British singer-songwriter/producer Shura has steadily pumped out an array of near-perfect pop tracks over the past few years, but her latest single, “What’s It Gonna Be,” twists the tapered, yearning nostalgia of songs like “Touch” and “2Shy” into a condensed, sophisticated three minute vocalization of the best ‘80s…
5 Seconds of Summer—the glossy, confectionery pop-punk act that’s been catapulted towards world domination with an assist by One Direction and the hordes of teen girls who love them—has landed its first Rolling Stone cover story. Here they are—naked and covered in their own lyrics and song titles—and strangely, the…
Dark pop virtuoso Alex Winston, gearing up for the release of her second full-length album, just dropped a very fun slasher video for the title track from her recent EP, The Day I Died.
A hopeless romantic—much more hopeless than romantic—The Weeknd seems eternally obsessed with the thought of things dying, whether it’s love, people, dreams or ideas. Less grim possibilities rarely seem to cross his mind. As a narrator, he’s used to dragging his feet through life while bemoaning the frailty of love.…
After Carly Rae Jepsen’s enormous 2012 hit “Call Me Maybe,” it seemed like the Canadian pop star would be relegated to one-hit wonder territory. The album it spurred, Kiss, never produced a single as big, plus the ubiquity of “Maybe” is difficult to top and lightning that cheesy doesn’t strike twice. But what Jepsen…
Finally the exultant music video for Hailee Steinfeld’s masturbation banger has dropped: shot by Hannah Lux Davis on a rooftop in (maybe) Dumbo, your new favorite Oscar-nominated pop starlet dances around in a bodysuit that says SELF SERVICE, but if that’s lost on you, go ahead and think this is a song about…
Janet Jackson Unbreakable tour tickets went on sale today, and as a motivator, the god Miss Jackson dropped her first song in seven years, “No Sleeep,” which she dedicated on Twitter to “My Love,” husband Wissam Al Mana, a gazillionaire from Qatar.
That sound you hear is the collective panting of Janet Jackson stans, myself included, freaking the eff out: this morning, Miss Jackson announced that not only will she be releasing a brand-new album, she’s also embarking upon a world tour, starting in Vancouver, BC, as early as August 31. August 31!
Mid-May, Cash Money Records recording artist and professional DJ Paris Hilton unleased the video for “High Off My Love,” a fairly pat electro banger splashed in rote, festival-friendly white-noise wash and the requisite trap interlude featuring label boss Birdman. It’s so dumb. I love it!
The resolute non-specificity and quarter-full chorus of Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood”—which nonetheless gets stuck in my head at least once a day because it’s fun to sing Cause baby now we got dadbods—has left me hungry for a better girl-on-girl diss track, and this debut track by the aggressively named LA artist Elohim…
Right now, Rihanna is reportedly working with dancehall artists on her new album via Brooklyn label Mixpak, though that’s no surprise—in addition to “Pon de Replay,” she began her career with longtime New York dancehall DJ Max Glazer and has been known to frequent his parties since. (Plus, just yesterday she was…
Of all the male heartthrobs currently navigating the Latino pop charts, Prince Royce is the one with the dreamiest, most seductive voice. I know, Romeo Santos has more emotional range, but indulge me here—Royce’s tone is surer and more buttery, which suits the poppier bachata tones he gravitates towards.
Grimes teamed up with Bleachers, Jack Antonoff's solo side project, to release "Entropy," a twinkly track that premiered on last night's episode of Girls.
The new math: TV + GUIDE + TV = POP
Things are about to get seriously kawaii-seriously because this is METAL we're talking about—up in here. Babymetal, the world's best (and probably only) half-pop/half-metal entertainment sensation has released their first full-length album and the songs sound insane. And then really catchy. And then insane again.
The Catholic Church has always had some difficulty solving the organic Rubix Cube that is the human body. For instance, how does sex work, hmm? The apostles never say, exactly, so its been left to the Church's clergy to piece some sort of palatable explanation together so that Catholics everywhere know best how to…
As far as pop music goes, 2012 was a year of highs and lows. Adele had another good year with "Skyfall" and the release of the music video for "Set Fire to the Rain," Rihanna ruled the charts with her endlessly catchy "Where Have You Been," and the internet gods were gracious enough to give us Psy and Carly Rae…
A copy of temporarily sidelined songstress Adele's tour rider is making the rounds, and from it, it seems as though she's a woman of excellent backstage taste— small plates of individually wrapped sandwiches, high quality beer, bite sized chocolate bars, and cash donations to a charity that helps people cope with the…
I know what you're thinking: the process of hand-selecting young gentlemen to dance and sing together as a boy band still exists? Apparently, it does. Meet Heart2Heart, a group of spiky-haired kids produced by former member of boy band N Sync, Lance Bass. (He even appears in the music video.) Have a listen to the…
Pop magazine tapped Serbian-born performance artist Marina Abramović as a cover star for its latest issue. Abramović made and dressed up a doll to look like herself during "The Artist Is Present," her landmark 2010 Museum of Modern Art show. The artist posed with the doll herself for one cover, and had Danish model…
