This is it, people. Niall Horan has released his first solo single "This Town," The song is an emotional acoustic ballad that finds the One Direction member reminiscing about better days in his hometown. Not to mention, it was produced by Greg Kurstin (who has worked with the likes of Sia, Lilly Allen and Kelly Clarkson) and written by Jamie Scott, Mike Needle, Daniel Bryer and Horan, himself. "I'm...

A few hours after premiering his "Starboy" video, The Weeknd announced follow-up single "False Alarm" would drop the following day. Well that day is today, and it has surfaced online a few hours early. Once you hear "False Alarm," the whole "killing his old self and reemerging as Starboy" narrative depicted in the new visual makes much more sense. His new album's title track was a natural progression...

Britney Spears isn't really having an easy go of it with her latest album, Glory. First, fans of the "Make Me" singer were less than thrilled with the official video for said song when it finally premiered in the summer, following a somewhat delayed release and a scrapped first attempt at the visual. Then the album missed out on a #1 debut, dropped out of the Top 10 after one week and, a month later,...

There’s something quietly commanding about Banks when she enters a room. As she emerges from the stairwell of a hip East Village sushi spot, she’s dressed in all black (including a satin baseball jacket) in the heart of a New York City summer. It’s as if not even temperature can shake her. That demeanor isn’t lost in translation through her music, either, as “elusively pensive” has become...

Cashmere Cat is calling in the big guns for his debut album Wild Love. He already snagged The Weeknd for the title track, and now he enlists Selena Gomez and Tory Lanez for follow-up "Trust Nobody." And it's a decidedly more pop-oriented affair than that amorphous first taste of the project. Gomez, who has also been working on her next album, takes the lead here, purring about keeping secrets...

The Weeknd linked up with Daft Punk, chopped off his dreads, deleted his old Instagram posts and reintroduced himself as "Starboy." And now the new single has a video directed by frequent collaborator Grant Singer, who also helmed the visuals for "Can't Feel My Face" and "The Hills." Despite all the vibrant colors he's been working with so far in this new era, The Weeknd shows he's still a bringer...

Apple announced that Drake's Apple-sponsored album VIEWS became the first release to hit one billion streams on Apple Music. This is almost certainly bullshit. Over at Stereogum, Michael Nelson has already done the legwork and gone much deeper on this topic, but here's the gist: Most streaming numbers we're presented with make no sense whatsoever when you take into account the number of users. Apple...

Carly Rae Jepsen could've put up Drake numbers last year. In a just world, she'd be Queen of Smash Hits. Alas. But this isn't just some fantasy music crit elitism here. It's a rational appraisal of how the pop landscape has shifted over the last several months: After years in the eccentric pop era, stars are swinging in the opposite direction, to the side of normalization. Look no further than...