Pop Spotlight

The enigmatically named Alexa Dark is a Spanish-American singer-songwriter who grew up in Europe, the Old World spirit of which she has clearly absorbed. European influence notwithstanding, she admits she can’t cook — not essential […]

Blue Chips is a monthly rap column that highlights exceptional rising rappers. To read previous columns, click here. Rap rewards groups, crews, and cliques. Semi-free Substacks, the back pages of semi-functioning blogs, and the few […]

Welcome to Difficult Fun! Each month, SPIN will spotlight the best punk on the planet and discuss it here, with the ambition of challenging preconceived notions of what the four-letter word actually means and, ideally, […]

Ah, Metallica… Is there any metal band that’s more polarizing? Or any other that commands a fan base remotely as large while attracting a seemingly equal amount of haters? Metallica were my first favorite metal […]

Eddie Vedder once said that drummer Jack Irons saved Pearl Jam from wilting under the pressure of grunge-era superstardom, and you could also make a strong case that the band might not have ever existed […]

The look on Model/Actriz’s Cole Haden’s face lets me know immediately that I have butchered the pronunciation of “dionysian.” “We know what word you’re saying, it doesn’t matter,” he deadpans. Now, there are some words […]

When SPIN’s outdoor Stubb’s BBQ showcase at South by Southwest was evacuated due to lightning storms last month, a couple of hundred hardy souls packed into the venue’s small indoor room to wait out the […]

Korean/American artist Yaeji emerged in tandem with the 2010s lo-fi house boom, her atmospheric sound suited for both the club and the bittersweet 4 a.m. comedown. She hit the ground running in 2017, and has […]

For indie-rock supergroup Boygenius and the trio’s spectacular debut LP The Record, fascination runs several levels deep. First, there’s the timing. Singer/songwriters Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus all ascended around the same time […]

By the end of 2021, Kaleena Zanders had already clocked over 200 million streams as a top house vocalist, songwriter and producer, working with artists like Chris Lake, AC Slater and countless more. She had […]

Blue Chips is a monthly rap column that highlights exceptional rising rappers. To read previous columns, click here. There’s a universe where Payroll Giovanni, YG, and Jeezy release a group album scored by the Grammy-winning […]

Mélusine, the figure from 14th century French mythology, was a half-woman/half-snake who, when her serpentine self was spied on by her betraying lover, turned into a dragon and took flight. Mélusine, Cécile McLorin Salvant’s new […]