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How Nicki Minaj went from Queen of Rap to controversial Trump cheerleader

29 janvier 2026 à 23:03

Once the unassailable ‘Queen of Rap,’ Nicki Minaj has grown increasingly estranged from the music industry — and embraced by conservatives — culminating in a public show of support for Donald Trump that stunned fans. Carsen Holaday traces the controversies, feuds and fan backlash that reshaped her career

© Getty Images

Strozzi: Virtuosissima Sirena album review – Laura Catrani enchants with music from a true Venetian revolutionary

29 janvier 2026 à 16:40

Catrani/Accademia Dell’Annunciata/Doni
(Arcana)
A sumptuous, elegant account of Barbara Strozzi’s 17th-century vocal music – performed with warmth, clarity and persuasive expressive freedom

Barbara Strozzi was a true 17th-century revolutionary. The adopted and quite possibly the natural daughter of poet and librettist Giulio Strozzi, she grew up in the bosom of the Venetian intelligentsia, taking part in debates from the age of 15. Her tally of 120 published works for solo voice was unequalled by any of her contemporaries. Despite remaining single, she managed to support four children on the income from her music alone. The quality of her output is matched only by Monteverdi.

Virtuosissima Sirena comprises a handful of cantatas and arias interspersed with effervescent trio sonatas by Legrenzi and Castello. Accademia dell’Annunciata’s lineup of two violins, cello, theorbo, double harp and harpsichord lends the music a shimmering sweetness that’s perhaps more sumptuous than the composer would have expected but is nonetheless enchanting.

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© Photograph: Gianni Rizzotti

© Photograph: Gianni Rizzotti

© Photograph: Gianni Rizzotti

Bruce Springsteen’s angry anti-ICE song is on-the-nose in the right way

29 janvier 2026 à 15:50

The star’s urgent and to-the-point protest song is not subtle about its target and right now that’s why it works so well

Bruce Springsteen’s new protest song isn’t open to interpretation.

In Streets of Minneapolis, the Boss condemns “King Trump’s private army from the DHS” that “came to Minneapolis to enforce the law – or so their story goes”. He names Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both killed by federal agents amid protests. He rages against “Miller and Noem’s dirty lies”, referencing the faces of the Trump administration’s onslaught against immigrants.

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© Photograph: Eloisa Lopez/Reuters

© Photograph: Eloisa Lopez/Reuters

© Photograph: Eloisa Lopez/Reuters

Blood, butter and boys in luv: BTS’s 20 best songs – ranked!

29 janvier 2026 à 14:00

As the superstar K-pop boyband prepare for their first album in three years – after its members completed their military service – we count down the best of their toothsome pop

At the start of their career, BTS were marketed as a cross between a Korean idol band and a blinged-out rap act: “Our life is hip-hop,” offered band member Suga early on. No More Dream is actually far tougher-sounding than you might expect: the vocals growl, the backing blares, the double-bass sample that drives the intro is great.

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© Photograph: REX/Shutterstock

© Photograph: REX/Shutterstock

© Photograph: REX/Shutterstock

David Bowie and the Search for Life, Death and God by Peter Ormerod review – the making of a modern saint

28 janvier 2026 à 08:00

An exhilarating account of Bowie’s spirituality and the quasi-religious nature of his work, from Space Oddity to Blackstar

It has become a tired cliche among fans to say that everything went wrong in the world after Bowie died in 2016. It also misses the point: rather than being one of the last avatars of a liberal order that has crumbled around our ears, Bowie prophesied the mayhem that has replaced it.

In his later years, he thought that we had entered a zone of chaos and fragmentation. This is what allowed him to be so prescient about the internet – not its promise, but its menace. There is no plan and no order. There is just disaster and social collapse. Those looking for reassurance should not listen to Bowie (please listen to something, anything, else). His world, from Space Oddity through to the background violence of The Next Day and Blackstar, was always drowned or destroyed or incinerated: “This ain’t rock’n’roll, this is genocide” as he exclaims at the beginning of Diamond Dogs.

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© Photograph: Nicky J Sims/Redferns

© Photograph: Nicky J Sims/Redferns

© Photograph: Nicky J Sims/Redferns

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