Music

Everyone's Talking! Album ∙ Alternative ∙ 2025 All Time Low Everyone’s Talking!  begins with a breaking of the fourth wall: “[cold open]” goes behind the scenes, with vocalist Alex Gaskarth explaining the narratives that animate an album cycle. “A few years of trauma and magic tied up with a string and a bow,” he sings. Despite this snide look at the industry at large, over 20 years into their career, All Time Low sounds as fresh and invigorated as when they broke through in the early 2000s. “SUCKERPUNCH” is a swaggering, strutting, alt-rock cut with crunching drum breaks and a surprisingly funky pre-chorus. On “ Sugar ,” the band teams up with singer JoJo for the most unexpectedly successful crossover collab of the year, an anthemic cut worthy of her talent for pop songwriting. Though the stories that unfold aren’t as neat as Gaskarth advertises on “[cold open],” they still go down as smoothly as ever.

The Luck and Strange Concerts Album ∙ Rock ∙ 2025 David Gilmour Solo and Pink Floyd tracks, recorded on tour on 2024. David Gilmour’s concert series supporting his album, The Luck and Strange , transcends the function of a standard musical tour to become a profound, multimedia meditation on legacy, memory, and mortality. These performances are distinguished not merely by their high production values, but by their strategic deployment of setlist, sonic texture, and visual atmosphere to create a cohesive narrative experience. The concerts function as a careful dialogue between the deeply personal, reflective new material and the vast, collective iconography of Pink Floyd, arguing that a veteran artist's most recent work is inherently shaped and given meaning by the enduring weight of their past achievements.  The architecture of the live experience hinges on a calculated thematic and temporal contrast. The Luck and Strange songs, often infused with melancholy and introspection—t...

The Life of a Showgirl Album ∙ Pop ∙ 2025 Taylor Swift What’s a girl gonna do after the record-smashing Eras Tour ? Well, its success sparked the flame inside Taylor Swift that led to a reunion with former collaborators Max Martin and Shellback for her 12th full-length  The Life of a Showgirl . Indeed, in a very showgirl manner, Swift flew back and forth to Sweden between stops on her European leg—remember, the singer-songwriter believes “jet lag is a choice”—to join Martin and Shellback, Swift’s co-writers and producers on some of the most memorable and popular hits of her career (“ We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together ,” “ 22 ,” “ Shake It Off ,” “ Blank Space ,” “ Don’t Blame Me ,” and “ Delicate ,” to name a few). The result? A confident, dazzling, at times elegant, at times cheeky, at times sensual pop explosion that examines Swift’s relationships and her fame, which is both deeply personal yet extremely relatable...mostly. (The struggles of “ Elizabeth Taylor ”—with its ...

MASA Album ∙ Hip-Hop/Rap ∙ 2025 YoungBoy Never Broke Again Last year, the Baton Rouge rapper’s relative silence spoke volumes. After a staggeringly prolific run in the previous years (one album and six mixtapes in 2022, two albums and two mixtapes in 2023), YoungBoy released just one record in 2024. Days before the intended release of his seventh album,  I Just Got a Lot on My Shoulders , he was arrested on a number of charges, and he spent much of that year in a Utah county jail before receiving a 27-month prison sentence after accepting a plea deal in a federal gun case that had been ongoing for years. It was the latest in a seemingly endless series of setbacks for the rapper, whose “Legal issues” section on Wikipedia is nearly as long as the one for “Career.” YoungBoy’s 2025 has so far been much brighter, beginning with his release on probation in April after years of house arrest. Then, on May 28, he was granted a presidential pardon , ending the lengthy legal battle that had ...

The Art of Loving Album ∙ Pop ∙ 2025 Olivia Dean Olivia Dean’s follow-up to 2023’s  Messy  suggests she’s anything but. From the radio-friendly uplifter “ Nice to Each Other ” to the sweeping, late ’60s Dionne Warwick -esque soul of “So Easy (To Fall in Love),”  The Art of Loving  finds Dean self-assured as she slinks freely through R&B and pop. “You can make whatever you want, there’s no rules and that’s such a freeing feeling,” she tells Apple Music ’s Rebecca Judd . Dean describes her songwriting on  The Art of Loving  as “real, fresh, and honest” and she makes it sound so easy. It’s no surprise that the overarching theme—love in its different forms—came naturally. “I had the title quite quickly,” she says. “I’ve also been fascinated by love. It’s the one thing that everybody is looking for in their life in some capacity, whether it be friendship, family, romantic, but it’s something that we’re not taught. There’s not a love module in school. It’s t...

