April 16 was an auspicious day for DripReport’s “Skechers,” easily the most-streamed song in history about $40 light-up sneakers. The track, which blends keening vocals with a typical trap beat, seemingly earnest infatuation (“I just can’t stop thinking about her”) with leering pubescent come-ons (“I’ll buy you the purse, only …
Read More »Lenny Kravitz Remembers Andre Harrell: 'He Was Such a Wonderful Person'
Lenny Kravitz had just woken up when he saw back-to-back notifications that rock & roll architect Little Richard and influential Uptown Records founder Andre Harrell had both died. “My God, I hadn’t even gained consciousness yet,” he says, calling from his home in the Bahamas where he has been self-isolating …
Read More »Kate Nash Talks Isolation, Quarantine, and 'My Best Friend Is You' at 10
Kate Nash has spent her time in self-isolation reflecting on her career, social media, and the state of the world today. She wrote the below essay in quarantine, where she is also putting on live shows on Patreon. The next event will take place Friday, May 1st, with future shows …
Read More »The Greatest Concerts We've Ever Seen
With concert venues sitting silent, the latest episode of Rolling Stone Music Now finds our writers — along with special guests Brian Fallon of Gaslight Anthem and Brendan Benson of the Raconteurs — looking back on highlights from their lifetimes of seeing live music. Brittany Spanos, Andy Greene, and Rob …
Read More »John Prine: The Last Days and Beautiful Life of an American Original
John Prine’s 50-year career had taken him from the folk clubs of Chicago to sold-out venues in London, Australia, and beyond. But as he planned the schedule for the final leg of his Tree of Forgiveness tour, there was still one place he needed to play: Paris. The city had …
Read More »How Hop Along's Frances Quinlan Reinvented Herself
Fifteen years ago, Frances Quinlan was a first-year art student in Maryland who listened to a lot of strange, singular folk songwriters like Joanna Newsom, Jeff Mangum, and Kimya Dawson. Unlike most people her age with the same artists on the playlists in their heads, she was also writing memorable …
Read More »Donald Glover's Surprise Album Is a Mystery. DJ Dahi Has (Some) Answers
Over the past decade, Donald Glover has been building his Childish Gambino project from a side hustle to a Grammy-winning, arena-filling artistic persona. Through it all, he’s kept his circle small: His primary musical collaborator this decade has been the producer and composer Ludwig Göransson, a Swede who has known …
Read More »City Girls Are Finally Free
All through 2019, Jatavia “JT” Johnson tracked the rise of her duo, City Girls, by watching the size of the jewelry worn by her musical partner, Caresha “Yung Miami” Brownlee, in their frequent video calls. “Things were getting bigger,” she says with a giggle. JT spent most of last year …
Read More »Greta Gerwig and Her 'Little Women' Composer Choose Their Favorite Musical Moments
Little Women director Greta Gerwig tells Rolling Stone that she wanted the movie to be a “ballet, a musical” — and in order to create that effect, she enlisted the talents of composer Alexandre Desplat, who has won two Oscars for Best Original Music Score (for 2014’s The Grand Budapest …
Read More »Inside Portland, Maine's Wildly Ambitious Music Scene
In our new series, we look at eight cities where live music has exploded — from legendary hubs like Chicago and Nashville, to rising hot spots like Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Raleigh, North Carolina. The latest is a left-field surprise: Portland, Maine, which is drawing promoters from major cities and ambitious …
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