‘We look like soft, made-up blokes, but we’re really tough’: Duran Duran on 80s excess, tabloid scrutiny and their Halloween glow-up

They spent their heyday on yachts, then rolled up their sleeves in the wilderness years. Ahead of a Halloween show at the O2, pop’s great survivors explain their staying power

‘I’d wander through the park all angsty listening to Arctic Monkeys’: Arlo Parks’ honest playlist

The singer shamelessly blasts Lady Gaga in the car, and is brought to tears by Portishead – but which song does she have to be careful listening to?

Geordie Greep denies sexual assault allegations from stage in Vancouver

While some heard the former Black Midi frontman out, others made for the exit as he addressed accusations

Tame Impala review – Kevin Parker ricochets between musical uppers and downers in eye-popping arena show

Melancholic newer tracks sit uncomfortably alongside the chunky psychedelia and hazy prog-rock the Australian band is known for

Add to playlist: the fizzing fuzz-pop racket of Pushbike and the week’s best new tracks

Drawing from post-hardcore, twee and emo, the Exeter trio’s intoxicating energy feels like an invitation to form your own band

Jess Williamson: A Mile South of Heaven review – alt-country singer’s love-hate affair with LA

Following 2023 breakout Time Ain’t Accidental, the best songs here are when Williamson strips back country music, rebuilding it as something familiar yet different

Troye Sivan: She’s the Best review – a strange, singular pop star who deserves to be multiplatinum

Adored by the A-list and filling arenas, but without huge smash hits, the Australian singer treads his own distinctive path through pop via shoegaze, Balearic and the Smiths

Fierce, frantic and loaded with menace: Fontaines DC’s 20 greatest songs – ranked!

Ahead of the Irish alt-rockers’ highly anticipated fifth album, Dopamine Chamber, we count down their potent, occasionally political, catalogue

Freddie Jackson, romantic US singer with 10 R&B chart-toppers, dies aged 70

Celebrated for his earnest, dextrous voice, Jackson crossed into the pop charts with the hits Rock Me Tonight (For Old Times Sake) and You Are My Lady

The west has a blinkered view of African music – and it’s hurting the whole continent’s culture

The term Afrobeats is applied to all sorts of genres, flattening them into one. Artists, media and the music industry must do better at showing off the richness of African pop

Olivia Dean review – a powerful, affirming night with a pop star at the height of her powers

The singer’s first stop on her Australia and New Zealand tour is a fun but sincere demonstration of the power of pop to get at what love’s all about

Sass Jordan, Canadian rock singer-songwriter, dies aged 65

Musician who had hit albums with Racine and Rats later became a judge on six seasons of Canadian Idol

The Undertones review – silver-haired fans get Teenage Kicks once more

Derry’s answer to the Ramones play 30 songs in a breakneck and breathless ride through the punk humour and new-wave surrealism of their repertoire

‘I can’t listen to Pink Floyd – I find their music dreary’: Elvis Costello’s honest playlist

The singer-songwriter owes a lot to Georgie Fame and likes the romantic side of Jimi Hendrix – but which ringtone song can put him in a bad mood?

Ella Hooper: ‘Most embarrassing celebrity encounter? I said the classic thing you don’t ever say to Billy Bragg’

The Australian singer-songwriter on misheard Killing Heidi lyrics, going solo after a chat with Stevie Nicks, and being a shit secret keeper