Cruelty

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 synthpop superstar's new single understands the  Barbie  assignment perfectly, delivering unadventurous plasticky pop that you can't help but dance to. Three summers since the disco-inflected pop masterwork  Future Nostalgia  propelled her to stratospheric stardom, Dua Lipa’s back for more. At the request of superproducer Mark Ronson and director-of-the-moment Greta Gerwig, ‘Dance The Night’ is the English-Albanian’s contribution to the soundtrack of the much-anticipated  Barbie  (out July 21; realistically  already  the movie of the summer). It’s clear what the brief was: “more of the same, please”. A riot of swooning strings, elastic bass and irresistible double handclaps (via ‘Levitating’!), ‘Dance The Night’ glistens with disco swagger. Dua teases ‘ Turn the rhythm up, don’t you wanna just / Come along for the ride? ’ , clearly revelling in the song’s groovy catwalk stomp. There’s an almost imperious coolness to the whole affair, bu...