Sal Cinquemani

3 weeks ago | slantmagazine.com | Sal Cinquemani

For more than a decade, Miley Cyrus has swung deliberately back and forth between maximalism and a relatively simple pop formula. For every Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz in her discography there’s a Bangerz. For every “Mother’s Daughter,” there’s a “Malibu.” And like clockwork, Cyrus’s ninth studio album, Something Beautiful, finds the singer squarely in the former mode, following up the more straightforward pop of 2023’s Endless Summer Vacation with a post-apocalyptic prog-pop visual album.

1 month ago | slantmagazine.com | Sal Cinquemani

It remains to be seen if the zeitgeist-y triumph of Charli XCX’s hyperpop masterpiece Brat results in a glut of new dance records a la the discomania of the late 1970s or the EDM boom of the early 2010s. At a baseline—pun not not intended—it could open the door to more mainstream success for emerging artists like PinkPantheress, née Victoria Walker, in the United States.

2 months ago | slantmagazine.com | Sal Cinquemani

Lorde has dropped “What Was That,” the lead single from her upcoming fourth studio album and her first original solo release since 2021’s Solar Power. Since then, the New Zealand singer has hopped on the remix of Charli XCX’s “Girl, So Confusing” and contributed a cover of “Take Me to the River” to the Talking Heads tribute album Everyone’s Getting Involved.

Nov 15, 2024 | slantmagazine.com | Sal Cinquemani

In an episode from the third season of Friends, Monica hooks up with a co-worker, Julio, who writes a poem inspired by their encounter titled “The Empty Vase.” Phoebe interprets the poem as a metaphor for what he really thinks of Monica: “My vessel so empty with nothing inside/Now that I’ve touched you, you seem emptier still.” Eventually, we learn that “The Empty Vase” isn’t about Monica specifically, but all American women.

Oct 31, 2024 | slantmagazine.com | Sal Cinquemani

Confession: I’ve never cared much for “Like a Virgin.” Madonna’s 1984 hit may be the first, if not the, signature song of her career, but it’s a trifle—a novelty, really—with its plucky, noncommittal guitar licks, sub-“Billie Jean” bassline, and the singer’s helium squeak of a voice. That last, integral element in particular has always irked me, as, from “Express Yourself” to “Don’t Tell Me,” Madonna has proven she’s capable of some deep, soulful performances.