Louder: Before & After Funkadelic’s “Maggot Brain”

The Playlist

Pop Smoke’s Memory Lives On, and 14 More New Songs

Hear tracks by Xenia Rubinos, Swedish House Mafia, Soccer Mommy and others.

By Jon Pareles, Jon Caramanica, Isabelia Herrera and Giovanni Russonello

Album Review

Clairo Takes a Defiant Leap on ‘Sling’

The songwriter and producer’s second album is proudly retro and humbly indie, drawing on her emotional epiphanies and anxieties about the music industry.

By Lindsay Zoladz

The (Not So?) Tentative Return of Live Music

A look at the challenges touring musicians faced over the last year, and how the industry is adjusting to the new normal.

Jazz Musicians Unite With One Goal: Celebrating Frank Kimbrough

The underrecognized pianist died suddenly last December. On Friday, his peers and former students will release a tribute album featuring nearly 60 of his pieces.

By Nate Chinen

A 1970 Live Album Offers a New Perspective on Roy Brooks’s Jazz

“Understanding,” recorded 35 years before the drummer’s death, captures him at a pivotal moment after a series of albums with Yusef Lateef.

By Brad Farberman

Britney Spears Fans Wore Their Support on Their Sleeves

A crowd of supporters gathered outside a Los Angeles courthouse on Wednesday to protest the pop star’s conservatorship.

By Lindsey Underwood

Push to ‘Free Britney’ Gains Steam on Capitol Hill

As lawmakers share social media posts and messages of solidarity, activists hope the increased attention on Britney Spears’s conservatorship case will prompt legislative change.

By Aishvarya Kavi

What’s Next for Britney Spears and Her Conservatorship Case

The judge overseeing the legal arrangement controlling the singer’s life and finances approved the hiring of Mathew S. Rosengart, a former federal prosecutor, as her lawyer on Wednesday.

By Julia Jacobs, Joe Coscarelli and Lauren Herstik

‘Faster, Harder, Louder’: Rolling Stone Hires Daily Beast Editor

Noah Shachtman, an experienced online journalist with a newsy sensibility, will lead the pop music bible founded in 1967.

By Marc Tracy

At the White House, Olivia Rodrigo Says Vaccines Are ‘Good 4 U’

The pop star with the No. 1 album in the country joined the Biden administration’s efforts to encourage the young and unvaccinated to get their shots.

By Katie Rogers

The Charts

Olivia Rodrigo Holds at No. 1 With ‘Sour’

The singer-songwriter’s debut album has now spent three weeks in the Billboard 200’s peak position.

By Ben Sisario

Why Do English Soccer Fans Sing ‘Sweet Caroline’?

At Wembley Stadium, where London has been following in the footsteps of Belfast and Boston, good times never seemed so good (so good, so good, so good).

By Jacey Fortin

Esther Bejarano, 96, Dies; Auschwitz Survivor Fought Hate With Hip-Hop

She played the accordion in the camp’s orchestra. Decades later, she spoke out against fascism and racism, using music as well as words.

By Richard Sandomir

Byron Berline, Master of the Bluegrass Fiddle, Dies at 77

His updated version of an old-timey approach enhanced recordings by everyone from Bill Monroe to the Rolling Stones.

By Bill Friskics-Warren

The New Kid Who Loves Old Houses

Who’s that starring on HGTV’s “Farmhouse Fixer”? Yes, it’s boy-band veteran Jonathan Knight.

By Steven Kurutz