Mitski review – unusual, enigmatic and utterly compelling
The indie artist deploys her songs like controlled explosions as she turns the stage into a cabaret, a circus, a cage
February 2024
‘An audio ball-pit overflowing with ear candy’: readers on this year’s Grammy snubs
From metal band Spiritbox to young stars such as Olivia Rodrigo and Noah Kahan, Guardian readers champion the artists they think should have won at this year’s awards
December 2023
Best music of 2023
Blank space: how Taylor Swift – and an aching sense of loss – dominated music in 2023
Best music of 2023
The 50 best albums of 2023, No 5 – Mitski: The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We
November 2023
‘A reminder that life has to be lived’: the lyrics that got us through 2023
A new Youth Music survey said that 93% of young people use lyrics as a therapeutic tool for mental health. Our writers share the lines they kept close this year
October 2023
The best original photographs from the Observer
Original Observer photography
From Big Zuu’s Big Eats to a dinner with the dead: the best original photographs from the Observer commissioned in October 2023
Kitty Empire's artist of the week
Mitski review – her dark materials
The Japanese-American auteur explores deals with the devil and future hauntings in an intimate church show that foregrounds her pure vocals
Mitski: how the US songwriter scored the year’s quietest global chart smash
An outlier amid pop stars and club bangers, My Love Mine All Mine is getting millions of streams a day. Its singer is reaching new fans – and repairing her relationship with old ones
September 2023
Mitski: The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We review – moving, exquisitely measured Americana
Alexis Petridis's album of the week
Mitski: The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We review – a songwriter with stunning melodic power
December 2022
Observer critics' review of 2022
Music: Kitty Empire’s 10 best albums of 2022
Non-stop dance parties, retro beats and dreamy vignettes vied with slacker rock, flamenco-inflected R&B and no end of heartbreakThe Observer critics’ review of 2022 in full
November 2022
Favourite lyrics reveal your attachment style – psychologists would have a field day with mine
Lauren O'Neill
Are you secure, anxious, or avoidant: songs we play repeatedly can be revealing. So what is it with me and Pulp’s Babies, asks Lauren O’Neill, a culture writer for Vice UK
June 2022
Best culture of 2022 so far
The best albums of 2022 so far
From yacht-rock atmospherics to portraits of disaffected Britain, here are our picks of the best LPs from the first half of the year
April 2022
Kitty Empire's artist of the week
Mitski review – a triumphant return for the poet laureate of outsiders
After a TikTok hit brought her out of early retirement, the US songwriter reaches deep into her back catalogue for a taut, artful and intense set
Mitski review – throwing shapes and cutting loose for pop’s most ardent fans
The singer-songwriter uses drama and choreography to draw attention to her as a performer – perhaps as a means of self-preservation
Musicians want us to pay closer attention at gigs. Let’s do them the courtesy
Laura Snapes
With crowds returning to concerts after the pandemic, it’s the perfect time to heed artists and reconsider our behaviour – but we don’t necessarily have to stand in silence
February 2022
Mitski: Laurel Hell review – a deep dive you can dance to
The indie artist delivers devastating emotional truths and unsettling imagery – with sharp hooks and an 80s pop sheen
The Guide newsletter
The Guide #20: Joe Rogan is just one rogue in podcasting’s wild west
In this week’s newsletter: the beauty of podcasts is that anyone can start one and be successful. But that also means Rogan’s is far from the first show to get out of hand
Mitski, the US’s best young songwriter: ‘I’m a black hole where people dump their feelings’
With songs about heartbreak and capitalism, the cult pop singer is on the brink of the mainstream – but the intensity of her fandom has her fearing for her safety
January 2022
Today in Focus
Culture 2022: what to watch, read and listen to this year
Guardian critics Charlotte Northedge, Ben Beaumont-Thomas and Simran Hans look ahead to the best of the year in culture
