On Taylor Swift's 11th album, The Tortured Poets Department, her artistry is tangled up in the details of her private life and her deployment of celebrity. But Swift's lack of concern about whether these songs speak to and for anyone but herself is audible throughout the album. Beth Garrabrant /Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Metro Boomin and Future perform during 2023 MTV Video Music Awards. The producer and rapper have linked for two sprawling new albums this year, released weeks apart. Theo Wargo/Getty Images for MTV hide caption
The Phoenix rapper RiTchie, on the heels of his genre-breaking group Injury Reserve, returns from a creative block with his solo debut, Triple Digits [112]. Patrick Driscoll hide caption
Founded by brothers Pat and Lolly Vegas, Redbone scored a Top 5 hit in 1974 with "Come and Get Your Love," launching their Indigenous style and influences into the pop conversation. Sandy Speiser/Courtesy of Sony Legacy hide caption
J. Cole and Drake perform during the 2023 edition of Cole's Dreamville festival in Raleigh, N.C., last April. Their collaborative track "First Person Shooter" recently touched off a war of words with fellow MC Kendrick Lamar. Astrida Valigorsky/WireImage/Getty Images hide caption
Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter has ignited discourse about the place of Black musicians in country music. But it's also evidence of its creator's desire to break genre walls by following her most eccentric impulses. Mason Poole/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Members of the Mark de Lisser Singers perform the iconic ABBA song 'Waterloo' at Waterloo Station in London on Saturday, April 6, 2024. Alastair Grant/AP hide caption
Cellist Maya Beiser has reimagined Terry Riley's pioneering work In C, which helped launch the style of music called minimalism. Boyang Hu/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Beyoncé accepts the Innovator Award at the 2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards on April 1. Her new album is "Carter Country" and it features a banjo on the hit song "Texas Hold 'Em." At right: a gourd banjo was an early American incarnation of an instrument that originated in Africa and was played by African Americans. Michael Buckner/Billboard via Getty Images; Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images hide caption
MGK (Machine Gun Kelly) and Trippie Redd at the March 21 listening party for their collaborative EP, genre : sadboy, at Harriet's Rooftop in West Hollywood. Christopher Polk/Billboard via Getty Images hide caption
Dead fish washed ashore in a red tide in 2018 in Sanibel, Fla. Joe Raedle/Getty Images hide caption
Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä has just been announced as the next music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Francois Guillot/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Beyoncé's voice is the real star of Cowboy Carter as she sets out to prove, once and for all, that she can hold it down in any genre she damn well pleases. Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Sheryl Crow, 2024 Dove Shore/Big Machine/Full Coverage hide caption
Beyoncé and Jay-Z attend the 66th Grammy Awards at Los Angeles' Crypto.com Arena on Feb. 4, 2024. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy hide caption
Besides charting the course of her own pop stardom, Tyla's goals are to spread the pride of her country and keep the people who created amapiano at the forefront of the movement. Jeremy Soma/Epic Records hide caption
Composer Anna Clyne — one of the most performed living composers — embraces melody in her music as a vehicle to connect with listeners. Christina Kernohan/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Tigers Blood is songwriter Katie Crutchfield's sixth album as Waxahatchee. Molly Matalon/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Chief Keef's new album with Mike WiLL Made-It, Dirty Nachos, shows just how far he's grown beyond the Chicago teen who stormed YouTube in 2012. Tyler Shields/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Elvis Presley pictured circa 1966. Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption
San Francisco Symphony music director Esa-Pekka Salonen. Chris Pizzello/Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP hide caption