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Music

In Focus

How Take That went from ‘national jokes to national treasures’

A new Netflix documentary offers the most comprehensive look yet at the remarkable story of one of the UK’s biggest boybands. Roisin O’Connor speaks to director David Soutar about getting the band to trust him with telling it

<p>Red lights indicate recording in process: Arctic Monkeys in 2006</p>

in focus

The story behind Arctic Monkeys’ earth-quaking debut album

<p>Harry Styles is full of curiosity on his new single, 'Aperture'</p>

Review

Not trying so hard pays off on Harry Styles’s giddy new single

<p>Louis Tomlinson is releasing his new album, 'How Did I Get Here?'</p>

Louis Tomlinson’s How Did I Get Here? is his most confident album yet

Interviews

<p>Absolutely: ‘I’m a boss when I’m in the studio’</p>

new sensations

The next big star in UK pop? Absolutely

<p>‘Emotionally intense’: Jenny Hollingworth, aka Jenny on Holiday, releases her new solo record ‘Quicksand Heart’</p>

Interview

Let’s Eat Grandma’s Jenny Hollingworth on her shimmering new album

<p>Mika is preparing to release his first English-language album in six years</p>

The Saturday Interview

Mika: ‘Scrutiny over my sexuality was kind of brutal’

<p>Songwriter Chloe Angelides and Lily Allen in the studio working on West End Girl</p>

In Focus

Meet the songwriter who helped Lily Allen make her most personal work

Roisin O’Connor’s Good Vibrations podcast

Jill Scott appeared as a guest on 'Roisin O'Connor's Good Vibrations' podcast

Jill Scott: ‘I love seeing a confident woman, in any shape or size’

Good Vibrations with KT Tunstall

KT Tunstall reflects on the ‘unwelcome side’ of her early fame

Ella Eyre is a guest on Roisin O'Connor's Good Vibrations podcast

Ella Eyre: ‘I’ve had to unlearn what I was shown early in my career’

Bon Jovi

Jon Bon Jovi: ‘There have been days where I thought I was done’

Latest features

<p>L-R clockwise from top: Ledbyher, EsDeeKid, Girl Tones, Absolutely and The Guest List</p>

2026 culture guide

Riot grrrls, rap and Irish folk: the new music that will dominate 2026

<p>Geese, the Brooklyn-based band behind this year’s ‘Getting Killed’</p>

Comment

2026 is set to be the Year of Geese

<p>Bowie endured a number of critical and commercial failures in the Nineties</p>

In Focus

A new Bowie documentary reassesses one of his most maligned periods

<p>Top of the pops: (L-R clockwise from bottom left) Brandi Carlile, Perfume Genius, Turnstile, JADE and PinkPantheress</p>

The Saturday Interview

JADE, Brandi Carlile and McKinley Dixon on their cultural highlights

Best of 2025

The Independent culture team’s favourite songs of 2025

<p>Kirsty MacColl and Shane MacGowan in a promotional image for ‘Fairytale of New York’</p>

First Person

Producer Steve Lillywhite: ‘Fairytale of New York is like a fine wine’

<p>Top of the pops: (L-R clockwise from bottom left) Brandi Carlile, Perfume Genius, Turnstile, JADE and PinkPantheress</p>

The Saturday Interview

JADE, Brandi Carlile and McKinley Dixon on their cultural highlights

Best of 2025

The Independent culture team’s favourite songs of 2025

<p>Kirsty MacColl and Shane MacGowan in a promotional image for ‘Fairytale of New York’</p>

First Person

Producer Steve Lillywhite: ‘Fairytale of New York is like a fine wine’

New Sensations

<p>Irish rock band Cardinals</p>

New Sensations

Irish newcomers Cardinals on faith and the scars of British violence

<p>Stephen Wilson Jr: ‘I spent four years making this record about my deceased father, and I went through hell doing it, so it’s really profound for me to see the effect it’s had on people’</p>

Interview

Country music newcomer Stephen Wilson Jr on grief, loss and redemption

<p>‘Everybody has a very similar social media personality and when I joined social media for the first time it was very obvious to me,’ remarks Sofia Isella</p>

Interview

Singer-songwriter Sofia Isella: ‘I got called demonic the other day’

<p>Star power: ‘Justin Bieber called me the other day to tell me that he is so grateful to know me, like saying, ‘I’m so proud of you’</p>

Interview

Jensen McRae: ‘Justin Bieber is like a big brother to me’

Music Box

<p></p>

Samantha Crain is mesmerising in Music Box performance of ‘Gumshoe’

Watch Sam Ryder’s brilliant pared-back performance of single ‘OH OK’

<p>Annie DiRusso performs during a Music Box session</p>

Watch rising star Annie DiRusso’s electrifying pared-back session

Reviews

<p>Louis Tomlinson is releasing his new album, 'How Did I Get Here?'</p>

Louis Tomlinson’s How Did I Get Here? is his most confident album yet

Boyband graduate throws empathetic heart into songs about love, identity and loss

<p>Madison Beer</p>

Madison Beer offers some real depth beneath the pop sheen of Locket

The US pop singer navigates the trauma of early fame and the pain of a recent breakup on this sultry, bold third album

Live music

<p>Lorde has always zig-zagged between self-reflective, seen-it-all gloom and a primal, perma-adolescent urge to freak out and dance</p>

Lorde’s O2 gig had energy, cringe and teens pining for Melodrama cuts

<p>Thom Yorke performs during the first night of Radiohead’s 2025 tour in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday 4 November</p>

In Madrid, Radiohead deliver a transcendent return to live shows

<p>Ethel Cain performing at London’s Eventim Apollo</p>

Ethel Cain at London’s Apollo was an evening of doom-laden anti-pop

<p>Lady Gaga performs during her Mayhem Ball tour at the O2 Arena in London</p>

Lady Gaga’s Mayhem Ball is the concert of the year

<p>Liam and Noel Gallagher hug during a Wembley Stadium show for the Oasis reunion tour</p>

Oasis summon a euphoric and almost sad last hurrah at Wembley Stadium

<p>Get Your Brits Out: Kneecap are a cause as much as they are a wild night out</p>

Kneecap triple down on Starmer and Palestine at pounding Wembley show

Retrospectives

<p>Bruce Springsteen photographed for the release of his album 'Nebraska' in 1982</p>

Tragic history behind dark Springsteen album that inspired new biopic

<p>Bob Dylan followed reports on the case of Hattie Carroll, who died after being attacked by farm owner William Zantzinger</p>

The story behind Bob Dylan’s ‘The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll’

<p>Back-to-back: Bruce Springsteen insisted that his longtime bandmate and friend, Clarence Clemons, be included in the shot</p>

Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run cover could’ve looked very different

<p>Mirror image: Grapefruit were another Fab Four on the Sixties scene</p>

The strange story behind one of John Lennon’s favourite bands

News