Jenessa Williams
Jenessa is a freelance music journalist, fandom academic and the writer of Subtweets, our weekly column that dissects the trending topics setting Music Twitter alight. She likes millennial hip-hop, noughties emo and advocating for a new era of diversity and representation in both.
How Women Made Music: a new book challenges the canon of ‘list worthy’ albums
If you’re working in music journalism (or are even just a fan of it), you’ll know that we’re fast approaching end-of-year list season: the...
45s of the week — Ethel Cain, Babymonster, Luvcat and more!
Ethel Cain - 'Punish'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIvMmTsZVLo
Teased at live shows throughout 2024, Ethel Cain returns with the recorded version of ‘Punish’, the first single from her...
The Great Impersonator: how Halsey cosplayed others to reclaim themselves
In a Halloween month, as the Phoebe Bridgers adage goes, you can be anything. But whether you’re a witch or a skeleton or the...
Clairo live at Stanford: Laidback, tipsy magic
Does it get much better than a stadium college show? At the start of a brand new school year at Stanford University, hordes of...
45s of the week: 5 songs you need to hear now
Rachel Chinouriri and Cat Burns - 'Even'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoRzsDjp7MA
It’s been a little while coming, but the collaboration between two of indie-pop’s brightest new lights feels every...
Co-headline tours are the future: here are six fantasy shows we’d love to see
September might be chilling down in the UK, but over in the US, things are getting sweaty.
Roughly halfway through their co-headlining tour, Charli XCX...
P Diddy’s reckoning is a reminder of our genre-based biases
Content Warning: Sexual and Physical Violence
Since November 2023, the rapper, manager and overall music manager known as P Diddy (aka Sean Combs) has been...
Women stay winning at the 2024 VMAS
From mediaeval garb to angelic lingerie, onstage scissoring to impromptu flamenco, 2024’s VMAs ceremony was a long and celebratory affair. But whilst men tried...
45s of the week: 5 new songs you need to hear now
Megan Thee Stallion and RM - 'Neva Play'
https://youtu.be/TpYTyAaTRts?si=TqeijmZm3iR4FRZi
After her ‘Butter’ remix caused such a storm in 2021, it was only a matter of time...
The rise and rise (and rise) of Chappell Roan
At San Francisco’s Outside Lands festival last week, executives estimated that 50,000 of the festival’s 75,000 attendees showed up to watch the same artist....