Skip to main contentSkip to navigation
Print subscriptions
Sign in
Search jobs
Search
The Guardian - Back to homeThe Guardian

Music

  • Sampha, Daniel Pemberton and Yussef Dayes, who each have two nominations at this year’s Ivor Novello awards.

    Ivor Novellos
    Sampha, Yussef Dayes and Daniel Pemberton top award nominations

  • Johnny Cash pictured in 1987.

    Jovial, randy and anything but dark
    Johnny Cash’s surprise return single Well Alright reviewed

  • Taylor Swift against black background with eyes close holding her head backwards.

    ‘Like eating too much chocolate’
    Guardian readers on Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department

    ‘Bland’ or ‘absolutely breathtaking’? Our readers are divided over Swift’s epically long, richly detailed new album
  • Barack Obama is greeted on stage by Jay Z in 2012.

    ‘Reagan gave us something to rap about’
    How hip-hop has interacted with US politics

  • George Harrison and John Lennon. Harrison is playing Lennon’s Framus 12-string Hootenanny acoustic guitar.

    The Beatles
    Guitar played by John Lennon on Help!, lost for 50 years, going up for auction

  • J Cole, Drake and Kendrick Lamar, just three of the players in the current beef embroiling the US rap scene.

    ‘A lot of rich guys arguing’
    Inside the rap beef of the decade with Drake, Kendrick Lamar and more

  • Celine Dion performing in 2016.

    ‘Nothing is going to stop me’
    Celine Dion details life with stiff person syndrome

Loads more stories and moves focus to first new story.

Interviews

  • ‘An exhale’ … (L-R) Mathieu Ball, Robin Wattie and Tasy Hudson of Big Brave.

    ‘We’re sick as a species’
    Montreal metallers Big Brave on doom, despondency and Emily Dickinson

  • ‘It was crazy and it was freezing’ … Lil Nas X’s tastefully pixelated Industry Baby video.

    ‘I want to show more crotch!’
    Sean Bankhead on his raunchy dances for Beyoncé, Cardi B, Lil Nas X and more

  • Lauren Mayberry photographed in London by Suki Dhanda for the Observer New Review, February 2024.

    Chvrches’ Lauren Mayberry
    I was fixated with death… I needed to live in reality

  • #youtoo? Creating a More Inclusive Music Industry - 2019 SXSW Conference and Festivals<br>AUSTIN, TX - MARCH 15: Shirley Manson attends #youtoo? Creating a More Inclusive Music Industry during the 2019 SXSW Conference and Festivals at Austin Convention Center on March 15, 2019 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Mike Jordan/Getty Images for SXSW)

    Sunday with Shirley Manson
    I impersonate my mother by making a chicken dinner

Loads more stories and moves focus to first new story.

Album reviews

  • Efficiency and wit … Taylor Swift.

    Alexis Petridis' album of the week
    Taylor Swift: The Tortured Poets Department – fame, fans and former flames in the firing line

  • Black and white portrait of Taylor Swift

    Kitty Empire's artist of the week
    Taylor Swift: The Tortured Poets Department – a whole lotta love gone bad

    • Global album of the month
      Lord Spikeheart: The Adept – Duma star’s relentless metal isn’t for the fainthearted

    • A Certain Ratio
      It All Comes Down to This – punk-funk stalwarts on a euphoric high

    • Pearl Jam
      Dark Matter – the faithful will rejoice

    • Alexis Petridis's album of the week
      Nia Archives: Silence Is Loud – bold, fresh jungle unbound by tradition

    • Still House Plants
      If I Don’t Make It, I Love U – inspiringly fearless and free art rock

    • Girl in Red
      I’m Doing It Again Baby! – ambitious alt-pop overshadows candid lyrics

Loads more stories and moves focus to first new story.

Live reviews

  • Romy singing on stage at the Roundhouse.

    Kitty Empire's artist of the week
    Romy – a masterclass in bittersweet feeling

  • Uncomfortable in the spotlight … Sky Ferreira performing in 2022.

    Sky Ferreira
    Roughed-up stadium glam from pop’s prodigal daughter

    • Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators at Resorts World Arena, Birmingham.

      Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators
      Boisterous, blues-soaked rock’n’roll

    • Ghetts on stage.

      The Observer's artist of the week
      Ghetts – a founding father of grime commands the stage

    • Relatable showgirl … Caity Baserat O2 Academy, Leeds.

      Caity Baser
      Cartwheeling celebration of chatty, bratty girlhood

Loads more stories and moves focus to first new story.

Add to playlist

  • four members of the band english teacher around a table, two seated, two standing, including lead singer lily fontaine

    One to watch
    English Teacher

  • Glass Beams

    One to watch
    Glass Beams

  • six young korean people in mathcing red jackets and trousers standing in a line, one in front of the other

    One to watch
    Balming Tiger

  • School of rock? … (L-R) Little Richard, Joanna Newsom and Metallica.

    Pop! goes the curriculum
    Songs to inspire primary school children

Loads more stories and moves focus to first new story.

Obituaries

Loads more stories and moves focus to first new story.

From the archive

  • Lorde: ‘It’s my joy to be patient zero on a harmony virus.’

    Lorde
    I’m not a climate activist. I’m a pop star

    As Lorde's debut album Pure Heroine turns 10, revisit our interview with the New Zealand musician on the cusp of her underrated third album, Solar Power
Loads more stories and moves focus to first new story.
Every genre, every era, every week - music news and views
Music news, bold reviews and unexpected extras emailed direct to you
Sign up

You may have missed

  • Flouting censure … Taylor Swift.

    Taylor Swift’s new album is about a reckless kind of freedom. If only it sounded as uninhibited

    Laura Snapes
  • Anti Criminal Justice Demonstration in Trafalgar Square, London, May 1994. PLEASE CREDIT AS Mattko/Matthew Smith in print and @mattkosnaps in digital

    ‘We went from naive, hippyish protesters to hardcore anarchists’
    The criminal justice bill protests, 30 years on

    It’s three decades since the government’s attempt to ban raves radicalised an oddball coalition of dance fans, squatters and ‘new age’ travellers. What became of the protesters who tried to kill the bill?
  • ‘I cry a lot but I am so productive / It’s an art’ … Taylor Swift performing in Florida, 14 April 2023.

    Breakups, fantasies and her most cutting lyrics
    Inside Taylor’s Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department

    What are the big takeaways from Swift’s new album? She’s refining her sound, confronting elements of her fanbase and done with romantic idealisation
  • ‘Then – bingo!’ … James Briggs delves deep at Chestnut Tree House.

    ‘After eight hours, my feet and fingers throb’
    My epic treasure hunt for vinyl gold

  • Marisa Abela as Amy Winehouse in Back to Black.

    It’s a grotesque insult for Back to Black to suggest Amy Winehouse died of heartache over her childlessness

    Laura Snapes
  • People watch the Serenity Club

    ‘New music and a good night out’
    Amy Winehouse film shows vital role of small venues

  • IMG 7896 I am my voice project run by Tajalla for Music and Arts, a cultural organisation founded by Russol Al Nasser, in Al-Weibdeh, Amman, Jordan

    ‘We searched for ladies over 70’
    On the trail of Jordan’s forgotten folk music

Loads more stories and moves focus to first new story.

Most viewed