Released with little fanfare this move to more muted songwriting is proof Swift’s music can thrive without the celebrity drama

With its confident songwriting and understated synth-pop, Swift’s sophisticated 10th album indicates that she no longer feels she has to compete with her peers

Contrary to their dismissive framing as manufactured robots, South Korea’s BTS use social media, documentary and storytelling to make themselves into profoundly human stars

The singer turned actor had been the focus of a viral clip that allegedly shows him spitting on his co-star at the Venice film festival

Exclusive: Disgusted by the Russian invasion, David Gilmour speaks about band���s first brand new song in 28 years, which samples a Ukrainian musician now on the front line – and expresses ‘disappoin...

Jimin’s single Like Crazy is the 66th track ever to debut at the peak of the Hot 100 chart, and the first by a South Korean solo artist

In her early days with the girl band, Pinnock felt invisible and couldn’t understand why. Then the role of race became clear

While the traditional rock band may have fallen from favor, the ascent of Styles suggests something rising from its ashes

The former One Direction star talks about success at 16, dating ‘normals’ and his right to rock a dress

Korean boyband funding works in five cities by 22 artists ‘to send a positive message to the world’

The sculptor’s metal tumbleweed made from 11 miles of aluminum tubing brings the band’s global arts project to Brooklyn Bridge Park

Even if you’re not a young ‘Atiny’, the hard graft of the eight band members, the seamless mix of EDM, 80s ballads and emo and the lead’s powerful voice all impress

Singer-songwriter recognised for her ‘immense impact on music across the world and incredible repertoire’

Mixing trap with europop and R&B, as well as precision-tooled dance moves, the South Korean superstars put on a hugely entertaining show

Not content with releasing one of 2020’s most acclaimed albums, Swift returns for round two

She began creating them as an outlet during the first lockdown, now the actress’s spoof sketches are a massive internet hit

We were promised the year’s most shocking show. Instead we get a painfully tedious TV non-event, featuring a performance from the Weeknd that should be tried at The Hague

The most influential frontman of his generation is also the least at ease with it. He discusses abandoning rock norms, singing from the gut and treading the fine line between cryptic and gooey on new...

At last, a post-pandemic party album we could all get behind, as the artist rode her glittery horse through house, disco and ballroom culture to reimagine Studio 54 in her image

Fans and critics welcome multilingual, pan-Indian, historical-action-romance blockbuster from the renowned Telugu film-maker SS Rajamouli

The electrifying start of the singer-songwriter’s first tour in five years saw a mammoth, fan-pleasing 44-song set and extravagant staging

After being freed from her 13-year conservatorship, it was unclear if Spears would ever perform again. Now she’s back with a new duet with John – and calling the shots in the studio

An epic tale of two Indian revolutionaries told in all its plot-twisting, tiger-fighting, action-packed glory makes for a joyous, often ludicrous movie of air-punching brilliance

Showtime’s thriller-comedy is a huge success, and the 26-year-old Australian its breakout star. What’s it like being the fan favourite?

Styles is taking his time to come into focus as a songwriter, and the results range from brisk and sunny to barbed and sly

Having survived a tough childhood in Coventry, Hall became one of pop’s defining voices at the turn of the 80s, chronicling British decline and disfranchised youth with the 2 Tone band

Many will pore over the gossipy, self-referential lyrics, but Styles’s song is for everyone: an effervescent, high-tempo hit to have you clicking your heels

Starting with the singer’s 2006 debut, Corinthians have not lost a match either side of the release of any of her albums

Given gloss from special guests Wizkid, Dave and Stormzy, this was a coronation for a Nigerian pop star bringing Africa to the world

The actor on the Doctor Who WhatsApp group, being a foodie who can’t cook, and why she’d like a part in Lord of the Rings

Rapper makes financial donation as ‘beginning of a lifetime commitment’ to fighting racism and supporting black people in the UK

Spears’ first recording since 2016 is a reworking of two pop classics but filled with a power and poignancy of its own

The Olivier award-winning actor, whose major film roles included Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter series, has died

Selling 204,000 copies of her 10th album in the UK, Swift trounces Arctic Monkeys in a chart battle and breaks a record previously held by Madonna

An eye-opening documentary follows five ordinary protesters over eight months in Hong Kong as violence escalates. Plus: The Pale Horse concludes. Here’s what to watch this evening

Growing up, I never saw any positive representation of my sexuality. I’m glad things are so different for a new generation, says Guardian columnist Owen Jones

Sawayama picks her way through formative musical loves to produce a risk-taking musical cocktail of R&B, goth rock and video game soundtracks

The rapper’s arrest shows Spain has a problem with freedom of ideology. But people shouldn’t be scared to write songs that stand up to power

As a teen he wanted to be the biggest pop star in the world, but global fame came with crippling anxiety that left him unable to sing. So, ‘three therapists and 55 self-help books’ later, has he...

To mark Sugababes’ return, it’s time to rank the 25 greatest female pop-group performers

No 1 for 15th album Disco continues a run started in 1988, while Shirley Bassey returns to the Top 5, becoming the first woman with Top 40 albums across seven consecutive decades

The stage and screen veteran’s multifaceted career included roles in Titanic, Time Bandits and Straw Dogs, as well as a renowned Hamlet for the RSC

His success has come in waves over a decade, but the Nigerian singer is closer than ever to household-name status. He talks about his upbringing, his struggles with fame – and his disillusionment...

