Jamieson Cox

Recent Articles

How a Wave of Ascendant Pop Stars Could Define the Next Decade of Music

While 2019 may not have been an explosive year in pop music, it teed up the personalities and story lines that could define the next decade in listening. A new generational gap opened up, one...

By Jamieson Cox

How Carrie Underwood’s Cry Pretty Pushes Her Out of Her Comfort Zone

Carrie Underwood built one of the most consistent careers in country music on songs about other people. She named her last album Storyteller for a reason: she likes booming power ballads, rowdy revenge tales and...

By Jamieson Cox

Christina Aguilera Is Hitting the Reset Button on Her New Album Liberation

Christina Aguilera has always been driven by reinvention. She shakes off a part of herself with each new album cycle, tapping into a character or concept that can house whatever is energizing her creatively. First...

By Jamieson Cox

U2 Shows Off Hard-Won Experience

Each recent U2 album has endured some kind of complicated gestation before its eventual release. Songs of Experience, the band’s 14th LP, is no exception: the companion to 2014’s Apple-branded blunder Songs of Innocence was...

By Jamieson Cox

Tyler, the Creator Opens Up

Tyler, the Creator‘s career has been defined by immaturity. The Odd Future ringleader’s many talents–his ear for production, his gravel-studded growl, his cross-disciplinary aesthetic–have often been overshadowed by his penchant for lurid imagery and homophobic...

By Jamieson Cox

R&B's New Wave Is All About Creative Destruction

From the minimalism of Syd to the progressive lyricism of Kendrick Lamar, here’s a tour of the shape of music to come

By Jamieson Cox

Kehlani Turns Candor Into Virtue

Kehlani Parrish doesn’t mince words. The Oakland, Calif.-based singer spends most of her debut LP, SweetSexySavage, laying down romantic ground rules in frank, flirty terms. Take the funky single “Distraction,” on which she eschews love...

By Jamieson Cox

Sampha Sisay Is Hip-Hop’s Secret Weapon

The London-based singer-producer Sampha Sisay is a secret weapon many of this decade’s most popular musicians have somehow agreed to share. You’ve probably heard him before, a spectral presence haunting the edges of albums by...

By Jamieson Cox

Rap's Middle-Aged Everymen Return, Trash Talk In Tow

When hip-hop veterans Jaime “El-P” Meline and Michael “Killer Mike” Render came together to record their first mixtape as Run the Jewels, they weren’t expecting much out of the side project beyond fraternal fun. “When...

By Jamieson Cox

Review: Jamie xx Plays With Different Hues on In Colour

By lovingly exploring the sounds of eras past, Jamie xx generates a sound that's all his own

By Jamieson Cox

Shania Twain on Her New Music: People 'Have Never Heard Me This Way Before'

As she preps her last tour—and her first new album in over a decade—the legendary country superstar says she's ready to reinvent

By Jamieson Cox

Review: Mariah Carey Collects All of Her Hits on #1 to Infinity

The album provides a reminder of just how thoroughly she dominated the 1990s

By Jamieson Cox

How Destiny Is Changing to Give Players What They Want

A Bungie insider took us inside the process

By Jamieson Cox

Review: Mumford & Sons' Switch the Sound Up on Wilder Mind

The band is finally starting to catch up to its success

By Jamieson Cox

Watch the Video for Erik Hassle's Funky New Single 'No Words': Premiere

The Swedish crooner's new single has the makings of a summer smash

By Jamieson Cox

This Is Why Joni Mitchell Is Your Favorite Musician's Favorite Musician

The singer-songwriter, who was hospitalized last night, gave voice to musical feminism in an era where women had to fight with tooth and claw for artistic legitimacy

By Jamieson Cox

Listen to Rihanna Collect Her Debt on a Swaggering New Single

The singer follows up the light and lovely "FourFiveSeconds" with the woozy urban banger "Bitch Better Have My Money"

By Jamieson Cox

Why Zayn Malik Has the Makings of a Great Solo Star

It's not yet clear what Malik's departure will mean for One Direction—but on his own, he could forge an impressive career

By Jamieson Cox

Review: Courtney Barnett's Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit Makes Listlessness Vital

Even her minor efforts glow and sparkle with attitude, intelligence and good humor

By Jamieson Cox

Kendrick Lamar’s Butterfly Effect

A new anthem of black identity

By Jamieson Cox
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