“Stoner R&B” is not an insult: It’s the opposite, a loose term to describe a sprawling genre of music that includes everything from Dijon and Frank Ocean to Brent Faiyaz and Jhene Aiko. It’s R&B that has smoked a strong blunt, with languid grooves, heavy bass, psychedelicized production and an unhurried vocal approach. Unlike the […]

When an artist is as prolific — and as easily bored — as Charli xcx, “How much is too much?” becomes a significant question, and one she herself addressed in “The Moment,” the mock-umentary on her “Brat” era released earlier this year. That remarkably self-aware film, in which she plays a sort of parallel-universe version of […]

The first question most Jack White fans are looking to have answered to when it comes to his new album, “Frozen Charlotte”: Is it effectively a “No Name 2.0”? Nearly everyone is hoping for a “yes,” on that one. In his solo career, White spent a few years notably bouncing around, veering between acoustically oriented […]

Only a very few performers put out their debut album having already established themselves as frontrunners for the Grammy for best new artist. Sienna Spiro is in that category, and let’s just say that “The Visitor,” her first full-length release, does nothing to diminish her chances in the category. As the title hints, it’s an […]

“Sometimes I like to just hide in the shadows,” mutters Madonna at the start of “I Feel So Free,” the opening track on her 15th album “Confessions II.” “Create a new persona. A different identity. I can be whoever I want to be.” As hard as it may be to picture Madonna hiding in the […]

Dear 2026: You seem pretty rad, for a year so potentially in malaise. At least, that’s the way we feel every time we turn off the news and turn on the music that takes us away from all that. The best albums from the first half of 2026 didn’t always shut out the outside world […]

The third time’s the third charm for Olivia Rodrigo, who is beginning to look like she might be constitutionally incapable of not turning in one of the year’s most diverting albums, in any given try. Not many artists have started off with as smashing a three-peat as Rodrigo and her producer/co-writer partner Dan Nigro, who’ve […]

Paul McCartney is a master of the fake-out. The first feint around his new album, “The Boys of Dungeon Lane,” came when he released “Days We Left Behind” as the first single, an exceedingly gentle and wistful ballad that allowed for the possibility that the whole LP might be a collection of acoustic memory songs. […]

Toward the beginning of his new song “Janice STFU,” Drake conducts one of his customary exercises in emo theater: “You say what my work means to me will one day be the death of me / They tried to kill me once, but, darling, you just resurrected me.” It feels melodramatic, but this time, it’s […]

Nearly a decade after releasing her debut “SweetSexySavage,” Kehlani has finally arrived at the self-titled album. An eponymous project this deep into a career is no small proclamation — it’s traditionally a one-time event that’s meant to suggest a body of work is so emblematic that it speaks for itself, or it reflects the artist in […]