Tag: music

An ice dance duo skated to AI music at the Olympics

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Czech ice dancers Kateřina Mrázková and Daniel Mrázek made their Olympic debut on Monday, an unfathomable feat that takes a lifetime of dedication and practice. But the sibling duo used AI music in their rhythm dance program, which doesn’t break any official rules, but serves as a depressing symbol of how absolutely cooked we are.

As Mrázek spun his sister in a crazy cartwheel lift sort of move that made them look superhuman, one of the NBC commentators mentioned in passing, “This is AI generated, this first part,” referring to the music. Somehow, that admission is even more baffling than the gravity-defying tricks that the siblings showed off on the pressure of Olympic ice.

The Olympic ice dance competition is split into two events: the rhythm dance, where pairs must perform a routine that meets a specific theme, and the free dance. This season’s theme is “The Music, Dance Styles, and Feeling of the 1990s.” British ice dancing duo Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson paid tribute to the Spice Girls, while United States favorites Madison Chock and Evan Bates skated to a Lenny Kravitz medley.

But, for whatever reason — licensing issues? — Mrázková and Mrázek danced to a routine with music that’s half AC/DC and half AI. It’s weird. What’s even weirder is that this isn’t the duo’s first use of AI, nor is it the first time that this choice backfired.

Per the International Skating Union, the governing body that oversees competitive ice skating, the duo’s music choice for the rhythm dance this season has been “One Two by AI (of 90s style Bon Jovi)” and “Thunderstruck by AC/DC.” The official Olympics website confirms that the duo is using the AI-generated song for the rhythm dance portion.

The Czech siblings have faced backlash before for using AI-generated music. Earlier in the season, they played a ’90s-inspired song for their routine that began with a wailing declaration: “Every night we smash a Mercedes Benz!” If that sounds familiar, it’s because that lyric comes directly from the ’90s hit “You Get What You Give” by New Radicals (which, by the way, has an incredible music video shot in a Staten Island mall — the true essence of American suburbia!).

The AI-generated lyrics also include the lines, “Wake up, kids/We got the dreamer’s disease,” and “First we run, and then we laugh ’til we cry.” What a coincidence! Those lyrics also appear in the song “You Get What You Give” by New Radicals. The AI song is even titled “One Two,” which are the first words of… you can probably guess what song at this point.

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Before the Olympics, the duo changed the song, swapping out the New Radicals lyrics for other AI-generated lyrics that sound suspiciously like Bon Jovi lyrics, as journalist Shana Bartels noted in November. For example, “raise your hands, set the night on fire.” also appear in “Raise Your Hands” by Bon Jovi… and the AI “vocalist” sounds a lot like Bon Jovi, too. (Not to pour salt on the wound, but “Raise Your Hands” isn’t even from the ’90s!) This was the music that the duo danced to on Monday at the Olympics, before it transitioned into “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC, a real song from the 90s written by real people.

While it’s unclear what software the team used to generate this music, this is an LLM operating as it’s supposed to. These LLMs are trained on large libraries of music, often through legally dubious means. When prompted, LLMs produce the most statistically probable response to an input. That’s useful when writing code, but means a song “in the style of Bon Jovi,” will likely end up using some actual Bon Jovi lyrics..

And yet, the music industry seems at least temporarily enamored with the idea of “musicians” who aren’t totally real. Telisha Jones, a 31-year-old in Mississippi, used Suno to set her (hopefully real) poetry to music under the persona Xania Monet. Now she has a $3 million record deal.

It’s a shame that these Czech dancers’ accomplishment of skating at the Olympics may be marred by discourse around their use of AI music (discourse that I am actively contributing to). But come on! Isn’t this sport supposed to be creative?

Best Wireless Headphones (2025): Tested Over Many Hours

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Other Wireless Headphones We’ve Tested

Wireless headphones are the default these days, and there are roughly 1 gazillion of them (and counting). We do our best to test them all, but not everything we test can make the big list. Here are some other good options worth trying.

Status Audio Pro X for $249: The Status Audio Pro X are an excellent pair of earbuds that are slightly overshadowed by their mainstream competitors when it comes to daily use. That said, these buds look and sound awesome, with a triple driver array (one dynamic for bass, two Knowles balanced armatures for mid and high end), which allows them to stand above many other earbuds.

