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    Is Playboi Carti Rap’s Next — or Last — Superstar?

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    Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTubeIn the almost five years since the release of “Whole Lotta Red,” Playboi Carti’s second studio album, the Atlanta rapper graduated from a potentially influential internet curio to a full-blown, era-defining headliner.Still, even while closing festivals with his brand of mosh pit mayhem and helping to lead songs like “Fein” by Travis Scott and “Carnival” by Ye (formerly Kanye West) into the Billboard Top 5, Carti has maintained the edge and mystique of an underground cult hero. That is, in part, thanks to absence: canceled concerts, blown appearances and repeated, yearslong delays for his increasingly hyped follow-up to “Whole Lotta Red,” with a growing legion of obsessive fans sating themselves instead by chasing every Carti-flavored online morsel, official and unofficial.Then, last week, it finally arrived: “Music,” a 30-song album lasting more than 75 minutes, with appearances by a who’s who of modern rap stars, including Kendrick Lamar, Future and Travis Scott. A streaming blockbuster already, “Music” has confounded and satisfied in equal measure, likely raising more questions than it answers: Is this what mainstream hip-hop sounds like now? Could anything Carti put out have lived up to the anticipation? And what role do toxic masculinity and obscure internet rabble-rousers play in this fandom?To discuss these Playboi Carti conundrums and many more on Popcast, the hosts Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli of The New York Times were joined by Kieran Press-Reynolds, a columnist for Pitchfork and a contributor to The Times and other publications.Connect With Popcast. Become a part of the Popcast community: Join the show’s Facebook group and Discord channel. We want to hear from you! Tune in, and tell us what you think at popcast@nytimes.com. Follow our host, Jon Caramanica, on Twitter: @joncaramanica. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. More

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      Best Albums of 2024: Charli XCX, Mk.gee, MJ Lenderman and More

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      Charli XCX, Mk.gee and MJ Lenderman top our pop music critics’ lists this year.Jon Pareles | Jon Caramanica | Lindsay ZoladzJon ParelesConcepts, Craftsmanship, Sensuality and Tidings of ApocalypseThe agendas for 21st-century musicians keep getting more complicated. They can try to out-game streaming and social media algorithms, stoking the celebrity-industrial complex or steadfastly ignoring it. They can lean into idiosyncratic artistic instincts and intuitions. They can channel the zeitgeist or defy it. Of course, listeners have choices as well. For me, there was no definitive musical statement for 2024, no obvious pathbreaker. But there were plenty of purposeful, heartfelt, exacting and inspired individual statements. I gave the top slot to a project that strove mightily to unite a glossy sonic (and online) presence with surprising confessions. But song for song, the rest of the list can easily stand alongside it. And if there’s more than a little apocalyptic gloom in these choices, well, that’s 2024.1. Charli XCX, ‘Brat’ and ‘Brat and It’s Completely Different but Also Still Brat’The year’s conceptual coup belonged to Charli XCX. “Brat,” the album she released in June, used dance-floor beats, blippy synthetic hooks and meme-ready graphics as she assessed just where she stood as a pop striver in her 30s, more than a decade into her career: pushing, partying, wondering whether to set it all aside to have a baby. Somehow, “Brat” landed as a full-fledged hit — and by September, Charli XCX had rewritten all the tracks and added star collaborators, dispensing hooks while trying to keep a level head about success. Amid all the hyperpop gloss and online chatter, she still sounded honest.2. Brittany Howard, ‘What Now’Brittany Howard’s second solo album tackles the contours of a relationship that is fizzling out.Ariel Fisher for The New York TimesBrittany Howard lays out the ragged emotions of a crumbling relationship on “What Now”: numbness, mourning, second-guessing, guilt and furtive glimmers of relief. While the tracks are rooted in soul, rock, R&B, funk and disco, they turn familiar styles inside-out with targeted distortion and surreal, displaced mixes. The songs capture all the disorientation that comes with a life-changing decision.3. Vampire Weekend, ‘Only God Was Above Us’Vampire Weekend’s once-meticulous musical universe gets punctured by noise on “Only God Was Above Us.” Its fifth album grapples with how what used to be called indie-rock can face a new pop landscape, and how determined innovators can keep pushing themselves. The answers include history lessons, quasi-sequitur lyrics and constantly morphing studio arrangements — a running, enlightening battle between strict song structure and an unruly world.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 15 Songs That Hit No. 1 This Year (So Far)