  Episodes Album ∙ Hip-Hop/Rap ∙ 2025 Gucci Mane It would have been impossible to predict what would come next when Gucci Mane released his debut album  Trap House  in 2005, leading this century’s most influential hip-hop subgenre and skyrocketing the East Atlanta rapper to stardom. But since his release from prison in 2016, the trap pioneer has been transparent about the mental health struggles that informed the ups and downs of his 20-year career. Released, as per tradition, on 10/17 (which Atlanta officially declared “ Gucci Mane Day ” in 2023), Gucci’s 17th solo album is accompanied by his second book,  Episodes: The Diary of a Recovering Mad Man , in which he gets real about his long road to redemption. “I done did all types of stupid shit,” he admits frankly on “ Episodes Intro ,” summing up his early-career legal drama in a nutshell. Much has changed for the trap icon, but some things stay the same: on “ Back Cooking ,” he reunites with longtime collaborat...

TYCOON Album ∙ Hip-Hop/Rap ∙ 2025 Ty Dolla $ign With help from big-name guests, the LA rapper lives up to his fourth LP’s title. Ty Dolla $ign has long established himself as one of contemporary R&B’s most versatile architects, frequently blending the melodic structures of soul with the rhythmic foundation of trap music . His single, “TYCOON,” is a perfect encapsulation of his matured artistic vision, moving past themes of hedonism to explore a more nuanced subject: the quiet confidence of achieved success. The track defines the “tycoon” not through extravagant boasting, but through smooth, minimalist production and a melodic delivery that signifies effortless control and enduring self-made wealth. It is a meditation on influence, legacy, and the stability that comes from becoming an undisputed boss in both life and business.  The central thesis of “TYCOON” revolves around the achievement of financial and artistic autonomy. Unlike the frantic energy often associated with...

Perfect Storm: Sorry 4 The Rain Album ∙ Hip-Hop/Rap ∙ 2025 Hurricane Wisdom A sprawling project of trap grit and introspection from the Florida MC. Hurricane Wisdom’s project, “Perfect Storm: Sorry 4 The Rain,” is a definitive statement of artistic identity, capturing the complex duality of the North Florida rapper's persona. The title itself functions as a thematic thesis: the “Perfect Storm” symbolizes his undeniable, overwhelming surge into the music industry and the controlled chaos of his life, while the parenthetical “Sorry 4 The Rain” offers a humble, reflective apology for the emotional fallout and turbulence required to achieve that success. This mixtape, spanning a substantial tracklist, masterfully fuses the melodic sensibility of "pain music" with the assertive energy of contemporary trap, establishing Wisdom as a compelling voice for the hopeful underdogs and survivors.  The album’s sonic landscape is characterized by its expert fusion of regional sounds ...

30 Days Album ∙ Hip-Hop/Rap ∙ 2025 Money Man Money Man has solidified his unique position in contemporary hip-hop by consistently merging the gritty narratives of trap music with the analytical language of finance and entrepreneurship. His track, “30 Days,” is a concise and potent expression of this aesthetic, using a short, specific timeframe to explore themes of patience, discipline, and the strategic waiting inherent in wealth accumulation . The song is a testament to the artist's foundational belief: that true financial success is not characterized by reckless spending but by methodical planning and the ability to endure the necessary lag time between investment and return.  The central motif of the song is its title. “30 Days” is immediately established as a finite, crucial cycle—it could reference the duration of a business deal, a probation period, the maturity of an investment, or the gap between income statements . Money Man’s lyrics dissect this period, treating tim...

Kiss 6 (Deluxe) Album ∙ Hip-Hop ∙ 2025 K CAMP K CAMP has long been a foundational figure in the " Trapsoul " subgenre, expertly bridging the aggressive energy of Atlanta trap with the melodic, romantic sensibilities of contemporary R&B. The 2020 project, Kiss 6 , and its subsequent Deluxe expansion, represent a comprehensive refinement of this sound, effectively serving as the blueprint for his distinct artistic identity. More than just a collection of songs, the album is a cohesive, atmospheric exploration of modern intimacy, asserting that true success lies in balancing the swagger of the trap world with the vulnerability required for genuine connection. Through consistently lush production and dedicated vocal melodicism, Kiss 6 (Deluxe) solidifies K CAMP’s position as a master of mood music, charting the complexities of high-stakes romance in the digital age.  The album’s success hinges on its sonic atmosphere. The production throughout Kiss 6 (Deluxe) is defined...