2025 Marks Pop Music’s Gilded Age
Embracing craft alongside vulnerability in the 2020s, pop music reaches the apex of its powers in 2025 by reveling in its own glamorous facade.
joni mitchell
Persona and Modern Music in 17 Songs
Persona, the “I” of the song, has evolved and expanded to more fully represent a diversity of experiences and emotional, political, and cultural orientations.
Joni Mitchell Inspires and Unsettles a Memoirist’s Life
Reverence for Joni Mitchell is clear in Paul Lisicky’s memoir. So, too, is an artistic courage that both inspires and unsettles him.
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The 30 Best Album Re-Issues of 2024
The year’s best album re-issues include rock legends, essential R&B artists, classic pop, jazz, alternative rock, global beats and so much more.
5 Superb Recent Books Blending Music and Personal Narrative
Music writing often combines the personal, political, and historical in new and inventive ways revealing the interconnectedness of these categories.
JazzMatters: The Best New Jazz of Winter 2024
PopMatters presents the best new jazz recordings from the winter of 2024 and reflects on the relationship of the Grammys to jazz.
Joni Mitchell’s ‘Court and Spark’ Still Smolders at 50
While the shift from folk to jazz-rock on Joni Mitchell’s Court and Spark may seem like commercial ambition, it was layered and signaled a profound change.
Featured: Top of Home Page/Features/Lists/Music/Music Features/PopMatters Picks/The Best Music of 2023
The 30 Best Album Re-Issues of 2023
The year’s best album re-issues include rock legends, essential R&B/soul artists, classic pop, jazz, alternative rock, global beats and so much more.
Joni Mitchell’s Archival ‘Volume 3’ Documents Her Most Fertile Period
Joni Mitchell’s Archives Vol. 3: The Asylum Years (1972-1975) is a towering achievement and the live concert performances are a special treat.
Joni Mitchell Ages Gracefully on the Imperfect ‘At Newport’
Joni Mitchell has never needed anything more than an acoustic guitar to get her emotions, intelligence, and entire worlds across to her audience.
Joni Mitchell at Newport: Still Sees Life From Both Sides
Cementing her legacy as pop’s greatest storyteller, Joni Mitchell doesn’t shy away from the grey areas of her work even as her career enters its twilight.
Fact or Fiction: Joni Mitchell’s Debut ‘Song to a Seagull’ at 55
Joni Mitchell’s debut Song to a Seagull is painted with broad brushstrokes she would draw from in different shades throughout her career.