Pop needs freaks. Thankfully, Lady Gaga is back

Ann Powers

The sometimes-transgressive pop star has a new album, Mayhem, that seems poised to recapture the confrontational darkness of her early work. There's more than one reason to hope it's true.

Addded Mar 5, 2025

music

NPR

Paul McCartney, live from New York: The easy genius of the cute Beatle

Ann Powers

Last week, the hottest ticket in NYC wasn't the SNL 50th anniversary concert. It was the three nights Paul McCartney played at a tiny downtown venue that usually hosts up-and-coming indie rock bands.

Addded Feb 18, 2025

media music

NPR

Gen Z conquers the Grammys

Ann Powers

Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar won the night's biggest awards, but the real takeaway from the Grammys is that a wave of younger stars has arrived on the pop scene, fully prepared to own the spotlight.

Addded Feb 3, 2025

music

NPR

The Red Clay Strays: Tiny Desk Concert

The Red Clay Strays & Ann Powers

It wasn't a given that the Strays could rein in the grandeur that its fanbase relishes to fit the modest Tiny Desk, but this set proves why it's one of the fastest-rising ensembles in any genre right now.

Addded Jan 17, 2025

music

NPR

The 124 Best Songs of 2024

2024 was a year of breakthroughs, with new stars storming the top of the charts and artists across genres making modern classics. NPR Music's list of best songs of the year has something for everyone.

Addded Dec 4, 2024

music

NPR

The 50 Best Albums Of 2024

Isabella Gomez Sarmiento, Nate Chinen, Hazel Cills, Stephen Thompson, Elle Mannion, Rodney Carmichael, Tom Huizenga, Ann Powers, Ashley Pointer, Felix Contreras, Sidney Madden, Jacob Ganz, Lars Gotrich, Sheldon Pearce, Anamaria Sayre, Daoud Tyler-Ameen, Nikki Birch, Mitra Arthur & Rodney Carmichael

You can't always know that it's a great year for new music while it's happening, but there was a sense from the very start of 2024 that we were in for a ride.

Addded Dec 2, 2024

music

NPR

Nick Cave wrestles with a ‘Wild God’

Ann Powers

"If I have to define my music in any way," Nick Cave says, "it's religious music." His new album is a gallery of encounters with spiritual, possibly divine figures, not all of whom are benevolent.

Addded Sep 23, 2024

music

NPR

MJ Lenderman joins rock and roll’s lineage of heartbreak kids

Ann Powers

Ann Powers considers the breakthrough of indie rock up-and-comer MJ Lenderman, and finds that he’s got some classic rock in his tales of romantic woe.

Addded Sep 11, 2024

music

NPR

Nick Cave on the encounters that brought him to 'Wild God'

Ann Powers & Nick Cave

On August 30, the Australian-born rock titan Nick Cave will release "Wild God," a new album with his band The Bad Seeds. It's a high point in Cave's career, and NPR Music's Ann Powers spoke with him about the struggles -- personal, musical and religious -- he faced on the road to making the album.

Addded Aug 20, 2024

music

NPR

Sierra Ferrell: Tiny Desk Concert

Ann Powers & Sierra Ferrell

Sierra Ferrell is the May Queen of American roots music -- no matter what month it is.

Addded Aug 14, 2024

music

NPR

Zach Bryan makes -- and breaks -- his own myth on 'The Great American Bar Scene'

Ann Powers

Bruce Springsteen, 40 years on from "Born in the U.S.A.," shows up on Bryan’s new album to offer the wisdom and regret of a lifetime of telling truths and spinning yarns.

Addded Jul 9, 2024

music

Literary Hub

How Joni Mitchell Pioneered Her Own Form of Artistic Genius

Ann Powers

Ann Powers on the long and continuing struggle of women artists for recognition on their own terms.

Addded Jun 18, 2024

music

NPR

Pedro the Lion's youthful nostalgia is quietly transformational

Ann Powers

David Bazan's multi-part memoirs have blurred memories of his adolescence, but with the goal of being honest and accountable. NPR Music critic Ann Powers sees connections between Pedro the Lion's Santa Cruz and Jane Schoenbrun’s new film, "I Saw the TV Glow."

Addded Jun 11, 2024

music

The Washington Post

Joni Mitchell made music with the boys, but remained her own woman

Ann Powers

The singer-songwriter held her own — and then some — at the center of Laurel Canyon’s legendary late ’60s/early ’70s music scene. (Adapted and excerpted from “Traveling: On the Path of Joni Mitchell," by Ann Powers.)

Addded Jun 2, 2024

music

NPR

8 Tracks: What was the Steve Albini sound? Almost everything

Lars Gotrich, Hazel Cills, Sheldon Pearce, Jacob Ganz, Otis Hart & Ann Powers

If an artist was willing to confront their truths, Albini was ready to take them into the gaping maw. The recording engineer, who died last week, left an indelible mark on how we hear music.

