
whimsy girl recs (music)
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Sabrina Carpenter
Sabrina Carpenter
Sabrina Carpenter has enchanted an audience of millions as a singer, songwriter, actress and style icon. With her music, she has delivered one anthem after another on stage and in the studio, earning multiple gold and platinum certifications, and performing to sold out crowds around the world. On-screen, she has generated mega-fandom through starring roles on television and film. She is signed to Island Records, where she debuted her acclaimed Gold-certified fifth studio album, emails i can’t send, which appeared on many “Best Of 2022” lists including Rolling Stone and Billboard. In April 2024, Sabrina debuted at Coachella and released her single “Espresso,” which swiftly climbed to #1 on the UK and Australian charts, reached the Top 5 in the US, and hit #1 globally on Spotify, amassing over 200M streams in its first month. Following this, her second single, “Please Please Please,” released in June, soared to #1 on Spotify’s Global and US charts, Apple Music, and eventually the Billboard Hot 100, where it debuted at #2 before reaching #1. In August, she released her highly anticipated sixth studio album, Short n’ Sweet, which instantly received critical acclaim from the likes of the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, and Variety. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, making it the 3rd biggest first week debut in the US in 2024. Short n' Sweet also topped the charts around the world, reaching #1 in UK, Canada, Australia, Spain, and France.

Under The Table
Song · Fiona Apple

Lover, You Should've Come Over
Song · Jeff Buckley

Headlock
Song · Imogen Heap

Ariana Grande
Ariana Grande
Armed with a mesmerizing, nimble soprano—and a vocal register often likened to Mariah Carey’s and Christina Aguilera’s—Ariana Grande began her career as a child star on Broadway and Nickelodeon before transforming into a pop and R&B powerhouse. Instantly recognizable thanks to her signature ponytail, cat ears, babydoll dresses, and breezy self-confidence, her slyly sexual personal brand has, like that of the Spice Girls before her, become an iconic image of young female power. But Grande is more than a symbol: Over the course of several albums and scores of hit singles—beginning with 2013’s “The Way” (featuring Mac Miler) through The Weeknd-assisted “Love Me Harder” and “Break Free” (featuring Zedd)—she has consistently outshined her male collaborators and deftly parlayed her stardom into activism. An LGBTQ advocate and outspoken feminist (“I’m tired of living in a world where women are mostly referred to as a man’s past, present, or future PROPERTY,” she tweeted in 2016), she uses her platform to confront issues like misogyny, sexism, homophobia, and bullying, spreading a message of love over all. Nowhere was this more clear than in May 2017: After terrorists attacked her concert in Manchester, England, killing 22 and injuring hundreds, Grande continued her tour. "Perspective changes your life,” she told Beats 1’s Ebro Darden. "You want to stay in the moment and try not to give into fear, because obviously the whole point of finishing the tour was being there for my fans. You want to set the same example and keep going.” And that she did: Her Max Martin-produced smash “No Tears Left to Cry,” an escapist dance-floor triumph released a year after the attack, sends a message of hope and healing, with a dose of hear-me-roar attitude.

Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift is that rarest of pop phenomena: a superstar who managed to completely cross over from country to the mainstream. Others have performed similar moves -- notably, <a href="spotify:artist:32vWCbZh0xZ4o9gkz4PsEU">Dolly Parton</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:5W5bDNCqJ1jbCgTxDD0Cb3">Willie Nelson</a> both became enduring pop culture icons based on their 1970s work -- but Swift shed her country roots like they were a second skin; it was a necessary molting to reveal she was perhaps the sharpest, savviest populist singer/songwriter of her generation, one who could harness the zeitgeist, make it personal and, just as impressively, perform the reverse. These skills were evident on her earliest hits, especially the neo-tribute "Tim McGraw," but her second album, 2008's Fearless, showcased a songwriter discovering who she was and, in the process, finding a mass audience. Fearless wound up having considerable legs not only in the U.S., where it racked up six platinum singles on the strength of the Top Ten hits "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me," but throughout the world, performing particularly well in the U.K., Canada, and Australia. Speak Now, delivered almost two years later, consolidated that success and moved Swift into the stratosphere of superstardom. Her popularity only increased over her next three albums -- Red (2012), 1989 (2014), Reputation (2017) -- and found her moving assuredly into a pop realm where she already belonged. Even when she scaled back her approach with 2020's stripped-down sibling releases folklore and Evermore, she remained atop the pop world, a position she maintained with re-recordings