The New York Times - Louder: Kendrick Lamar’s Big Return

May 20, 2022

By Caryn Ganz

Pop Music Editor

Over the past five years, we’ve been wondering what Kendrick Lamar would say about the world when he re-emerged with a new album. We weren’t necessarily expecting him to say so much about himself. Lamar, Jon Caramanica writes in his review of “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers,” “is an astonishing technician, a keen observer of Black life, a proletarian superhero, an artist who reckons with moral weight in his work.” And judging by the new album, “he is also anguished, ravaged by his past and grappling with how to make tomorrow better, besieged by a collision of self-doubt and obstinacy. And fallible, too.”

Samora Pinderhughes shares many of Lamar’s impulses to uncover and unpack community pain. The vocalist, pianist and composer’s latest album, “Grief,” is one of three components in the Healing Project — an endeavor involving approximately 100 interviews he conducted with people of color who had been incarcerated or had experienced some form of “structural violence.” Giovanni Russonello profiled him, and explored this ambitious undertaking.

Jon Caramanica conducted a fascinating conversation on Popcast about the state of hip-hop media, and how the imperatives and thirsts of the internet have pushed the field deeper into tabloidism. Lindsay Zoladz reviewed the new Harry Styles album. And Jon Pareles interviewed the charismatic and thoughtful frontwoman of the British band Porridge Radio, Dana Margolin, who told him ultimately the group is about being vulnerable, connecting with people and “being messy and chaotic.”

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Kendrick Lamar, Mortal Icon

The Pulitzer Prize-winning social commentator rapper returns after five years with “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers,” an album about what’s broken on the inside.

By Jon Caramanica

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THE CRITICS & POPCAST

Album Review

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The title of the pop star’s latest album suggests open-door intimacy, but instead pairs more vivid sonic landscapes with less revealing lyrics.

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Actual music can seem like an afterthought as digital coverage of the genre has tilted toward tabloidism. Are there other paths forward?

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Samora Pinderhughes Explored Incarceration in Song. The Result Is ‘Grief.’

The vocalist, pianist and composer interviewed roughly 100 people of color who had experienced “structural violence” and created the Healing Project, a three-part interdisciplinary work.

By Giovanni Russonello

Luisa Opalesky for The New York Times

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Steven Molina Contreras for The New York Times

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Sinna Nasseri for The New York Times

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On Comedy

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Marty Callner made the first modern special, setting the template still in use. (He was also key to hair-metal videos. But that’s another story.)

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He was a recording artist and songwriter himself, but he also played pivotal roles in the careers of Bob Dylan and Janis Joplin.

By Neil Genzlinger

Diwang Valdez for The New York Times

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The musician, a protégé of Young Thug, died on Friday in Los Angeles, his label said.

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NEWS

Ukraine wins the Eurovision Song Contest.

The country’s entry, the folk rap band Kalush Orchestra, triumphed thanks to the popular vote.

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The Charts

Bad Bunny Has the Biggest Week of 2022 on the Chart, for Now

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By Ben Sisario

Ernie Barnes’s ‘Sugar Shack’ Painting Brings Big Price at Auction

An iconic image sells for $15.3 million at Christie’s to Bill Perkins, an energy trader, who says he’s been waiting his whole life to buy that work of art.

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