Spencer Kornhaber

Wrote about rooting for Yasmin and then getting to... that... finale of HBO's Industry — www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...

Slow Down, Charli XCX The singer believes that music isn’t the point of pop stardom. Is she right?

Though I'm glad to live in the world of Charli XCX, I'm getting pretty tired of "worldbuilding" as an artform. My take on The Moment, Wuthering Heights, and our culture's ongoing drought of masterpieces:

www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...

‘Together, We Are America’ Bad Bunny’s critics said his Super Bowl halftime show would be divisive. They were totally wrong.

This is a great piece by my colleague spencer on the bad bunny helftimeshow but of course there’s never been a more divisive idea in American history than all of us being American, we fought a civil war over it and Trump is nothing if not manifest opposition to it www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...

‘Together, We Are America’ Bad Bunny’s critics said his Super Bowl halftime show would be divisive. They were totally wrong.

You can call Bad Bunny's halftime show many things—fun, meaningful, staggeringly detailed, wholesomely hot, surprisingly Gagatastic—but not divisive.

www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...

The Undeniable Fun of Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime Show The singer’s critics said his performance would be divisive. They were totally wrong.

Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show was a blast, writes @skornhaber.bsky.social—“a precisely detailed, relentlessly stimulating medley rooted in the good-old-fashioned pleasure principle”:

Bad Bunny’s All-American Grammys The singer was among a raft of stars who spoke out on behalf of immigrants and against ICE at this year’s ceremony.

At the Grammys, Bad Bunny asserted an obvious truth that somehow has become controversial: People like him are American, @skornhaber.bsky.social writes:

Rage in the U.S.A. Bruce Springsteen has never sounded angrier than on his new song, “Streets of Minneapolis.”

The Boss has pierced my shell with this time warp of a protest song for a time-warp kind of crisis.

www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...

Trump’s Golden Age of Culture Seems Pretty Sad So Far The president’s party has total control of government—but not what Americans care about.

@skornhaber.bsky.social: “The president’s aesthetics are wackily fascist—but American culture, for now, remains peskily democratic.”

Trump’s Golden Age of Culture Seems Pretty Sad So Far The president’s party has total control of government—but not what Americans care about.

Nicki Minaj's MAGAfication made me write about Trump's fake golden age of cringe fascism vs. our actual cultural age of anarchy and debate and exhaustion.

www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...

The Happiest Man in Music Zane Lowe has made a career out of relentless positivity. Is there anything he doesn’t like?

What kind of music geek doesn't have a snobby side?

I profiled Zane Lowe, the relentlessly positive pop-star interviewer—and learned a lot about the new music promotional economy, where the lessons of "Almost Famous" have been totally inverted.

www.theatlantic.com/culture/2025...

The Music Industry’s No. 1 Fan Zane Lowe has made a career out of relentless positivity. Is there anything he doesn’t like?

How did a Gen X DJ and former rapper from New Zealand become the record industry’s favorite influencer? @skornhaber.bsky.social explores:

In “West End Girl,” Lily Allen’s “deadpan delivery and gliding melodies land the plot twists crisply; the beats melt dancehall and soul elements into a drooping, numbed dreamscape,” @skornhaber.bsky.social writes.

See his top 10 albums of 2025: theatln.tc/SunxPyd7

The Best Albums of 2025 This year’s most interesting artists invented their own grammar and tunneled in idiosyncratic directions.

My favorite albums of this headphones-on year—

10. Model/Actriz
9. Clipse
8. Ryan Davis + the RH Band
7. Anna von Hausswolff
6. .... Lily... Allen...
5. Dijon
4. Geese
3. Rosalía
2. Oklou!

1. Ninajirachi - I LOVE MY COMPUTER!!!

✨✨💖💻💽🎧🛜🖱️💖✨✨

www.theatlantic.com/culture/2025...

The Coolest Girl on Earth Seeks God Rosalía’s new album mirrors the modern quest for salvation, in all its thrilling and frustrating contours.

Wrote about the theology, the awe, and the compromises of Rosalía's Lux in the context of this Christiancore cultural moment— www.theatlantic.com/culture/2025...