Sony WH-1000XM5 for $398: Sony’s XM5 remain a top headphone, even after being supplanted by the fancier XM6. For a fairly sizable price reduction, you’ll get still-fabulous noise-canceling tech, great sound, and luxe comfort in a supremely portable package.

Beyerdynamic Amiron 300 for $280: These premium earbuds from Beyerdynamic are nondescript-looking and don’t have noise-canceling to compete with Sony and Bose, but they do sound fantastic. If you’re looking for a great-sounding pair that won’t get you judged in public, these are a great option for quiet luxury.

Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 Earbuds for $500: Bowers & Wilkins brings its speaker prowess into the world if high-end earbuds. The Pi8 provide a premium and stylish build, excellent sound quality, and solid noise canceling, albeit at a very high price point. Like other earbuds we’ve tested lately, one of the Pi8’s coolest features is the ability to stream audio from wired audio sources via the charging case, which can really come in handy on long flights.

Edifier Stax Spirit S5 for $500: These high-flying headphones lack noise-canceling, but make up for it with fantastically clear sound from their advanced planar magnetic drivers that use specialized magnet tech for vividly clear delivery. If you can afford their high price, they’re a fun investment that digs into the meat of your music like few headphones in their class.

Soundcore Space A40 for $45: Even though they’ve moved off our main list, the Space A40 are still among the best earbuds you’ll find for the money. Their stylish, premium-looking design is bolstered by solid features, clear and detailed sound, and excellent noise canceling for the price.

Sonos Ace for $399: The Sonos Ace are a pricey but impressive first effort from Sonos, with fantastic noise canceling, great sound, and one of the comfiest designs (if not the comfiest) you’ll find in the game. A few initial software bugs hindered their performance upon release, including trouble with the TV Swap feature that lets you pass sound from a Sonos soundbar to the Ace, but that seems to be fixed, making these an excellent choice—especially for those already invested in the Sonos way.

Beats Solo 4 for $150: We like Beats headphones these days, but this pair was just a bit lacking in features for us at its standard $200 price. Now that they’ve come down, we can heartily recommend them to folks who are looking for a pair of wireless headphones that don’t have noise canceling.

Technics EAH-AZ80 for $161: The AZ80 are great earbuds. Their most noteworthy feature is conveniently pairing to three devices at once, but they finish strong with good noise-canceling tech, top-tier sound quality, and seven different ear tip options for a remarkably comfy fit.

Beats Studio Pro for $250: The Studio Pro offer quality performance, including surprisingly clear sound, good noise canceling, and refreshingly natural transparency mode. The design feels a bit cheap, and they skip features like auto-pause, but extras like Hands-Free Siri and head tracking with spatial audio help pad their value—especially since their sale price sometimes drops to around half of the original $350 MSRP.

Sony WH-CH720N for $150: These Sony cans may have a silly name, but their sheer value makes up for it. They’re not as pliable as top options and don’t come with a case, but their sound quality and noise-canceling are excellent for the money. They are also built to last and have battery life that goes on and on, making them a great option for prudent shoppers.

Master & Dynamic MH40 for $399: M&D’s second-gen MH40 pack gorgeous sound into an equally gorgeous design, with luxurious trappings like lambskin leather and metal parts in place of plastic. Their lack of advanced features, excluding even noise canceling, makes them a pricey portal to minimalism, but they’ve got style for days.

Audio Technica ATH-M50xBT for $219: The original ATH-M50X provide balanced sound and great durability, making them ubiquitous in music and film studios. But what if you want to take them with you between takes? Enter the ATH-M50XBT, which partner a wired studio connection with Bluetooth for wireless freedom. They don’t offer noise canceling or other advanced features but they’re great for melding art and play.

Sony Linkbuds Open: The Linkbuds Open have a neat trick: speakers with holes in the middle that let in the world around you for environmental awareness. They’re not so hot for noisy environments, limiting their use cases, but they’re among the best options in the growing open-earbuds trend.

If you’re new to wireless headphones or need a refresher, here are some helpful pointers to know before you buy.

Noise canceling is a technology that employs exterior microphones and digital processing to take in the sounds around you and flip their frequency polarity, essentially canceling them at rapid speeds to create an impression of silence.

Transparency mode, aka “hear-through” or “ambient” sound mode, is the opposite of noise canceling, using your headphones’ exterior microphones to bring in the sound around you. This can keep you aware of your surroundings, especially helpful when working out, walking in high-traffic areas, or just having a quick conversation.

