Paula Abdul Found Artistic Growth and Maturity with ‘Spellbound’
Paula Abdul confounded her critics with Spellbound, looking to expand pop hooks and catchy melodies with more esoteric sounds to festoon her state-of-the-art dance-pop.
Peter Piatkowski
Peter is a London-based writer, though he was raised in Chicago. He writes pop culture criticism and film criticism. His work has been published in various publications, including anthologies and journals.
Janet Jackson Came Into Her Own As a Significant Artist on ‘Janet’
Janet Jackson’s Janet, released 30 years ago today, embraces the maturity of her sexuality and political identity, and in the process, she creates beautiful music.
The TANK Center for Sonic Arts Find a New Way to Interpret Beethoven
National Sawdust Ensemble’s work on Slow Beethoven recasts Beethoven’s Opus 131 as something wholly new, recasting it as a contemporary classical dirge.
Carly Simon Became a Pop Rom-Com Queen with ‘Coming Around Again’
Carly Simon adapted to the glossier, smoother sounds of 1980s soft-rock, spinning yarns of upper-class anxiety in Coming Around Again.
Durand Jones’ Solo Debut Is Powerful and Personal
Braiding stirring songwriting prowess and beautiful vocals, Durand Jones has created one of the most assured and brightest debut albums in quite some time.
The 35 Best Janet Jackson Songs
We’re looking at Janet Jackson’s fabulous discography to celebrate her birthday. Most of these songs are pop classics and define ’80s/’90s pop and dance radio.
Memories of Basia’s ‘The Sweetest Illusion’ 29 Years Later
Basia’s The Sweetest Illusion speaks to my family’s migration from Poland to France, the US, and the UK. Like Basia, I’ve picked up various cultural ephemera along the way.
Ellie Goulding Invites Listeners to Dance on Bubbly ‘Higher Than Heaven’
Following the intense ambition of Ellie Goulding’s previous album, 2020’s Brightest Blue, Higher Than Heaven is a refreshing jolt of candy-coated vigor.
St. Paul & The Broken Bones Confront Fatherhood with ‘Angels in Science Fiction’
St. Paul & The Broken Bones’ Angels in Science Fiction confronts the idea of being a father and bringing a child into a world as frightening as ours.
The Loud Warning of Ska Concert Film ‘Dance Craze’ Must Still Be Heard
Dance Craze, the legendary concert film about the ska revival in Britain, brilliantly captures the performers’ sweaty, frantic, animated energy and the warning in their music’s message.
Liza Minnelli Hung Up Her Feather Boa and Sequins for ‘Gently’
Gently is, in Liza Minnelli’s own words, a “make-out” album. The 1996 record reaches for the kind of rueful, ruminative romance found in a smoky bar.
Céline Dion’s ‘Falling Into You’ Was a Triumph of 1990s High Camp Pop Art
Falling Into You could only be made by an artist like Céline Dion, who knows that whatever she puts out will be slammed by critics but adored by her audience.