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      A Night at the Kennedy Center, Just After Trump’s Takeover

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      It’s still called the Kennedy Center. But after President Trump’s takeover, drag performers protested outside while audience members inside worried about what might be in store.It was the night after President Trump had officially taken over the Kennedy Center and made himself its chairman, and two well-dressed Washington women were wandering along the plush red carpet inside its Grand Foyer, so grand it could fit the Washington Monument laid on its side. They reached the eight-foot-tall bronze head of John F. Kennedy that lords over the hall and looked forlornly into his eyes.How much longer, one woman joked to the other, until the statue of the 35th president gets torn down and replaced with one of the 47th? They laughed bitterly.It was just last week that Mr. Trump announced his plan to purge the Kennedy Center’s board of its Biden appointees and to install “an amazing Chairman, DONALD J. TRUMP!” He named one of his most fiercely loyal apparatchiks, Richard Grenell, interim president and proclaimed that there would be no more “ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA” shown. He complained about drag queens performing there and said it had all become too “wokey.” Some artists canceled shows. “Welcome to the New Kennedy Center!” Mr. Trump said on social media, posting an A.I.-generated image of himself waving his arms like a conductor in a concert hall.Most of the people who turned up at the Kennedy Center on Thursday night to see performances in its various theaters had purchased their tickets long before any of that was set in motion. Now they found themselves at an arts center on the cusp of becoming something different — something Trumpian.Some speculated what that might look like.“I feel like we might just have ‘Cats’ on rotation moving forward,” said Pamela Deutsch, a documentary film producer who once worked as an usher at the Kennedy Center. (Mr. Trump, who once had dreams of becoming a Broadway producer, is a longtime fan of Andrew Lloyd Webber.) She was there to catch a set by the comic W. Kamau Bell. So was Louis Woolard, a 73-year-old psychotherapist from Maryland. What sort of cultural programming did he envision under the artistic stewardship of the 47th president? “I don’t know,” said Mr. Woolard. “I guess country music.”At the other end of the Grand Foyer, American Ballet Theater was putting on a production of “Crime and Punishment,” an effort to make dance out of Dostoyevsky. A 75-year-old real estate investment banker named Wayne Koonce waited in line to have his ticket scanned. “Maybe the Mariinsky and the Bolshoi will be invited back now that he’s cozying up to Putin,” he said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Sabrina Carpenter Flirts With Country, and 12 More New Songs

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      Hear Dolly Parton duet with the young star and tracks from Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco, plus Drake and PartyNextDoor.Every Friday, pop critics for The New York Times weigh in on the week’s most notable new tracks. Listen to the Playlist on Spotify here (or find our profile: nytimes) and at Apple Music here, and sign up for The Amplifier, a twice-weekly guide to new and old songs.Sabrina Carpenter featuring Dolly Parton, ‘Please Please Please’Sabrina Carpenter teases out the latent country elements of her slick synth-pop smash “Please Please Please” on this rework from the new deluxe edition of her Grammy-winning album “Short n’ Sweet.” Lightly brushed percussion replaces the original’s insistent, syncopated smacks, while fiddle embellishments take the place of electric guitar licks. But what’s most interesting about this version is how little needs to be changed to make “Please Please Please” work as a convincing country tune — although it certainly helps to have none other than Dolly Parton providing high harmony. “I beg you, don’t embarrass me like the others,” Carpenter and Parton sing together on a cleaned-up rewrite of the chorus’s most irreverent line. Which is to say that although Parton is willing to meet the young star on Carpenter’s turf, she still has decorous boundaries. LINDSAY ZOLADZSelena Gomez and Benny Blanco, ‘Scared of Loving You’Billie Eilish’s brother, Finneas, is behind the scenes as collaborating songwriter and producer on the quietly imploring “Scared of Loving You.” It’s a folky ballad, with a glockenspiel tinkling behind an acoustic guitar and piano, as Selena Gomez sings — just above a whisper — about an obsessive infatuation. “How could they love you as much as I do?,” she sings, along with a worrisome line: “Don’t let ‘em send me back.” Is this a romance or a stalking situation? JON PARELESPartyNextDoor and Drake, ‘Somebody Loves Me’It’s unlikely that many people were clamoring for a Valentine from Drake this year, but he’s offering one up just the same: “Some Sexy Songs 4 U,” a 21-track collaborative album with longtime Canadian collaborator PartyNextDoor. These 74 minutes are heavy on amorphous braying, broken up by several interesting genre experiments: Drake and Party fully embrace traditional Mexican sounds on “Meet Your Padre,” which features the young urban sierreño star Chino Pacas; and they’re joined by the R&B singer Yebba on “Die Trying,” a bouncy, acoustic-guitar-driven pop number. The single “Somebody Loves Me” isn’t exactly a standout, but it’s representative of much of the album’s mid-tempo, melancholic sound. “Who’s out there for me?” Drake croons through auto-tune; the question echoes unanswered in the song’s cold, nocturnal atmosphere. ZOLADZObongjayar, ‘Not in Surrender’The Nigerian-born, England-based songwriter Obongjayar celebrates a deep connection in “Not in Surrender,” declaring, “I only want this, this hallelujah / For the rest of my life.” He starts out singing over a brisk bass riff and snappy drums, and Karma Kid’s production keeps adding layers of percussion and guitars to stoke a mounting euphoria. PARELESAlessia Cara, ‘Dead Man’The resentment keeps increasing in “Dead Man,” an I’ve-had-enough song from Alessia Cara’s new album, “Love & Hyperbole.” As it does, the music grows more retro, moving through boom-bap drums to piano-pounding neo-soul, all the way to a brassy big-band arrangement that gives her annoyance some muscular swing. PARELESWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      An Assortment of 7 ‘Valentine’ Songs