Bluetooth is the wireless format used by all portable wireless headphones to connect to and play sound from devices like a phone, computer, or tablet.

Bluetooth multipoint connection allows Bluetooth headphones to connect to more than one source device (like a phone or computer) at a time. This helpful feature lets you seamlessly switch between your connected devices to do things like take phone or video calls or watch a video on your computer between Spotify sessions on your phone.

Find My is an Apple feature that lets you track down devices like your AirPods from the web. Many non-Apple wireless headphones also have some form of Find My feature, though it’s usually reserved for earbuds due to their small size.

IP ratings are used to certify electronics are dust and water-resistant. Generally, the higher the IP rating a device has, the better the dust and water resistance. You can learn more in our IP-ratings explainer.

EQ stands for equalization, which in the case of wireless headphones, uses digital processing to adjust parameters like bass, midrange, and treble. EQ presets are most common, but multi-band EQs are better for those who want advanced control over each sound register.

Charging cases are included with virtually all fully wireless earbuds, letting you set the buds in the case for recharging on the go. Most charging cases offer two or more charges, and to recharge the case itself, you can usually use a USB-C cable or a wireless charger.

We test headphones and earbuds the way that we live. We take them to the gym, wear them around offices, travel with them, and generally try to use them as we anticipate potential buyers will use them. If a pair advertises dust or water resistance, we test that. We drop test cases, test cables, charging times, and battery life, and note everything we find exceptional to our readers.

While we do not typically use a set playlist of music to test each pair, we aim to test acoustic, rock, hip-hop, pop, country, and a variety of other genres with every pair of headphones, ensuring offer a good perspective on sound signature across genres and volumes. For noise reduction, we test the headphones in real-world environments and note our findings. When possible, we attempt to have headphones worn by a variety of people with different head and ear shapes, to ensure we’re thinking about the widest audience possible.

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How to Shop for Vinyl Records Online (2025): Discogs, Ebay

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You can digitally search for tags, genres, and locations at the top, and I recommend you do so if you’re looking for something specific. It can be helpful if you are trying to buy something from your home town, for example.

Screenshot of Ebay website showing the section to purchase vinyl records

Screenshot courtesy of Wired

As with anything collectible, you can find good deals (and occasional ripoffs) on Ebay. This is a good place to buy very rare and expensive stuff, or on the flip side, lots of super cheap records that you’re willing to gamble on. I’ve had good results finding jazz records and other lesser-loved genres’ albums on here, but if you’re looking for something super specific, Discogs is better for tracking the market and finding good prices.

Screenshot of Vinyl Me Please a website to purchase vinyl records

Screenshot courtesy of Parker Hall

Vinyl Me, Please is a record-of-the-month club that lets you also purchase one-off records. I like this service because it presses rare one-offs of classics as well as modern records in all genres. The folks that work there have excellent taste, which means that you’re always sent a record that you are likely to enjoy. When buying on-offs, I like that these are exclusive pressings, which means that your friends are very unlikely to have this specific version on their shelf, even if they already own the record.

Screenshot of Tower Records a website to purchase vinyl records

Screenshot courtesy of Parker Hall

Folks who remember the pre-streaming era are likely to recall Tower Records, which still exists! This is a great record store to check out what is coming out on vinyl soon and look at pre-order releases, because it is a major distributor of virtually every bigger release on the market. Maybe it’s the older nerd in me, but if you have a bit of ‘90s nostalgia, it’s fun to shop online at Tower Records and see what is the hip new music coming out.

1,000 artists release ‘silent’ album to protest UK copyright sell-out to AI

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The U.K. government is pushing forward with plans to attract more AI companies to the region through changes to copyright law that would allow developers to train AI models on artists’ content on the internet — without permission or payment — unless creators proactively “opt out.” Not everyone is marching to the same beat, though.

On Monday, a group of 1,000 musicians released a “silent album,” protesting the planned changes. The album — titled “Is This What We Want?” — features tracks from Kate Bush, Imogen Heap, and contemporary classical composers Max Richter and Thomas Hewitt Jones, among others. It also features co-writing credits from hundreds more, including big names like Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, Billy Ocean, The Clash, Mystery Jets, Yusuf / Cat Stevens, Riz Ahmed, Tori Amos, and Hans Zimmer. 