of her back catalog along with Midnights, a moody album released in 2022. This sense of confidence had been apparent in Taylor Swift since the beginning. The daughter of two bankers -- her father, Scott Kingsley Swift, worked at Merrill Lynch; her mother, Andrea, spent time as a mutual fund marketing executive -- Swift was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, and raised in suburban Wyomissing. She began to show interest in music at the age of nine, and <a href="spotify:artist:5e4Dhzv426EvQe3aDb64jL">Shania Twain</a> wound up as her biggest formative influence. Swift started to work regularly at local talent contests, eventually winning a chance to open for <a href="spotify:artist:6UpFUXmXvDV7Qj1SPymamh">Charlie Daniels</a>. Soon, she learned how to play guitar and began writing songs, signing a music management deal with Dan Dymtrow; her family relocated to Nashville with the intent of furthering her music career. She was just 14 years old but on the radar of the music industry, signing a development deal with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22RCA+Records%22">RCA Records</a> in 2004. Swift sharpened her skills with a variety of professional songwriters, forming the strongest connections with <a href="spotify:artist:7pcKyVIatvXoHdZRr4Q3vT">Liz Rose</a>. Taylor's original songs earned her a deal with Sony/ATV Music Publishing, but not long after that 2004 deal she parted ways with Dymtrow and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22RCA%22">RCA</a>, all with the intent of launching her recording career now, not later. Things started moving swiftly once Swift came to the attention of Scott Borchetta, a former <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22DreamWorks+Records%22">DreamWorks Records</a> exec about to launch <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Big+Machine+Records%22">Big Machine Records</a>. Borchetta saw Swift perform at a songwriters showcase at the Bluebird Cafe and he signed her to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Big+Machine%22">Big Machine</a> in 2005; shortly afterward, she started work on her debut with producer Nathan Chapman, who'd previously helmed demos for Taylor. Boasting original song credits on every one of the record's 11 songs (she penned three on her own), Taylor Swift appeared in October 2006 to strong reviews and Swift made sure to work the album hard, appearing at every radio or television event offered and marshaling a burgeoning fan base through the use of MySpace. "Tim McGraw," the first song from the album, did well, but "Teardrops on My Guitar" and "Our Song" did better on both the pop and country charts, where she racked up five consecutive Top Ten singles. Other successes followed in the wake of the debut -- a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist (she lost to <a href="spotify:artist:6Q192DXotxtaysaqNPy5yR">Amy Winehouse</a>), stopgap EPs of Christmas songs -- but Swift concentrated on delivering her sophomore set, Fearless. Appearing in November 2008, Fearless was certified gold by the RIAA in its first week of release, and the record gained momentum throughout 2009, earning several platinum certifications as "Love Story," "White Horse," "You Belong with Me," "Fifteen," and "Fearless" all scaled the upper reaches of the country charts while "You Belong with Me" nearly topped Billboard's Hot 100. Along with the success came some headlines, first in the form of an infamous appearance at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards where her acceptance speech was interrupted by <a href="spotify:artist:5K4W6rqBFWDnAN6FQUkS6x">Kanye West</a>, who burst on-stage to declare that Swift's rival <a href="spotify:artist:6vWDO969PvNqNYHIOW5v0m">Beyoncé</a> deserved the award more, but her romances also started gaining attention, notably a liaison with Twilight star Taylor Lautner, who appeared with the singer in the 2009 film Valentine's Day. Her flirtation with the silver screen proved brief, as she then poured herself into her third album, Speak Now. Released in October 2010, Speak Now was another massive first-week smash that refused to lose momentum. Hit singles like "Mine" and "Mean," which won two Grammy Awards, played a big factor in its success not just on the country charts but on pop radio as well. Following a 2011 live album called World Tour Live: Speak Now, Swift turned toward following a pop path on her fourth album, hiring such mainstream musicians as <a href="spotify:artist:045EiHd7X7cCjlamF0LV2M">Dan Wilson</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7qKoy46vPnmIxKCN6ewBG4">Butch Walker</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:26dSoYclwsYLMAKD3tpOr4">Britney Spears</a> producer <a href="spotify:artist:4e1KgW8FCqVytLFSzEYEKo">Max Martin</a>. This mainstream pulse was evident on "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," the first single from Red. Upon its October 2012 release, Red shattered expectations by selling over a million copies in its first week, a notable achievement that was doubly impressive in an era of declining sales. Once again, Swift's album had legs: it was certified platinum four times in the U.S. and its international sales outstripped