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Taylor Swift's 'Tortured Poets' is written in blood

On Taylor Swift's 11th album, The Tortured Poets Department, her artistry is tangled up in the details of her private life and her deployment of celebrity. But Swift's lack of concern about whether these songs speak to and for anyone but herself is audible throughout the album. Beth Garrabrant /Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Beth Garrabrant /Courtesy of the artist

Album Review: Taylor Swift's 'Tortured Poets' is written in blood

April 19, 2024 • With The Tortured Poets Department, the defining pop star of her era has made an album as messy and confrontational as any good girl's work can get.

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50 years ago, 'Come and Get Your Love' put Native culture on the bandstand

Founded by brothers Pat and Lolly Vegas, Redbone scored a Top 5 hit in 1974 with "Come and Get Your Love," launching their Indigenous style and influences into the pop conversation. Sandy Speiser/Courtesy of Sony Legacy hide caption

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Sandy Speiser/Courtesy of Sony Legacy

50 years ago, 'Come and Get Your Love' put Native culture on the bandstand

Redbone's hit cracked the Billboard Top 5 this month in 1974. It was a first for a band with all Native and Mexican American members — but the song itself had a quietly political message, too.

8 Tracks: Post-hardcore band Thursday returns, plus glammy metal and skate-punk

Thursday's first song in 13 years, "Application for Release From the Dream," is a soaring, searing return. Stephen J. Cohen/Getty Images hide caption

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Stephen J. Cohen/Getty Images

8 Tracks: Post-hardcore band Thursday returns, plus glammy metal and skate-punk

Thursday's first song in 13 years leads off this edition of 8 Tracks, which we'll have to call 10 Tracks because there's been too much good music lately.

New Music Friday: The best albums out April 12

Shabaka Hutchings has released a fantastic new album under his first name titled Perceive its Beauty, Acknowledge its Grace. Atiba Jefferson/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Atiba Jefferson/Courtesy of the artist

New Music Friday

NPR Music's Sheldon Pearce and WRTI's Nate Chinen take you through the biggest new releases of the week, including Maggie Rogers, Shabaka Hutchings and more.