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      Hear tracks by Shaboozey, Sabrina Carpenter, Kendrick Lamar and more.Shaboozey reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 this week for the first time with “A Bar Song (Tipsy).”Daniel PrakopcykDear listeners,It’s Caryn the editor here again, seizing control of the playlist one more time (don’t worry, you’ll have Lindsay back next week).On Monday, Shaboozey reached the top of Billboard’s Hot 100 with “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” making him the second Black artist to hit No. 1 on both the all-genre singles chart and Hot Country Songs. Somehow both milestones came this year: Beyoncé did it first with “Texas Hold ’Em.”The news got me scrolling through what’s topped the Hot 100 so far in 2024 — over the last 27 weeks, 15 songs have done it. And we’re going to listen to all of them in The Amplifier today.It’s always interesting to see how the official chart stacks up against cultural vibes. It may feel like the summer of “Espresso,” but Sabrina Carpenter’s Certified Bop hasn’t hit No. 1 in the United States (yet). It doesn’t just seem like Taylor Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department” is dominating 2024: It is, with 11 straight weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart. But only one of its songs — its opener, “Fortnight,” featuring Post Malone — has spent any time atop the Hot 100. Ariana Grande’s “Eternal Sunshine” has had two songs summit the singles chart; Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” had the one. Billie Eilish and Chappell Roan haven’t hit No. 1 yet this year, but I wouldn’t count them out.The longest run belongs to “I Had Some Help,” by Post Malone featuring Morgan Wallen (six weeks, five of them consecutive). Two songs from the Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake beef hit No. 1; perhaps unsurprisingly considering the outcome, they were both Lamar’s.So let’s take a trip through the recent past together — and for fun (or counterprogramming), see how the biggest songs of the year (so far) compare to our critics’ best songs of the year (so far).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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      Jennifer Lopez and Black Keys Tour Cancellations Raise Questions for Industry

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      High-profile cancellations from Jennifer Lopez and the Black Keys have armchair analysts talking. But industry insiders say live music is still thriving.For the concert business, 2023 was a champagne-popping year. The worst of the pandemic comfortably in the rearview, shows big and small were selling out, with mega-tours by Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Drake and Bruce Springsteen pushing the industry to record ticket sales.This year, as with much of the economy, success on the road seems more fragile. A string of high-profile cancellations, and slow sales for some major events, have raised questions about an overcrowded market and whether ticket prices have simply gotten too expensive.Most conspicuously, Jennifer Lopez and the Black Keys have canceled entire arena tours. In the case of the Black Keys — a standby of rock radio and a popular touring draw for nearly two decades — the fallout has been severe enough that the band dismissed its two managers, the industry giant Irving Azoff and Steve Moir, those men confirmed through a representative.At Coachella, usually so buzzy that it sells out well before any performers are announced, tickets for the second of the California festival’s two weekends were still available by the time it opened in April.Those issues have stoked headlines about a concert business that may be in trouble. But the reality, many insiders say, is more complex, with no simple explanation for problems on a range of tours, and a business that may be leveling out after a couple of extraordinary years when fans rushed to shows after Covid-19 shutdowns.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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      Future and Metro Boomin’s Second Joint LP Opens at No. 1

