Kristen S. Hé

“Bad Romance,” in song and in video, is boundless. It draws no distinctions between classical music, high fashion, avant-garde cinema, dance, or pop. Lady Gaga began as a fame-hungry, Warholian persona, but “Bad Romance” completed her transformation into a truly fearless, all-encompassing artist. The Fame Monster is still Gaga’s ultimate statement: There’s nothing to be afraid of — except everything

Across the album’s 18 tracks, one consistent theme emerges – how can Halsey bring a child into this world when they feel so unresolved? On the title track, they offer no answer, just further contradictions: “Every single truth I sing / Once started as a lie / I promise that I’m fine / But then I redesign / And put myself together like some little Frankenstein”.

The film only succeeds at one thing: generating sympathy. But both the script and performances ring so false that the emotions you feel for Marisa Abela’s Amy do not transfer in any way to the real Amy Winehouse. Back to Black is vampiric, restaging her lowest moments for little more than dramatic bloodletting.

When this list was first published in 2018, upon the release of “No Tears Left to Cry,” it stood at an impressive 86 songs. Six years later, the song count has doubled. From wide-eyed ballads to pop spectacle to deeply personal songs of heartbreak, the definition of what an Ariana Grande song can be has drastically expanded — a shift comparable only to Taylor Swift among pop stars in recent memory.

When ambient music is truly great, it can be a canvas for anything — from André 3000’s deep personal journey, to a soundtrack for a walk in the park. It would be easy to read New Blue Sun as a statement for patient listening and against algorithmic consumption — but there’s nothing calculated about it.

Casual fans may not last even three minutes. But for those who are willing to sit with its discomfort, ‘Perverts’ reveals hidden depths – the same way that eyes need time to adjust to low light. What it reflects is in the eye of the beholder.

‘Punish’ is completely removed from any notion of Ethel Cain as a pop artist. It’s a devastating introduction to ‘Perverts’, which promises to be the first truly riveting release of 2025 – and perhaps one of the most terrifying.

The Critics Campus experience – including the late-night ramen and karaoke – makes up some of my most cherished memories. But, honestly, the specifics of what I learned from it are hard to recall; it’s all just become part of my DNA.

Looking forward, the modern shoegaze revival may have only just begun. But looking back at how shoegaze was actually heard and written about in its time, many of the nostalgic assumptions we have about it are more complex than we remember.

victim impact statement, the third Jaguar Jonze EP, sits on a razor’s edge of confession and artistic expression, of exhaustion laced with rage. Stark and acoustic, with an atmosphere you could cut with a knife, its three songs are unlike anything she’s recorded before. In the accompanying press release, Jaguar takes the first steps to reclaim her image from those who prop up the glass ceiling, and those who’ve put her on an impossible pedestal — which is another form of objectification.

reviewed Halsey's The Great Impersonator, and Arooj Aftab's Night Reign

reviewed Beyoncé's "16 Carriages", Billie Eilish's "Birds of a Feather", and Ariana Grande's "Imperfect for You"

All eyes are, without question, now on Armstrong, who has gone from fronting a bluesy power trio to joining one of the biggest bands in the world. She has enormous shoes to fill. Many bands have had to replace iconic singers, but there’s no precedent for an act as high-profile as Linkin Park doing so with a vocalist of another gender. It’s a stroke of genius: acknowledging and embracing the fact that Bennington’s successor was never going to sound the same.

Shoegaze sits in a unique place in the last 40 years of popular music. It was never wrung clean or gentrified by major labels like grunge, or made culturally obsolete like Britpop. Unlike other alt acts like Teenage Fanclub, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Strokes or Arcade Fire, who were anointed as generational icons by Gen X and millennial journalists and bloggers, shoegaze bands don’t feel inextricably tied to their original time period or fandoms.

Ultimately, why has Taylor crafted such a gloriously excessive three-and-a-half-hour-long show? I think it’s simply because she can; for her own amusement. Because at 34, at the height of her powers, she’s still seeking new records to break. Now, with another album due in April and The Eras Tour extended until the end of 2024, the question is — how can Taylor Swift outdo herself again?