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Olivia Newton-John, a sexy nerd for the rest of us

Olivia Newton-John at a London press conference in 1978. The pop singer, actress and activist died August 8 at 73. Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption

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Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Olivia Newton-John, a sexy nerd for the rest of us

August 14, 2022 • She was never just that prim prude from the start of Grease, nor the strutting vamp from its finale. Her superpower, for over 50 years, was embodying both at once.

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Coup de Foudre: 30 songs for your summer crush

While she speaks, you've already made life plans. You will quit your job. You will move to Montréal. Dammit, you will learn French. Vanessa Leroy/NPR hide caption

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Vanessa Leroy/NPR

Roséwave: Coup de Foudre

Your eyes meet and you know it's too late. The French-speaking Montréalais call it un coup de foudre — love strikes like a sudden thunderstorm. She makes you a playlist of her Canadian faves.

Comic book artist Daniel Warren Johnson (Murder Falcon, Extremity) illustrates the music of Viking's Choice. Horns up! Daniel Warren Johnson hide caption

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Daniel Warren Johnson

Viking's Choice

This week: Raymond Byron's mystic folk, Crestfallen Dusk's Hill Country black metal, Iceberg's free-jazz skronk, L.O.T.I.O.N.'s digital hardcore, The Soft Pink Truth's avant-disco.

Disco Beethoven Chris Sharron hide caption

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Chris Sharron

Classical music is alive and well in America. Hear vibrant tracks from 10 contemporary composers, including Meredith Monk, Joan Tower, Carlos Simon Jerod Tate and even a string-driven take on Beyoncé's classic "Halo."

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#NowPlaying: Essential New Music Playlist

NPR Music staff and NPR Member stations share today's essential new music that makes us dance, smile and weep.

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Le bon temps continue to roll on Cajun radio in Southern Louisiana

Jackie Miller and Mike Perrone host the KVPI morning show in Cajun French in Ville Platte, La. Emily Kask for NPR hide caption

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Emily Kask for NPR

Le bon temps continue to roll on Cajun radio in Southern Louisiana

Eight radio stations in Southern Louisiana still broadcast partially in French as they try to keep alive a dying language in the area. French has been spoken there since the mid-1700s.

Reimagined for a new era, boleros become songs of gendered rebellion

A generation of contemporary artists are drawing on the lessons of the past to reimagine the classic bolero. Left to right: Olga Guillot, La Lupe, and Doris Anahí Victor Bizar Gomez for NPR hide caption

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Victor Bizar Gomez for NPR

Reimagined for a new era, boleros become songs of gendered rebellion

A new wave of artists are reimagining the classic bolero, rising above its gendered tropes and sharpening its quietly feminist rebellion for the contemporary moment.

Interpreting the music of Julius Eastman, Wild Up honors the composer's vastness

What Wild Up unearths on Julius Eastman, Vol. 2: Joy Boy is more than just music, it's a set of relations and modes of comporting in the world that risk trading fleeting, worldly praise to regain the eternal soul. Ron Hammond hide caption

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Ron Hammond