Latest articles by Ben Rogerson
In an era of loudness, Laufey is flying the flag for "the lost art of dynamics"
Her spine-tingling cover of Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides Now suggests she might be onto something
Miley Cyrus’s lawyers bring music theory to the fore in a bid to have the Flowers copyright case dismissed
Cyrus and her co-writers are facing a copyright infringement claim not from Mars himself, but Tempo Music Investments
How politics and legal wrangling shaped the Melania documentary soundtrack
Marc Beckman says that they were also denied permission to use songs by Prince and Grace Jones
How Christina Aguilera ended up recording a Linda Perry song that its writer has now reclaimed
"Christina, she’s not me, you know? And I’m not Christina"
Baz Luhrmann says that Paul McCartney convinced Austin Butler to sing an Elvis song with him on a train
They both had a ticket to ride, presumably (but we don't care)
Can Spotify’s Prompted Playlist feature put you back in the driving seat when it comes to your music listening?
Instead of being force fed playlists by the algorithm, you can now try and make it work for you
How Charlie Puth used jazz harmony to “pull off something pretty spectacular” at the Super Bowl
“I have the whole arrangement in my head," said Puth in an interview prior to the performance. "I musically know where I’m going with it”
Chris Lake said yes to a Taylor Swift remix before he'd even heard the stems - but then had to make it
“I want to nail this so badly," he says in a behind-the-scenes video. "I want this to, like, blow people's socks off, you know?”
How the gift of a divisive Rolling Stones album scuppered the chance of a collaboration between Nile Rodgers and John Mayer
Rodgers believes that the 1967 record in question is "the most underrated rock and roll album of all time”
Producer Mike Sabath on starting Raye’s “outrageous” second studio album at an Airbnb
“Mark Ronson DM’d me. He was like, ‘Nice.’ And I was like, ‘yeah!’”
Greg Phillinganes schools Clyde Lawrence on how to play the piano part in Toto’s Rosanna correctly
The Lawrence member had been tasked with learning the song by ear as quickly as possible
"It will always be my favourite”: Howard Jones takes you on a tour of the synth he’s owned since 1983
“The way it spits out those notes is incredible,” he says. “The attack… I just miss that on modern keyboards”
Tony Banks says that virtuoso technique was never his priority, but avoiding "lazy" chord progressions was
As for the chances of a Genesis reunion: "don't hold your breath"
James Taylor explains how he had to tell Carole King that he’d recorded one of her greatest songs before she did
“I was sure I knew the song already because it was such a classic immediately,” he says. “I literally ran to find my guitar so I could play it”
How Charlie Puth used manifestation and Melodyne to get Kenny G on his new single
And in a further twist, they’ve just performed the US National Anthem together at the Super Bowl
How Janet Jackson and Jam & Lewis made Control, the classic album that's just turned 40
“We were like, let's make a record like we're making it for a rock and roller or a rap artist. Let's make the beats super hard"
Alex Honnold reveals just how much Tool he listened to during his free climb of the Taipei 101 skyscraper
“I just know how long the songs are,” says Honnold. “So it gives you a sense of if you’re going fast or slow”
“I’m just a piano tuner, man”: Could Tuner be the audiology thriller we never knew we needed?
A perfect pitch for a movie?
Anderson .Paak on how the death of a music legend inspired Dang!, a 2016 pop-rap masterpiece
“He sat with it for like, a couple weeks and sent it back,” he says of Miller’s contribution. “He had his verse. He had put horns on it, and that's when I realised, ‘Oh, he's like, a producer, too. He's a real musician’”
Timothée Chalamet says that he had to self-fund his Bob Dylan musical performances on Saturday Night Live
The actor ended up performing three Bob Dylan songs while promoting A Complete Unknown, and says that he "refused to take no for an answer"
Bruno Mars and Rosé deliver a hard rock version of APT at the Grammy Awards
The song was inspired by a Korean drinking game
Justin Bieber played an ‘80s Yamaha electric guitar and an Akai MPC Live III in his underwear at the Grammys
He kept his socks on for Yukon
The making of Zara Larsson's 2015 hit, Lush Life, and the original version you might never have heard
"Looking back now I’m very happy that the change happened,” songwriter Linnea Södahl would later recall
