Nicki Minaj is the preeminent female rapper. Her latest album Queen embraces a kind of girl power that has been criticised both within and outside the rap world.
R. Kelly at the American Music Awards in 2013.
PAUL BUCK
Music streaming services have stopped promoting R. Kelly as part of a crackdown on musician's alleged conduct. But we should separate the art from the artist.
Eleni Foureira performs Cyprus’s 2018 Eurovision entry, Fuego, in the first semi-final in Portugal.
Jose Sena Goulao/EPA
Since it began in the 1950s, Eurovision has embraced everything from metal to the global juggernaut of Scandi-pop, and of course the Eurodance and disco synonymous with Eurovision.
Clouds and sun glint over the Indian Ocean.
NASA on The Commons/flickr
Brian Eno's Music for Airports, released 40 years ago, marked the formal beginnings of ambient music. It is still provoking composers and audiences to contemplate new ways of listening.
A.B. Original member Briggs performs at the 2017 ARIA Awards.
AAP Image/David Moir
A.B. Original made waves in 2017, but Indigenous hip hop has flourished since the 1980s.
Mezzo soprano Eve Klein performed two compositions while a medical laryngoscope, inserted into her throat, revealed the movement of her vocal chords.
Jesse Hunniford
Heavy metal music was traditionally associated with white, working class masculinity. But the genre has diversified - with many subgenres -
and now embraces causes ranging from whale protection to labour conditions.
George Michael in the music video for Father Figure.
Screenshot from Youtube
Audiences of a certain age still gush about Countdown, the ABC’s music show that ran between 1974 and 1987. The ritual of sitting down to watch the ABC at 6pm on a Sunday (and maybe again for the Saturday…
The fusion of music and writing created unexpected sparks.
Rock image from www.shutterstock.com
Sir Paul McCartney has been making some waves. On New Year’s Eve, Kanye West released a new single, Only One, a collaboration with The Beatles great on keys. On Twitter, Kanye’s fans reacted, wanting to…
A magnificently scornful piece in The Guardian this weekend flagged the trend for “sad bangers”, music in which, “Sensitive lads across the land have abandoned their cardies and acoustic guitars for varsity…
Daddy Cool’s Ross Wilson learnt to sing harmonies in a choir, aged 10.
AAP/ Joe Castro
We rightly marvel at the skills of a talented musician, especially witnessing them perform live. But how does someone become so skilled? Obviously hours and hours of dedicated practice is a necessity…
Drummer Nick Mason and guitarist David Gilmour dug into recording sessions from 1994’s The Division Bell to mine material for their professed last album: The Endless River
anyonlinyr/Flickr
For a band that once sang “Every year is getting shorter / Never seem to find the time” – which followed an explosion of alarm clocks – Pink Floyd’s songs always seemed to take their time. During the band’s…
Bob Geldof and Midge Ure announce that they will produce a record to help fight Ebola in west Africa.
John Stillwell/PA Wire
The charity song is an odd thing. Generally composed with the simple intent of raising money for a cause, the musical quality of the thing somehow falls by the wayside. In the charts, it’s an anomaly…
Maxime Pascal conducts the Argonaut Ensemble at BIFEM.
Jason Tavener
What, one might wonder, is the value of an international festival of exploratory music? And why is it in Bendigo, in north-west Victoria? In Australia, we have so many festivals featuring music, film…