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      The Atlanta rapper and producer’s “We Still Don’t Trust You” reached the top of the Billboard 200 before the expected arrival of monster numbers from Taylor Swift next week.Future and Metro Boomin, two of the big kahunas of Atlanta hip-hop, have released a pair of joint albums in the last month — wisely getting them to market ahead of Taylor Swift’s new “The Tortured Poets Department,” which has the music industry braced for gigantic sales figures.“We Don’t Trust You,” the first LP by the rapper Future and the producer Metro Boomin, went to No. 1 three weeks ago with solid streaming numbers. “We Still Don’t Trust You,” its sequel, opens at No. 1 this week with the equivalent of 127,500 sales in the United States, largely from its 163 million streams, according to the tracking service Luminate. (“We Don’t Trust You” is No. 3.)By the time next week’s chart lands, however, those numbers will look minuscule. “Tortured Poets,” released Friday, was credited with 1.4 million in traditional album sales — meaning CDs, vinyl LPs and full-album downloads — on its first day out, according to Billboard. That indicates a huge number of pre-orders; Swift’s website was selling the album as early as Grammy night in February, when she announced it from the stage. On Spotify alone, the songs from “Tortured Poets” were streamed 300 million times around the world, a new record on the platform.Numbers that big on Day 1 mean that Swift is on track for the biggest opening sales week of her career — more than for “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” last year (1,653,000) or “Midnights” in 2022 (1,578,000), her best so far. How high Swift’s numbers could go is anybody’s guess, but the big target is Adele’s “25,” which opened with 3,482,000 in 2015.Swift delivered “Tortured Poets” with an aggressive and far-reaching promotional plan, including tie-ins with streaming services, social media platforms and radio networks. The album was released in an array of collectible physical products, including colored vinyl and signed editions; by making it a surprise double album — bringing its standard track list to 31 songs — Swift stood to benefit from even more clicks on streaming platforms.Aside from Future and Metro Boomin, this week’s chart also includes Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” at No. 2, after two weeks at the top; Morgan Wallen’s “One Thing at a Time,” at No. 4; and Noah Kahan’s “Stick Season,” in fifth place. “Papercuts (Singles Collection 2000-2023),” a greatest-hits compilation by Linkin Park, opens at No. 6. More

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      It’s Drake vs. Everybody … Who’s Winning?

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      Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTubeThis week’s episode of Popcast (Deluxe), the weekly culture roundup show on YouTube hosted by Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli, includes segments on:The tensions brewing among hip-hop’s biggest stars, beginning with Kendrick Lamar’s sideways lyrics about Drake, which have led to a full-scale recalibration of genre alliancesDrake’s leaked response to LamarHow other artists like Future, the Weeknd and Rick Ross have jumped in the fray, all lining up against DrakeHow hip-hop’s recent squabbles are a life raft for late-career artistsWhether the “Big 3” — how people once referred to the grouping of top hip-hop stars Drake, Lamar and J. Cole — was ever really as stable as advertisedSongs of the week from Peso Pluma featuring Arcángel, Sky Ferreira and NLE ChoppaSnack of the weekConnect With Popcast. Become a part of the Popcast community: Join the show’s Facebook group and Discord channel. We want to hear from you! Tune in, and tell us what you think at popcast@nytimes.com. Follow our host, Jon Caramanica, on Twitter: @joncaramanica. More

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      Rico Wade, an Architect of Atlanta Hip-Hop, Dies at 52

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      As one-third of the production team Organized Noize, Wade nurtured the careers of Outkast, Goodie Mob and Future from the confines of his mother’s basement, known as the Dungeon.Rico Wade, an architect of Southern hip-hop who produced albums for rap acts including Outkast, Goodie Mob and Future, has died. He was 52.The death was announced on social media on Saturday by the artist and activist Killer Mike, a longtime collaborator. No cause of death was provided.His family confirmed the death in a statement. “We are deeply saddened by the sudden and unexpected passing of our son, father, husband and brother Rico Wade,” the statement said. “Our hearts are heavy as we mourn the loss of a talented individual who touched the lives of so many. We ask that you respect the legacy of our loved one and our privacy at this time.”Wade, Ray Murray and Patrick Brown, known as Sleepy, formed the Atlanta-based production crew Organized Noize in the early 1990s, coalescing during an era when offerings from the East and West Coasts dominated radio and major label releases. Their work propelled the region from the fringes of the genre to a mainstay at its center.Barely out of their teens, the production crew welcomed aspiring musicians and artists into the basement of Wade’s mother’s home in East Point, Georgia, in the early 1990s. The cellar became known as the Dungeon with the artists who performed there, including the groups Parental Advisory and Goodie Mob, who emerged from it as part of the collective colloquially called the Dungeon Family.“I don’t know if you can imagine how weed and must and dirt would smell together, but that’s what it smelled like,” Dee Dee Hibbler, Outkast’s former manager, said of the Dungeon in the 2016 documentary “The Art of Organized Noize.”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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      Future and Metro Boomin’s First Joint Album Opens Big at No. 1