But this is not Band Aid part 2. And it’s not a collection of music. Instead, the artists have put together recordings of empty studios and performance spaces — a symbolic representation of what they believe will be the impact of the planned copyright law changes. 

“You can hear my cats moving around,” is how Hewitt Jones described his contribution to the album. “I have two cats in my studio who bother me all day when I’m working.”

To put an even more blunt point on it, the titles of the 12 tracks that make up the album spell out a message: “The British government must not legalize music theft to benefit AI companies.”

The album is just the latest move in the U.K. to bring attention to the issue of how copyright is being handled in AI training. Similar protests are underway in other markets, like the U.S., highlighting a global concern among artists.

Ed Newton-Rex, who organized the project, has simultaneously been leading a bigger campaign against AI training without licensing. A petition he started has now been signed by more than 47,000 writers, visual artists, actors, and others in the creative industries, with nearly 10,000 of them signing up in just the last five weeks since the U.K. government announced its big AI strategy. 

Newton-Rex said he has also been “running a nonprofit in AI for the last year where we’ve been certifying companies that basically don’t scrape and train on great work without permission.” 

Newton-Rex arrived at advocating for artists after having batted for both sides. Classically trained as a composer, he later built an AI-based music composition platform called Jukedeck that let people bypass using copyrighted works by creating their own. Its catchy pitch, where he rapped and riffed on the virtues of using AI to write music, won the TechCrunch Startup Battlefield competition in 2015. Jukedeck was eventually acquired by TikTok, where he worked for some time on music services. 

After several years at other tech companies like Snap and Stability, Newton-Rex is back to considering how to build the future without burning the past. He’s contemplating that idea from a pretty interesting vantage point: He now lives in the Bay Area with wife Alice Newton-Rex, VP of product at WhatsApp. 

The album release comes just ahead of the planned changes to copyright law in the U.K, which would force artists who do not want their work used for AI training purposes to proactively “opt out.”

Newton-Rex thinks this effectively creates a lose-lose situation for artists since there is no opt-out method in place, or any clear way of being able to track what specific material has been fed into any AI system. 

“We know that opt-out schemes are just not taken up,” he said. “This is just going to give 90% [to] 95% of people’s work to AI companies. That’s without a doubt.”

The solution, say the artists, is to produce work in other markets where there might be better protections for it. Hewitt Jones — who threw a working keyboard into a harbor in Kent at an in-person protest not long ago (he fished it out, broken, afterwards) — said he’s considering markets like Switzerland for distributing his music in the future. 

But the rock and hard place of a harbor in Kent are nothing compared to the Wild West of the internet. 

“We’ve been told for decades to share our work online because it’s good for exposure. But now AI companies and, incredibly, governments are turning around and saying, ‘Well, you put that online for free …” Newton-Rex said. “So now artists are just stopping making and sharing their work. A number of artists have contacted me to say this is what they’re doing.”

The album will be posted widely on music platforms sometime Tuesday, the organizers said, and any donations or proceeds from playing it will go to the charity Help Musicians. 

SEO: Korg MicroKorg 2 Review: Better, Not Best

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Introduced in 2002, the MicroKorg became one of the best-selling synthesizers of all time. But a lot has changed since then. In the last 22 years Korg has actually tried to update this early 21st century classic a few times, but they haven’t caught on the way the original did. The oxymoronically named MicroKorg XL, the MicroKorg S (which added speakers and not much else), and the MicroKorg XL+ (just a MicroKorg XL with a facelift) all failed to usurp the OG. But Korg is hoping the MicroKorg 2 will be the true successor to the crown.

The MicroKorg 2 is an improvement on the original in almost every way, that much is clear. What’s less clear is whether or not Korg has a winner on its hands, or if the MicroKorg 2 is an uninspired attempt to cash in on a classic. There are so many great smaller synths these days, I’m not sure that this will be the answer for everyone.

Modern Sound

One of the biggest changes from the original MicroKorg is the sound engine. At its core, the MicroKorg 2 is a virtual analog synth (it’s digital but aims to sound analog), just like its predecessor. But the scope of its sound-shaping power is much broader. In addition to standard waveshapes like sine and saw, the MicroKorg 2 has a configurable noise source and access to a library of PCM samples that can be used to add a transient to the start of a patch, similar to what you might find on classic ’80s Roland synths like the D-50. The MicroKorg 2 also has three oscillators (instead of two on the original) and a continuously morphing multimode filter.

