The best albums of 2025 so far
Bon Iver straddles stark indie-folk and poppy R&B while PinkPantheress makes an unarguable case for going out out as we revisit six months of the music you mustn’t miss
Taylor Swift granted restraining order against alleged stalker
Forty-five-year-old Brian Jason Wagner reportedly made numerous visits to Swift’s Los Angeles home and claimed he shared a child with her
Sly Stone obituary
Funk and soul musician whose band, Sly and the Family Stone, had a profound effect on US music in the 1960s and 70s
‘I’m closer to the end than the beginning’: British soul legend Omar on EastEnders, Stevie Wonder and his industry battles
He’s worked with the cream of US neo-soul and is seen as a national treasure by his peers – so why is Omar underrated? From hits to label struggles, he revisits the highs and lows
Governors Ball 2025: Olivia Rodrigo and Hozier reign over New York festival
While there were less zeitgeisty moments in this edition, acts like Young Miko and Benson Boone still brought energy to New York’s cheaper Coachella
Sly Stone, pioneering funk and soul musician, dies aged 82
American songwriter lit up generations of dancefloors with his group Sly and the Family Stone
‘I watched Bob Dylan play tennis with three of the Beatles’: how we made the Isle of Wight festival
‘It’s a myth that Jimi Hendrix played while the stage was on fire. It was a firework’
Pitbull review – like a children’s party, but with loads of booze
With a hedonistic seize-the-day message, the pop-rapper resembles a cult leader or motivational speaker – and his followers are willing to overlook the faults in his live show
Pulp review – Jarvis Cocker’s captivating comeback turns a rapt crowd rapturous
On a kitschy 1970s chatshow set, the Sheffield band play hits from across their career – and fans welcome their just-released album tracks like old friends
‘The breakup was like an amputation that saves you’: Cate Le Bon on healing from heartache and her heavy new album
After a long relationship ended painfully, the acclaimed singer-producer swapped the Californian desert for south Wales – and set to work on her most emotionally direct record yet. ‘It’s been discombobulating,’ she says
Rodeo drive: Beyoncé UK tour spurs cowboy fashion craze
Singer’s western-inspired Cowboy Carter tour is reminder of pop culture’s sway over shopping behaviour
Want to see Oasish play GlastonBarry? Well, you can! How tribute festivals ‘grew into a monster’
More than 30 outdoor music events including Tribfest and Big Fake Festival are taking the UK by storm
Addison Rae: Addison review – 2025’s most refreshing star revels in pop’s shallow pleasures
The one-time TikTok dancer’s remarkably cohesive debut spans Jersey club to R&B, and defies an obsession with ‘lore’ to suggest that the best pop isn’t that deep
Add to playlist: the genre-swerving chaos of eight-piece collective Parade and the week’s best new tracks
Determined to dodge every pigeonhole, the band’s forthcoming mixtape veers from lulling acoustic to nightmarish noise, free jazz to prog post-rock
Witch: Sogolo review – Zamrock originators in joyously punchy form
After the band’s 2023 reunion and a revamp of members comes this imaginative and playful set showing 74-year-old Emmanuel ‘Jagari’ Chanda’s undiminished vocal power