review Jul 31
Tyla's A*POP Makes the Case for African Pop Without Borders
The South African star uses her second album to make global scale feel like an extension of home rather than an exit from it.
Editorial
Stories with the music left in.
News, conversations, local scenes, new voices, and releases worth spending time with.
feature Jul 30
Asake's M$NEY Film Turns a Release Cycle Into a Live Archive
A London stage, a 40-piece orchestra, and five unheard songs show how a concert film can deepen an album instead of merely advertising it.
spotlight Jul 28
Nairobi's Greasy Tunes Turns Listening Data Into a Meeting Place
Spotify built a two-week program around how young Nairobi listens. The revealing part is what happened when the playlist left the screen.
The latest
All stories
feature Jul 26
25 Million Playlists Later, Nigeria's Listening Boom Is Still Local
Five years of platform data shows enormous growth, but the most important signal is not export success. It is what Nigerian listeners choose at home.
feature Jul 24
Music Passed $31.7 Billion. Where Does Africa Fit?
The global recorded-music business grew again in 2025. Sub-Saharan Africa grew much faster, yet the size and distribution of its recorded revenue tells a more complicated story.
feature Dec 13
“Grown Woman”: Beyoncé’s Ten-Year Road to Streaming
Previewed in a Pepsi campaign, performed on tour and released first as a bonus video, “Grown Woman” spent a decade hiding in plain sight.
feature Jul 29
Inside Beyoncé’s Songwriting: Credits, Collaboration and the Myths Between
Beyoncé’s credits reveal a collaborative method built on demos, vocal composition, samples and radical revision—not the simple fraud-or-genius story argued online.
feature Dec 14
How Sia’s Leaked “Hologram” Found a Second Life in Vox Lux
The song circulated without authorization in 2016, attracted an unproven Lady Gaga theory, then emerged legitimately—sung by Raffey Cassidy—on the Vox Lux soundtrack.
spotlight Dec 14
The Strange Afterlife of Sia’s Unreleased “Blinded by Love”
A leaked Sia demo was never a *This Is Acting* track. Its composition found an authorized home years later in Natalie Portman’s fictional pop world.
feature Jun 9
Katy Perry’s “Witness”: How a Dubious Leak Became the Key to Her Most Exposed Album
Before “Witness” titled a No. 1 album, a Twitter hack produced an uncertain demo. Its journey clarifies what was leaked—and what Perry officially released.
feature Nov 4
“Water Under the Bridge” and Adele’s Suspenseful Love Song
Adele’s most rhythmic single from 25 is not about a romance already forgotten—it captures the anxious wait to learn whether love will last.
feature Oct 9
“Make a Baby”: The Nicki Minaj Demo Meant for Ciara
Minaj’s own comments transformed an anonymous old leak into a rare documented writing demo, though its producer, session date, and future remain unresolved.
feature Oct 7
OneRepublic at the Crossroads: From “Oh My My” to “No Vacancy”
The band’s ambitious fourth album, Ryan Tedder’s burnout and a tropical-pop standalone single reveal a career forced to rethink the album cycle.
spotlight Sep 9
Jacob Whitesides and the Promise of the DIY Pop Star
The Tennessee singer converted online intimacy into charting independent releases, his own label and a 2016 debut album that tested the limits of fan-powered pop.
feature Aug 12
“Super Natural”: When Danny L Harle’s Synthetic Pop Found Carly Rae Jepsen
The 2016 collaboration was neither a leak nor a Jepsen album track, but a carefully released meeting between PC Music’s maximalism and pop’s great romantic.
feature Jul 1
How Delta Goodrem Found Freedom on Wings of the Wild
Goodrem’s fifth album was neither a leaked project nor an extended version of “Wings,” but a carefully staged Australian pop comeback built around resilience and release.
feature Jul 1
Inside “Don’t Hurt Me,” Mustard’s Sleek Nicki Minaj and Jeremih Team-Up
A Tidal premiere, a wider July release and a surreal animated video gave Mustard’s 2016 collaboration a more complicated history than its hook suggests.
spotlight Jun 24
How Sia’s “Waving Goodbye” Closed The Neon Demon
Sia and Diplo’s bruising end-credits song was an authorized soundtrack release—not a leak—and its place in The Neon Demon gives its breakup language a darker edge.
spotlight Jun 24
Inside Broods and Tove Lo’s Cathartic ‘Freak of Nature’
The slow-burning centerpiece of Broods’ second album began as an intensely personal New Zealand demo before Tove Lo helped turn it into a formidable duet.
spotlight Jun 20
How Dreezy Found a New Voice on “Close to You”
The Chicago rapper’s 2016 T-Pain duet was an official album single, not a leak—and its restrained R&B sound revealed an artist testing her full range.
feature Jun 20
How Common Helped Turn “Running” Into a Refugee-Solidarity Song
Released for World Refugee Day in 2016, “Running” joined Common and Gregory Porter with Keyon Harrold, Andrea Pizziconi and a purpose beyond the charts.
spotlight Jun 17
G.R.L.’s ‘Like I Do’: The Leak Mistaken for a Comeback Single
A low-quality track appeared beside news of G.R.L.’s return in June 2016, but the group’s documented reunion ultimately began with different members and different music.
feature Jun 17
Why Sia and Nicky Jam’s “Cheap Thrills” Remix Is More Than a Footnote
Released at the height of the song’s rise, the authorized Spanglish remix reframed Sia’s hit for Latin pop without replacing its better-known Sean Paul version.