Sincerity or self-branding: what defines millennial music?
From the unstoppable rise of hip-hop to the 'millennial whoop', what does today's new music sound like? And how has social media changed the relations...
FT Life of a Song
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Each month FT music critics and contributors discuss the story of a song, from its origins and early recordings through cover versions good and bad. Formerly called FT Arts.
Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights
When "Wuthering Heights" was released 40 years ago this year, it became the first song written and performed by a woman to reach number one in the UK ...
1968: The Year that Music Changed
Set against a backdrop of protest and upheaval, the songs released in 1968 represent a turning point in music. FT pop writers David Cheal and Peter As...
The best Christmas music: a definitive guide
What makes a good Christmas song? Should it be cheesy or serious? And why do millennials love them? FT pop writers discuss festive classics old and ne...
The Life of a Song: Strange Fruit
Billie Holiday’s 1939 'Strange Fruit' was called 'the first significant protest in words and music, the first unmuted cry against racism'. Other singe...
The Life of a Song: Make You Feel My Love
From Bob Dylan to Adele, the song that was first called 'a spare ballad undermined by greetingcard lyrics' is now a karaoke tearjerker. FT pop writers...
The Hits that Shook the World
In a special episode to mark the publication of The Life of a Song book, FT pop critics Helen Brown, David Cheal and Ludovic Hunter-Tilney debate whet...
The Life of a Song: Wild Thing
It achieved distinction in an era of elemental riffs, and journeyed effortlessly to and fro across the Atlantic. It also marked a turning point in the...
The Life of a Song: Elvis Presley's Heartbreak Hotel
The singer’s old label boss called the song ‘a morbid mess’, but it shot to number one in the US. Ahead of the 40th anniversary of Elvis’s death in Au...
The Life of a Song: Radiohead's No Surprises
Twenty years after they headlined Glastonbury, Radiohead return to the British music festival. FT pop writers Ludovic Hunter-Tilney and David Cheal di...