Latest music features

<p>Crowd pleasers: The sheer variety on offer from this year’s festival guarantees an unforgettable music moment for everyone</p>

The Countdown

The 14 best UK music festivals, from Glastonbury to Mighty Hoopla

Whether you’re seeking new music meccas to a pop paradise in London or tranquil retreats in the wilderness, The Independent’s culture team have you covered this summer

<p>Låpsley is channelling Boudica on her new record ‘I’m a Hurricane I’m a Woman In Love’</p>

Interview

Låpsley on the three-way relationship that inspired her new album

<p>Perfume Genius: ‘In my daily life, I’m very avoidant and unwilling to do what I understand, intellectually, will get me out of whatever loop I’m in’</p>

Interview

Perfume Genius: ‘America was built on racism and violence and fear’

<p>The two Gen Z queens of nonchalant pop, Tate McRae and Addison Rae</p>

In Focus

From Tate McRae to Addison Rae, why does Gen Z love vapid pop music?

Interviews

<p>‘There’s probably gay people in positions of power that think, no, he’s an awful tw*t,’ says James Arthur</p>

Interview

James Arthur: ‘I’ve never had to kiss arse – I got here on merit’

<p>Billy Idol</p>

Interview

Billy Idol: ‘I’m the sexy sexagenarian!’

<p>Teddy Swims: ‘I’m just a blossoming flower’</p>

Interview

Teddy Swims: ‘Men should tell each other how pretty we are’

<p>Lone rider: Mike Scott has been the one constant throughout The Waterboys’ 40-year career</p>

Interview

The Waterboys on Dennis Hopper: ‘At crucial moments, he’s there’

On Trend

Music Box

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Watch rising singer-songwriter Nancy Williams’ Music Box session

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Watch Joshua Idehen’s brilliant Music Box performance

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Rising singer-songwriter Brooke Combe dazzles in new Music Box session

New Sensations

<p>Samia: ‘What I’m reaching for is self-certainty’</p>

New Sensations

Singer-songwriter Samia: ‘It’s easier to be an idea than a person’

<p>Chloe Moriondo makes music for mermaids</p>

new sensations

Chloe Moriondo: ‘I’ve been embarrassed by my online past selves’

<p>‘In a world that is very loud and everything is supposed to be faster and more efficient, for me, songwriting and folk music are the opposite of that’</p>

New Sensations

Clara Mann: ‘We’re alienated from each other – live music is a remedy’

Reviews

<p>Suzanne Vega in artwork for her new album ‘Flying with Angels’</p>

On her new album, Suzanne Vega reminds us of her greatest talents

At times, Vega’s use of clunky rhymes undoes the elegance of her more literary lines, but it’s still lovely to have her back in action

<p>Rebecca Lucy Taylor aka Self Esteem</p>

Self Esteem’s A Complicated Woman adds theatre to lyrical snark

Live music

<p>Father John Misty’s latest album filled the setlist – proving he’s still in full swing</p>

Father John Misty’s songs about mortality come to life in London

<p>A group of pulsating performers surround FKA twigs at Magazine London, two-stepping to the glitchy techno beat of ‘Room of Fools’</p>

FKA twigs shows off her extraterrestrial star power at Eusexua rave

<p>Sabrina Carpenter performs at the Brit Awards in March 2025</p>

Sabrina Carpenter’s saucy O2 gig makes tweens shriek and parents blush

<p>Lamar on the hood of a classic GNX car at the start of his performance in New Orleans</p>

Review

Kendrick Lamar’s Drake-baiting at the Super Bowl was a smoke-screen

Retrospectives

<p>George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley at the Great Wall of China ahead of Wham!’s concert at Beijing's Workers’ Gymnasium in 1985</p>

In Focus

‘The police were scared’: When Wham! took Western pop to China

<p>Better Belieb it: Justin Bieber in concert in Germany in 2009</p>

playback

There’s a simple reason we owe Justin Bieber more respect

<p>‘A new breed of autonomous, self-defined and uninhibited female rock star’: Patti Smith pictured in 1976</p>

Horses at 50: How a reluctant musician made a punk-rock classic

<p>The documentarians were able to dig up once-lost footage, like a performance from 1969’s Bath International Music Festival</p>

In Focus

The inside story of Becoming Led Zeppelin

News