Madonna's Madame X Tour has officially begun. After a short delay to handle last-minute production issues, the enduring icon launched her intimate show last night (September 17). Taking over New York's BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, she blessed fans in the audience with a blend of material off her new album and timeless classics. Unsurprisingly, her 14th LP was very heavily represented. She opened...

Céline Dion is back, and she's making up for lost time! Last night, the legendary songbird unveiled the cover art of Courage, her first English-language album in six years. This morning (September 18), she rolls out three new songs. Let's start with the official lead single. Co-written by LAUV and produced by Dallas K, "Imperfections" is the living legend's most contemporary-sounding song in years....

Jennifer Lopez is on top of the world right now. Hustlers is a surprise box office smash (it raked in a whopping $33 million over the weekend) and her brilliant performance as Ramona is already generating Oscar buzz. If the ultimate triple threat is rewarded with awards recognition it will be long overdue. After all, J.Lo has been churning out great movies since the 1990s. While critics have never...

Céline Dion, legendary vocalist and fashion icon, delighted her army of fans by revealing the artwork of Courage this afternoon (September 17). And it's her most striking album cover to date. The Canadian songbird rocks a glittery, red gown, while a fire burns brightly behind her. It's immediately clear that this album is about renewal. Céline has quite literally made it through hell and back. A...

Melanie Martinez's K-12 arrives today (September 6) after a four-year gestation period. That might sound unnecessarily long, but it makes a lot more sense when you understand the scope of the project. This isn't just an album or even a visual album. The 24-year-old has written, directed and starred in a feature length movie musical that brings the music, and all of its (timely and varied) themes, to...

Charli XCX refuses to do the same thing twice. Why? Because that would be boring. And she is anything but boring. The pop innovator recognizes her insatiable hunger for evolution on the first lines of Charli. "I go hard. I go fast, and I never look back," she chants over slick synths on the aptly-titled "Next Level Charli." That realization sets the scene for what is surely her most revolutionary collection...

Turning around a speedy review of a Lana Del Rey record is a thankless task. While the album is increasingly treated as a relic from the past, Lana still views it as an art form, cramming in layers of melodies and ideas that slowly seep out over time. It took me months to get a handle on Honeymoon, while Ultraviolence continues to unfold five years later. Until Friday (August 30), I considered those...

First things first. Yes, Lorene Scafaria's Hustlers really is that good. Arriving on a wave of hype and critical acclaim, the film not only lives up to expectations — it exceeds them. Which has to be the magic trick of 2019. After all, when Hustlers was announced, it evoked memories of Show Girls and Burlesque. (Which was not necessarily a bad thing). Instead, it falls somewhere between Goodfellas...

After experimenting with everything from EDM to acoustic ballads, Louis Tomlinson finally found his sound on "Kill My Mind." The just-released single is a throwback to the fuzzy, indie-leaning pop/rock of the '90s and early '00s. Which is not a coincidence given that it was inspired by the bands Louis grew up listening to on UK radio. (Think Oasis and the Arctic Monkeys). The song also sets the tone...

Taylor Swift belatedly lays out the mission statement for Lover on its final track. As "Daylight," a thoughtful and lushly composed love song, closes, the 29-year-old delivers a spoken outro. "I wanna be defined by the things that I love not the things I hate," she muses. "I just think that you are what you love." That's abundantly evident from one listen to the 18-song collection. Released on August...

Madame X is a radical body of work, but perhaps not in the way Madonna intended. She rails against injustice and oppression with the fervor of a preacher, imbuing the album with a righteousness that is palpable. As brave and commendable as that is, the Queen of Pop's musical missives lack nuance. Rather, it's her complete defiance of genre that makes Madame X genuinely groundbreaking.From the promo...

Armed with a seemingly never-ending collection of bops, Kim Petras has established herself as one of the brightest talents in a new class of pop stars. Since making her debut in 2017, every song she's released has been a gem. And this year the 26-year-old really took things to the next level. Back in April, she kicked off her second era with "Broken." What followed was an ambitious roll-out schedule...