Born in Rio’s favelas, Anitta became Brazil’s biggest pop star. Then a political awakening made her even more influential. She talks Bolsonaro, Black Lives Matter and bisexuality

In this terrible year, Rain on Me seemed to face the nightmare head on – and then deliver you from it

Letter: Jonathan Hauxwell on why the artist’s Channel 4 programme is the perfect antidote to coronavirus

This awe-inspiring drama’s ending was full of redemption, justice and bitter laughs. Together, Sarah Lancashire and Sally Wainwright are invincible

Revered spiritual jazz saxophonist was known for his unique playing style and collaborations with John Coltrane

BBC-owned streaming service takes down episode that also features racial references

The first Black person to win a best actor Oscar gave a string of groundbreaking performances on screen that helped combat social prejudice

The artist’s third album leans heavily into her Mexican-Cuban heritage – and the results hum with artistic intent

The trio’s Police-inspired sound shot them to Latin megastardom. 40 years later, audiences worldwide are finally tuning in – including Bono and Chris Martin

Gimlet’s internet-culture podcast has produced a bona fide masterpiece, with this tale of a song that has seemingly been erased from history

The singer left one of the most successful girl bands of all time after a decade of relentless trolling. Now, as she prepares to go solo, she reveals why she’s ready to return to the spotlight on her...

Husband says ‘final weeks were typical of how she lived … full of humour, drama and a fighting spirit’

This Limerick livewire is confidently challenging both misogyny in rap and Irish hip-hop identity

Tamsin Greig and Paul Ritter played the Goodmans for six seasons of the Channel 4 comedy Friday Night Dinner. She pays tribute to her friend and co-star, who died on 5 April

An Cailín Ciúin, as it is known in Irish, has earned more than €600,000 since its release last month

Midnights will mark return to ‘pop’ for superstar who has found new kind of acclaim in recent years

For his follow-up to The Witch, Robert Eggers launches a salty story of two men trapped in a turret

British Library to exhibit song lyrics and photographs immaculately kept by the former Beatle

Kristen Stewart’s entirely compelling Di has no escape from the dress-up game of monarchy in Pablo Larraín’s unreverential movie

The young actor, who plays the timelord’s arch enemy The Master, talks about his meaty new role in The Great – and reveals how he overcame the fears that used to leave him traumatised in his trailer

McDormand plays a boomer forced out of her home and on to the road in Chloé Zhao’s inspired docu-fiction

Untenable political positions and unsavoury historical associations make Farage a problem for I’m a Celebrity… over to you, Ant and Dec

The mirrored tank, the horses, the robot, that voice … as Beyoncé takes her tour to the UK’s stadiums, readers who have seen it attempt to describe a ‘breathtaking spectacle that exudes opulence and...

Singer’s fourth album, sung in Portuguese, Spanish and English, adds Snoop Dogg and Swae Lee to the Latin pop template, seeking global reach

White, who joined the soul-funk group in 1974, playing on hits including September and Shining Star

Following her embattled 2017 album and a retreat from the media, Swift is unveiling her next phase this Friday. Six critics discuss what might be in store

Humour and humanity are at the heart of this sublime series about London’s gay community in the 1980s, from the creator of Queer as Folk

The Killing Eve star makes a masterful West End debut in Suzie Miller’s play about sexual assault and the legal system

Touring her masterly new album, one of the best of this year, Irish country-pop auteur Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson brings unruly energy, wit and guitar heroics to her searing tales of heartbreak

The award, previously won by Adele and Sam Smith, is voted for by music industry figures predicting 2020’s biggest new stars

The actor who famously played Pussy Galore in Goldfinger, as well Cathy Gale in The Avengers, has died at the age of 94. Here’s a look back at her career

26 November 1969: The action was in protest against Britain’s involvement in Biafra, support of America in Vietnam, and against Cold Turkey slipping down the charts

He has signalled a return to old Labour values: that everyone, no matter their background, should have access to temples of high culture, says the Guardian’s chief culture writer, Charlotte Higgins

The acclaimed screenwriter tells why it is only now, with his new TV series It’s a Sin, that he feels able to tell a story that has haunted him for decades

For the final album on her major-label contract, the contrary pop auteur decided to dance with the devil to make a nakedly commercial record – though her self-awareness still shone through

Part teen drama, part comedy and part coming-of-age story, the snappy and meticulously planned series has a lot more going on than first appears

As he did with 90s hit Crash, the director creates a bizarre new society of sicko sybarites where pain is the ultimate pleasure and ‘surgery is the new sex’

Of recent artists only Drake, Kanye West and Beyoncé have the same cultural vitality as Taylor Swift, and I am nowhere hip enough to be part of the Beyhive

With a heightened aesthetic and a standout performance from Mads Mikkelsen, this unsettling show leans into the homoeroticism – and into the ham

The Indian director was as surprised as anyone that his astonishingly larger than life, logic-defying action film has found a huge global audience. So is Hollywood on the horizon?

Hollywood actor will perform at Duke of York’s theatre, London, as Amanda Wingfield in one of Tennessee Williams’ most autobiographical plays

Stencil mural unveiled on side of house shows woman sneezing out her false teeth

This unexpectedly affecting portrait of the father and son’s relationship sees them come to terms with the latter’s loss of hearing – ahead of a standup gig using British Sign Language

Rapper wins fourth Ivor in five years after album We’re All Alone in This Together topped UK charts

Writer, broadcaster and satirist died on Saturday after a short illness, Borkowski PR agency announced

As she releases a box set of her earliest recordings, in a rare interview Mitchell talks about life before fame, the correct way to sing her songs – and her long struggle to walk and talk again after...

The actor’s turn as a complex, fallible detective has been a privilege to witness, in a murder mystery that kept us guessing right to the profoundly moving end

Danish political drama will feature all the original cast, while Netflix also announce new series Social Distance from Jenji Kohan

Six legislators call for return of cultural treasures held by British Museum ‘to their Athenian home’

Staged is back for a third season. Plus: The Gallows Pole divided the nation but hints at another series as it concludes. Here’s what to watch this evening