Ann Powers appears in the following:
In the haze of 'Midnights,' Taylor Swift softens into an expanded sound
Friday, October 21, 2022
On Swift's 10th and most challenging album, she and producer Jack Antonoff push her voice in new directions, rethinking the sonic rhetoric of first-person storytelling and shaking off old habits.
Leyla McCalla: Tiny Desk Concert
Thursday, October 20, 2022
Drawing from her new album Breaking the Thermometer, Leyla McCalla and her band explore the weight of memory in songs deeply immersed in the rhythms, sounds and history of Haiti.
Love Songs of a Dirtbag
Friday, October 14, 2022
On Being Funny In A Foreign Language, the new album by his band The 1975, Matty Healy makes romantic music for cynical outsiders who insist they're ready to give love a try.
Billy Strings & Terry Barber, 'Long Journey Home'
Tuesday, October 04, 2022
The bluegrass star and his dad are a match made tender by the familiar harmonies of two lifelong picking partners.
Allison Russell: Tiny Desk Concert
Wednesday, September 14, 2022
Russell and her talented band embody healing community; watch a performance of songs from her astounding, unclassifiable album Outside Child.
Celebrating Olivia Newton-John
Tuesday, August 09, 2022
We remember Olivia Newton-John with NPR's Ann Powers.
Revolutionary Fun: Why we can't stop talking about Beyoncé's 'Renaissance'
Monday, August 01, 2022
The era-defining star's seventh album sparks a conversation about the infinite possibilities of dance music, the difference between fun and pleasure and why disco is always political.
Joni Mitchell sings, steals show with surprise Newport Folk Festival concert
Monday, July 25, 2022
The iconic singer-songwriter performed her first public full-length show anywhere since 2000, with a little help from Brandi Carlile.
Rainbow Girls, 'Compassion to the Nth Degree'
Tuesday, June 28, 2022
The song processes rage about "the world falling apart in every conceivable way" by coating it in sarcasm and shiny harmonies.
Musicians react to Supreme Court decision on right to abortion
Tuesday, June 28, 2022
After Friday's Supreme Court decision, artists from around the world spent the following days sharing their reactions and plans for the immediate future.
7 more Kate Bush songs that deserve the 'Stranger Things' treatment
Saturday, June 11, 2022
NPR Music staffers convene to offer up the Kate Bush tracks we think deserve a powerful, paradigm-shifting sync in a television show or movie.
Fontaines D.C.: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert
Tuesday, May 17, 2022
Irish post-punk band Fontaines D.C. delivers a four-song set from Chicago's Irish American Heritage Center.
Buffy Sainte-Marie: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert
Thursday, May 12, 2022
Buffy Sainte-Marie has always been a wandering soul with a fierce sense of direction. Watch her and her touring band perform four songs from across her long, innovative career.
Her Voice Is In The Air
Monday, April 25, 2022
The Brazilian singer Flora Purim helped create the sound of jazz fusion. Now, as she releases what she says will be her final album, it's time to give her artistic legacy its due.
Under Greg Tate's direction, musical possibilities were limitless
Sunday, April 24, 2022
Greg Tate's death left an immeasurable hole in the universe of cultural criticism. Vernon Reid, Matana Roberts, Jared Michael Nickerson and Christina Wheeler pay tribute to his music as Burnt Sugar.
Meme Girls: Three squares talk about Wet Leg, the band everybody's talking about
Saturday, April 09, 2022
Wet Leg, the year's breakout indie rock band, just released a debut album full of loopy, addictive songs that are as fun to talk about as they are to listen to.
The Grammys make a clear statement: Sometimes feeling good is good enough
Monday, April 04, 2022
The show, despite a delay caused by the pandemic and brief moments of seriousness, was mostly a highly professional, relentlessly energetic showcase for the pleasure of live music. Plus a few awards.
Maren Morris: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert
Monday, April 04, 2022
In this four-song set, the country artist delivers her songs with clear-eyed passion.
Hurray for the Riff Raff's Alynda Segarra, a 'recovering lone wolf,' in conversation
Monday, February 28, 2022
NPR Music's Ann Powers moderates the first-time meeting of far-flung soulmates. Hurray for the Riff Raff's new album was inspired, in part, by adrienne maree brown's book Emergent Strategy.
Bonnie Raitt, 'Made Up Mind'
Friday, February 25, 2022
Bonnie Raitt's new single shows that the 72-year-old blues-rock treasure is the master of the form.