those of Speak Now. She supported Red with an international tour in 2013 and more hits came, including "I Knew You Were Trouble" and "22." As Swift geared up for the release of her fifth album in 2014, she made it clear that 1989 was designed as her first "documented, official" pop album and that there would be no country marketing push for the record. "Shake It Off," an ebullient dance-pop throwback, hit number one upon its August 2014 release. When 1989 appeared in late October 2014, it once again shot to number one and became her third straight album to sell one million copies in its first week (a new record for any artist). Swift gathered many awards during the subsequent year, including Billboard's Woman of the Year, the Award for Excellence at the American Music Awards, and a special 50th Anniversary Milestone Award from the CMAs. Her 1989 World Tour crossed Asia, North America, and Europe during the last half of 2015, and she won three Grammy Awards at the 2016 ceremonies, including Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album, and Best Music Video for "Bad Blood." At the end of 2016, she released "I Don't Wanna Live Forever," a duet with ZAYN from the soundtrack for Fifty Shades Darker. The single reached the Top Five across the world. Swift returned with her sixth album, Reputation, in November 2017. Preceded by the number one hit single "Look What You Made Me Do," Reputation debuted at number one, and while it didn't replicate the success of 1989, the album did help underscore her popularity while also pushing her toward mature musicality. Reputation was Swift's final record for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Big+Machine%22">Big Machine</a>. In November 2018, she signed with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Universal+Music+Group%22">Universal Music Group</a>, which distributed her new albums under its <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Republic+Records%22">Republic Records</a> banner. The first album in this contract was Lover. Released in August 2019, Lover was preceded by two singles, "Me!" and "You Need to Calm Down," which both reached number two on the Hot 100 and helped push the album to number one. The acclaimed LP and two of its singles received a total of three nominations at the 62nd Grammy Awards. Swift's plans to support Lover with a tour in 2020 were scrapped due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With some unexpected time on her hands, she wrote and recorded a new set of songs, many in collaboration with <a href="spotify:artist:2hSyEBc9TBb9j38FOCdkIf">Aaron Dessner</a> of <a href="spotify:artist:2cCUtGK9sDU2EoElnk0GNB">the National</a>; <a href="spotify:artist:4LEiUm1SRbFMgfqnQTwUbQ">Bon Iver</a> and longtime Swift associate <a href="spotify:artist:414TS3VqZf1XPCBixdmX9n">Jack Antonoff</a> also contributed. The resulting album, folklore, was released on July 24, 2020, and went straight to the top of the Billboard 200. Less than five months later, Swift released a companion album to folklore called Evermore. Featuring many of the same collaborators as its predecessor, the Grammy-nominated Evermore debuted at number one upon its December 11, 2020 release. Altogether, the sibling LPs planted Swift atop the U.S. charts for a combined 11 weeks, and folklore became the best-selling album of 2020. In 2021, she began the process of re-recording her back catalog after her <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Big+Machine%22">Big Machine</a> masters were sold off in 2019, starting with 2008's Fearless. The first of these tracks -- "Love Story (Taylor's Version)" -- arrived that February, with Fearless [Taylor's Version] arriving in April. The new version of Fearless contained cameos from <a href="spotify:artist:6aZyMrc4doVtZyKNilOmwu">Colbie Caillat</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0u2FHSq3ln94y5Q57xazwf">Keith Urban</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:6WY7D3jk8zTrHtmkqqo5GI">Maren Morris</a>, along with several previously unheard tunes originally written during the same time period; it debuted at number one on Billboard upon its release. Swift next revisited Red, releasing Red [Taylor's Version] in November 2021. This revamp of the 2012 album featured new duets with <a href="spotify:artist:1r1uxoy19fzMxunt3ONAkG">Phoebe Bridgers</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4YLtscXsxbVgi031ovDDdh">Chris Stapleton</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:6eUKZXaKkcviH0Ku9w2n3V">Ed Sheeran</a>, along with a ten-minute version of the ballad "All Too Well." Another re-recording, "This Love (Taylor's Version)" (originally off 1989), arrived in May 2022 and was included in the soundtrack to the coming-of-age drama The Summer I Turned Pretty. Swift opened up another chapter in her career with the October 2022 release of Midnights, an album co-produced by <a href="spotify:artist:414TS3VqZf1XPCBixdmX9n">Jack Antonoff</a> and featuring a duet with <a href="spotify:artist:00FQb4jTyendYWaN8pK0wa">Lana Del Rey</a> on "Snow on the Beach." ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Lana Del Rey
Lana Del Rey
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cry

When The Pawn...
