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Music Features

Friday

Lorde Is The 21st Century's Author Of Adolescent Evolution

Lorde performs at the Governors Ball Music Festival on June 2, 2017 in New York City. Photo Illustration: Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images and Angela Hsieh/NPR hide caption

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Photo Illustration: Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images and Angela Hsieh/NPR

The 200 Greatest Songs By 21st Century Women+

Lorde Is The 21st Century's Author Of Adolescent Evolution

Before Pure Heroine, Ella Yelich-O'Connor was just a teen from suburban New Zealand trying to kill time. Instead, she snatched the mic, ushering in a sonic shift towards minimalism and dark pop.

Thursday

'Since U Been Gone': The Crossover Pop Needed, The Anthem Rock Deserved

Kelly Clarkson performs during the KISS 108 FM Jingle Ball in Lowell, Mass. in 2004 — the year her second album, Breakaway, cemented her status as a pop superstar. Marc Andrew Deley/FilmMagic/Getty Images hide caption

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Marc Andrew Deley/FilmMagic/Getty Images

American Anthem

'Since U Been Gone': The Crossover Pop Needed, The Anthem Rock Deserved

The Kelly Clarkson smash wasn't just a great pop song: In 2004 it was a cultural bellwether, a sign that the walls between mainstream and underground were starting to crack.

Wednesday

Mourning From The Ground Up: Aretha's Funeral Is Part Of A Joyful American Tradition

An impromptu memorial for Aretha Franklin outside New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit — the same church where Franklin's father Rev. C.L. Franklin was a minister and where she began her singing career. Taken Aug. 19, 2018 in Detroit, Michigan. Bill Pugliano/Getty Images hide caption

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Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

Mourning From The Ground Up: Aretha's Funeral Is Part Of A Joyful American Tradition

While it's not wrong to observe decorum and sombre reflection in the wake of such a loss, there's no reason that honoring a life as monumental as Aretha's can't be joyful — and yes, entertaining.

Tuesday

Esperanza Spalding Is The 21st Century's Jazz Genius

Esperanza Spalding performs at the 2011 Montreux Jazz festival in Switzerland. Photo Illustration: A163/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images and Angela Hsieh/NPR hide caption

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Photo Illustration: A163/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images and Angela Hsieh/NPR

The 200 Greatest Songs By 21st Century Women+

Esperanza Spalding Is The 21st Century's Jazz Genius

The ways in which Spalding's music is the most radical are perhaps the most easily overlooked: how, through her singing and playing, she challenges gender norms across styles.

Monday

Don't Get It Twisted: 'We're Not Gonna Take It' Can Be Anyone's Protest Song

Dee Snider (center) with the rest of Twisted Sister in 1984. Mark Weiss/Getty Images hide caption

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Mark Weiss/Getty Images

American Anthem

Don't Get It Twisted: 'We're Not Gonna Take It' Can Be Anyone's Protest Song

Talk about ironic: Twisted Sister's 1984 anthem to bucking authority has since been adopted by religious entities, teachers and even politicians, each bending it to their own definition.

Don't Get It Twisted: 'We're Not Gonna Take It' Can Be Anyone's Protest Song

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Thursday

Nashville: Not Just A Country Scene But A Place To Go For Jazz

Christian McBride performs with The Time Jumpers. Colin Marshall/NPR hide caption

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Colin Marshall/NPR

Jazz Night In America: Video Episodes And Shorts

Nashville: Not Just A Country Scene But A Place To Go For Jazz

WBGO and Jazz at Lincoln Center

Nashville has always nurtured a small but serious jazz culture. Meet up with some of its enterprising artists and get a crash course in Nashville's hidden jazz history.

Nashville: Not Just A Country Scene But A Place To Go For Jazz

Wednesday

Monday

'Like A Virgin' Lives On, A Winking Anthem For Women Getting Married

Madonna at the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards, where her racy performance of "Like a Virgin" caused an uproar. New York Daily News Archive/Getty Images hide caption

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New York Daily News Archive/Getty Images

American Anthem

'Like A Virgin' Lives On, A Winking Anthem For Women Getting Married

The unofficial anthem of bachelorette parties, Madonna's 1984 hit can be seen as a wink at virginity's ongoing place in the theater of weddings — even today, when most brides are sexually experienced.

'Like A Virgin' Lives On, A Winking Anthem For Women Getting Married

Listen · 7:30
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St. Vincent Is The 21st Century's Guitar Vanguard

St. Vincent performs in Park City, Utah in 2017. Photo Illustration: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images and Angela Hsieh/NPR hide caption

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Photo Illustration: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images and Angela Hsieh/NPR

The 200 Greatest Songs By 21st Century Women+

St. Vincent Is The 21st Century's Guitar Vanguard

For Annie Clark, the guitar is not an appendage, not an extension of the body. It is its own body with its own voice. She doesn't use it to embellish her songs; she uses it to build worlds.

Sunday

Sound Made Flesh: The Inventive Force Of Aretha's Gospel

On gospel recordings such as 1987's One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, Aretha Franklin captured something sacred in the sound of black life. Bill Marino/Sygma via Getty Images hide caption

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Bill Marino/Sygma via Getty Images

Sound Made Flesh: The Inventive Force Of Aretha's Gospel

Franklin's gospel recordings presented black life itself as a sacred practice. On albums like Amazing Grace, she is less individual genius than willing instrument of the world that created her.