Singer-songwriter Alicia Keys moves away from her formerly heavy soul sounds on her much-anticipated fifth album, Girl on Fire.

Christina Aguilera had plenty of material to explore on her new album, Lotus, but the results don’t live up to expectations.

Though many of its singles have been out for months, there’s still plenty to enjoy on the latest album from DJ Calvin Harris.

The latest boardgame-turned-big-screen film, Battleship is void of all sense and intelligence, resulting in a painful experience.

April was a big month for drugs. From Rihanna rolling a blunt on top of some guy’s head at Coachella to Santa Cruz’s renowned 4/20 celebration, people of all ages, cultures and beliefs got together to enjoy themselves. So why is marijuana legalization taking so long? April also saw leaders meet for the Summit of [...]

We’ve already watched the music video evolve. Modern music videos now tend to focus on the celebrity performer rather than the content of the song, and plot-driven videos like Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” seemed extinct until Lady GaGa introduced the controversial “Telephone” in 2010. Now it seems that another type of video is entering the music scene —the [...]

We don’t seem to know how we like them. With contemporary female artists, there seems be a spectrum of innocence and promiscuousness, and we sort of like to put a singer on one end or the other. The good girl charms us into adoration, while the bad girl shocks us until we find ourselves listening [...]

Many successful rap songs feature memorable guest appearances. What would Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind” have sounded like without Alicia Keys? Or how would B.o.B’s smash hit “Airplanes” have fared without the assistance of Paramore frontwoman Hayley Williams? The hip-hop genre is notorious for eccentric and unexpected, yet highly successful collaborations. They allow rap to [...]

Despite the unease that comes with saying this, it seemed like it was only a matter of time until Rihanna and Chris Brown were collaborating on good terms again in the music business. They each released a remix featuring the other on February 20th, Rihanna’s 24th birthday. The songs were Rihanna’s “Birthday Cake” from her album [...]

For every great artist, there’s often a greater songwriter at work behind the scenes. That’s because a significant amount of artists, many of them mainstream, show up to sing their songs and build their brands but do not compose the material. In the rap and rock worlds, not writing one’s own material is more unusual. [...]