Singer-songwriter Elizabeth Chan set yet another benchmark in the annals of holiday music by issuing her 14th straight annual Christmas release, “Shatterproof,” this month. No one is likely to come close to shattering that record for the highest number of consecutive seasonal albums or EPs, but Chan — who is known for having a claim […]
Is Christmas really the saddest day of the year? There’s a whole history of holiday music that explores what it’s like to be down-and-out during the season. Are you mourning absent family members? Resenting the ex who ghosted you for Xmas? Or just wondering why, in 2024, everybody else is celebrating the holly instead of […]
Otis Williams’ nickname is “Oak,.” Given that the 83-year-old singer is still a member of the Temptations, 64 years after the group’s founding, it’s not to figure where that came from. He’s been the sole original member in the group since the early ’90s, in fact, and is still on the road and in the […]
This should be about the time we all start taking Billie Eilish for granted, by the usual standards of fickleness and habituation. So let’s all give ourselves a pat on the back for not becoming so accustomed to her face that we lose sight of what a special gift she is to the pop landscape. […]
Ariana Grande in “Wicked,” Timothée Chalamet in “A Complete Unknown” and Angelina Jolie in “Maria”: What these performances have in common – besides a strong shot at Oscar nominations – is the man who coached each of their voices to their highest highs: esteemed Los Angeles vocal coach Eric Vetro. Vetro has been down this […]
Bob “Slim” Dunlap, a guitarist and singer-songwriter best known for his tenure in the alternative band the Replacements during the final years of their original ’80s/’90s run, died Wednesday at age 73. The cause of death, according to a statement from his family, was “complications from his stroke,” which befell him in early 2012, causing […]
Even the best worst year ever – choose the epoch closest to your offended political affiliation – has a Christmas. And every Christmas, crumbling culture or not, comes with scads of new holiday music. So, before the drones kill us with molten metal spray and death rays, here are 25 new Christmas moments to thrill […]
Leading contenders for the Society of Composers & Lyricists’ 2025 SCL Awards include “Emilia Pérez” composers Clément Ducol and Camille, who picked up three nominations, for their score and for two original songs from the musical drama. Matching that number as an individual was Atticus Ross, whose three nominations are split between his scoring work […]
Little Big Town likes to do things in fours, as the ensemble’s vocal-quartet configuration would indicate. So the country-pop group wasn’t about to let its 25th anniversary pass with just one commemoration when four would do: a national tour with their longtime friends in Sugarland; a greatest hits album; a Christmas record; and the quartet’s […]
All they want for Christmas is to ride shotgun. Superstar pop divas Lady Gaga, Dua Lipa and Chappell Roan go a-SUV-caroling in “A Very Carpool Karaoke Christmas,” a holiday special that was unwrapped as a surprise release Sunday night on Apple TV+ and Apple Music. The hour-long installment of the Emmy-winning “Carpool Karaoke: The Series” […]
Please please please … may we have another year-in-music in 2025 as strong as this one? In coming up with 10 best album lists, each of Variety‘s staff music writers felt 2024 brought an embarrassment of riches from which to choose. You could already see that in how the upcoming 2025 Grammys are easily the […]
As the French Canadians who attended the final night of Taylor Swift’s epic road show in Vancover might say: Au revoir to all that. The Eras Tour is now one for the history books, after 149 sold-out stadium shows, 10 million tickets sold and $2 billion in face-value sales … aside from spinoffs like a […]
Following her final night as an opening act on Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, Gracie Abrams will return to her already-established role as a headliner — this time topping the bill in arenas, with 2025 shows that were announced Monday for North America. In the U.S., Abrams is only revealing a few dates for now, but […]
On the heels of news that Taylor Swift’s just-completed Eras Tour grossed more than $2 billion, now it’s being reported that the superstar handed out $197 million of that haul to tour employees as bonuses on top of their regular salaries, according to People magazine. The $197 million figure indicates that almost 10% of the […]
The final night of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Sunday night in Vancouver was marked by no big announcements, no guests, no gimmicks, no frills — unless, of course, you take into account that this was the frilliest tour of all time, and that every night on the 149-concert road show felt as spectacular as any […]
When Billie Eilish chose “Happier Than Ever” as the title of her previous album, you didn’t have to look far past the straight-faced album cover to find levels of irony in that. She didn’t completely put on a happy face for this year’s full-length follow-up, “Hit Me Hard and Soft,” either. But one track, “Birds […]
In reviewing Laufey’s August concert with the LA Philharmonic, Variety wrote, “Laufey feels like she was born to play the Hollywood Bowl, with her rapturously received pop/jazz/classical set.” Something else she might have been born for: the big screen. She’s on Imax screens across America this weekend (and some slightly less massive-scale ones as well) with “Laufey’s […]
Is Laufey a jazz artist, or a bona fide pop star? The qualified answer, with asterisks to spare, is “both.” And that’s part of the fun in discussing everyone’s favorite Icelandic-Asian-American singer-songwriter-guitarist-pianist-cellist. Genre discussions can be a drag for artists and fans alike, but they’re suddenly a lot more fun when the overriding question is […]
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