Craig Jenkins Author Archive
Give A Gift
MOST RECENT ARTICLES BY:

Craig Jenkins

Music Critic
See all their articles from across New York Magazine
@CraigSJ
[email protected]

Craig Jenkins is a critic who writes about music and television and comedy and video games. He was a 2021 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Criticism.

  1. radio vulture
    Kanye’s Floating Stage Is the Star of the Saint Pablo TourRather than performing from a fixed location at the front of the audience, Kanye hovers over his crowd.
  2. song of summer
    Sia’s ‘Cheap Thrills’ Continues to Make a Strong Case for Song of SummerBut the Chainsmokers surged to keep it close, while twenty one pilots pulls double-duty on the charts.
  3. radio vulture
    The 2016 VMAs Were About Artistry for a Change (Beyoncé’s in Particular)Last night’s show was different because it was almost exclusively about talent.
  4. radio vulture
    How Britney Spears and Carly Rae Jepsen Stay RelevantTwo very different routes to success for non-megastars in the contemporary-pop industry.
  5. fall preview 2016
    What Vulture’s Critics Are Most Excited for This FallTheir top five picks for the season.
  6. fall preview 2016
    M.I.A., Pop’s Provocateur, Says Good-byeM.I.A. is saying that September’s dance-pop salvo A.I.M. will be her last album.
  7. radio vulture
    Album Review: Frank Ocean’s BlondeFrank Ocean lives haunted by the possibilities.
  8. radio vulture
    Against the Odds, Frank Ocean’s Is the Most Unusual Album Launch of 2016More confusing than The Life of Pablo, Lemonade, and Anti combined.
  9. concert review
    PJ Harvey Went Big, in Both Sound and Message, at NYC’s Terminal 5The record, and by extension the show, speaks to all of the tiny ways that America hides the truth that it’s a territory that subsists on a dream of prosperity many never live to experience.
  10. radio vulture
    Album Review: PartyNextDoor’s P3If this guy’s production credits don’t skyrocket in a year, it will be a crime.
  11. radio vulture
    Album Review: Rae Sremmurd’s Sremmlife 2 Is a Bid for a CareerSremmlife 2 seems directly aimed at anyone skeptical of Sremmurd’s talent.
  12. radio vulture
    Green Day Shouldn’t Even Matter in 2016, But Their New Single Kinda DeliversIt’s kinda crazy how Green Day stands a fair chance of being remembered as politically subversive.
  13. radio vulture
    Album Review: Suicide Squad SoundtrackThe Suicide Squad soundtrack is a neon nightmare.
  14. radio vulture
    Reminder: There Were Other Great 2016 R&B Albums Before Frank Ocean’s Let’s avoid repeating the selective soul-music amnesia the last Frank Ocean record inspired.
  15. song of summer
    Calvin Harris and Rihanna (and Taylor Swift) Take the Song of Summer LeadKaty Perry, Flume, twenty one pilots, and Britney Spears, among others, are on the, er, rise.
  16. pop music
    Is Culture Borrowing Always Theft?Jesse Williams, Justin Timberlake, and the hotly contested new (and still-simmering old) debates over cultural appropriation in pop music. 
  17. radio vulture
    Radiohead’s Dystopic Lyrics Resonated a Little More Than Usual at MSG Last NightMany of the band’s songs of workaday terror have a renewed significance amid the growing demagoguery of Donald Trump.
  18. panorama 2016
    Review: NYC’s Panorama Fest Was Worth the SweatThe sweltering July heat transformed even the most euphoric of live sets into a war against the weather.
  19. album review
    Gucci Mane Is Better Than He’s Been in Years on Everybody LookingGucci seems revitalized.
  20. radio vulture
    Mixtape Review: 21 Savage’s Savage ModeThis music is built from the same casual hopelessness that shocks us cold whenever we awake to fresh news of mass murder or police brutality. But in it, there’s a sense that the power is ours.
  21. Review: VH1’s Hip-Hop Honors“All Hail the Queens” celebrated women in rap across four very different eras.
  22. radio vulture
    Garth Brooks Aces His First New York Show in 19 YearsThough he’s lost steam on the charts, he remains a master of the stage.
  23. album review
    Will New Albums From the Avalanches and DJ Shadow Revive Turntablism?Neither has reinvented any wheels, but sometimes a couple of cool records will suffice.
  24. Blood Orange’s Freetown Sound Is the ‘Passion’ of Black America Protest music you can dance and cry to. 
  25. Desiigner Is the Song of Summer Front-runner, Just Ahead of Drake and JTSia, Rihanna, Adele, and Kent Jones, among others, are on the rise.
  26. best of 2016
    The Best Songs of 2016 (So Far)Including Anderson .Paak, Pinegrove, and scrappy up-and-comers Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar.
  27. music
    The Problem With Attempting Wokeness in 2016Both artists struggled to speak sensitively and articulately about the privileges of whiteness, maleness, and straightness when put on the spot.
  28. best of 2016
    The Best Albums of 2016 (So Far)Including Sturgill, Bowie, and Beyoncé.
  29. hard pass
    The Joylessness of the New Ghostbusters ThemeLet’s laugh through this today and never speak of it again.
  30. concert review
    The Cure Finish Their MSG Residency With a 3-Hour Set and 4 EncoresOver three hours, the Cure charted a voyage through the vast waters of a nearly 40-year recording career, maneuvering through hits, deep cuts, and new material with masterful poise.
  31. album review
    Red Hot Chili Peppers’ The Getaway Is Their Best in YearsThe Getaway doesn’t take the Chili Peppers’ sound to the chop shop; they’re still crafting agile guitar rock with a funk underpinning.
  32. dj mustard
    Nicki Minaj Saves DJ Mustard’s ‘Don’t Hurt Me’Mustard’s been writing this same song for years.
  33. music review
    Boomer Rock Icons Are Back, and Their Albums Aren’t BadPaul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, and Paul Simon are all releasing new material.
  34. album review
    Little Big Town and Pharrell Made a Country Album (Barely)Wanderlust veers sharply away from “Girl Crush” and the cool country-pop of 2014’s Pain Killer; it’s the most eclectic offering in the group’s catalogue.
  35. governors ball 2016
    Governors Ball Review: The Strokes and KanyeIf the Strokes embody the disaffected, downtown New York cool of eras past, the goose chase for a Kanye West concert that ultimately never happened shows what’s replaced it.
  36. What You Missed at the 2016 Governors Ball Music FestivalTorrential downpours, Prince tributes, and surprise cameos galore.
  37. The Genius of Kanye’s New Cruel Winter TrackKanye West plays people where other musicians of his stature play instruments.
  38. jay-z
    Jay Z Is Back, Sort of, With Two New Not-Bad Guest VersesIs the new music worth the wait?
  39. album review
    Album Review: Heartbreak Drake Returns on ViewsHe’s lonely out in Calabasas, and yearning for the comfort of familiar faces.
  40. lemonade
    Album Review: Beyoncé’s LemonadeLemonade pushes past the familiar even as it rolls bits of popular standards into its production.
  41. Why the McKanye Feud Is Bad for EveryoneThe problem with the Who Is Paul McCartney? controversy.