Louder: Lindsey Buckingham Has Survived It All

September 10, 2021

By Caryn Ganz

Pop Music Editor

Lindsey Buckingham was kicked out of Fleetwood Mac in 2018, had a heart attack followed by an emergency triple bypass in 2019 and is currently in a state of limbo with his wife (she filed for divorce, though they are spending time together again). But at 71, the singer and guitarist is still fiery, still defiant, still making music inspired by the touchstones that led to “Rumours.” His self-titled solo album, due out next week, is about how “joy and pain have to coexist side by side,” he told Lindsay Zoladz, who visited his California home and learned that his neighbors had thrown a loud party the night before, so “the guitarist of one of the more notoriously hard-partying bands in rock history had to knock on their door and ask them to keep it down.” And does he have hopes of reconciling with Fleetwood Mac? Well, it’s complicated.

More profiles this week: Jeremy Gordon introduced us to Yebba, a buzzy singer and songwriter with a huge voice and an emotional back story; Jon Pareles spoke with Bomba Estéreo, the Colombian duo whose latest album is about connection: “Connection with nature, connection with people, connection with all that’s around us.”

Plus: Jon Caramanica reviews Drake, Isabelia Herrera reviews J Balvin, and we started rolling out our fall preview. Keep an eye out for more of those stories in the next week, too.

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Lindsey Buckingham Has Survived It All

After a heart attack and (another) feud with Stevie Nicks, the former Fleetwood Mac guitarist returns with a new solo album.

By Lindsay Zoladz

PROFILES

Justin J Wee for The New York Times

As a Daytime Host, Kelly Clarkson Has No Fear of Being Vocal

After its first two seasons were disrupted by the pandemic, “The Kelly Clarkson Show” has big expectations to fulfill. But its host is ready to come back better and, yes, stronger.

By Dave Itzkoff

Heather Sten for The New York Times

The Secret to Yebba’s Debut Album? A Big Voice and Lots of Time.

The 26-year-old singer and songwriter endured a family tragedy on the journey between tasting viral success and assembling a complete artistic vision with Mark Ronson.

By Jeremy Gordon

Valerie Amor C

Bomba Estéreo Strives to Save the Planet and Soothe the Heart

Mixing traditions and electronics, this duo from Colombia envisions a futurism with roots.

By Jon Pareles

THE CRITICS

Album Review

Drake, in Search of an Enemy Besides Himself

His new album “Certified Lover Boy” is full of familiar anxieties and sounds, and barbed words for Kanye West, a mentor turned nemesis.

By Jon Caramanica

Album Review

J Balvin Attempts to Reintroduce Himself on ‘Jose’

The Colombian star skips innovation and presents an impressionistic inventory of the sounds that established him as a global force on his sixth studio album.

By Isabelia Herrera

The Playlist

Radiohead’s ‘Kid A’ Era Outtake, and 13 More New Songs

Hear tracks by Ed Sheeran, Jazzmeia Horn and Her Noble Force, Ìfé and others.

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

Miss the Old Kanye? Try the New Kanye.

West has always been dreaming big, speaking loudly, courting controversy and channeling all of that into music. But one thing has changed.

Critic’s Pick

‘Fire Music’ Review: An Impassioned Case for Free Jazz

The beautiful souls that created free jazz — including Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Don Cherry and Carla Bley — light up this new documentary from Tom Surgal.

By Glenn Kenny

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As Concerts Resume, H.E.R. Will Headline Two Festivals of Her Own

After a pandemic-mandated pause, the singer and guitarist’s Lights On Festival brings an R&B showcase to California and Brooklyn this fall.

By Jon Pareles

Fall Preview

The Trumpeter Adam O’Farrill’s Art of Avoiding the Obvious

The son and grandson of Latin jazz royalty is releasing a new album with his quartet Stranger Days, and it’s their most melodically engaging yet.

By Giovanni Russonello

Fall Preview

Mas Aya’s Music Holds Quiet Rebellions

On his new album, the Nicaraguan Canadian producer considers the political expressions embedded in moments of stillness.

By Isabelia Herrera

Fall Preview

Impersonation? Yes. But With the Right Star, Something Richer.

In new musicals about Princess Diana, Cary Grant and Michael Jackson actors get a chance to embody icons while spotlighting their individual talents.

By Maya Phillips

NEWS

Mickey Welsh, via Reuters

A Pandemic, Then a Hurricane, Brings New Orleans Musicians ‘to Their Knees’

A few historic jazz sites were damaged in the storm. But the bigger blows struck artists and clubs struggling to get back to business after Covid-19 shutdowns.

By Giovanni Russonello

Chris Pizzello/Invision, via Associated Press

Britney Spears’s Father Files to End Her Conservatorship

In a new petition, lawyers for James P. Spears wrote that if the singer “believes that she can handle her own life, Mr. Spears believes that she should get that chance.”

By Julia Jacobs

The Charts

Kanye West’s ‘Donda’ Is No. 1, but Drake Waits in the Wings

The total for “Donda” includes 357 million streams in the United States, the most in a week so far this year.

By Ben Sisario

Chinese Social Media Site Suspends K-Pop Fan Accounts

Weibo accused one account devoted to a BTS member of illegal fund-raising amid a crackdown on 22 pages.

By Tiffany May

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Phil Schaap, Grammy-Winning Jazz D.J. and Historian, Dies at 70

His radio programs, most notably on Columbia University’s WKCR, were full of minutiae he had accumulated during a lifetime immersed in the genre.

By Neil Genzlinger

Sunil Perera, Outspoken King of Sri Lankan Baila Music, Is Dead at 68

The frontman of his family’s popular band combined the country’s unique, Latin-influenced sound with politically biting lyrics.

By Aanya Wipulasena and Mujib Mashal

Overlooked No More: Sinn Sisamouth, ‘King’ of Cambodian Pop Music

He and his singing partner, Ros Serey Sothea, drew from a wide range of Western and local influences. They disappeared after the Khmer Rouge seized power in 1975.

By Mike Ives