I love Audrey Hobert's music largely because it feels like one of the more special pieces of media I indulge in. I’ve been aware of Hobert’s existence for years, as Gracie Abrams has been referencing her in her music since 2020 (see “21”, featuring the lyric, “Audrey said she saw you out past 12 o’clock”). Hobert has been posting bits of her own work for a while, and I’ve looked forward to her official releases, as have many other Abrams fans. Hobert's debut did not disappoin

I first got into Olivia Dean over the summer and was excited to see that she was releasing her sophomore album so soon after I joined her fandom. Opening for Sabrina Carpenter for the final leg of her massive Short n’ Sweet Tour and recently nominated for the Grammy Best New Artist award, I was intrigued turning on the album this Saturday (I’m evidently not a committed fan quite yet – the album came out nearly two months ago). I rate The Art of Loving an 8/10. The album c

Sabrina Carpenter is obtaining superstardom in a way that nobody should be shocked by. Man’s Best Friend came out this August, and I wanted to let it sit for a moment before reviewing it. While I don’t think Sabrina Carpenter’s third studio album with UMG's Island Records is an impeccable album, I think it was a wise business move. Carpenter knows how to make a viral and enjoyable TikTok sound – integral for artists today. The album announcement also made her surpris

Published at belmontvision.com on November 12, 2025. Students in the Johnson Center Large Theatre before Hillary Lindsey and Ashley Gorley spoke. Photo by Reagan Sheedy. Students filed into the Johnson Center Large Theater on Nov. 5 to listen to Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees and Belmont alumni Ashley Gorley and Hillary Lindsey speak. Lindsey, who was inducted in June of last year, was the primary focus of the conversation. She’s written 27 No. 1 singles, including Littl

Political issues—specifically, misogyny—are all over music. Sofia Isella, a rising alternative-pop singer, cleverly accentuates a far-left standpoint through her lyrics and appearance. I went to Isella’s Seattle show on the You’ll Understand, Dick Tour this April knowing nothing except the hooks of her three most popular songs – “The Doll People”, “Everybody Supports Women”, and “Hot Gum”. But it was easier to become obsessed with her when all I could do was perceive

I’ve been putting off my summer music recap. I recently moved to Nashville and up until two weeks ago, it felt like summer here. Now it feels like winter. Because of course. The album cover for Virgin by Lorde This summer kicked off splendidly, with the release of Lorde’s fourth studio album, Virgin. I got hooked on “Shapeshifter”, an avoidant attachment anthem. I also love “Broken Glass” and “David”. “Favorite Daughter” has a catchiness I haven’t heard since the 2010s. “Cu

Disappointment has flooded the Internet over the last two weeks. Upon the release of Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl , Swift has faced more backlash related to her songwriting than ever. Here are my die-hard Gen-Z swiftie takeaways. The Life of a Showgirl fits the album as a title. The record is not as much in the pop-rock area as I would’ve anticipated, and a few song topics lose the plot of the lifting-the-curtain theme, but it’s not an awful way to summarize this

Reneé Rapp has had me wrapped around her finger for the last two years. I was ecstatic when Bite Me (2025) was announced, and despite some controversy related to statements made on the record, I believe it’s her best album yet. The Bite Me album cover “Mad” perfectly captures this energy of the album title. It encapsulates Rapp’s bluntness perfectly. “You could’ve been getting head” is the closing line. The verse lines roll off the tongue, “Slow down, put my finger in you

Wow. Spring is over! Time for another roundup of my favorite music of the season! I’ve had two big sort-of discoveries this spring. After seeing Sofia Isella in concert in April – a show I walked into knowing only the choruses to her three biggest hits (I’ve followed her since she opened for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour last August) – I became obsessed with her. “Hot Gum” is my favorite song of hers, but her production is impeccable on everything she touches. Then, I had been li

The album cover for I Said I Love You First Selena Gomez released a joint album, I Said I Love You First , with her fiancé, Benny Blanco, on March 21. The two have been engaged since December but have been especially publicly lovestruck since the album announcement and release. This relationship has received an unusual amount of hate from the media. This isn’t entirely surprising, considering the media’s tendency to hate on Gomez for no reason whatsoev

