With The Tortured Poets Department, the defining pop star of her era has made an album as messy and confrontational as any good girl's work can get.

After a decade ruled by their influence, the buzzy reunion of two hip-hop giants finds one imbued with a startling new power.

Cowboy Carter has spurred plenty of discussion for being a groundbreaking country album. But for one critic, it calls to mind a cult favorite '70s psych-rock concept album.

Grab your cowboy hat, and saddle up that horse, because Beyoncé's highly anticipated album, Cowboy Carter is here. So far, the album has spurred praise, criticism, and questions about what the actual goal of this project is and how it fits into the Renaissance trilogy. To get into all of that, Brittany joined NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour to discuss whether this foray into country is an exercise in experimentation or industry validation.

Armed with just her cello, a looping machine and a pair of percussionists, Beiser crafts a rendition of Terry Riley's pioneering In C that is equally mesmerizing and graceful.

It's been nearly 10 years since Andre and his partner in Atlanta rap act OutKast, Antwan "Big Boi" Patton, headlined a sold-out, three-night stand at Centennial Olympic Park — and two decades since the duo released Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, now the best-selling rap album of all time. 

The former Alabama Shakes leader is in total control of her new album's genre-defying odyssey through this thing called life, evoking the mastery of another do-it-all maestro: Prince.

During his residency of the famed Blue Note jazz club in New York, the OutKast-rapper-turned-flutist showed us why New Blue Sun is both less and more than that question.

The second album from Radiohead offshoot The Smile is very good. But can its singer ever transcend his role in his revolutionary other band?

A new album of music by the 88-year-old Estonian mystic seems to put an arm around you and whisper, "In troubled times, music can help."

The Beatles' final song could never live up to the body of work that precedes it. But it could never diminish it, either.

The pop star has always loved out-trolling her trolls. But Doja Cat's fourth album and dramatic rollout pushes that persona further, interpreting her antics through a playfully demonic lens.

As the world waits for the iPhone 15, a loyal iPhone user tries out a competitor, the Nothing Phone 2.

The 2010 Nicki Minaj album Pink Friday brought vibrant new shades to hip-hop.

DeYarmond Edison's Epoch revels in the early alchemic triumphs of Bon Iver and Megafaun members. But the box set also reminds us that no moment of creative inspiration takes place spontaneously.