Album · Fiona Apple

Laufey
Laufey
“As a musician, my goal is to bring jazz and classical music to my generation,” declares GRAMMY-winning composer, singer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Laufey. In 2022, the Icelandic-Chinese artist’s trailblazing approach paid off, with a performance on Jimmy Kimmel LIVE! in support of her debut album Everything I Know About Love, sold out tours of North America, Asia, and Australia, and she was the most streamed jazz artist on Spotify. The Los Angeles-based Laufey (pronounced lāy-vāy) continued her story by writing and recording Bewitched, her second album. Inspired by jazz greats and classical masters while possessing a point of view that could only be conveyed by a 21st-century twentysomething, Bewitched represents an expansion of Laufey’s sonic palette. Tracks like the breezy bossa nova cut “From the Start” and the smoldering string-assisted ballad “Promise” have classic songcraft and intricate arrangements that make them feel instantly timeless, while Laufey’s conversational lyrics give her music a relatability to the next generation of jazz and classical aficionados. The album has gone on to break the record as the biggest debut for a jazz album on Spotify in history and earned a 2024 GRAMMY win for "Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album." Laufey’s self-assured musicianship and deeply felt lyrics take the idea of “classic” music, whether it’s slotted as classical or jazz—or even chart-topping pop—and humanize it, creating a deep-seated connection.

Radiohead
Radiohead
Radiohead are a touchstone for all that is fearless and adventurous in rock, evolving from self-loathing anthems to moody prog rock suites to weathered, if shimmering ballads. Inheritors of a throne previously occupied by <a href="spotify:artist:0oSGxfWSnnOXhD2fKuz2Gy">David Bowie</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0k17h0D3J5VfsdmQ1iZtE9">Pink Floyd</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:2x9SpqnPi8rlE9pjHBwmSC">Talking Heads</a> (from whom they took their name), the British band spliced <a href="spotify:artist:0k17h0D3J5VfsdmQ1iZtE9">Floyd</a>'s spaciness with <a href="spotify:artist:51Blml2LZPmy7TTiAg47vQ">U2</a>'s messianic arena rock heft and bridged the gap with guitar skronk borrowed from the '80s American underground. The jagged interjections on "Creep," the band's Top Ten U.K., Top 40 U.S. breakthrough from their debut album Pablo Honey (1993), recalled <a href="spotify:artist:6zvul52xwTWzilBZl6BUbT">Pixies</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:6olE6TJLqED3rqDCT0FyPh">Nirvana</a>, but in the throes of the alternative rock explosion, Radiohead were the odd band out, seen as dour art-rock students at home and as one-hit wonders in the States. During the peak of Brit-pop, Radiohead released The Bends (1995), a leap forward that gained them some traction, but it was OK Computer (1997), a bold set fueled by film music, Krautrock, and electronica, that broke down doors for the band upon its entry at the top of the U.K. and U.S. charts. Soon, whenever rock bands dabbled in electronics, it was derived not from tightly sequenced rhythms, but rather, from glassy textures and introspection, a sensibility pioneered by the quintet. Radiohead doubled down on this aesthetic with Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001), favoring minimal arrangements and elements of avant-garde jazz over concise hooks. From that point on, Radiohead have occasionally worked with conventional song structures but have been drawn toward unusual paths heard on Hail to the Thief (2003) and In Rainbows (a surprise, pay-what-you-want 2007 release), followed the next decade by The King of Limbs (2011) and A Moon Shaped Pool (2016). Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2019, Radiohead have focused primarily on catalog releases, side projects, and solo pursuits during the 2020s. Every member of Radiohead was a pupil at Oxfordshire's Abingdon School. <a href="spotify:artist:3E7aH1Yv84NoaP9JWcrMpE">Ed O'Brien</a> (guitar) and <a href="spotify:artist:2A59wav3PGiJij2rK7HQYH">Phil Selway</a> (drums) were the eldest, followed by a year by <a href="spotify:artist:4CvTDPKA6W06DRfBnZKrau">Thom Yorke</a> (vocals, guitar, piano) and <a href="spotify:artist:6bdotkIeFswBydfQqzHnKS">Colin Greenwood</a> (bass). These four musicians began playing in 1985, dubbing themselves On a Friday, and before long they added <a href="spotify:artist:6bdotkIeFswBydfQqzHnKS">Colin</a>'s younger brother <a href="spotify:artist:0z9s3P5vCzKcUBSxgBDyLU">Jonny</a>, who'd previously played in Illiterate Hands with <a href="spotify:artist:4CvTDPKA6W06DRfBnZKrau">Yorke</a>'s brother <a href="spotify:artist:6CbjCavKWLrR6J3FzUwwJI">Andy</a> and Nigel Powell. <a href="spotify:artist:0z9s3P5vCzKcUBSxgBDyLU">Jonny</a> started on keyboards but moved to guitar, yet this incarnation proved short-lived. By 1987, everyone but <a href="spotify:artist:0z9s3P5vCzKcUBSxgBDyLU">Jonny</a> left for university, where many members pursued music, but it wasn't until 1991 that the quintet regrouped and started gigging regularly in Oxford. Eventually, they came to the attention of Chris Hufford -- then best-known as the producer of shoegaze stars <a href="spotify:artist:72X6FHxaShda0XeQw3vbeF">Slowdive</a> -- who offered the group the chance to record a demo along with his partner Bryce Edge; the two soon became the band's managers. <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22EMI%22">EMI</a> bit at the group's demo, signing them in 1991 and suggesting they change their name. On a Friday became Radiohead and they recorded their debut EP, Drill, with Hufford and Edge, releasing the record in May 1992. Next, the group entered the studio with producers Paul Kolderie and <a href="spotify:artist:1pYe8ZSmmg4LJDdLDlVh9b">Sean Slade</a> to record their full-length debut. The first fruit from these sessions was "Creep," a single released in the U.K. in September of 1992. "Creep" didn't go anywhere at first. The British music weeklies slagged it, radio didn't play it, and it limped to number 78 on the charts. Pablo Honey, the band's full-length debut, appeared in February 1993, supported by the single "Anyone Can Play Guitar," but neither release gained much traction in their native U.K. and that May's non-LP single, "Pop Is Dead," didn't help matters much, either. By that point, however, "Creep" started to gain attention in other territories. First, the song became a hit in Israel, but the bigger waves came from the United States, which was in the throes of the alternative rock revolution. Influential San Francisco radio station KITS added "Creep" to their playlist and it spread along the west coast and onto MTV as it became a genuine hit, nearly topping Billboard's Modern Rock chart and reaching 34 on the Hot 100, a big achievement for a British guitar band. A re-released "Creep" turned into a British Top Ten hit, peaking at number seven in the autumn of 1993. The band who'd had no success suddenly had more than it could handle. Radiohead kept touring Pablo Honey into 1994, but no subsequent hits were forthcoming, raising the specter of the band as a possible one-hit wonder -- a criticism that weighed heavily on the group, who were anxious to record their new songs. They received the opportunity early in 1994, entering the studio to work with producer John Leckie -- then best-known for his work with <a href="spotify:artist:1lYT0A0LV5DUfxr6doRP3d">the Stone Roses</a> -- with My Iron Lung, an EP released in late 1994, being the first music released from the sessions. Muscular and ambitious, the EP provided a good indication of what would come on 1995's The Bends. Released in March 1995, The Bends not only found Radiohead growing musically -- it was dense and expansive, without skimping on songs -- but also in reputation, as critics in the U.K. embraced the band with the audience eventually following: none of the first three singles ("High and Dry," "Fake Plastic Trees," "Just") rose above 17 on the U.K. charts but the final single, "Street Spirit (Fade Out)," wound up reaching five in early 1996. Radiohead's rise may have been assisted by the mania cultivated by Brit-pop, a term that didn't quite suit the band -- they were far artier and rock-oriented -- but nevertheless stoked interest in indie guitar bands, which the quintet certainly was. Over in the U.S., The Bends stalled out at 88 on the Billboard charts but the record gained a cult following among listeners and the band never stopped touring, taking North American opening slots for <a href="spotify:artist:4KWTAlx2RvbpseOGMEmROg">R.E.M.