Music Features : NPR

An aspiring K-pop group performs in the Hongdae district of Seoul on Jan. 5, 2020. Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images

Inside Sajaegi, K-Pop's Open Secret

February 21, 2020 • In the digital era, accusations of surreptitious chart manipulation are common throughout the world — in South Korea, it's called sajaegi.

The Lessons To Be Learned From Forcing Plants To Play Music

What could you possibly have to learn from a houseplant? DEA / G. Cigolini/De Agostini via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

DEA / G. Cigolini/De Agostini via Getty Images

The Lessons To Be Learned From Forcing Plants To Play Music

February 21, 2020 • It's not as mean as it might sound (though it does involve a little electrocution) and the results can be both beautiful and, well, eye-opening.

Philippe Intraligi / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm

All Ears

All Ears: Some New Ways To Hear Distortion

February 20, 2020 • Distortion is familiar to most of us — a 'staticky noise,' a 'noisy static.' But in the right hands, its uses can bloom and its rigid contours soften.

Svetlana Zhukova/Getty Images

Still Saving The Day: The Most Influential Dance Party In History Turns 50

February 19, 2020 • The Loft, a party that David Mancuso first threw at his Manhattan home 50 years ago, seeded a community — and cemented a belief system that continues to reverberate.

Justin Bieber, photographed with fans at the premiere of his self-produced YouTube documentary series Seasons, on Jan. 27, 2020 in Los Angeles. The pop star released his first album in five years, Changes, on Feb. 14. Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images

Review

Music Reviews

Justin Bieber Finds His Bliss

February 18, 2020 • On Changes, his first studio album in five years — after a trying decade-plus of growing up in the digital spotlight — Justin Bieber sounds reinvigorated.

Review: On 'The Slow Rush,' Tame Impala Masks Inner Turmoil With Sonic Euphoria

From vocal delivery to melodic hooks, from lyrics to production: Kevin Parker has elevated his craft on The Slow Rush. Matt Sav/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption

Matt Sav/Courtesy of the artist

Review

Music Reviews

Review: On 'The Slow Rush,' Tame Impala Masks Inner Turmoil With Sonic Euphoria

February 12, 2020 • Kevin Parker's fourth album as the leader of Australian rock band Tame Impala comes after a five-year gap. It's music that comes wrapped in its own bubble, far from the cascading miseries on the news.

Review: On 'The Slow Rush,' Tame Impala Masks Inner Turmoil With Sonic Euphoria

Listen · 3:55 3:55

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/805195994/808275211" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

Why Is Roberta Flack's Influence On Pop So Undervalued?

Roberta Flack in 1975. Flack's impact as a performer in the pop music space in the 1970s was sudden and massive. Over the next four decades, Flack built a legacy on a quiet belief in limitlessness. David Redfern/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

David Redfern/Getty Images

Turning The Tables

Why Is Roberta Flack's Influence On Pop So Undervalued?

February 10, 2020 • Roberta Flack is only solo artist to win two consecutive Record of the Year Grammys and she helped usher in an enduring style of R&B. Could she be pop music's most under-appreciated influence?

The Paradox Of Yasiin Bey's 'Negus,' A Rap Album Trapped In An Art Museum

Yasiin Bey at Paris Fashion Week in January 2019. Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images for Louis Vuitton hide caption

toggle caption

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images for Louis Vuitton

Review

The Paradox Of Yasiin Bey's 'Negus,' A Rap Album Trapped In An Art Museum

February 5, 2020 • The latest album by the rapper formerly known as Mos Def will be heard by very few people — a fact that represents everything fascinating and frustrating about his last decade.

Primal Scream's 'XTRMNTR' Saw Our Future 20 Years Ago

Bobby Gillespie onstage with Primal Scream, circa 2000. Tabatha Fireman/Redferns/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

Tabatha Fireman/Redferns/Getty Images

NPR Music's 20|20

Primal Scream's 'XTRMNTR' Saw Our Future 20 Years Ago

January 31, 2020 • The Scottish band's 2000 album XTRMNTR isn't as well remembered as its thematic twin, Radiohead's Kid A. But its dark premonition of a world in socioeconomic crisis looks startlingly accurate today.

The 2020 Grammys: How Much Weight Can One Awards Show Carry?

Four of the most-nominated artists at the 62nd annual Grammy Awards — (from left to right) Billie Eilish, Lizzo, Lil Nas X, and Finneas O'Connell — pose in the audience during the broadcast. Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for The Recording Academy hide caption

toggle caption

Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

The 2020 Grammys: How Much Weight Can One Awards Show Carry?

January 27, 2020 • In a ceremony that front-loaded performances by women and black artists, mixed messages sparked both cynicism and cautious hope.

D'Angelo's 'Voodoo': 20 Years Later, How Does It Feel?

