A personal newsletter by a grad student in counseling who writes candid, chatty essays about reinvention, burnout and life in your 30s, often filtered through pop music like Taylor Swift and reality TV. Readers get funny, emotionally open takes on culture paired with reflections on career and self-discovery.
Website: https://kellyjohnson.substack.com
A music criticism newsletter featuring short, witty reviews of albums and singles from around the world, from Brazilian throwbacks and Filipino budots remixes to Benin brass bands and current pop hits. It also publishes periodic lists such as favorite singles by year.
Ethan Hein, a music teacher and former NYU music technology researcher, walks readers through music history, jazz standards, and his experiments with tools like AI-assisted coding. Each issue pairs a clear lesson or history of a song or genre with specific listening examples and his personal perspective.
A research-driven personal newsletter by Sydney Urbanek exploring the intersection of popular music and moving images, currently a long-running multi-part series on Beyoncé's Parkwood Entertainment film output. Readers get detailed, cinephile-style film and music history with a reflective, essayistic voice.
Maura Johnston's personal newsletter mixes musical-theater and pop criticism with candid reflections on grief, work and daily life. Recent issues review Chess and A Chorus Line, along with the loss of her cat and a hard stretch of personal setbacks.
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