Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco, “I Said I Love You First.” Some newly engaged couples spend their days meticulously planning their wedding or dreaming up ideas for a honeymoon. For singer-actress Selena Gomez and musician-producer Benny Blanco, it was all about making new music. I Said I Love You…

Poppy (Moriah Rose Pereira) performs at the Fillmore in San Francisco on March 11, 2025. Photos: Alana Lopez. SAN FRANCISCO — A little more Poppy could be the answer to a divided world. The enigmatic metalcore/pop vocalist drew a diverse crowd to the sold-out opening night of her They’re…

St. Lucia, “Fata Morgana: Dawn.” Synth-pop band St. Lucia took an unusual timeline releasing its fifth album, Fata Morgana: Dawn. The material was constructed mostly prior to making its last album, 2022’s Utopia, but was temporarily shelved as the pandemic made many look at life a different way. Fata Morgana:…

Jennie Kim, “Ruby.” Blackpink’s Jennie Kim is the last member of the K-pop group to release a solo album. Like her group-mates, Jennie’s Ruby incorporates a who’s who of the pop world. The collection is high on gloss, well-constructed pop venturing into rap and even electronica. It’s loosely inspired…

JoJo performs at the Warfield in San Francisco on March 5, 2025. Aaron Lee/STAFF. SAN FRANCISCO — Soulful pop artist Joanna Levesque, better known as JoJo, continues to ride the wave of her musical renaissance to new heights. Her Too Much to Say Tour made a midweek stop at…

Blink-182 performs at Chase Center in San Francisco on July 9, 2024. The band is one of four headliners at Aftershock in Sacramento this fall. Chloe Catajan/STAFF. Annual rock festival Aftershock returns to Discovery Park in Sacramento this fall with Blink-182, Deftones, Korn and Bring Me the Horizon topping…

Lisa of Blackpink, “Alter Ego.” As fans anxiously await a series of reunion concerts by K-pop superstars Blackpink this summer, its members are venturing out with solo projects. Rapper and singer Lisa offers up a juggernaut with Alter Ego. Alter Ego Lisa RCA, Feb. 27 7/10 Get the album…

Green Day performs at The Fillmore in San Francisco on April 2, 2024. Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt will bring their side project the Coverups to a BottleRock Napa AfterDark show in May. The producers of BottleRock Napa Valley on Tuesday revealed the festival’s adjacent night shows, called…

Tate McRae, “So Close to What.” Canadian pop star Tate McRae didn’t let a premature leak of what would eventually become her latest album, So Close to What, get her down. Instead, the singer refocused and went back to the lab, more fully fleshing out the existing tracks and…

Alessia Cara, “Love & Hyperbole.” Canadian singer-songwriter Alessia Cara pushed toward the positive on her fourth album, Love & Hyperbole. In the process of finding the balance between joy and heartbreak, Cara has delivered her most self-assured and mature work to date. From the writing to the arrangement and…