The Pantsless Trend Reaches Its Logical Conclusion Celebrities have embraced a new sort of garment: the fashion diaper.

I had to make a foray into fashion writing because I could not stop thinking about the fashion diapers all the celebs are wearing!!!
www.theatlantic.com/family/2025/...

Is the next Roger Ebert on TikTok? Spencer Kornhaber, staff writer at The Atlantic, explored how the job of the critic is changing.

Chatted about criticism with Kai Ryssdal!

Is the next Roger Ebert on TikTok? www.marketplace.org/story/2025/1...

The Forces Changing Music and Film Criticism The industry is being transformed in the era of YouTube video essays and TikTok screeds.

+ more thoughts and recommendations in this newsletter! www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...

Traditional Criticism Is in Trouble. Here’s What’s Replacing It. Demand for cultural commentary is higher than it’s ever been—but now that commentary is coming from unconventional new sources.

Don't let anyone tell you cultural criticism is dead. But someone does have to pay for it.

I toured through the commentary circuit on TikTok, Letterboxd, and other places where the rules of criticism are changing in inspiring ... and depressing ... ways— www.theatlantic.com/culture/2025...

The Forces Changing Music and Film Criticism The industry is being transformed in the era of YouTube video essays and TikTok screeds.

"Traditional" cultural criticism feels like a dying art, Will Gottsegen writes in The Atlantic Daily. He talks with Spencer Kornhaber about where the medium goes from here:

Traditional Criticism Is in Trouble. Here’s What’s Replacing It. Demand for cultural commentary is higher than it’s ever been—but now that commentary is coming from unconventional new sources.

Like everything else, professional arts criticism has been under attack this year, and Spencer Kornhaber reported a really great piece on what might be taking its place: www.theatlantic.com/culture/2025...

Buy This Album. Now Buy It in Green. Here’s how Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl just shattered sales records.

Taylor Swift’s new chart topper is an achievement of e-commerce, not music, argues @skornhaber.bsky.social:

Taylor Swift’s Burnout Era The singer has everything she ever wanted—her new album suggests that it’s all sort of a drag.

I am just baffled. www.theatlantic.com/culture/2025...

Finally, a New Idea in Rock and Roll The band Geese is pushing the genre in new and electrifying directions.

Reminder: People still do cool shit!

(I wrote about getting my skull smashed by this Geese album.)

www.theatlantic.com/culture/2025...

How Did Taylor Swift Convince the World That She’s Relatable? The tidiest explanation for the pop star’s success is that she befriended an underestimated audience of girls and young women. That’s only part of the story.

“Swift has pulled off something that’s never quite been done before. The closest comparison might be to show tunes—but for a one-woman play that’s gone 19 years without a curtain call.”
@skornhaber.bsky.social

David Letterman’s Jimmy Kimmel Reaction: ‘We All See Where This Is Going, Correct?’ The comedian spoke about Kimmel’s suspension from late-night TV at The Atlantic Festival.

"We all see where this is going, correct?"

www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...

The Death of an Influencer Charlie Kirk was a content creator—a job that shapes how people now talk about and experience politics.

@skornhaber.bsky.social: “If we are, as is frequently said, living in an era of extraordinary political violence, it cannot be understood as separate from the rising cultural hunger to reach out and touch—or do much worse to—the people on our screens.”

How Did Taylor Swift Convince the World That She’s Relatable? The tidiest explanation for the pop star’s success is that she befriended an underestimated audience of girls and young women. That’s only part of the story.

For the magazine, here's my grand theory of Taylor Swift—why her music works, how she's made pop new, and where she might go next.

www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

The Music of Millennial Idealism A new book shows how indie rock shaped a generation’s listening preferences, with lasting effects.

Long live indie rock!!!

Loved taking a tour back through the twee 2000s with
@chrisdeville's new book—

www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...

How Justin Bieber Finally Gave Us the Song of the Summer American listeners don’t want to party; they just want a break.

The summer of headphones-on, lala it's not happening, it's-all-I-can-take easy listening (thank you Bieber) — www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...

The Human Side of Music’s Prince of Darkness Ozzy Osbourne was an unruly chaos agent and a beloved family man alike.

Wrote about Ozzy Osbourne's antipathy for the devil—

www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...