Poetry, as it has been said, is like love in that almost anything that one says about it is true. But is almost any music to which a poem can be set somehow “true” as well, if only to the poem’s spirit?

The singers and musicians behind three new albums apparently think so.

Rappers and women scored groundbreaking victories Sunday night in Los Angeles at the 61st annual Grammy Awards. The night’s most prestigious honors went to country singer Kacey Musgraves, who won album of the year for Golden Hour, and rapper Childish Gambino, who received the record and song of the year awards for “This is America.” Until last night, a rap song had never won in those two categories.

Actor Liam Neeson is facing public outrage and condemnation from civil rights advocates this week after a British newspaper published an interview where he described a racist incident that occurred nearly 40 years ago.

Some celebrities are shunning Super Bowl LIII—which pits the New England Patriots against the Los Angeles Rams—amid controversy over the National Football League’s policy on player protests.

A number of artists, including Jay-Z, Pink, and Rihanna, reportedly declined invitations to perform in the big game’s halftime show Sunday in Atlanta, and comedian Amy Schumer refused to appear in a commercial during the game.

Working the Long Game

Bill Lloyd

Republic Records’ various-artists soundtrack to Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse does for state-of-the-art pop music what the film does for state-of-the-art pop cinema: prove that the hippest and coolest technological gimmickry can be put at the service of something other than low-balling tripe. Not one of its 13 cuts veers into profanity or celebrates greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, or sloth.

Wake the World: The Friends Sessions

The Beach Boys