ("just") her twenty-five studio album discography and an…
'Hatsukoi': Utada Hikaru Comes Full Circle (Album Review)
"Everything will, without exception, surely, without a doubt, eventually end. Just as it will always be." Utada Hikaru is beginning anew. Again. Two years after Fantome, a heartbroken-but-hopeful return after a nearly decade-long break between studio albums, the tragic death of her mother and the…
'so sad so sexy': Lykke Li's Night Drive Through Depression & Dope Beats (Album Review)
Lykke Li's had a bad year. Or two. Maybe more. “I’ve been through some shit," she told The Guardian, succinctly. Specifically, she's been dealing with the exhausting emotional contradiction of a birth, a death and a relationship on the rocks at almost the same time. “I don’t know if many people…
'Golden': Kylie Minogue's Nashville-Inspired Ode to Heartbreak, Death & Dancing (Album Review)
I wanna find love, Make a great escape, get lost, Get away from everyone who tells me it's too late. The name Kylie Minogue - or Kylie, just Kylie, as she's still the only Kylie, thank you very much - conjures visions of disco balls, stilettos and oiled-up muscle men. And until recently, the only…
'One Shot, Two Shot': BoA Still Hits the Mark, Nearly Twenty Years Into Her Career
The cold, hard truth is that the music industry in South Korea isn't what it once was when BoA first debuted in 2000. Despite being hailed as the Queen of K-Pop™ for nearly two decades, the now 31-year-old superstar is vying for attention in a crowded arena that consists primarily of girl groups…