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      Hear tracks from Laufey, the Replacements and Fiona Apple that share a title but vary in tone.LaufeySteven Senne/Associated PressDear listeners,Every once in a while, I like to compile a playlist composed entirely of songs with identical titles. You may recall that, last October, I sent out a newsletter about six different tracks vying to be the greatest “The Greatest.” Today, in honor of a certain loved-and-occasionally-loathed holiday, I made a playlist of seven songs with the same timely, evocative name: “Valentine.”While most of these tracks are about romance, they vary widely in tone. Some — like the witty ditty from the precocious musician Laufey or a sloshed-but-smitten album cut from the Replacements — are rather heartfelt declarations of love. But, as Valentine’s Day can stir up some sharp pangs for the heartbroken among us, a few of these songs — like wrenching tracks from Snail Mail and Fiona Apple — are also full of longing and loneliness.This is certainly not a complete list of every song ever titled “Valentine,” but it is a sampling of seven of my favorites. Whether you’re buying roses for yourself or someone else this year, I hope you find at least one track that reflects your mood.I’m a tulip in a cup,LindsayListen along while you read.1. Laufey: “Valentine”On this endearing 2022 single, the old-soul Icelandic jazz-pop musician Laufey captures the strangeness of suddenly falling in love after many years of celebrating Valentine’s Day solo. OK, not that many years, as she reveals in the second verse: “Maybe I should run / I’m only 21 / I don’t even know who I want to become.” But she ultimately chooses to stay put — at least for now — concluding in her weightless croon, “Honestly, I can’t believe I get to call you mine / I blinked and suddenly I had a valentine.”▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTubeWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Review: Karina Canellakis Hushes the New York Philharmonic

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      Some of the most memorable moments in the orchestra’s program this week, led by Karina Canellakis, were extremely soft.The New York Philharmonic is capable of playing quietly; the orchestra just hasn’t always seemed to enjoy it. Particularly under their last music director, Jaap van Zweden, the musicians tended to approach soft dynamics unwillingly, as if they were waiting impatiently for the next explosion.So it was noteworthy that some of the most memorable passages in the Philharmonic’s excellent concert on Thursday evening at David Geffen Hall, conducted by Karina Canellakis, were the most delicate ones.There was the spooky haze at the start of Kaija Saariaho’s “Lumière et Pesanteur.” The somberly gentle woodwinds echoing the tune of a Bach chorale in Berg’s Violin Concerto. The hovering transcendence of the strings drawing to a nearly inaudible hush at the end of Messiaen’s “Les Offrandes Oubliées.” The haunting melody in a duo of flute and oboe that emerges from a mist in the third section of Debussy’s “La Mer.”The players didn’t seem like they wanted these moments to end as soon as possible; they reveled in them. That attests, of course, to the musicians themselves — and, perhaps, to their continued acclimation to the renovated Geffen Hall, in which even the most fragile sounds register clearly.But it also speaks to Canellakis’s leadership on the podium. Throughout the concert, she elicited playing of poise and patience, inspiring the ensemble to relax into phrases — which gave the music more organic energy than pressing relentlessly forward would have.For all the bits of breathtaking stillness in the performance, there were also forceful climaxes, but Canellakis arrived at them with naturalness. At the end of the first section of “La Mer,” the volume swiftly swells from pianissimo to fortissimo. While some performances land flat on the loudness, she drew out the speed ever so slightly, making the rise in dynamics feel like a thrilling wave rather than an abrupt boom.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Drake’s New Valentine’s Day Album Pivots From Kendrick Lamar Beef

