Latest music features

In focus

The worst music in the world is back for good! Will pop-punk ever die?

Who would’ve thought the pop-punk resurgence would still be going strong? Snotty-nosed stalwarts of the old guard Green Day and Neck Deep are releasing new music while Gen Z stars and crossover artists like Olivia Rodrigo and Machine Gun Kelly are bringing in new listeners. Michael Hann chats with the bands bringing the world’s most fun, most obnoxious genre back in style

<p>‘I never want to make someone upset with something I’ve written but also at the same time, you can’t just be nicey-nicey at the cost of writing arresting, honest music’ </p>

Marika Hackman: ‘Even before I came out, my lyrics were all super gay’

<p>Bottom left clockwise: Luz, HotWax, Aziya, Brazy, Kingfishr and Gia Ford</p>

Ones to watch 2024: 10 musicians to look out for

<p>Shane MacGowan and Victoria Mary Clarke</p>

Victoria Mary Clarke: ‘I cherished Shane MacGowan to his last breath’

Interviews

<p>‘I don’t think we’ve ever known how to go half measures on anything, and we certainly don’t want to be half-arsed just because we’re nearly 50 years in’ </p>

Simple Minds’ Jim Kerr: ‘Hang around long enough and you’re a classic’

<p>Clockwise from back left: Mick Avory, Ray Davies, Pete Quaife, Dave Davies</p>

Interview

The Kinks’ Ray Davies: ‘I’d done all my drugs when I was a student’

<p>Emeli Sandé releases her fifth album ‘How Were We to Know’ in November </p>

Interview

Emili Sandé: ‘Being a woman in the industry made me feel insecure’

<p>The Cult appearing on music show ‘The Tube’ in January 1984</p>

Interview

The Cult: ‘We’re fighting skinheads then suddenly we’re in Smash Hits’

Music Box

Watch Dylan John Thomas perform his single ‘Fever’ on Music Box

Watch the beautiful performance of ‘the author’ by Luz on Music Box

Damian Lewis sings ‘Down On The Bowery’ for Music Box

On Trend

New Sensations

<p>Chappell Roan released her lauded debut album ‘The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess’ in September </p>

Interview

Chappell Roan on Elton John, queer stardom and Olivia Rodrigo’s advice

<p>Skinny Pelembe embarks on his UK tour this month </p>

Interview

Iggy Pop-approved artist Skinny Pelembe on his music that eludes genre

<p>Saint Harison grew up as a musical theatre kid in Southampton, where he attended a local pop academy</p>

Interview

R&B artist Saint Harison on Elton John, going viral, and his debut EP

Reviews

<p>Ariana Grande releases new single ‘Yes, And?’</p>

Ariana Grande shushes her critics on the ‘Vogue’-esque ‘Yes, And?’

<p>Lil Nas X, who has returned with the new single ‘J Christ’ </p>

Lil Nas X guides his disciples into end-of-days euphoria on ‘J Christ’

Live music

Beyoncé harnesses perfectionism in Renaissance: A Film

<p>Little Simz is dressed like an undercover agent, wearing an oversized white shirt, a neat black tie, matching leather gloves, and a pair of blacked-out Prada shades</p>

At Alexandra Palace, Little Simz arrives home in style

Retrospectives

<p>Sinead O’Connor photographed in 1988</p>

Losing Sinead was devastating for so many, this is how I remember her

<p>All eyes on me: Tupac Shakur, photographed for ‘Poetic Justice’ in 1993</p>

‘He never stopped hurting’: Tupac Shakur and the women who shaped him

<p>For older musicians, there’s a sense of pleasure as well as bemusement at seeing young artists replicating the past</p>

Forget Led Zeppelin and the Eagles – the new sound of classic rock is ‘shoegaze’ and Nineties indie

<p>24-hour party people: Pacha Ibiza</p>

Can Ibiza keep its cool club kids as the super-rich move in?

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