</a> in 1995 and <a href="spotify:artist:6ogn9necmbUdCppmNnGOdi">Alanis Morissette</a> in 1996. During 1995 and 1996, the group recorded new material with <a href="spotify:artist:0g7gHEXKEHU4snTwOZSxNO">Nigel Godrich</a> -- an engineer on The Bends sessions who was now the band's producer -- with songs slowly creeping out during the course of the year. "Lucky" showed up on War Child's 1995 charity LP The Help Album, "Talk Show Host" appeared on a B-side, and "Exit Music (For a Film)" showed up on the soundtrack to <a href="spotify:artist:7HhTERkBV4Ot14KphgBfSh">Baz Luhrmann</a>'s Romeo & Juliet. The latter showed up on OK Computer, the June 1997 album that proved pivotal in Radiohead's career. "Paranoid Android," a twitchy suite released as a single in May of that year, suggested the ambition of OK Computer -- and by reaching number three, it was the band's biggest hit to date in the U.K., placing them on the cusp of a breakthrough. A breakthrough is precisely what OK Computer turned out to be, a record that proved pivotal not just for Radiohead but for the direction of '90s rock. Greeted with enthusiastic reviews and corresponding strong sales, OK Computer closed the doors on the hedonism of Brit-pop and the dour after-effects of grunge while opening a new path to sober, adventurous art-rock where electronics co-existed with guitars. Over the next few years, the band's influence would become readily apparent, but the album made a sizable impact upon its release, too, debuting at number one in the U.K. and earning a Grammy for Best Alternative Album. Radiohead supported it with an international tour, documented in Meeting People Is Easy. By the time Meeting People Is Easy showed up in theaters, the group began work on their fourth album, once again reuniting with producer <a href="spotify:artist:0g7gHEXKEHU4snTwOZSxNO">Godrich</a>. The resulting Kid A doubled down on the experimentalism of OK Computer, embracing electronics and threading in jazz. Appearing in October in 2000, Kid A was one of the first major albums to be pirated through file-sharing services, but this bootlegging had no apparent effect on the sales of the record: it debuted at number one in the U.K. and the U.S., becoming their first American chart-topper. Once again, the album took home the prize for Best Alternative Album at the Grammys and although it didn't produce any hit singles -- indeed, no singles were released from the record -- it was certified platinum in several territories. Amnesiac, a collection of new material initiated during the Kid A sessions, appeared in June of 2001, topping the U.K. charts and reaching two in the U.S. Two singles were pulled from the album -- "Pyramid Song" and "Knives Out" -- a signal that the album was more commercially accessible than its predecessor. At the end of the year, the band issued I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings, and by the summer of 2002, they turned their attention to recording a new album with <a href="spotify:artist:0g7gHEXKEHU4snTwOZSxNO">Godrich</a>. The resulting Hail to the Thief appeared in June of 2003, once again debuting in the upper reaches of the international charts -- number one in the U.K. and number three in the U.S. -- and the group supported the album with live dates culminating in a headlining appearance at the 2004 Coachella Festival that coincided with the release of the B-sides and remix collection COM LAG, a record that helped close out their contract with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22EMI%22">EMI</a>. Over the next couple of years, Radiohead entered a hiatus as individual members pursued solo projects. <a href="spotify:artist:4CvTDPKA6W06DRfBnZKrau">Yorke</a> released the heavily electronic solo collection The Eraser in 2006, and <a href="spotify:artist:0z9s3P5vCzKcUBSxgBDyLU">Jonny Greenwood</a> embarked on a side career as a composer, beginning with 2004's Bodysong and then striking a fruitful collaboration with Paul Thomas Anderson for 2007's There Will Be Blood; <a href="spotify:artist:0z9s3P5vCzKcUBSxgBDyLU">Greenwood</a> would also work on Anderson's subsequent films The Master and Inherent Vice. During all this, the group tentatively chipped away at their first post-<a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22EMI%22">EMI</a> album. Some unsuccessful sessions with Spike Stent led the band back to <a href="spotify:artist:0g7gHEXKEHU4snTwOZSxNO">Godrich</a> by the end of 2006, and the group completed recording in June of 2007. Still without a record label, they decided to release the album digitally through their official website, letting users pay whatever they wanted for a download of the album. This novel strategy acted as the album's own promotion -- most of the articles about the release claimed it was revolutionary -- and In Rainbows allegedly moved over a million downloads on the first day of its release in October 2007. In December, the