Ken Tucker
Ken Tucker reviews rock, country, hip-hop and pop music for Fresh Air. He is a cultural critic who has been the editor-at-large at Entertainment Weekly, and a film critic for New York Magazine. His work has won two National Magazine Awards and two ASCAP-Deems Taylor Awards. He has written book reviews for The New York Times Book Review and other publications.
Tucker is the author of Scarface Nation: The Ultimate Gangster Movie and Kissing Bill O'Reilly, Roasting Miss Piggy: 100 Things to Love and Hate About Television.
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The Australian songwriter who has written hits for Rihanna, Beyonce and Katy Perry just released an album of her own. Critic Ken Tucker likes Sia's singing, in part, because of its imperfections.
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Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews the debut album by the Spanish quartet Hinds. "These four women revive the notion of do-it-yourself punk musicianship," Tucker says of Leave Me Alone.
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The singer-songwriter plays most of the instruments himself on his new album. Critic Ken Tucker says you can hear a love for pop music in Hughes' silly sentiments and artful arrangements.
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The "Love Me Like You Do" singer created her new album as an experiment — to see if she could make a "big pop album." Reviewer Ken Tucker says Goulding's experimental effort was worth the risk.
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The singer-songwriter's original Have Moicy! album, released in '76, mixed folk, blues and country. Critic Ken Tuckers says that despite the long wait, Stampfel's follow-up has a real immediacy to it.
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Rock Critic Ken Tucker presents his playlist for 2015, which includes the Alabama Shakes, Bruno Mars and Ashley Monroe, among others. For reading pleasure, he suggests Real Life Rock, by Greil Marcus.
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Rock critic Ken Tucker discusses the British singer's popularity and her new album, 25. "In a pop world overflowing with singers who want to blow you away, Adele wants to talk with you," he says.
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The British singer-songwriter who came to prominence during the punk-rock era of the late 1970s sings about his adopted homeland in his new album, amERICa. Critic Ken Tucker has a review.
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Ken Tucker says that Justin Timberlake's duet with Chris Stapleton the Country Music Awards and Meat and Candy, the new hip-hop-influenced album by Old Dominion, showcase a new style of country.
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Critic Ken Tucker considers three songs by three artists: Elvis Costello's "I Can't Turn It Off," Lana Del Rey's cover of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" and Eleanor Friedberger's "Alphabet City."