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      The Valentine’s Day release, a collaboration with PartyNextDoor, tries on different styles (acoustic pop, traditional Mexican) while only alluding to Kendrick Lamar.Following a Grammy Awards and a Super Bowl halftime show in which he featured heavily in absentia — at least as a punchline — life goes on for Drake, who released his first new album on Friday since his much-publicized beef with Kendrick Lamar.The album, “Some Sexy Songs 4 U,” a collaboration with PartyNextDoor, a longtime Drake associate with success as an enigmatic R&B singer, pop songwriter and producer, was released via multiple record companies at a fraught moment: Drake is currently suing his own label, Universal Music Group, or UMG, for defamation and harassment.In a lawsuit filed last month, lawyers for the Toronto rapper, born Aubrey Graham, said that UMG’s release and promotion of Lamar’s diss track and No. 1 smash “Not Like Us,” which accuses Drake of pedophilia, was an example of valuing “corporate greed over the safety and well-being of its artists.”Still, the release of “Some Sexy Songs 4 U” seemed to be business as usual, as UMG (and its Republic flagship) are credited with the release. The album is also credited to OVO Sound, Drake’s boutique label and the home of PartyNextDoor. OVO Sound is distributed by the Santa Anna Label Group, a subsidiary of UMG’s corporate rival, Sony Music.Representatives for Drake, who is on tour in Australia, and UMG did not respond to requests for comment.“Not Like Us” won five Grammys this month, including song and record of the year. A week later, it was the centerpiece of Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show, in which Lamar rapped “Say, Drake, I hear you like ’em young” but stopped short of performing the line calling Drake and his crew “certified pedophiles,” replacing the controversial designation with a prerecorded scream.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Issa Rae Cancels Kennedy Center Appearance After Trump’s Takeover

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      President Trump’s takeover of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington has prompted an outcry in the cultural community, with several artists resigning their posts or canceling engagements at the center.Mr. Trump made himself chairman of the center on Wednesday, a few days after he purged the board of Biden appointees. The new board, stacked with Trump loyalists, elected Mr. Trump chairman and fired the Kennedy Center’s longtime president, Deborah F. Rutter. The board named Richard Grenell, who was ambassador to Germany during the first Trump administration, interim president.The new leadership has moved swiftly to reshape the Kennedy Center’s upper ranks. In addition to Ms. Rutter, several other longtime staff members were fired on Wednesday, including top officials overseeing public relations and governance.Here’s a look at the stars who have resigned from the Kennedy Center or canceled shows in the wake of Mr. Trump’s takeover:Issa RaeMs. Rae, the actress, writer and comedian, announced on social media on Thursday that she was canceling an engagement next month at the Kennedy Center, “An Evening With Issa Rae.” She said that tickets would be refunded.“Unfortunately, due to what I believe to be an infringement on the values of an institution that has faithfully celebrated artists of all backgrounds through all mediums, I’ve decided to cancel my appearance at this venue,” she wrote on Instagram.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      The War and Treaty Are Writing Their Love Story Into Country Music History

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      There’s a dressing room backstage at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville called “It Takes Two” that’s filled with photos of some of country music’s most famous duos. It’s Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter’s favorite spot to get ready before they perform there as the War and Treaty, which is so often, they’ve lost count. They hope to become members someday. (It’s on Tanya’s vision board.) And they don’t want to just be inducted. They want to be the first Black artists on that wall.“How about right over there, by Marty Stuart and Connie Smith?” Michael, 42, said last month while laying across his wife’s lap in a pair of leather trousers, their bodies forming a plus sign.Tanya, 52, shook her head while patting the top of her husband’s, the pair’s offstage chemistry mirroring their onstage warmth. “I like that big blank wall,” she replied, indicating a bare corner where they could pioneer their own space.This has long been the War and Treaty’s approach in Nashville: working within the genre’s traditions while building something new for people who have rarely seen themselves in country music. Blending blues, gospel, soul, bluegrass and R&B while rooting their sound in passionate harmonies, they’ve managed to straddle both Music Row and Americana. They’ve earned a best new artist nod at the 2024 Grammys, toured alongside Chris Stapleton, Orville Peck and John Legend, and collaborated on a platinum single with Zach Bryan. Their fourth album, “Plus One,” is due Friday.It hasn’t been easy. Together, they’ve fought through canceled record deals, homelessness, post-traumatic stress disorder and countless barriers to bring listeners a heartfelt message: that love, and forgiveness, is a salve for all.The War and Treaty’s relationship has made a mark on their friends and collaborators. “Michael and Tanya’s love, their story, and their music are all so inspiring and moving,” John Legend wrote in an email.Eric Ryan Anderson for The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Trump Made Chair of Kennedy Center as Its President Is Fired

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      President Trump was made chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, he announced on Wednesday, cementing his grip on an institution that he recently purged of Biden appointees.The center’s longtime president, Deborah F. Rutter, was then fired from her position, the center said. Richard Grenell, a Trump loyalist who was ambassador to Germany during the first Trump administration, was appointed the center’s interim president.Mr. Trump posted on social media: “It is a Great Honor to be Chairman of The Kennedy Center, especially with this amazing Board of Trustees. We will make The Kennedy Center a very special and exciting place!”Mr. Grenell visited the center on Wednesday, according to an official at the center.The center announced on Wednesday a new slate of board members — all appointed by Mr. Trump — and said in a statement that the new board elected Mr. Trump chairman and “terminated” Ms. Rutter’s contract.Mr. Trump’s actions prompted an outcry in the cultural world.The superstar soprano Renée Fleming said on Wednesday that she would step down as an artistic adviser to the center. She praised the center’s departing leaders and said that “out of respect, I think it right to depart as well.”“I’ve treasured the bipartisan support for this institution as a beacon of America at our best,” Ms. Fleming said in a statement. “I hope the Kennedy Center continues to flourish and serve the passionate and diverse audience in our nation’s capital and across the country.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More