When YouTube’s algorithm resurrected Mariya Takeuchi’s “Plastic Love” in the late 2010s, an entire generation of Western listeners suddenly “discovered” Japanese pop, decades after it first soundtracked Tokyo’s bubble-era nightlife. Yet the global conversation around Japanese music still tends to be flattened into two boxes: anime theme songs or nostalgic city pop thumbnails. Neither tells the full story.

Oasis have always had a strange relationship with the idea of being over. 

When we think of Western pop and rock music, the first things that come to mind are catchy riffs and melodies, references to having a good time, and whatnot, but hidden within the discographies of a surprising number of Western artists, are songs sampling Sanskrit verses composed thousands of years ago as part of an oral tradition to preserve and pass down sacred knowledge across generations. Quite the tonal whiplash if you’d ask me. 

Today, with over 51% of Americans finding the Dream economically unachievable, Lana Del Rey uses her 2019 album Norman F***ing Rockwell! to navigate the sorrowful loss of the American Dream.

On August 29, Olivia Rodrigo brought together 45,000 people in Irvine, California, for the first ever Daisy Chain Fields. The one-day festival featured an entirely women-led lineup, ranging from rising acts like Doechii and Chappell Roan to established artists like Garbage, Bikini Kill, and the Breeders.