#Ariana Grande

AF 2020 IN REVIEWOur Favorite Albums and Singles of The Year

In a year that's been like no other for the music industry, it feels a bit weird to make a best of 2020 list - there have been no tours, venues and clubs across the globe are in danger of closing their doors for good, release schedules were shuffled beyond recognition, and musicians have had to...

Lindsey Rhoades

Music's Most Sex-Positive Moments of 2019

Doja Cat photo by Vijat Mohindra courtesy of RCA Records). Sex has long been a popular topic among musicians. But what’s unique about the past few years, 2019 included, is that artists are consciously using their platforms to promote sex positivity. Here are some moments in 2019 where musicians...

Annie White

Seven Songs Celebrating the Female Orgasm

Female sexual pleasure doesn't get the attention it deserves, in the bedroom or in music. It's traditionally been more common for male artists to sing about what turns them on, but that's changing. With more and more female artists unabashedly singing about sex — and more male artists unashamed to...

Annie White

Seven Music Videos That Represent the Female Gaze

The male gaze is practically part of our collective cultural definition of a music video. Even videos by seemingly progressive bands, like The 1975's "Girls" and The Chainsmokers' "Beach House," present women as props, dancing scantily clad in the background. But recently, female artists have been...

Annie White

ONLY NOISE"thank u, next" Became My Recovery Anthem After Falling for an Alcoholic

ONLY NOISE explores music fandom with poignant personal essays that examine the ways we’re shaped by our chosen soundtrack. This week, Rachel Cromidas explores the healing power of Ariana Grande's most recent pop smash. I never thought I'd be walking around my neighborhood on a Sunday afternoon...

Rachel Cromidas

NEWS ROUNDUPPazz and Jop Lives, 21 Savage vs. ICE, and MORE

Kacey Musgraves topped the 2019 Pazz and Jop Albums List with Golden Hour. Pazz and Jop LIVES - Even if the Village Voice Doesn't When I received my Pazz and Jop Ballot in December, I couldn't have been more shocked. I'd assumed that when the Village Voice shuttered in August, the music critics' poll...

Lindsey Rhoades

NEWS ROUNDUPKesha Vs. Dr. Luke, New Music, and MORE

New Motions Filed in Kesha / Dr. Luke Legal Battle Kesha's ongoing legal battle with Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald rages on, with a few new developments this week. Though a New York judge sided with Dr. Luke and Sony music following Kesha's 2014 allegations that the producer had drugged and assaulted...

Lindsey Rhoades

NEWS ROUNDUPAlternative Beef, Cancel Chris Brown, and MORE

Courtney Love and Kathleen Hanna have had ongoing beef since the mid '90s. Can't We All Just Get Along? Rekindling a decades old beef, Courtney Love had some choice words for Kathleen Hanna following the news that the latter's riot grrl act Bikini Kill would play a handful of reunion shows in LA and...

Lindsey Rhoades

AF 2018 IN REVIEWHow A Wave of Queer Hitmakers Helped Me Assert My Identity

illustration and words by Ysabella Monton Drunk on $2 strawberry margaritas during my very first visit to Cubbyhole, my 19-year-old self and a friend struck up a conversation with two women who led with, “Aww, how cute, two straight girls at the gay bar!” We looked at each other, confused. She was...

Ysabella Monton

ONLY NOISEWith A Bullet

Last week, after publishing “Don’t Take Your Guns to Town,” I took the train across the East River to see a movie. A bit of distraction seemed necessary in that moment, even if it was in the form of a demonic clown named Pennywise. Sitting on the Manhattan-bound C train, I noticed a man in a grey...

Madison Bloom

NEWS ROUNDUPTragedy In Manchester, Biggie Mural Saved and More

What makes the crime particularly heinous, besides the fact...

Emily Daly