One Direction’s ‘Take Me Home’ at 10: Patriarchy with a Pretty Face
One Direction’s Take Me Home proved that masculinity is not just based on toughness, stoicism, or any of the qualities traditionally associated with it.
One Direction’s Take Me Home proved that masculinity is not just based on toughness, stoicism, or any of the qualities traditionally associated with it.
Taylor Swift’s Midnights, her latest musical pivot, highlights her artistry by overshooting her commercial ambitions. It’s a capstone to Swift’s career.
Taylor Swift’s Red and its reissue Red (Taylor’s Version) realign the goals of pop music, making an album’s perceived imperfections the new standard.
Demi Lovato’s eighth album Holy Fvck is a rock star about-face that might have substance but comes too soon after her last reinvention to feel authentic.
With Disney deep in her past, pop star Hayley Kiyoko’s Panorama navigates queer relationships with self-assuredness, packaged in accessible pop hooks.
Beyoncé’s Renaissance repackages traditional marketing and 1990s-inspired dance music, creating the ultimate combination of streaming sensibilities and feel-good anthems.
The autobiographical songwriting that carried James Taylor to international pop stardom laid a blueprint for songwriters today to blend their romantic and public endeavors through confessional writing.
Harry Styles’ Harry’s House is, to reference his debut solo single, a “Sign of the Times”, experimenting with 1980s synths and 1970s confessional writing.
Maroon 5’s sophomore album, It Won’t Be Soon Before Long, pivoted away from their pop-punk beginnings and set them up for a decade of pop culture omnipresence.
Alec Benjamin’s (Un)Commentary gets caught up in the details. Is that good or bad? He acknowledges that his cerebral qualities are a strength of his music.
Doubling down on her songwriter image, Olivia Rodrigo makes a pop star rite of passage of her own with driving home 2 u.
Indie poppers Wallows stake out a new middle ground between alternative and pop and prepare for the streaming era on Tell Me That It’s Over.