The MicroKorg 2 is also a multitimbral synth with double the number of voices (eight versus four), compared to its predecessor. This gives it the ability to create complex layered patches (say, an arpeggio and a pad simultaneously) or lush expansive chords. Add to this an expanded six-slot mod matrix with many more sources and destinations, plus a broader selection of effects, and you’ve got an instrument that clearly outclasses its namesake.

Close up of the Roland Micro Korg 2 a music keyboard synthesizer showing the buttons for effects

Photograph: Terrence O’Brien

What’s truly impressive is that it manages to be far more powerful, but also much easier to program than the original. While the big-knob and genre-based patch browsing remain, gone is the obtuse system where you’re forced to look up parameters on a giant table when trying to tweak presets or craft a sound from scratch. The MicroKorg 2 is nowhere near knob-per-function, but the 2.8-inch screen and contextual buttons make it much easier to find your way around.

In fact, I’d go as far as to say building patches on the MicroKorg 2 is actually fun. This is definitely not something anyone would have ever said about the original.

Not Great Navigation

The genre-based patch navigation does feel outdated, though. It was questionable in 2002 and now seems downright bizarre. The way it’s broken up—four categories with eight banks and eight programs in each bank—feels unnecessarily convoluted. Plus, of the 256 slots, only 64 are reserved for user patches, which is annoying for folks who like to customize for live shows. That being said, if there isn’t a giant knob with the words “hiphop” and “trance” around it, is it really a MicroKorg?

Close up of the Roland Micro Korg 2 a music keyboard synthesizer showing the different music genres to choose from such...

Photograph: Terrence O’Brien

YouTube upgrades its ‘erase song’ tool to remove copyrighted music only

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YouTube is trying to make it easy for its creators to remove songs from their videos and resolve copyright claims. In a new Creator Insider video, the website has announced that it has released an upgraded “erase song” tool that has the capability to remove music from video segments without deleting other audio, such as conversations, as well.

When creators get a copyright claim for music, YouTube gives them the option to trim out the affected segment or to replace the song with an approved one in its audio library. Creators can’t monetize that particular video until they resolve the claim. The website has been testing its “erase song” tool for a while, but in the video, the company says it hasn’t been as accurate as it would like. To solve that problem, it redesigned the tool so that it now uses an AI-powered algorithm to accurately detect and remove copyrighted music from videos.

Still, YouTube admits that the tool might not always work. If a song is particularly hard to remove, presumably due to audio quality or the presence of other sounds while it’s playing, creators may have to resort to other options. In addition to being able to trim out the offending segment or to replace its song, creators will also be able to mute that part of their video through the new erase tool.

The website’s upgraded erase song tool will be available in YouTube Studio in the coming weeks.

The Tortured Poets Department and Eternal Sunshine

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In this installment of what we’re listening to, Reviews Editor Cherlynn Low dives into new releases from Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande, and explores what music means to us when songs are consumed more like books and journal entries.

Cherlynn Low, Deputy Editor, Reviews

April 19 should have been declared a global holiday. It was, after all, the release day of Taylor Swift’s highly anticipated album, The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD). How could we be expected to work on this most hyped of Fridays, when there were lyrics to overanalyze and melodies to emo-walk to?

Taylor Swift – The Tortured Poets Department

The album cover for Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department The AnthologyThe album cover for Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department The Anthology

I’ll admit: I hate myself a bit for the eagerness with which I hit play on albums like TTPD and Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine (ES). Both musicians had recently left long-term relationships and got together with new beaus, amid rabid press coverage and relentless speculation on Reddit. I usually prefer to hear from the people involved instead of reading tabloid articles based on what “friends close to” said, and for Swift and Grande, songs are usually as close as we’ll get to primary sources.

I saw these albums as opportunities to get their takes on what went down. Granted, it’s always wise to take their words with generous helpings of salt, the same way therapists tend to remember that their patients’ retelling of stories can be skewed or unreliable.

Both Grande and Swift have made their lives the subject of their music for years, and they often have an air of defensiveness. Titles like “Look What You Made Me Do” and “Yes, and?” make me think of people who blame others or don’t care about the consequences of their actions. Even songs like Swift’s “Anti-Hero” from her last album and Grande’s “Thank U, Next” seem at first glance to be about taking accountability, but really continue the theme of dodging real responsibility.