Addded May 15, 2024

music

NPR

Taylor Swift's 'Tortured Poets' is written in blood

Ann Powers

With "The Tortured Poets Department," the defining pop star of her era has made an album as messy and confrontational as any good girl's work can get.

Addded Apr 19, 2024

music

NPR

Beyoncé's 'Cowboy Carter' is a portrait of the artist getting joyously weird

Ann Powers

Cowboy Carter has spurred plenty of discussion for being a groundbreaking country album. But for one critic, it calls to mind is a cult favorite '70s psych-rock concept album.

Addded Apr 11, 2024

music

NPR

Laufey is a trad-pop superstar (and that's enough)

Ann Powers

The young Icelandic-Chinese singer, now a Grammy nominee, has been pegged by some as her generation's jazz savior -- a burdensome role that arguably misreads her talents.

Addded Jan 31, 2024

music

NPR

With Pitchfork in peril, a word on the purpose of music journalism

Ann Powers

At its best, the influential online music pub - which Condé Nast announced last week will be folded into GQ - created a rare and precious space to slow down, pay attention and really listen.

Addded Jan 24, 2024

media music

WNYC Studios

Trouble at The Baltimore Sun, and the End of an Era for Pitchfork

Brooke Gladstone, Micah Loewinger, Margot Susca, Milton Kent & Ann Powers

The 'private investment era' of journalism; the fate of The Baltimore Sun; the gutting of Pitchfork and the future of music criticism.

Addded Jan 20, 2024

media music

NPR

The 123 Best Songs of 2023

Daoud Tyler-Ameen, Sheldon Pearce, Sidney Madden, Lars Gotrich, Ashley Pointer, Mitra I. Arthur, Jacob Ganz, Tom Huizenga, Stephen Thompson, Anamaria Sayre, Ann Powers, Otis Hart, Ashley Pointer, Robin Hilton, Hazel Cills, Nate Chinen, Nikki Birch, Rodney Carmichael & Suraya Mohamed

A best-of list should be an opportunity for discovery, so NPR Music has handmade a series of mixtapes full of great songs from 2023 to help you find music you'll love well beyond the end of the year.

Addded Dec 12, 2023

music

NPR

The 50 Best Albums of 2023

The album's not dead! Want proof? NPR Music's list of the best albums of 2023 features masterworks by veterans, newcomers, iconoclasts and at least one supergroup.

Addded Dec 5, 2023

music

NPR

PJ Harvey: Tiny Desk Concert

Ann Powers & PJ Harvey

In her Tiny Desk performance, the artist lives on her own artistic plane - inviting listeners to take their time to fully join her.

Addded Nov 17, 2023

music

NPR

Tyler Childers is back, and taking chances

Ann Powers

The grassroots country star, whose fan base crosses lines of identity and politics, is releasing a song called "In Your Love," from a new album. Its video tells a queer, Appalachian love story.

Addded Jul 27, 2023

music

NPR Music

'Life and death is such a fine line': PJ Harvey on creating in a place between worlds

Ann Powers

Harvey talks with NPR Music's Ann Powers about her album I Inside the Old Year Dying, a ragged, highly crafted adaptation of her epic poem Orlam, and why she prefers to make art without boundaries.

Addded Jul 6, 2023

music

NPR

On 'Gag Order,' Kesha gets intensely personal

Ari Shapiro, Ann Powers, Stephen Thompson, Sarah Handel & Kira Wakeam

Listening to Kesha's new album, you can't help but think about all she's been through in the past 10 years.

Addded May 22, 2023

music

NPR Music

Anna Tivel: Tiny Desk Concert

Ann Powers & Anna Tivel

In her Tiny Desk, Tivel's empathy elevates her folk-based, jazz-touched compositions from mere stories to secular prayers.

Addded May 22, 2023

music

Sound Expertise

Approaching Joni Mitchell with Ann Powers

Will Robin, D. Edward Davis & Ann Powers

For our Season 3 debut, a deep conversation with Ann Powers about her in-progress Joni Mitchell book, the complexities and anxieties behind thinking through Joni's life alongside her own, and what it means to write about women making music.

Addded May 16, 2023

music

NPR

Inspiration or theft? The rise of interpolation in the music industry

Mary Louise Kelly & Ann Powers

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with NPR music critic Ann Powers on the rise of interpolation in the increasingly litigious music industry and the line between nostalgia and theft.

Addded May 11, 2023

music

NPR Music

The Oscars are getting the best song category all wrong

Ann Powers

In filmmaking, placing a song in just the right context and letting it cast its spell is an art - one that many films in 2022 mastered. What if we gave that achievement its own award?

Addded Mar 12, 2023

media music

NPR Music

Indigo Girls: Tiny Desk Concert

Ann Powers & Indigo Girls

Amy Ray and Emily Saliers have been offering life lessons to their fervent fans for nearly four decades; here, they play a set of stone-cold classics, including "Closer to Fine."

