With hundreds of thousands of citizens taking to the streets to protest the murder of George Floyd, protest songs are surging on streaming services. The unofficial soundtrack of the movement is Childish Gambino's 2018 chart-topper, "This Is America." The Grammy-winning anthem re-entered the global Spotify chart at number seven, racking up more than three million streams in the last 24 hours. Other...

How do you follow up one of the most successful crossovers of all time? If you're Shakira, you take your sweet time recording more than 60 songs and then roll out two massively-successful albums in the space of six months. That's the gamble Colombia's greatest export took in 2005. After becoming a global superstar on the back of 2001's Laundry Service, the obvious move would be releasing another English-language...

Since breaking through with "Backbeat" in 2016, Dagny has put together one of the most compelling discographies in dance-pop. From the tongue-in-cheek naughtiness that is "Wearing Nothing" to the sugary pop perfection of "Love You Like That," the Norwegian hitmaker never fails to deliver a toe-tapping rush of emotion. That description is particularly true of her debut album, Strangers / Lovers. The...

The best pop song of the 2010s was released exactly 10 years ago. On this day in 2010, Robyn unleashed "Dancing On My Own" as the lead single from Body Talk Pt. 1 and changed the way electro-pop was perceived forever. While distraught disco was a veritable sub-genre in the '70s and early '80s, the late '00s explosion of electro was largely associated with nihilistic party jams. Of course, sad bangers...

EDIT: The post has been updated with Britney Spears' "Mood Ring." Listen to the Glory bonus track below. More justice for Glory! After unveiling new cover art, Britney Spears is now putting "Mood Ring" on all streaming services (it arrives on May 29). The song was originally only released as a bonus track on the Japanese edition of Glory, so this will be the first time that most fans can legally access...

Like most non-Latinos, Laundry Service was my introduction to Shakira. I can still remember the first time I saw the "Whenever Wherever" video. Who was this goddess emerging from the ocean? Why was she singing about small and humble breasts? How did she manage to belly dance between wild horses without injury? It took me a while to figure out the answers to all of those questions, but I knew I was...

Since breaking internationally with "Dye My Hair" in 2016, ALMA has carved out a reputation as one of pop's true non-conformists. At a time when bangers sound increasingly cookie-cutter, the Finn brings a punk sensibility to the dance floor — experimenting with genre, speaking her truth and generally breaking all the rules. Her no-fucks approach is on full display on Have U Seen Her?. ALMA's long-awaited...

After releasing two albums and half a dozen stand-alone singles in 2019, Kim Petras would be forgiven taking it easy this year. But the German pop star doesn't have an off-switch. Instead, she kicked off 2020 by bidding adieu to the Clarity era with "Reminds Me" and just-released "Malibu" as the first taste of her next project. A bright and breezy pop anthem that evokes vintage Madonna and Prince,...

After testing the waters as an independent artist, Pia Mia returns to the major label fold with "Princess." An empowering banger built around a clever sample of Chris Brown's "Kiss Kiss," the 23-year-old's latest single is an antidote for the doom and gloom of 2020. It's catchy, upbeat and just a little outrageous. Guam's greatest pop export already has the followup in the bag (a song called "Hot")...

Selena Gomez first started tinkering away at the followup up to Revival in 2016. The superstar converted a tourbus into a mobile studio and invited along a group of songwriters and producers to record demos between concerts. Unfortunately, life got in the way and they were never released (with the exception of "Feel Me"). Since then, Selena has experimented with different sounds on a steady stream...

A slow-burn hit is one thing, going viral with a song first released in 2015 is something else entirely. However, that's the situation Melanie Martinez finds herself in with "Play Date." The punchy pop anthem, which started life as a bonus track on the digital edition of Cry Baby, exploded out of the blue in April after being embraced by TikTok users. "Play Date" has now amassed more than 80 million...

Dua Lipa is the hero we need in 2020. And she's doing everything right. In a time of global uncertainty, the 24-year-old brings a breath a fresh air with the release of her sophomore album Future Nostalgia. Out March 27 (one week ahead of schedule), the collection provides respite from the glut of negative energy. Suffice to say, there's no sophomore slump here. Instead, the Best New Artist Grammy...

JoJo is back with the best album of her career, and she made it on her own terms. Good To Know is a throwback not only to the raw emotion of her mixtapes, but also to a time when R&B was more about setting a mood and telling a story than squeezing a couple of singles between studio offcuts. Over the course of 9 songs on the standard edition (there are 11 on the physical release), the 29-year-old takes...

For all its nods to 2020's minimal R&B landscape, there's something endearingly retro about JoJo's Good To Know. Maybe it's the album's lean running time (it clocks in at just under 30 minutes), which is in stark contrast to the sprawling, chart-rigging monoliths being rolled out en masse today. Or perhaps it's just the fact that Good To Know is more interested in being a cohesive, meaningful body...