The Empty Excitement of the 2025 Grammy Awards
Beyoncé may have broken her curse with fun performances, but the bright Grammy ceremony was undercut by self-aggrandizing acts that fell flat by the end.
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The 30 Best Pop Albums of 2024
The 30 best pop albums of 2024 radiate with unstoppable playlist power, much-needed sweet escapism, self-reflection, self-criticism, and killer melodies.
The 25 Best Christmas Albums by Pop Divas
Pop divas seem born for Christmas: they’re dramatic, emotional, sentimental, campy – everything that’s Christmas. These best Christmas albums suit the season.
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The 13 Best Pop Albums of 2022
The 13 best pop albums of 2022 radiate with unstoppable playlist power, much-needed sweet escapism, self-reflection, self-criticism, and killer melodies.
Beyoncé’s Dance Pop ‘Renaissance’ Marks a New Era of Empowerment and Accessibility
Beyoncé’s Renaissance repackages traditional marketing and 1990s-inspired dance music, creating the ultimate combination of streaming sensibilities and feel-good anthems.
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Hip-Hop Matters: The Best Hip-Hop of July 2022
This month in the best hip-hop has everything from deconstructing the genre by younger generations to the return of revered scene leaders.
Beyoncé’s ‘Renaissance’ Is a Post-Covid Soiree and Massive PR Campaign
While Renaissance occasionally sports more style than substance, Beyoncé emerges as the re-coronated Queen of Pop and the reigning regent of eclecticism.
Ten Years Ago, ‘4’ Found Beyoncé Running and Challenging the World
While 4 didn’t showcase peak Beyoncé, it nonetheless hinted at how she’d shape popular culture for decades to come.
The 15 Best Pop Albums of 2020
The 15 best pop albums radiate with unstoppable playlist power and much-needed sweet escapism.
Beyoncé’s ‘Black Is King’ Builds Identity From Afrofuturism
Beyoncé's Black Is King's reliance on Afrofuturism recuperates the film from Disney's clutches while reclaiming Black excellence.
Artist As Pure Ego: Beyoncé’s ‘Homecoming: The Live Album’
Beyoncé's Homecoming is one of the most impressive shows ever, but its need to tell us how impressive it is deflates some of its awe.
On Black Girl Magic and Georgia Anne Muldrow’s Latest, ‘Overload’
It's tempting to proclaim this moment in black pop as something akin to 2018's political Year of the Woman -- Year of the Sista, if you will. But today's unapologetically progressive female black pop artists stand on the shoulders of a most impressive cohort from the '90s and early '00s.