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      The Atlanta rapper and star producer topped Ariana Grande’s first-week total for “Eternal Sunshine,” but Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” may beat them all next week.Future and Metro Boomin, two of the biggest stars of Atlanta hip-hop, have scored the best opening of the year so far with their joint album “We Don’t Trust You,” though Beyoncé is on deck for next week’s chart with potentially even bigger numbers.“We Don’t Trust You” opens at No. 1 with the equivalent of 251,000 sales in the United States, a better opening than Ariana Grande’s “Eternal Sunshine” had two weeks ago (with 227,000). According to the tracking service Luminate, the vast majority of fans’ consumption of “We Don’t Trust You” was through streaming platforms, with 324 million clicks in its opening week — more than any album since Taylor Swift’s “1989 (Taylor’s Version),” which arrived with 375 million in November.“We Don’t Trust You,” featuring guest spots by the Weeknd, Kendrick Lamar and Travis Scott, among others, is the first of two announced LPs by the rapper Future and Metro Boomin, a star producer who has been behind dozens of hit songs over the last decade, and who has gone to No. 1 on the album chart three times before in his own right. The next joint album by Future and Metro Boomin is expected April 12.Beyoncé’s 27-track “Cowboy Carter” seized headlines even before its release last Friday, and fans started clicking as soon as they could. Spotify announced that “Cowboy Carter” became the service’s most-streamed album in a single day so far this year. It is expected to arrive with big numbers on next week’s chart, helped by sales on vinyl and CD — though fans complained that a number of tracks on the digital version were absent from the physical editions, including “Ya Ya,” one of the album’s most-streamed songs.Also this week, Olivia Rodrigo’s seven-month-old “Guts” jumps 16 spots to No. 2, thanks to the release of a deluxe version with five added tracks. Grande’s “Eternal Sunshine” falls to No. 3 after two weeks at the top, Morgan Wallen’s “One Thing at a Time” is No. 4 and Noah Kahan’s “Stick Season” is No. 5. More

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      12 Key Music Collections, From Future to the Who

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      Whitney Houston’s gospel music, Future’s prolific mixtape run, a chunk of Joni Mitchell’s archives and a soundtrack of Brooklyn’s early discos arrived in new packages this year.Artists were eager to revisit the past in 2023 — some tweaking recent albums (like Taylor Swift), others revisiting long-dormant work in the vaults (like the two surviving Beatles). Boxed sets and reissue collections serve a different purpose, helping put catalogs and musicians into context, and bringing fresh revelations to light. Here are a dozen of the best our critics encountered this year.Julee Cruise, ‘Floating Into the Night’(Sacred Bones; one LP, $22)The absorbing, unconventional debut album from the deep-exhale vocalist Julee Cruise, who died in 2022, was produced by Angelo Badalamenti and David Lynch; the three had previously collaborated on music for Lynch’s 1986 alt-noir film “Blue Velvet.” This batch of songs, released in 1989, plays as an extension of that fun-house mirror, lightly terrifying universe, with twisted 1950s melodies meeting destabilizing, plangent guitars meeting Dali-esque shimmers. “Falling” became the theme song for “Twin Peaks” in instrumental form, but its full vocal version is the essential one. Songs like that, “The Nightingale” and “Into the Night” feel, even now, sui generis — not exactly dream-pop or new age, but something utterly amniotic. And lightly harrowing, too. JON CARAMANICADeYarmond Edison, ‘Epoch’(Jagjaguwar; five LPs, four CDs, 120-page book, $130)Anna Powell Denton/JagjaguwarBon Iver didn’t come out of nowhere. Before he started that project, Justin Vernon was in DeYarmond Edison, a pensive, folky but exploratory band that made two albums before splitting up; other members formed Megafaun. DeYarmond Edison — Vernon’s middle names — delved into folk, rock, Minimalism and bluegrass, learning traditional songs but also experimenting with phase patterns. It made two studio albums and left behind other songs, including “Epoch.” This extensively annotated boxed set includes songs from Mount Vernon, DeYarmond Edison’s jammy predecessor, along with DeYarmond Edison’s full second studio album (though only part of its first), unreleased demos, intimate concerts, collaborations outside the band and Vernon’s 2006 solo recordings. It’s a chronicle that opens up the sources of a style getting forged. JON 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?  More