Culture
Music
This album is a rare misstep for Taylor Swift, but is she too big to fail?
For the first time in a long time, critics aren’t loving a new Taylor Swift album. Does it even matter?
- by Nell Geraets
Latest
Singer Martha on what it’s like to be a Wainwright: ‘We talk, yell, cry it out or whatever’
After her revealing memoir about her famous musical family, singer Martha Wainwright brings her disarming candour to Australian stages in May.
- by John Shand
Opinion
Five Minutes with Fitz
There ain’t no second prize, but here’s how Barnsey got a second chance
Cold Chisel’s frontman and self-confessed rock’n’roll stormtrooper is rethinking life after a near-death experience. He’s decided to rock on.
- by Peter FitzSimons
St. Vincent on Cruel Summer, Olivia Rodrigo, and her terrifying new album
Annie Clark, now a mentor of sorts to pop’s reigning stars, dives into darkness on her heavy new album, All Born Screaming.
- by Robert Moran
Australian fans stunned as Taylor Swift announces surprise second album
Just two hours after releasing her highly anticipated 11th album, Swift stunned fans who had gathered to hear her new songs by releasing a second new album.
- by Nell Geraets
Taylor Swift’s new album is here, and it’s proof she needs to take a break
The megastar exorcises her past relationships with Joe Alwyn and Matty Healy on an album likely to divide fans.
- by Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen
Ticketmaster, Splendour in the Grass owner investigated by US government
Australia’s live music industry could be in for a massive shake-up, if the US forces Live Nation to offload its ticketing arm.
- by Karl Quinn
★★★½
Review
Defiant Deborah Conway addresses antisemitism in autobiographical show
As songstress Conway looks back on 40 years as a performer, it becomes clear the music is only the beginning.
- by Nick Dent
‘It helps to have rich parents’: How to stop music becoming a pastime for the privileged
Becoming a professional musician takes more than talent. An innovative program aims to give aspiring artists a chance at making it.
- by Kerrie O'Brien
Rappers are the coolest musicians on the planet, so why do their feuds feel so lame?
From Jay-Z and Nas to Kendrick and Drake, beef between rappers has been a genre mainstay. But why does the latest feud feel so lame?
- by Tom W. Clarke
Perspective
Music festivals
Fifty years ago, I went to Australia’s Woodstock. On Saturday, I went back
In the 1970s, the Sunbury festival celebrated rock music and youthful indulgence. On the weekend, the crowd returned. This time their clothes stayed on.
- by Tony Wright