Reilly Hodson looks at the best music videos of the year so far and how they’re commenting on these messed up times. In a world where music consumption seems to occur mostly with headphones plugged into a phone in one’s pocket, it’s easy to overlook the art of the music video. What was once one … Read more
Yesterday, Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s album ‘Everything Is Love’ was released with no warning. Is it any good? If Lemonade was the release and 4:44 was the repentance, then Everything Is Love is, indisputably, the glorious reconciliation. Over the weekend, the Carters released the closing chapter of their conceptual trilogy via the online streaming service Tidal. It’s … Read more
For The Spinoff Music, the big question of the day isn’t what dress Meghan Markle is going to wear, but what song she’ll be dancing to with Harry. Thanks to Spotify, here’s our best guess. Choosing a song to have your first dance to as a married couple is either super easy or super hard. … Read more
Last night, over wifi, Jogai Bhatt witnessed Beyonce turn one of the whitest functions of the year – Coachella – into a glorious ode to Black artistry. I’ve started writing this piece around eight times now. I’ve lost sleep over it. I missed breakfast over it. I was nearly late to work over it. And that’s … Read more
Fergie’s album Double Dutchess dropped last month. It is, for whatever reason, a visual album. Sam Brooks dove deep. Fergie occupies a strange place in our pop culture. After a girl group stint few people remember, she became famous as the most recognisable voice of one of the biggest bands of the 21st century thus … Read more
After weeks of working sources deep inside New Zealand’s political parties, Henry Oliver reveals the songs dominating the office stereos at campaign headquarters.* * Not really. We freely admit this entire playlist is a work of speculative fiction. National Eminem – ‘Lose Yourself’ A source tells the Spinoff that, despite the trouble caused by the … Read more
Miriama Aoake listens to Jay-Z’s new album 4:44 and finds the rapper full of introspection, self-criticism and, ultimately, black empowerment. A couple of weeks ago, Jay-Z was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame by Barack Obama, unanimously nominated by his industry peers. He was the first rapper to receive the honour. The following week, … Read more
The Spinoff and Spark proudly present Pod On The Couch, a weekly podcast exploring music and the people that make it. This episode: Kate Robertson and Duncan Greive join host Henry Oliver to talk about music business and culture in the year 2016. Spinoff Music editor Henry Oliver talks to contributing critic Kate Robertson and The … Read more
Alex Casey talks to Debbie Stoller, editor-in-chief of feminist magazine BUST, on the power of nail polish, reclaiming knitting and what pop culture can tell us about society. I remember the first time that I saw a copy of BUST magazine in the central Auckland library, presented to me as a teenager by dear friend … Read more
The fifth episode of our weekly pop music chat for umusic, shot and edited by The Spinoff’s own José Barbosa. It involves two pop rookies – The Spinoff’s Alex Casey and bFM’s Joseph Harper – listening to state-of-the-art pop music and having a chat about it. Simple. This week they discuss water safety, Ellie Goulding … Read more