Music

After nearly a decade of shifting the music industry with surprise drops and arresting visual albums, Beyoncé's seventh full-length album, Renaissance, emerged into the world on Friday in a way that almost felt traditional. There was a lead single, a properly announced release date and even a highly publicized leak, but the retro-leaning familiarity of Beyoncé's approach hasn't lessened the impact of an album that demands a deep decoding. Thick […]

Beyoncé performs at San Siro Stadium in Milan, Italy on July 18, 2016 as part of The Formation World Tour. Beyoncé's long-awaited and highly anticipated seventh studio album, Renaissance, is now available for the world to hear. The 16-song LP marks her first solo album in 6 years, following the pivotal visual album Lemonade. Critics, including NPR Music's Sidney Madden and Ann Powers, have said of previews that Renaissance signifies […]

Theo Croker performs at Jacksonville Jazz Festival, October 1, 2021Kim Reed/Courtesy of Artist Few musicians live in the present moment, at the convergence of what came before and what's up ahead, with more panache than Theo Croker. A trumpeter, producer and composer rooted in the jazz lineage, he's also within the vanguard of a peer group blending hip-hop, electronic music and contemporary R&B. The synthesis shines throughout his recent albums, […]

The BET Awards air on Sunday night, and at least one notable person is highly unlikely to be in attendance: Lil Nas X. In case you missed it, the pop star is presently incensed with the network because his name was nowhere to be found when nominations were announced earlier this month. That same day, he sent out a now-deleted tweet: "thank you bet awards. an outstanding zero nominations again. […]