Jason King

Jason King appears in the following:

On 'Scarlet,' Doja Cat finds power harnessing the darkness of online vitriol

Friday, September 29, 2023

The pop star has always loved out-trolling her trolls. But Doja Cat's fourth album and dramatic rollout pushes that persona further, interpreting her antics through a playfully demonic lens.

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Sinéad O'Connor was our freedom singer, our keener and our feminist killjoy

Wednesday, August 02, 2023

O'Connor committed to a lifetime program of dissent, discontent and refusal against establishment evils. She carried all that swirling vehemence in her body and exorcised it through her howling music.

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Revolutionary Fun: Why we can't stop talking about Beyoncé's 'Renaissance'

Monday, August 01, 2022

The era-defining star's seventh album sparks a conversation about the infinite possibilities of dance music, the difference between fun and pleasure and why disco is always political.

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Frank Ocean's Channel Orange Turns 10

Friday, July 08, 2022

This Sunday, July 10, is the tenth anniversary of Frank Ocean's debut studio album, channel ORANGE. 

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Lil Nas X is the boundary-smashing pop revolutionary of 2021

Tuesday, December 28, 2021

Boldly going where few gay men of color have been allowed to go before, Lil Nas X won the year by joyfully violating cultural taboos and exploiting media far more than it was able to exploit him.

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How Dua Lipa's Day-Glo Nostalgia Found A Home In Dark Times

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

A pair of euphoric projects have helped to make the singer a ray of light for pop fans longing for the dance floor in a year filled with calamity.

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'An Evening With Whitney' Hologram Tour Trades On The Image Of A Complicated Star

Sunday, February 23, 2020

NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro talks with Jason King of New York University about the surge in hologram tours and what the ethical implications are of recreating the image of Whitney Houston.

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The Unlikely Success And Down-To-Earth Soul Of James Ingram

Thursday, January 31, 2019

The gifted songwriter and singer wasn't a born superstar — but became something of a sleeper hit on the strength of his singing, songwriting and history-making collaborations.

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Aretha Franklin Knew How To Make Us Laugh, Too

Saturday, August 18, 2018

The Queen of Soul had quite the sense of humor.

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Detangling Frank Ocean's 'Blonde': What It Is And Isn't

Monday, August 22, 2016

We got two writers, Ann Powers and Jason King, going back and forth on what they've found in the reclusive singer's third album.

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A Critical Conversation About Frank Ocean's 'Endless' Video Album

Friday, August 19, 2016

As listeners everywhere process it in real time, two NPR Music critics trade notes on Ocean's confounding new release.

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With 'In My Room,' Jazz Phenom Jacob Collier Is Bringing Jubilation Back

Monday, July 11, 2016

The YouTube star's virtuosic debut album, actually recorded in his room in the house where he was raised, reveals a young artist unafraid of gleefully trying it all.

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Still Would Stand All Time: Notes On Prince

Sunday, April 24, 2016

No black artist who came before him aggregated so many diverse people in the service of anti-normativity and perverse polymorphism; the world is a better and richer place for it.

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Maurice White: The Audacity Of Uplift

Friday, February 05, 2016

All that is solid melts in the presence of funk. Maurice White — the prolific songwriter, singer, producer, arranger, bandleader, organizer and conceptualist at the helm of multi-platinum act Earth, Wind & Fire who transitioned on Thursday at 74 after a 25-year struggle with Parkinson's Disease — gifted us with ...

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Natalie Cole: Underappreciated But Never Forgotten

Friday, January 01, 2016

It may be some sort of cosmic sign — or maybe just cruel irony — that only a few nights after a video clip of Aretha Franklin performing a rousing rendition of Carole King's "(You Make Me Feel) Like a Natural Woman" on CBS' The Kennedy Center Honors broadcast went ...

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Grammy Award-Winning Singer Natalie Cole Dies At 65

Friday, January 01, 2016

Natalie Cole, the Grammy award-winning singer and daughter of Nat King Cole, has died at 65.

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T-Pain: Giving Us Something We Can Feel

Wednesday, December 09, 2015

Might as well get right to it. Yes, T-Pain can sing. He always could sing. He is, in my opinion, a very good singer. I would even encourage you to consider T-Pain an excellent singer. Your reasons for thinking he might not be an excellent singer, however, would not necessarily ...

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First Listen: Miguel, 'Wildheart'

Monday, June 22, 2015

There's a venerable tradition of Los Angeles soul music—not just R&B crafted by California-born musicians like Etta James and Brandy, but the litany of wistful songs about La-La Land and its deferred dreams, from Dionne Warwick's 1968 "Do You Know the Way to San José" to Rufus featuring Chaka Khan's ...

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Someday We'll All Be Free: 100 Hours Of Soulful Protest Music

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Between noon Wednesday and 4 pm on Sunday (all ET), we're turning over our R&B and soul channel to protest music. These songs are timely and relevant and useful. We live and work in hope that one day our need for them will not be so acute. "I'll Take You ...

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A Selection Of Hot Tunes To Get You Through The Cold Weather

Friday, February 20, 2015

Some hot music to warm up cold ears, courtesy of Jason King, host of "I'll Take You There", a 24-hour R&B channel from NPR Music.

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