Angst-filled black metal music became my identity. Until I was persuaded to really listen to the lyrics

My teenage self loved the misanthropic look and sound of these bands, but I was horrified when I learned what they represented, says novelist Ana Schnabl

Colorful Stage! The Movie: A Miku Who Can’t Sing review – candy-haired popsters put on a show

A garbled story of metaverse musicians based on a mobile game leaves its audience little to grasp hold of

The emblem of modern Ireland? Not fiddles and Guinness but a soulless shopping plaza

The singer CMAT dances around a retail centre in a video for her new album. It is the elegy those of us who grew up in the post-Celtic tiger recession have been craving, says Irish writer Emer McHugh

Relocating Notting Hill carnival would kill it off, says Usain Bolt on first visit

Olympian joins in Europe’s biggest street party, the future of which is at risk from lack of sponsors and funding

‘Ride it, my orca’: my strange, sexy day at the Ginuwine SeaWorld concert

The R&B star’s unlikely set during SeaWorld’s ‘viral’ summer shows became a stylish lesson in how to age as a performer with dignity

‘Optimism is very important, especially now’: why Sammy Virji’s joyful dance tracks are conquering the world

His masterful mix of all that is good from the UK bass scene has led to Coachella success and collabs with Giggs and Skepta – the future looks bright for this bashful star

Composer John Williams says he ‘never liked film music very much’

Exclusive: The creator of some of cinema’s most memorable music says it pales in comparison to the great works

Y2K fashion and vinyl grooves: meet Abidjan’s young guardians of nostalgia

Two Ivorian archivists are documenting bygone eras in music and pop culture for younger African generations

‘I was a bit scared of success’: jazz-pop star Laufey on filling arenas, mansplainers, and confronting the haters

With her retro blend of jazz-pop, the Icelandic artist seems an unlikely superstar. She discusses her surprising path to fame – and how much of her personal life she is willing to put into her music

‘Luke Combs has ruined Fast Car for me’: Martha Wainwright’s honest playlist

The folk-pop star would try Fleetwood Mac at karaoke and is scarred by her parents’ sex music. But which musical theatre ballad does she secretly like?

David Byrne, Little Simz, Jasmine.4.t and more: the best music of autumn 2025

From CMAT’s provocative pop to Taylor Swift’s 12th album, plus tours from Kneecap, Lady Gaga and Stereolab, here’s the pop not to miss – while in classical, Mark-Anthony Turnage adapts The Railway Children

‘Not everyone can handle it!’ Discover the raunchy, relentless sounds taking over Caribbean carnivals

At Notting Hill carnival this weekend you’ll hear the sound of bouyon and Dennery Segment, mutated subgenres full of sexualised lyrics. The creators explain how this deliriously fun music went viral

Eddington to Deftones: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead

Midsommar director Ari Aster’s latest is a neo-western starring Joaquin Phoenix, while the perennial California metallers return with another album of apocalyptic noise

Obsession, blackmail and Instagram: inside Lurker, the year’s most compelling thriller

The Talented Mr Ripley gets an upgrade in a buzzy and biting film about a desperate outsider who infiltrates the inner circle of a singer on the rise

Emma Louise on her late-in-life autism diagnosis: ‘I wish I knew earlier, because I’ve suffered so much’

The singer’s diagnoses with autism and ADHD have fueled a collaborative album with Flume titled Dumb – a word that ‘captures everything that I’ve had to overcome’