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  • ‘An exhale’ … (L-R) Mathieu Ball, Robin Wattie and Tasy Hudson of Big Brave.

    ‘We’re sick as a species’
    Montreal metallers Big Brave on doom, despondency and Emily Dickinson

  • Cher in October 2023 – the singer has finally been acknowledged in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

    Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
    Cher, Ozzy Osbourne and A Tribe Called Quest among 2024 inductees

    Cher finally recognised 60 years after her first recordings, while Mary J Blige, Peter Frampton and Dave Matthews Band are among the other inductees
  • ‘It was crazy and it was freezing’ … Lil Nas X’s tastefully pixelated Industry Baby video.

    ‘I want to show more crotch!’
    Sean Bankhead on his raunchy dances for Beyoncé, Cardi B, Lil Nas X and more

    He’s the world’s hottest choreographer, the man who cooks up steamy videos and stage shows for giants of music. But does the Atlanta star ever think he goes too far? Quite the opposite …
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  • Lauren Mayberry photographed in London by Suki Dhanda for the Observer New Review, February 2024.

    Chvrches’ Lauren Mayberry
    I was fixated with death… I needed to live in reality

  • #youtoo? Creating a More Inclusive Music Industry - 2019 SXSW Conference and Festivals<br>AUSTIN, TX - MARCH 15: Shirley Manson attends #youtoo? Creating a More Inclusive Music Industry during the 2019 SXSW Conference and Festivals at Austin Convention Center on March 15, 2019 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Mike Jordan/Getty Images for SXSW)

    Sunday with Shirley Manson
    I impersonate my mother by making a chicken dinner

  • Headshot of Jess Glynne

    Jess Glynne looks back
    Fame is complex. I love what it’s given me, but I hate it too

  • Gaspard Augé and Xavier De Rosnay of Justice

    ‘We’d feel bad making things for the sake of it’
    Justice on luck, collaboration and avoiding oversaturation

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  • Efficiency and wit … Taylor Swift.

    Alexis Petridis' album of the week
    Taylor Swift: The Tortured Poets Department – fame, fans and former flames in the firing line

  • Black and white portrait of Taylor Swift

    Kitty Empire's artist of the week
    Taylor Swift: The Tortured Poets Department – a whole lotta love gone bad

    • Global album of the month
      Lord Spikeheart: The Adept – Duma star’s relentless metal isn’t for the fainthearted

    • A Certain Ratio
      It All Comes Down to This – punk-funk stalwarts on a euphoric high

    • Pearl Jam
      Dark Matter – the faithful will rejoice

    • Alexis Petridis's album of the week
      Nia Archives: Silence Is Loud – bold, fresh jungle unbound by tradition

    • Still House Plants
      If I Don’t Make It, I Love U – inspiringly fearless and free art rock

    • Girl in Red
      I’m Doing It Again Baby! – ambitious alt-pop overshadows candid lyrics

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  • Romy singing on stage at the Roundhouse.

    Kitty Empire's artist of the week
    Romy – a masterclass in bittersweet feeling

  • Uncomfortable in the spotlight … Sky Ferreira performing in 2022.

    Sky Ferreira
    Roughed-up stadium glam from pop’s prodigal daughter

    • Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators at Resorts World Arena, Birmingham.

      Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators
      Boisterous, blues-soaked rock’n’roll

    • Ghetts on stage.

      The Observer's artist of the week
      Ghetts – a founding father of grime commands the stage

    • Relatable showgirl … Caity Baserat O2 Academy, Leeds.

      Caity Baser
      Cartwheeling celebration of chatty, bratty girlhood

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Add to playlist

  • four members of the band english teacher around a table, two seated, two standing, including lead singer lily fontaine

    One to watch
    English Teacher

  • Glass Beams

    One to watch
    Glass Beams

  • six young korean people in mathcing red jackets and trousers standing in a line, one in front of the other

    One to watch
    Balming Tiger

  • School of rock? … (L-R) Little Richard, Joanna Newsom and Metallica.

    Pop! goes the curriculum
    Songs to inspire primary school children

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Obituaries

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  • Lorde: ‘It’s my joy to be patient zero on a harmony virus.’

    Lorde
    I’m not a climate activist. I’m a pop star

    As Lorde's debut album Pure Heroine turns 10, revisit our interview with the New Zealand musician on the cusp of her underrated third album, Solar Power
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    Taylor Swift’s new album is about a reckless kind of freedom. If only it sounded as uninhibited

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  • Anti Criminal Justice Demonstration in Trafalgar Square, London, May 1994. PLEASE CREDIT AS Mattko/Matthew Smith in print and @mattkosnaps in digital

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    Inside Taylor’s Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department

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  • ‘Then – bingo!’ … James Briggs delves deep at Chestnut Tree House.

    ‘After eight hours, my feet and fingers throb’
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    It’s a grotesque insult for Back to Black to suggest Amy Winehouse died of heartache over her childlessness

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  • People watch the Serenity Club

    ‘New music and a good night out’
    Amy Winehouse film shows vital role of small venues

  • IMG 7896 I am my voice project run by Tajalla for Music and Arts, a cultural organisation founded by Russol Al Nasser, in Al-Weibdeh, Amman, Jordan

    ‘We searched for ladies over 70’
    On the trail of Jordan’s forgotten folk music

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