As a current high school senior, the music from this school year feels like a fever dream. Time flew by while I was applying to schools and making college decisions. Speaking of which, I’m moving to Nashville this August! My favorite discovery five months into 2025 has been Big Thief. I was hearing “Vampire Empire” (2023) (which you might know from the lines, “You turn me inside-out and then you want me outside-in/you spin me all around, then you ask me not to spi

Winter is typically dry in album releases, but pop fans just had two huge weeks. Here’s my summary of the February 14 and February 21, 2025, female pop releases! Albums/EPs: The cover for Tate McRae's So Close To What Tate McRae’s third album, So Close To What , came out on Friday. I’ve enjoyed casually listening to each of her albums over the years, but I listened to this more closely. This album distinctly reminded me of Camila Cabello’s first two albums

Happy Grammy Day! I’m particularly excited this year because the nominees are convenient for running a blog about women in music – six out of eight nominees for Record and Album of the Year are women. Here’s who I think should win each of the big four awards! Starting with the biggest – Album of the Year. The nominees are listed alphabetically: 1. “New Blue Sun”
- André 3000 2. “Cowboy Carter”
- Beyoncé 3. “Short n’ Sweet” – Sa

Since I was eleven years old, I’ve diligently kept playlists for the warm and cold seasons. Six-month spans create the perfect mix of recent songs and songs on the verge of being nostalgic. My taste has developed from 35 songs at the lowest in the spring of 2019 to 211 songs in the fall of 2021! These playlists are very serious to me. Instead of making the covers photos from my camera roll, I craft the perfect first four tracks so Spotify can automatically make

Look at my evolution in direction! My specialty in the music industry is pop music made by women who Taylor Swift inspires. Being a “relative” of Swift means that an artist tends to make their art timely to where they are in their career, tells stories, doesn’t necessarily focus on vocal strength (but still sounds good), and has a mostly female fanbase, largely overlapping with Swift’s. 1. THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT by Taylor Swift Despite being a die-hard swiftie

It’s an October evening and indie-pop singer/songwriter Luca is sitting in a fairy-lit dorm room on the other side of my Zoom screen. Since discovering the singer’s music in 2021, I have deduced that this is her ultimate setting. Three years ago, a sixteen-year-old Luca filmed a TikTok in a similarly lit bedroom singing, “A photo of the happy couple/I think it’s funny that the maid of honor took that photo, cause it was almost me…” The video quickly garnered almost 30 thousan

Early last month, a TikTok DJ called @notsocringevibes posted a remix of “Shake It Off” (2014) and “Carnival” (2024), and it immediately blew up. Two months later, the TikTok sound (titled “shake shake shake”) has been the soundtrack to over fifty thousand posts, including one from Kamala HQ and another featuring Selena Gomez. A YouTube version including Swift’s 2018 track, “…Ready For It?” has 150 thousand views. The video quickly blew up, and the comments were flooded with

When the hook, “Havana, ooh na na” flooded the radio in 2018, it was clear that Camila Cabello’s days in the spotlight were not over. Two years after leaving Fifth Harmony, her voice was everywhere, partnered with Young Thug’s, as she told the tale of a love that started in the Cuban city. Cabello got an even bigger hit a year later. “Senorita” with Shawn Mendes was the start of a public relationship that remains one of the only reasons why Cabello hasn’t faced the unfortuna

I was one of the lucky few who got to see Gracie Abrams live at Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour. Now I get to listen to her second album, The Secret of Us , having been a fan since her first EP, minor. “I’ll have a drink, wistfully lean out my window and watch the sun set on the lake” from “I Love You, I’m Sorry” sums up the newfound extroversion of this album, which Abrams described prior to the release. The title The Secret of Us is set up to resemble a book. This almost w

At 11 pm on April 18th, as I got ready for bed after listening to the new THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT , I saw a new Instagram post from Taylor Swift announcing an anthology. My first thought was, “I’m scared of Taylor Swift”. I was in shock for a solid five minutes before sitting down to listen. While THE ANTHOLOGY is part of THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT, it’s entirely its own record. It’s much truer to the album title. The songs feel like poems put to music with a focu