On Pop

Sweeter the second time around

There’s a real weight to some lyrics once you’re nearer the end than the beginning

Tasty tunes

The Chocolate Soldier, Opera della Luna, Wilton’s Music Hall

Confessions of an aging pop queen

Madonna once assured us that being an adult woman was something to aspire to

Better Slayyyter than never

Like the first Strokes album if Max Martin had produced it

The ballad of Robbie and Harry

Sometimes, the struggle can become the art

Get into the groove — why vinyl rocks

On the best sound in popular music

Roxy Music but they’re all Kate Bush

The Last Dinner Party are a proper rock band, but the spell is too easily broken

Girls don’t just wanna have fun

“Blue Velvet” is a sinister, savage take on male violence and a feminine urge for vengeance

Literate, satirical, witty and romantic

Neil Hannon is one of the true greats of songwriting

The very curious case of Ethel Cain

A male idea of what it means to be female