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...

Welp, we've officially entered The Weeknd's Starboy era. Along with announcing his forthcoming LP, the bedroom crooner (real name Abel Tesfaye) has released his Daft Punk-assisted album title track. Here, Tesfaye aims for moody club euphoria as he croons about celebrity culture while simultaneously staking a claim for the pop throne. "Look what you've done/ I'm a motherfuckin' starboy," he laments over...

The Trolls soundtrack hits retailers tomorrow (September 23), ahead of the animated film's November 4 release date in theaters. And with that comes a handful of new recordings by the album's executive producer, Justin Timberlake. We already know his chart-topping spring/summer smash "Can't Stop The Feeling!" by heart. And you're probably just as well-versed in the Cyndi Lauper classic "True Colors,"...

Madonna has had enough! The 58-year-old snapped last night (September 21), clocking misogynists in a series of Instagram posts. "Still Acting my Age!!!," she captioned a photo Mert Alas took for her recent Love magazine shoot. "How do i know I'm still acting my Age? Because its MY age and its MY life and all of you Women Hating Bigots need to sit down and try to understand why you feel the need to...

There has to be some limit as to who can try out for The Voice, right? Some sort of Olympics-esque rule that opens the competition to amateurs would only really be in the spirit of a show that prides itself in discovering new voices. Sure, there could be a little bit of wiggle room for professional back up singers, but once you’ve had a recording contract, world tour, or – I don’t know – a...

The cover of "Perfect Illusion" gives you a pretty good idea of what to expect from the video. Directed by Ruth Hogben and Andrea Gelardin, the frenetic clip reinvents Lady Gaga as a rock star. She drives through the desert, puts on an impromptu gig and swings her microphone over her head. Highlights include cameos from producers Bloodpop and Mark Ronson, while the epilepsy-inducing editing brings...

Bastille caught lightning in a bottle with 2013 single, "Pompeii." The chant-filled anthem peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and sold more than three million copies. It propelled their debut LP, Bad Blood, to global chart glory — elevating the band to festival headliners in the process. How did that success influence album number two? "It still feels very much like a Bastille record, but...

Billie Marten sees music in color. No, really, she does. "It's that synesthesia thing," she explains. A condition that blends the five senses (the most common of which is seeing colored letters or numbers), the neurological phenomenon is actually what inspired the title of the British singer’s debut LP, Writing Of Blues And Yellows. “I was thinking about all the songs collectively," she tells...