album received a physical release in the U.K., followed by a January 2008 physical release in the U.S.; the record sold well, debuting at number one in the U.K., and it earned Grammys for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package. Radiohead toured in support of In Rainbows into 2009, during which time <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22EMI%22">EMI</a> released Radiohead: The Best Of in June of 2008. The band took time off in 2010, which allowed <a href="spotify:artist:4CvTDPKA6W06DRfBnZKrau">Yorke</a> to form a band called <a href="spotify:artist:7tA9Eeeb68kkiG9Nrvuzmi">Atoms for Peace</a> with producer <a href="spotify:artist:0g7gHEXKEHU4snTwOZSxNO">Godrich</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:0Xl5J6iOgiQHFqgri7TF8j">Flea</a> from the <a href="spotify:artist:0L8ExT028jH3ddEcZwqJJ5">Red Hot Chili Peppers</a>. During this time, drummer <a href="spotify:artist:2A59wav3PGiJij2rK7HQYH">Phil Selway</a> released his debut solo album, Familial. By early 2011, the group finished a new album and, like In Rainbows before it, Radiohead initially released The King of Limbs digitally through their website. The downloads appeared in February, with the physical copies appearing in March; the album reportedly shifted upwards of 400,000 digital copies upon its release. That autumn brought the release of the remix album TKOL RMX 1234567, and the band continued to tour The King of Limbs material into 2012. Once the tour wrapped up, the group took some quiet time as a new round of solo projects appeared. <a href="spotify:artist:7tA9Eeeb68kkiG9Nrvuzmi">Atoms for Peace</a> released Amok in February 2013 and <a href="spotify:artist:4CvTDPKA6W06DRfBnZKrau">Yorke</a> put out Tomorrow's Modern Boxes in September 2014, just a month before <a href="spotify:artist:2A59wav3PGiJij2rK7HQYH">Selway</a> issued his second album, Weatherhouse. In the autumn of 2014, the band began work on a new album and continued to record throughout 2015, releasing only "Spectre" -- a proposed James Bond theme rejected by the filmmakers -- that year. The ninth Radiohead album, A Moon Shaped Pool, appeared on May 8, 2016, preceded earlier in the week by the singles "Burn the Witch" and "Daydreaming." Radiohead supported A Moon Shaped Pool with an international tour, and in June 2017 they celebrated the 20th anniversary of OK Computer with a double-disc reissue dubbed OK Computer: OKNOTOK 1997 2017. Featuring a host of bonus cuts and previously unreleased material, its number two showing on the U.K. chart was bolstered by a major televised live performance at Glastonbury. Over the next year, <a href="spotify:artist:2A59wav3PGiJij2rK7HQYH">Selway</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4CvTDPKA6W06DRfBnZKrau">Yorke</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:0z9s3P5vCzKcUBSxgBDyLU">Greenwood</a> each issued film soundtracks with the latter earning an Oscar nomination for his score to Phantom Thread. Radiohead were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2019, honored with a speech from <a href="spotify:artist:2x9SpqnPi8rlE9pjHBwmSC">Talking Heads</a>' <a href="spotify:artist:20vuBdFblWUo2FCOvUzusB">David Byrne</a>. <a href="spotify:artist:4CvTDPKA6W06DRfBnZKrau">Yorke</a> released his third solo album, Anima, that June. Two years later, Radiohead issued Kid A Mnesia, a collection of previously unreleased material from the Kid A and Amnesiac sessions. It was promoted with the singles "If You Say the Word" and "Follow Me Around." All bandmembers were active during the first half the 2020s. <a href="spotify:artist:3E7aH1Yv84NoaP9JWcrMpE">Ed O'Brien</a> released Earth under the alias <a href="spotify:artist:4CX6yOoTFQeiwL5yxuFuIG">EOB</a> in 2020. <a href="spotify:artist:4CvTDPKA6W06DRfBnZKrau">Yorke</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:0z9s3P5vCzKcUBSxgBDyLU">Jonny Greenwood</a> performed and recorded (with drummer <a href="spotify:artist:6U9Bsog9PLNE5hrw45ecDm">Tom Skinner</a>) as <a href="spotify:artist:6styCzc1Ej4NxISL0LiigM">the Smile</a> and continued separate soundtrack work. <a href="spotify:artist:6bdotkIeFswBydfQqzHnKS">Colin Greenwood</a> toured with <a href="spotify:artist:1RM5gp0RFfjpJhCYFPB30p">Nick Cave</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:0A8tch4LePxVn1Cn60wGXu">Warren Ellis</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:2A59wav3PGiJij2rK7HQYH">Phil Selway</a> released Strange Dance, his third solo album. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi






