Sounds Good is a monthly roundtable where we ask Straight staff what their ears are plugged into. We’ve got a pretty diverse set of tastes, so there’s absolutely no cohesion here: just good vibes. And ...

The perfect Halloween song. From sad country songs that have remained country classics, to upbeat hits like “On The Road Again,” there’s a Willie Nelson song for any and every occasion, which is just ...

This week’s Indie Basement Classic is an undeniable classic and possibly the greatest Britpop album (and it turned 30 this ...

The sound of a train inspired Jackson Browne's "My Opening Farewell". Browne considered using the song title to pivot to a ...

On October 25, 2025, the writers George Saunders and Zadie Smith took the stage with The New Yorker’s fiction editor, Deborah ...

Because of their lyrical content, many folk songs double as life lessons. Revisit three history-making folk hits that teach ...

Zach Bryan would like you to know his new song critiquing ICE does not actually represent him taking a stand. Four days ago Bryan shared a snippet of a new song reportedly titled “Bad News,” which ...

Taylor Swift’s “The Life of a Showgirl” has already been storming the charts, but now it appears the album is making waves in the political world as well. On Monday’s “The Beat,” Ari Melber explained ...

On the title track of Taylor Swift’s new album, The Life of a Showgirl, she sings about a showgirl named Kitty—revealed to be “Kitty Finlay” in her “The Life of Ophelia” music video. “Her name was ...

Whenever Justice Amy Coney Barrett arrived at an auditorium or a library or a university last month to discuss her new book, she encountered a familiar sight: protesters. They lined the streets, ...

Taylor Swift certainly had a wig$ li$t. Indeed, when fans watched the music video for “The Fate of Ophelia”—the lead track off of her newly-released 12th studio ...