Kristen S. Hé

The raison d’être of this album isn’t nihilism – it’s the pure, devotional love that Hayden Anhedönia holds for her protagonist, even through her suffering. If this truly is the end of her story, it’s hard to imagine a more heartfelt way to lay Ethel Cain to rest.

For the most part, ‘If Not Winter’ is perfect pop shoegaze, constructed around Lu’s crisp vocal melodies first, with lyrics a close second and atmosphere third. Though the emotional details can get swept up in the wall of sound, ‘If Not Winter’ is still a triumphant debut – and more than anything, the sound of a young artist who’s still growing into herself.

‘Period’ feels like a statement made after you’ve emerged from the other side and realised you’ve already done the work. Kesha doesn’t have to sing about being a survivor, nor fight to prove her artistry

‘I Quit’ is set at a crossroads in the grieving process, when lessons have already been learned, but the pain of memories still linger. But this is still a Haim album, and their songs never linger on despair, are never far from the warmth of their sisterhood.

“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

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.

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‘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.

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”.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.