Music Features : NPR

Pharrell Williams On Juxtaposition And Seeing Sounds

Pharrell Williams. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Pharrell Williams On Juxtaposition And Seeing Sounds

December 31, 2013 • The Grammy-nominated songwriter and producer breaks down his three-step writing process, recalls his history in Virginia Beach with Chad Hugo and Teddy Riley, and says anybody can do what he does.

Pharrell Williams On Juxtaposition And Seeing Sounds

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20 Years Ago, De La Soul Refused To Go Pop

David Jude Jolicoeur aka Trugoy (from left), Vincent Mason aka P.A. Mase and Kelvin Mercer aka Posdnuos pose for a portrait outside the Apollo Theater in Harlem in September 1993. David Corio/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images hide caption

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David Corio/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

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20 Years Ago, De La Soul Refused To Go Pop

December 30, 2013 • De La's third album, Buhloone Mindstate, challenged the music industry — an industry then obsessed with hip-hop's crossover success — and went on to become a classic.

20 Years Ago, De La Soul Refused To Go Pop

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A Rational Conversation: Darren Davis Of Clear Channel On New Christmas Songs

Our alternate headline: Why Nobody Will Ever Top Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You." YouTube hide caption

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A Rational Conversation: Darren Davis Of Clear Channel On New Christmas Songs

December 24, 2013 • An interview with Clear Channel's National Programming Vice President Darren Davis about the science behind creating all-holiday playlists, regional Christmas favorites and which of this year's new Christmas songs might have what it takes to stick around in years to come.

Feminists Everywhere React To Beyonce's Latest

The audience at Beyonce's Dec. 3 performance at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Larry Busacca/PW/WireImage for Parkwood Entertainment hide caption

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Larry Busacca/PW/WireImage for Parkwood Entertainment

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Feminists Everywhere React To Beyonce's Latest

December 19, 2013 • At the end of a year in which Sheryl Sandberg released Lean In, Miley Cyrus and Diane Martel provoked everybody, #solidarityisforwhitewomen was born, and British singer Lily Allen put her foot in it, Beyonce's album has reignited conversations about the boundaries of feminism today.

Feminists Everywhere React To Beyonce's Latest

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Remembering Ray Price, Voice Of The Nashville Sound

Ray Price on the Dean Martin Comedy Hour in 1973. NBC/NBC via Getty Images hide caption

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NBC/NBC via Getty Images

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Remembering Ray Price, Voice Of The Nashville Sound

December 17, 2013 • Country Music Hall of Fame singer Ray Price had a hand in changing the sound of country music not once but twice. He put honky-tonk on top of the charts and then helped make orchestras part of country music. He died Monday afternoon at age 87.

Remembering Ray Price, Voice Of The Nashville Sound

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The Mandela Playlist: A Life And Legacy, Told In Music

South African President Nelson Mandela joins the choral group at the signing of the country's new constitution at Sharpeville stadium in 1996. Mandela lived a life filled with rich musical associations. Walter Dhladhla/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Walter Dhladhla/AFP/Getty Images

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The Mandela Playlist: A Life And Legacy, Told In Music

December 6, 2013 • It's worth pausing to consider not only the legacy and achievements of former South African president Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, but also the rich musical associations of his life.

The Mandela Playlist: A Life And Legacy, Told In Music

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Garret Klahn of Texas Is The Reason performing in London this summer during the band's reunion tour. Brigitte Engl/Redferns via Getty Images hide caption

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Brigitte Engl/Redferns via Getty Images

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A Rational Conversation: Is Emo Back?

November 18, 2013 • Follow the jibber jabber on the music internet and it sounds like emo — the broadly defined, male-dominated, compositionally complicated, often pained offshoot of American punk rock — is back. But what kind of emo has returned, exactly? And is it the beloved or the maligned parts?

Business As Usual At The Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival

John Digweed, shown here performing in August at Electric Zoo, was one of the biggest names at the Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival last weekend. Daniel Zuchnik/Getty Images hide caption

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Daniel Zuchnik/Getty Images

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Business As Usual At The Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival

November 14, 2013 • Underground dance music is retreating from the EDM juggernaut by moving toward tastefulness. But in dance music, as in life, the line between polite and tedious is perilously thin.

'12 Years A Slave' Is This Year's Best Film About Music

Chiwetel Ejiofor as Solomon Northup in 12 Years a Slave. Courtesy of Fox Searchlight hide caption

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Courtesy of Fox Searchlight

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'12 Years A Slave' Is This Year's Best Film About Music

November 13, 2013 • Director Steve McQueen semi-submerged a narrative that roots out the way music has fed both racism and the fight against it, from the time in which his hero Solomon Northup lived to the present.

Eminem, in a still from his video for "Don't Front," a bonus track on The Marshall Mathers LP 2. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Eminem: The Great Confounder

November 7, 2013 • It's almost as if, on The Marshall Mathers LP 2, he's trying everything to be accepted and unacceptable, all at once. Yet his ability to be lyrically captivating through it all is astounding.

A Rational Conversation: Molly Lambert On Music Biopics

The real TLC (from left to right, Tionne 'T-Boz' Watkins, Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes and Rozonda 'Chilli' Thomas) in the early-'90s. Tim Roney/Getty Images hide caption

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Tim Roney/Getty Images

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A Rational Conversation: Molly Lambert On Music Biopics

November 5, 2013 • What do viewers want from musician biopics, like last month's VH1 movie about TLC? And what makes some of them work while others fail (horribly, horribly fail)?

Paramount Records: The Label Inadvertently Crucial To The Blues

King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band in Chicago in 1923: Louis Armstrong is kneeling, from left to right behind him are Honore Dutrey, Baby Dodds, King Oliver, Lil Hardin, Bill Johnson and Johnny Dodds. Frank Driggs Collection/Getty Images hide caption

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Frank Driggs Collection/Getty Images

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Paramount Records: The Label Inadvertently Crucial To The Blues

November 2, 2013 • A furniture company recorded all of the top African-American blues and jazz performers of the 1920s. Despite its roster's firepower, the label folded after just 15 years in business. A new reissue project tries to recapture some of the Paramount Records magic.

Paramount Records: The Label Inadvertently Crucial To The Blues

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Holding Music History In Your Hands: Why Archives Matter

Ma Rainey Georgia Jazz Band posing for a studio group shot in the mid-1920s, with Thomas A. Dorsey at the piano. JP Jazz Archive/Redferns hide caption

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JP Jazz Archive/Redferns