Ann Powers
Ann Powers is NPR Music's critic and correspondent. She writes for NPR's music news blog, The Record, and she can be heard on NPR's newsmagazines and music programs.
One of the nation's most notable music critics, Powers has been writing for The Record, NPR's blog about finding, making, buying, sharing and talking about music, since April 2011.
Powers served as chief pop music critic at the Los Angeles Times from 2006 until she joined NPR. Prior to the Los Angeles Times, she was senior critic at Blender and senior curator at Experience Music Project. From 1997 to 2001 Powers was a pop critic at The New York Times and before that worked as a senior editor at the Village Voice. Powers began her career working as an editor and columnist at San Francisco Weekly.
Her writing extends beyond blogs, magazines and newspapers. Powers co-wrote Tori Amos: Piece By Piece, with Amos, which was published in 2005. In 1999, Power's book Weird Like Us: My Bohemian America was published. She was the editor, with Evelyn McDonnell, of the 1995 book Rock She Wrote: Women Write About Rock, Rap, and Pop and the editor of Best Music Writing 2010.
After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in creative writing from San Francisco State University, Powers went on to receive a Master of Arts degree in English from the University of California.
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Many musicians use old forms like folk and blues as inspiration, but few find a way to make music that sounds old but feels new. -
Canadian pop Singer Emm Gryner has known astronaut Chris Hadfield for years, which made her a perfect collaborator on his cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity." It doesn't hurt that Gryner has worked with Bowie himself, as well.
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The dance music scene that has risen in the past decade owes a debt to the heavy beats of Daft Punk's music. But the long-awaited album from the Parisian duo turns its back on EDM to bask in the smooth sounds — and liberation --of the 1970s. -
Does perfect technique make a good singer? Can emotion be learned? American Idol, on shaky legs with viewers this season, has recently had interesting things to say about this long-running debate. -
As a pop star, no one comes close to dominating culture and conversation the way Beyonce does. Because she exerts such control over her image — from advertisements to films, politics to pop songs — should we think of her differently?
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Some music feels so personal, it's hard to think about sharing it with anyone else. A new tribute album of songs by the folk singer Nick Drake (featuring many musicians who themselves hold Drake dear) tests the limits of one critic's ability to share that love.
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Still best known as the singer for grunge-era group Screaming Trees, Mark Lanegan has stayed busy. -
Big names and Next Big Things dominate coverage of Austin's festival, but there's quality music between the two poles. Ann Powers says the skill and subtlety those acts bring to the party interest her more than the sure bet of a legend or the sugar high of watching a baby band with buzz. -
In an hour-long conversation with NPR Music's Ann Powers at SXSW in Austin, Texas, the Fleetwood Mac singer revealed her lessons on life, love and making a mark in the music industry. -
After 10 years out of the public eye, the new album from Bowie, The Next Day, proves he's still a compelling pop star in today's music world.