Addded Feb 7, 2023

music

NPR Music

2023 Grammy Awards: The Beyoncé paradox

Nate Chinen, Sheldon Pearce, Ann Powers & Stephen Thompson

At this year's awards on Sunday night, Beyoncé could become the artist with the most Grammys ever. She could also go down in history as the most snubbed.

Addded Feb 3, 2023

music

NPR Music

The Best Roots Music of 2022

Ann Powers, Jacob Ganz, Tom Huizenga & Otis Hart

This year artists working within the orbit of the unstable category "roots music" got personal even as they explored complex cultural lineages and challenged the rules of established scenes and forms.

Addded Dec 19, 2022

music

NPR Music

The 100 Best Songs Of 2022

Teresa Xie, Robin Hilton, Nikki Birch, Stephen Thompson, Sheldon Pearce, Ashley Pointer, Otis Hart, Marissa Lorusso, Lars Gotrich, Fi O'Reilly, Nate Chinen, Ann Powers, Sidney Madden, Sofia Seidel, Kiana Fitzgerald, Raina Douris, Tom Huizenga, Otis Hart, Mina Tavakoli, Jewly Hight, Grayson Haver Currin, Nastia Voynovskaya, Marcus J. Moore, Anamaria Sayre, LaTesha Harris, Jerusalem Truth, Kiana Fitzgerald, Marissa Lorusso, Stefanie Fernández, Russ Borris, Bob Boilen, Reanna Cruz, Jacob Ganz, Hazel Cills, Sam J. Leeds, Rodney Carmichael, Nikki Birch, Andrew Flanagan, Ayana Contreras, Laura Snapes, Patricia Meschino, Ashley Pointer, Jewly Hight, Grayson Haver Currin, Jacob Ganz, Hazel Cills, Art Levy, LaTesha Harris, Ashley Pointer, Isabella Gomez Sarmiento & Nastia Voynovskaya

A list of 100 songs that reflects the sprawling, energetic messiness of 2022. Start listening.

Addded Dec 15, 2022

music

NPR Music

Beyoncé's 'Renaissance' is the No. 1 Album of 2022

Ann Powers, Daphne A. Brooks & Danyel Smith

Her album-as-Sistine Chapel: awe-inspiring from a distance and glittering with detail, a star-filled imaginary sky and an origin myth that comes to life through its brilliant brush strokes.

Addded Dec 12, 2022

music

NPR Music

The 50 Best Albums Of 2022

Jewly Hight, John Morrison, Tom Huizenga, Mina Tavakoli, Gabby Bulgarelli, Nate Chinen, Ashley Pointer, Suraya Mohamed, Lars Gotrich, Art Levy, Marissa Lorusso, Stephen Thompson, Ann Powers, Mano Sundaresan, Hazel Cills, Sidney Madden, Andrew Flanagan, Bruce Warren, Stefanie Fernández, Bobby Carter, Christina Lee, Sheldon Pearce, Felix Contreras, Desiré Moses, Robin Hilton, Otis Hart, Rodney Carmichael, Keanna Faircloth, LaTesha Harris, Ayana Contreras, Fi O'Reilly, Grayson Haver Currin, Christina Lee, Nastia Voynovskaya, Jerusalem Truth, Bob Boilen, Isabella Gomez Sarmiento & Anamaria Sayre

We ranked our 50 favorite records of the year, from hip-hop to classical and everything in between.

Addded Dec 12, 2022

music

NPR Music

Ann Powers' Top 20 Albums Of 2022

Ann Powers

NPR's pop critic and correspondent shares her favorite albums of this year.

Addded Dec 6, 2022

music

NPR Music

The 10 Best Rock Albums of 2022

Grayson Haver Currin, John Morrison, Hazel Cills, Lars Gotrich, Marissa Lorusso, Vita Dadoo, Stephen Thompson, Stefanie Fernández, Bob Boilen, Ann Powers, Jacob Ganz & Andrew Flanagan

In 2022, the top 10 rock albums took a pilgrimage to Memphis, communed with theologians and poets, found the interconnectedness of all beings and danced through pain and pleasure.

Addded Dec 6, 2022

music

NPR Music

S.G. Goodman: Tiny Desk Concert

Ann Powers & S.G. Goodman

In Goodman's songs, music is a route to both survival and transcendence. Watch her perform three powerful tracks that confront grief and stump for understanding.

Addded Oct 26, 2022

music

NPR Music

In the haze of 'Midnights,' Taylor Swift softens into an expanded sound

Ann Powers

On Swift's 10th and most challenging album, she and producer Jack Antonoff push her voice in new directions, rethinking the sonic rhetoric of first-person storytelling and shaking off old habits.

Addded Oct 21, 2022

music