Louder: A Colombian Band That’s Winning Over a Global Audience

Critic’s Pick

Brandi Carlile, Larger Than Life and Achingly Human

The singer and songwriter’s seventh album, “In These Silent Days,” realizes and polishes her ambitions.

By Jon Pareles

The Playlist

Mitski’s Sharp Take on a Creative Life, and 12 More New Songs

Hear tracks by Arca featuring Sia, Kelis, Tambino and others.

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

Jazz and Opera Come Together in ‘Fire Shut Up in My Bones’

Two critics discuss Terence Blanchard’s “Fire,” the Metropolitan Opera’s first work by a Black composer.

By Giovanni Russonello and Seth Colter Walls

Reporters Who Covered R. Kelly on His Trial and Conviction

A conversation about the testimony, the meaning of the verdict and the long quest for proper recompense for the singer’s victims.

‘Major Labels’ Wraps Popular Music — All of It — in a Warm Embrace

In his first book, Kelefa Sanneh considers the past 50 years of music, writing appreciatively about everything from R&B to “bro country.”

By Dwight Garner

Critic’s Pick

Review: In ‘Six,’ All the Tudor Ladies Got Talent

The exuberant queenhood-is-powerful pageant about the wives of Henry VIII was shut down on opening night by the pandemic. Now it’s back, and it totally rules.

By Jesse Green

Aneesa Folds, Back on Broadway, Is Still Getting Used to This

Once a fan and now a pioneering female member of the hip-hop improv troupe Freestyle Love Supreme, she is “switching it up.”

By Laura Collins-Hughes

A Polish Rapper Goes From Scandal to Superstar

Michal Matczak, better known as Mata, has been called the voice of Polish youth for songs about teen struggles that have grabbed the attention of his politically divided country.

By Alex Marshall

Joy Crookes’s Introspective Soul Digs Deep Beneath Her ‘Skin’

The 22-year-old British-Irish-Bangladeshi musician is releasing a debut album that makes a strong statement about her identity.

By Geneva Abdul

Debby King, 71, Backstage Aide Known as ‘Soul of Carnegie Hall,’ Dies

From Sinatra to Isaac Stern to Sting, she attended to the needs of the star performers in the Maestro Suite and helped calm their nerves.

By Alex Vadukul

Roberto Roena, Salsa Percussionist and Bandleader, Dies at 81

His albums and performances with Apollo Sound brought new complexity to the genre in the 1970s. His group was still getting the crowds dancing decades later.

By Neil Genzlinger

Richard H. Kirk, Post-Punk Pioneer of Industrial Music, Dies at 65

Cabaret Voltaire, of which he was a founder, began as a band of experimental provocateurs and later moved to the dance floor.

By Steve Smith

YouTube Deletes Two R. Kelly Channels, but Stops Short of a Ban

The video platform said it was enforcing its terms of service, one week after the singer was convicted on federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges.

By Ben Sisario

Musicians Flee Afghanistan, Fearing Taliban Rule

Dozens of artists and teachers from a prominent music school that promoted girls’ education left the country, but more remain behind. “The mission is not complete,” its founder said.

By Javier C. Hernández

The Charts

Drake Edged Out of No. 1 Spot by YoungBoy Never Broke Again

“Sincerely, Kentrell” narrowly beat Drake’s “Certified Lover Boy” to earn this Louisiana rapper his fourth Billboard chart-topping album in two years.

By Joe Coscarelli

‘Black No More’ to Land Off Broadway This Winter

The musical will feature the theatrical debut of the Roots’ Black Thought, who will be writing the music and lyrics and be in a lead role.

By Laura Zornosa

Letter of Recommendation

Why I Keep Listening to Green Day’s ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’

Sometimes you need an overwrought antidote to the overwhelming events of daily life.

By Lora Kelley