The world was left mesmerised by Normani’s flexibility in ‘Motivation’. Chloe X Halle’s backyard tennis court has become as renowned as Wimbledon. Einstein has been shamed and outclassed since Rina Sawayama invented musicality.  With an increasing turn of critically-acclaimed work, this is a new age of pop with people of colour (POC) at the centre.    […]

Five on it imagery: composite artist photos from YouTube If you’re feeling overwhelmed (at best) lately, that’s no surprise. Bad news keeps rolling in around the globe but, unlike in normal times, we can’t be there to hold one another through it all. Instead, we are more plugged in than ever and the privilege of […]

Remembering the first time she played the guitar, Bea Kristi Laus shrugs her shoulders: “Everything made sense.” Her simple but poignant answer feels telling. Bea – best known as beabadoobee – makes music that feels effortlessly striking. In fact, NME has described her as “devastatingly cool”, an interpretation that Bea cringes at.“It’s so weird”, she […]

Five on it photography: image of Jess Fisher via Reshape Music Understandably, it feels like everyone has been fuming lately. Fuming about the government’s response to the pandemic, fuming about the ongoing destruction of the creative industries, fuming about already-precarious jobs becoming more and more insecure. But the thing is, for a lot of people […]

anaïs and Azekel photography by Lynn Hayleigh What comes to your mind when you think of Black love? For some it might be Love & Basketball for others it might be Barack and Michelle Obama. Whatever the case, Black love is important and something we often don’t see represented in mainstream media.  Singers anaïs and […]

2020 has been… a year. It can be hard to find joy amongst the chaos. But as I’ve listened to Demae’s solo debut album Life Works Out … Usually, the introspective lyrics paired with the soulful jazz-infused sounds have soothed me into a state of calm and acceptance.  Demae is a London-based Nigerian-Jamaican singer, songwriter […]

Five on it photograph: screenshot of Chip via YouTube video for ‘Flowers’ If the past few months have taught me anything, it’s an appreciation for genuinely engrossing distraction. I want my brain to be consumed by entertainment so I don’t spiral endlessly into The News or The Real World (not to be confused with seminal […]

It is difficult to overstate the impact of Mariah Carey.  Within just the first five years of her career (1990-1995), she had topped the Billboard charts 10 times. Her Boyz II Men collaboration ‘One Sweet Day’ spent so long at #1 (a record-setting 16 weeks) that it would be 22 years, and the introduction of […]

Supported by Deezer / Photography by Sophie Jones A South London babe through and through, Ms Banks has powered her way to the top of UK rap through a series of hard hitting bars complemented by her alluring, husky tone. Balancing the glamour of fiery wigs, diamante-encrusted acrylic nails with the matter-of-fact realism in her […]

Five on it photography is Stush performing at gal-dem’s fourth print launch party Who is your favourite DJ? Where’s your favourite venue? What was your favourite club night? It feels weird trying to conjure up memories of the before times as we spiral into the cold and autumnal months of 2020, and the idea of […]

Supported by Deezer UK rap has been a driving force behind the notable shift in the landscape of Black British music in the last couple of years. The spectrum of Black sounds, which have only recently become embraceable to significant media markets and outlets, show in our streaming habits, allowing us to reflect on what […]

Lady Antebellum photo from Wikimedia Commons, Lady A photo from artist’s album artwork In June this year, country music group Lady Antebellum tweeted out that they would be changing their stage name after recognising some cultural “blind spots” and the racially charged associations with their name. Lady Antebellum joined the lengthy list of brands and […]