Music Features

Last July, Brandi Carlile had a provocation for her friend Jay Sweet, the head of Newport Folk Festival. “One year from now,” Sweet remembers her telling him. “I bet you we can bring Joni Mitchell to this stage.” The festival head was skeptical. A few years back, he had witnessed …

For the last few months, Tegan and Sara Quin have been in their hometown of Calgary, Alberta, teaching a pair of twin, queer 21-year-olds how to become Tegan and Sara. This is a necessary step for the indie-pop duo’s upcoming TV series, High School — based on their 2019 memoir …

After they broke up four decades ago, ABBA famously refused all kinds of money for reunion ABBA-tars and performances. But a few years ago, British entrepreneur Simon Fuller pitched an idea that piqued the Swedish superstars’ interest. “We got sort of turned on by the thought that we could actually …

After a long five-year absence, Kendrick Lamar has finally returned. Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers is the kind of dense, complex, contradictory, and thrilling journey into the mind of Pulitzer Kenny that we’ve been waiting for. With more than 70 minutes of music, there’s plenty here to process, enjoy, …

Aaron Raitiere excels at writing the kind of country songs that blend a biting sense of humor with a little something extra, like the righteous indignation of Caylee Hammack’s spiky “Just Friends” or the winking desire of Maren Morris’ “Tall Guys.” The Kentucky singer-songwriter brings all of this to the …

Kaitlin Butts’ newly released What Else Can She Do makes a strong case that she ought to be positioned somewhere between Miranda Lambert or Kacey Musgraves at country’s vanguard — an Oklahoma native with a big, malleable voice and the songwriting skills to match. The seven songs on What Else …

Last week, in the world of reggae, the unthinkable happened: two back-to-back tragedies within one iconic group. Days after the March 29 murder of Donald “Tabby Diamond” Shaw, 66, lead singer of venerable reggae vocal trio the Mighty Diamonds, the same outfit’s harmony vocalist Fitzroy “Bunny Diamond” Simpson, 71, succumbed …

In 2020, SZA invited listeners to a new sonic universe with “Good Days.” The track’s ethereal production and lyrical honesty captured the purest essence of the singer’s artistic genius. For a deeper dive into the track, Rolling Stone caught up with producer Carter Lang, mixing engineer Shawn Everett and vocalist …

Dolly Parton stunned a lot of her fans earlier this week when withdrew herself from consideration for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. “Even though I am extremely flattered to be nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, I don’t feel that I have earned that right,” …

For the last seven years, fans around the world have had one question on their minds: “Stromae, où t’es?“ That’s how long it’s been since the Belgian singer was last seen making waves around the world with his honest lyrics and electropop sound. In the U.S., many encountered Stromae’s music …