As the priestess of the piano turns sixty, we count down her all-time best. Tori Amos is the kind of artist who saves lives. Starting out as a classically trained lounge pianist, she burst onto the American alt-rock scene with her revelatory debut album Little Earthquakes (1992). This starkly explored the issues of sexuality, religion, upbringing and female identity which would become common threads in the tapestry of her career; which would inspire academic studies and graphic novels alike; and which would establish Tori Amos as our greatest living songwriter. Exhibiting a voracious approach to genre, she has mastered many in her time. Industrial rock, classical crossover, gospel, electronic and folk are just a few of the myriad textures in her palette, all united by one linking thread: the piano. A famously virtuosic instrumentalist, she's customarily found at the bench of a nine-foot-long Bösendorfer, but has also had flings with Wurlitzers, harpsichords and organs over t
The transnational alté popstar's second full-length might just be the Album of the Year. Brought up between Atlanta and Accra, Amaarae (born Ama Serwah Genfi) wanted to reflect both of these worlds in her second full-length release. The Angel You Don’t Know , her critically lauded 2020 debut, had established her as a rising star within the alté genre (a fusion of Afropop, hip hop and R&B), but with Fountain Baby she aimed to also encapsulate “the freedom of the vision that exists outside of this pocket”. Studying Britney, Janet and Stevie Nicks to create this boundary-pushing sophomore, Amaarae wanted “to shift the style of music that’s being played on the dance floor”. The results are musically and lyrically complex, talking about how the empowering effects of love often come at a cost, but that doesn’t mean Fountain Baby shouldn’t be lighting up every dance floor in the world. It feels like the whole world can be found within Fountain Baby . Cinematic scene-