The New York Times - Louder: Our Fall Preview Is Here!

September 17, 2021

By Caryn Ganz

Pop Music Editor

Our fall preview has arrived! It’s a massive undertaking for the entire Culture desk, and we are tremendously happy to have done it this year since in 2020 … there wasn’t much to preview.

The pop package leads off with Jon Caramanica’s profile of the country singer and songwriter Mickey Guyton, a Black woman who was repeatedly failed by Nashville and decided to focus on collaborators and songs aligned with her own heart. Last year, “Black Like Me” — a song she wrote in 2019 and was certain would never be released — changed her career. Her debut is out next week.

Lindsay Zoladz put a spotlight on three albums she’s most excited for this fall, Jeremy Gordon spoke with five concert-industry pros who are getting back to work after the long pandemic pause and a host of writers contributed to our rundown of 66 pop, rock, hip-hop, country, experimental, jazz and cabaret releases, shows and events happening this season. And last week we published Jon Pareles’s interview with H.E.R., Isabelia Herrera’s conversation with Mas Aya and Giovanni Russonello’s profile of Adam O’Farrill.

This week, Jon Pareles, Isabelia and Gio assembled to discuss the anniversary of “Buena Vista Social Club,” asking how we hear the unlikely blockbuster, 25 years later. Jon Caramanica reviewed Kacey Musgraves’s “Star-Crossed” and led a conversation about Drake on Popcast. And Styles guided us through two red-carpet events.

Continue reading the main story

Nashville Didn’t Make Room for Mickey Guyton. So She Made Her Own.

She was failed by the country music industry until the emotional song “Black Like Me” changed her career. Now comes a debut album that proved therapeutic.

By Jon Caramanica

Fall Brings a Bounty of New Albums. Watch for These 3.

A long-running indie band (Parquet Courts), a star-in-waiting (Remi Wolf) and a producer stepping into the spotlight (Illuminati Hotties) are ones to watch this season, our critic says.

By Lindsay Zoladz

5 Pros in the Concert Trenches on Getting (Carefully) Back to Work

What’s it like mixing sound, building sets and taking care of artists’ health as the music industry hits pause and play?

By Jeremy Gordon

Fall Preview

66 Pop and Jazz Albums, Shows and Festivals Coming This Fall

Anticipated returns (Abba, Diana Ross), intergenerational collaborations (Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett) and hotly tipped follow-ups (Brandi Carlile, Makaya McCraven) are coming in the new season.

By Elysa Gardner, Jeremy Gordon, Olivia Horn, Jon Pareles, Giovanni Russonello and Lindsay Zoladz

ROUND TABLE

Susan Titelman

‘Buena Vista Social Club’ at 25: Memories of Memories

A group of older Cuban musicians recorded some of their favorite songs in 1996, and the album became an unlikely blockbuster. How do we hear it a quarter-century later?

By Isabelia Herrera, Jon Pareles and Giovanni Russonello

Continue reading the main story

The Kacey Musgraves Divorce Hour

The singer and songwriter’s fourth studio album, “Star-Crossed,” is a chronicle of her marriage’s collapse, delivered with lightly adventurous production and lighter regret.

By Jon Caramanica

The Playlist

A Rare Look at Bob Dylan in the Studio, and 13 More New Songs

Hear tracks by Tems, Adia Victoria, Cuco and others.

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

Is Drake Tired of Drake?

“Certified Lover Boy” dominated the charts, but something seems to have shifted in the most influential pop star of the past decade.

OBITUARIES

George Wein, Newport Jazz Festival Trailblazer, Is Dead at 95

He brought jazz (and later folk music) to Rhode Island, and made festivals as important as nightclubs and concert halls on jazz musicians’ itineraries.

By Peter Keepnews

Carl Bean, Gay Singer Who Turned to Preaching, Dies at 77

After recording “I Was Born This Way,” a club favorite, he entered the ministry and founded a church for the L.G.B.T.Q. community.

By Neil Genzlinger

MOVIES & THEATER

‘The Nowhere Inn’ Review: Personalities, Disordered

This meta exercise, starring and written by St. Vincent and Carrie Brownstein, proves its point by not having a point.

By Ben Kenigsberg

‘Los Últimos Frikis’ Review: Keep On Rocking in Cuba

The hook of this documentary is the spectacle of a revolutionary government that can’t abide the rebellion of rock without bureaucratic oversight.

By Nicolas Rapold

The musical ‘Six’ is back in rehearsals, and this time hopes to make it to opening night.

The show, which imagines the wives of Henry VIII as pop stars, was scheduled to open the day Broadway shut down.

By Robin Pogrebin

Continue reading the main story

Drake’s ‘Certified Lover Boy’ Opens With the Year’s Biggest Week

The rapper’s latest album debuted with the equivalent of 613,000 sales in the United States, easily beating Kanye West’s total of 309,000 just one week ago.

By Ben Sisario

The White House offers a call to Nicki Minaj to discuss vaccine safety.

The rapper did not attend the Met Gala this week because she has not been vaccinated.

By Alyssa Lukpat, Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Zach Montague

Britney Spears Announces Engagement to Longtime Boyfriend, Sam Asghari

In the wake of recent developments in the battle over her conservatorship, the singer announced plans to wed for the third time.

By Jesus Jiménez

T.I. and Tiny Will Not Be Charged in Los Angeles Sexual Assault Investigation

The district attorney’s office in Los Angeles cited the statute of limitations, which expires after 10 years, in declining to pursue criminal charges regarding an alleged 2005 incident.

By Joe Coscarelli

R. Kelly Sexually Abused Aaliyah When She Was 13 or 14, Witness Says

The witness, a former backup performer, said she walked in on the singers as they were engaged in a sex act around 1993, one year before they were illegally married.

By Troy Closson and Emily Palmer

R. Kelly Pressed Victims to Write Letters Absolving Him, Prosecutors Say

Many of Mr. Kelly’s accusers say he pressured them to write letters that said he was innocent of the sexual abuse that they now say he committed.

By Emily Palmer

They Worked for R. Kelly. This Is What They Saw.

Several key witnesses against Mr. Kelly, who is on trial in Brooklyn, still appear loyal to the singer — but their accounts appear to corroborate the accusations against him.

By Emily Palmer