Shawn Mendes got his start by playing his acoustic guitar on social media apps, which has made his transformation into a bonafide glossy pop star all the more stark. He’s accomplished this through well-placed features on other artists’ songs (including his flame Camila Cabello and Taylor Swift) as well…

Illustration: Skott Bennett/STAFF. It’s been a year like no other. When the Bay Area shut down on March 11 and 12, RIFF had to quickly pivot away from concert reviews—a staple for us—to something else. We ramped up our news coverage, especially in terms of how the music industry…

Ann Wilson of Heart, Courtesy: Criss Cain. Ann Wilson of Rock & Roll Hall of Famers Heart is still a West Coast woman at heart, but she’s lived with her husband in northern, rural Florida for four years. On her street, almost every house has a Trump sign. If…

Brandon Leake at Edison High School in Stockton, Calif., on Nov. 2, 2020. Onome Uyovbievbo/STAFF. Stockton’s “America’s Got Talent” winner Brandon Leake is still waiting for the opportunity to receive his full prize of winning the show in September and performing in Las Vegas. But that hasn’t stopped Leake…

It’s been just about a month since K-pop collaborative group NCT—which includes members of SM Entertainment stalwarts NCT 127, NCT U, SuperM, WayV and NCT Dream—released Resonance Pt. 1. The 21-member group didn’t wait long to expand the offering (previously at 13 songs) to a 21-song version. RESONANCE Pt. 2…

Mumford & Sons perform at BottleRock Napa Valley at the Napa Valley Expo on May 26, 2019. BottleRock Napa Valley, which was scrapped in 2020 following an initial postponement, has been postponed again in 2021, moving from its traditional Memorial Day Weekend to Labor Day Weekend instead. It also…

Imelda May, Courtesy. When Irish chanteuse Imelda May first wrote “11 Past The Hour,” the initial taste from her forthcoming album—she was writing about herself. This was before the pandemic forced everyone into their homes. Somewhere along the line, the song about awakenings and finding safety and love went…

Esperanza Spalding performs in “Throughline: San Francisco Symphony—From Hall to Home.” Other artists highlighted include Bryce Dessner of The National and violinist Pekka Kuusisto. Courtesy: SF Symphony. After Esa-Pekka Salonen was named to fill the shoes of Michael Tilson Thomas as music director of the San Francisco Symphony in…

almost monday, Courtesy: Cole Ferguson. This was going to be a breakout year for San Diego pop trio almost monday. In a way it still is, thanks to the streaming and radio success of runaway hit “broken people.” Still, after beginning 2020 by opening for AJR, almost monday were…

DISCO, the 15th album by Australian dance queen Kylie Minogue, brings full circle a career that began way back in 1987, with a decidedly disco cover of 1962 doo-wop song “The Loco-Motion.” Over the three decades since, the pop singer-songwriter has dabbled in other genres, such as on 2018’s…