D'Angelo circa 2000. Mark Guthrie hide caption

toggle caption

Mark Guthrie

NPR Music's 20|20

D'Angelo's 'Voodoo': 20 Years Later, How Does It Feel?

January 24, 2020 • Hailed as a neo-soul smash in 2000, D'Angelo's Voodoo now feels decades more lived-in than its peers. The album's engineer, Russell Elevado, says sounding "old" became the key to sounding timeless.

Torres Explains The Fear And Desire Behind Her Most Self-Determined Record Yet

Torres Michael Lavine/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption

Michael Lavine/Courtesy of the artist

Torres Explains The Fear And Desire Behind Her Most Self-Determined Record Yet

January 23, 2020 • Mackenzie Scott's fourth record, which came after a period of self-reflection and romantic pursuit, is fixated on desire. "I want people to understand that women can burn for each other," she says.

The Experience In, And Of, David Olney's Beloved Songs

David Olney, performing in Denver, Co. on Apr. 23, 2015. Larry Hulst/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

Larry Hulst/Getty Images

The Experience In, And Of, David Olney's Beloved Songs

January 22, 2020 • Olney had a gift for character — creating them in his lyrics, inhabiting them in his performances — and that literarily bent musical talent made him a fixture in Nashville for decades.

The Past Year, And Decade, In Music Listening: Video Rules, The Boy's Club Remains

Two competing data firms, BuzzAngle and Nielsen Music, released reports in early Jan. 2020 detailing the many changes in listening over the past decade. Kirsty Lee / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm hide caption

toggle caption

Kirsty Lee / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm

Music News

The Past Year, And Decade, In Music Listening: Video Rules, The Boy's Club Remains

January 14, 2020 • Two reports released recently shine a light on the decade-long trends shaping our relationships to listening, from the dominance of video to the vinyl "boom" that isn't quite.

Remembering Neil Peart, A Monster Drummer With A Poet's Heart

Neil Peart, of Rush, photographed in Cleveland on Dec. 17, 1977. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee died Jan. 7, aged 67. Fin Costello/Redferns hide caption

toggle caption

Fin Costello/Redferns

Remembering Neil Peart, A Monster Drummer With A Poet's Heart

January 11, 2020 • "We're only immortal for a limited time." Peart, who died on Jan. 7, guided Rush through the decades with a pen, a massive drum kit and an openness towards life's many shades.

Robin Pope/Getty Images/EyeEm

The Endless Potential Of The Pedal Steel Guitar, An Odd Duck By Any Measure

January 7, 2020 • The pedal steel guitar is, for many, inextricable from its roots in country music — but its well runs much deeper than providing some smooth twang.

Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Warner Music

In Memoriam 2019: The Musicians We Lost

December 31, 2019 • NPR Music celebrates the alt-rock heroes, Hollywood idols, Pulitzer-winning composers, jazz luminaries, cult legends, bold activists, old masters and rising stars the world lost this year.

In Memoriam 2019: The Musicians We Lost

Listen · 7:09 7:09

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/787956750/792545408" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

The Woman Leading The Fiddle Revival In Country Music

Jenee Fleenor at the 53rd annual CMA Awards on Nov. 13, 2019 in Nashville, Tenn., where she was honored as the first woman to win Musician of the Year. Leah Puttkammer/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

Leah Puttkammer/Getty Images

The Woman Leading The Fiddle Revival In Country Music

December 30, 2019 • Fiddler Jenee Fleenor is the first woman ever to win the Country Music Association's Musician of the Year Award. Her work is partly responsible for the instrument's resurgence.

The Woman Leading The Fiddle Revival In Country Music

Listen · 5:41 5:41

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/788444301/792456912" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

Mike Timo/Getty Images

All Songs Considered

The All Songs Considered Holiday Extravaganza, 2019

December 23, 2019 • Taylor Swift, Jenny Lewis, Tarriona "Tank" Ball, Lucy Dacus and more special guests join hosts Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton for their annual holiday party. What could possibly go wrong?

The All Songs Considered Holiday Extravaganza, 2019

Listen · 1:00:26 1:00:26

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/783468588/790652683" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

The Deceptive Ease Of Cole Porter: In-Depth With Harry Connick, Jr.

Harry Connick, Jr., onstage during a performance of his short-run Broadway show, A Celebration of Cole Porter. Matthew Murphy/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption

Matthew Murphy/Courtesy of the artist

Music Interviews

The Deceptive Ease Of Cole Porter: In-Depth With Harry Connick, Jr.

WBGO

December 12, 2019 • "It's fascinating how this guy could be this master draftsman and do hyper-realistic paintings, and then the next he puts the ear on the back of the guy's head."

Illustration: Belinda Kou for NPR