I’m not sure if music has always been rooted in scrutinizing the artist’s life, but it certainly seems to have become more popular in recent years. The level of interest and analysis around things as simple as word choice or order has probably never been as high, either. It’s also worth considering that these two much-hyped albums were released within two months of each other. Granted, Swift’s new music has only been out for about 40 hours, and there are 31 whole songs spanning a full 65 minutes and 8 seconds, so I will need to listen to it a few more times for it all to sink in.

Grande’s album, which dropped last month, was scrutinized by fans and critics alike. It was released shortly after her divorce from Dalton Gomez and her budding relationship (reportedly) with fellow Wicked cast member Ethan Slater.

When I first played through ES, I was mostly underwhelmed and annoyed. There was, as expected, no accountability for what her actions did to the mother of a newborn and a lot of romanticizing of her latest man. But even on just my second listening, I knew I had a few favorite tracks. Other Engadget staff members agree with me: ES is a solid album with quite a few bangers.

Ariana Grande – Eternal Sunshine

One of the album covers for Ariana Grande's album Eternal SunshineOne of the album covers for Ariana Grande's album Eternal Sunshine

I may not endorse Grande’s behavior — and no one asked me to — but damn, I can’t help liking her music. And it’s probably because I’m hooked on the melodies and production, not the lyrical content.

Swift, on the other hand, seems more of an aspiring wordsmith. Much has been said about her lyrical abilities, and I have no desire to retread those waters. I’ll just say that as an occasional aspiring poet myself, I have to admire the laissez faire approach of rhyming “department” with “apartment.”

I’m more intrigued by what seems to me like the priority of a song’s words over its tune and sound. Like Billboard states, TTPD’s title alone “calls even more attention to her lyricism than usual.”

Swift’s music has always felt like journal entries meant for the public, chock-full of inside references, Easter eggs and thinly veiled digs at former lovers. Her earlier works were therefore highly relatable for scores of teenagers around the world. But as her success ballooned, so has she grown out of touch with the average person, and her songs have consequently become more like glimpses into a life that mere mortals can only dream about. While her pieces continue to feel like blogs or Tumblr posts, Swift controls the narrative by carefully orchestrating not just synths, guitars and lyrics, but also pap walks and delicately timed public appearances.

Unlike Grande, who has mostly avoided appearing with Slater at high-profile events and also hasn’t hidden as many Easter eggs in her songs, Swift has not been afraid to show off and show up for her new partner. She’s not publicity-averse; she seems to anticipate and almost courts it.

With the general strategy around TTPD, like announcing it at the Grammy’s and slow teases of lyrics and cover art, it certainly seems like these days, the billionaire with a private jet problem is more focused on her myth and financial value than the art of songwriting.

Swift surprised everyone at 2AM on April 19 by releasing a whole 15 more songs alongside the initial 16 people were expecting for TTPD. This meant that anyone who pre-ordered the original album would miss out on basically an entire second album worth of tracks and need to spend more. The Swift team also made several versions of the physical album available, like collectors’ editions — all blatant cash grabs designed to maximize revenue.

Grande is guilty of this too, making so many different iterations of “Yes, and?” when that single was released in what seemed like an attempt to place the song at the top of streaming charts. ES also has different versions of cover art for fans to spend their hard-earned money on.

Here’s the thing. Do I care deeply about either of these albums? Nope. Did I eagerly listen to them, hoping to glean insight on their seemingly messy and chaotic relationships? Yes. But despite Swift’s marketing and positioning herself as a poet — and TTPD offering more of a look at her fling with Matty Healy from The 1975 — I realized I just didn’t quite like her album musically. In fact, my favorite Swift songs like “Wildest Dreams” and “Delicate” are beautiful symphonies of atmospheric synths and instrumentation.

Maybe I’m just learning that I care more about music than lyrics. Or maybe I think good songs are a combination of the two and should speak for themselves without having to rely on hype, gossip and marketing tactics. To be fair, that’s true of all art, whether it’s film, photography or poetry. And while the irony of my being sucked into playing TTPD and ES due to the promise of learning about their lives isn’t lost on me, I guess I just wish I could listen to music (and read books and watch movies) without having to worry or be so concerned about the creator’s choices and actions. But in 2024 (and beyond), that seems no longer feasible.