“Can I be basic with you?” Norwegian singer Sigrid Raabe offers on her debut LP. In a moment where many aspiring pop artists pile on heroic pretensions, the idea of aspiring to normal-ness is refreshing, especially since the music that undergirds her lyrics is anything but basic – part openhearted …

The victimization of white America put forth by conservatives and right-wing media has taken hold, according to the results in a new poll from Hill-HarrisX. A whopping 75 percent of registered Republican voters said that white Americans face discrimination. A majority of Independents, 55 percent, sided with Republicans and said …

Sara Bareilles battles post-break-up despair on her new ballad “No Such Thing.” “Tell me how to start what comes after you,” she asks, as a piano flutters and somber strings swell around her. “I am in the dark.” But by the end of the song, Bareilles gives up trying to …

“Pure Water” is about diamonds, not water. “‘Pure Water,’ the music video,” is about throwing paint-filled balloons, not diamonds. It’s a little confusing, but Migos and Mustard are agents of subverted expectations. The Colin Tilley-directed visual is built on various set pieces that never fully coalesce, but look cool enough …

In the wake of last week’s damning Congressional testimony by Michael Cohen, the president’s former lawyer-fixer, it’s a smart time to search for precedent. Picture a White House mired in scandal and ever-widening investigations. The administration digs in and fights back. An executive wages war on the investigators by dismissing …

When JD McPherson released his Christmas album Socks last year, it became an instant classic for anyone who craved a bit of retro cheer — but the Nashville-based artist doesn’t confine himself to just one holiday. In honor of Mardi Gras, McPherson has released a video for “Jubilee,” a potent …

Solange carries her history like a talisman. It’s there to remind her — and us — how to remain grounded while moving forward. WithWhen I Get Home, she pays tribute to her roots in Houston by presenting a therapeutic and transfixing scrapbook that seamlessly brings together the past and the …

Considering the various objects that have bestowed time traveling abilities on unsuspecting pop culture figures — DeLoreans, infinity stones, hot tubs — an elevator isn’t the least plausible avenue through the space-time continuum. It’s unclear why 2 Chainz decided on an elevator-set, chronology-twisting narrative for his “Money In The Way” …

Stephan Ellis, the former bassist for the quintessential Eighties arena rock outfit Survivor, has died at the age of 69. Survivor’s longtime guitarist, Frankie Sullivan, confirmed Ellis’ death on the band’s Facebook. No cause of death was revealed. “We are devastated to hear that Stephan Ellis has passed away,” Sullivan …

“I think it’s time I make a statement on disability,” JJ DiMeo (Micah Fowler) announces early in this week’s episode of the ABC sitcom Speechless. This is something of a surprise from both JJ and the show itself, both of which have worked very hard to keep JJ from being …