Published with Sound Stage Magazine on October 5, 2026. Even as a die-hard Swiftie of fourteen years, I can admit when Taylor Swift misses. Granted, that didn’t happen until The Life of a Showgirl dropped last year, but I felt insane telling people Taylor Swift had released a new album I didn’t love. I wasn’t expecting much when the deluxe edition of the album, cleverly dubbed “The Encore,” was announced on Wednesday. The four new songs don’t align splendidly with the standar

Published with Sound Stage Magazine on September 25, 2026. Lizzy McAlpine’s fourth studio album, Angel, combines sonic elements of earlier albums with her classic cutting lyricism to make a new high-quality, but not necessarily innovative record. McAlpine is a sentimental lyricist of the sad-girl-pop realm with a comforting sound, well-recognized in the songwriting world. She’s journeyed from the bright guitar-led Give Me A Minute (2020) to the often flat-falling five seconds