Ms. Swift plays a different game on her sixth album — making pop music that directly competes with the rest of the field’s dominant players.

Music's big awards show is trying to make big changes. So what do these nominations tell us? Guests: The New York Times's Jon Pareles. Joe Coscarelli and Caryn Ganz

The rapper behind one of the summer’s biggest hits has made swift moves in the music industry, and is making waves in the fashion world, too.

Breaking down the sounds, the themes, the obscure (and not-so-hidden) messages and more on her seventh album. Guests: Joe Coscarelli, Caryn Ganz and Jon Pareles.

A Coachella set stunning in scope and execution. The first Pulitzer Prize winner who isn’t from classical or jazz. A conversation about the two artists’ triumphs.

Lizzo, Billie Eilish and Lil Nas X lead the way. But has the Recording Academy’s relationship to pop changed? Guests: The full New York Times pop music team.

Netflix’s “Rhythm + Flow” is the most recent example of the reality-TV business trying to get into the hip-hop business. Guests: Complex's Frazier Tharpe and Stereogum's Tom Breihan.

Gospel music insiders on the rapper’s turn to religious music and how his album relates to contemporary holy hip-hop. Guests: Root's Hasan James and The Journal of Gospel Music's Robert Marovich.

Nashville has long marginalized female performers, songwriters and producers. But a wave of artists is fighting back. Guests: Jada Watson and Natalie Weiner.

One of the year’s most unlikely breakthroughs is a duo that makes disorienting, genre-jumbling music. Guests: Eli Enis and The Fader's Larry Fitzmaurice.

Collaborations have flourished in the wake of “Despacito,” some sounding natural, some sounding forced. Guest: Remezcla's Eduardo Cepeda.

A conversation about his rapid rise and the questions — about genre and race — glossed over along the way. Guests: Pitchfork's Jayson Greene and The New York Times Magazine's Jonah Weiner.

One of the decade’s most copied rappers finally reached No. 1 on the album chart, years after his aesthetic rubbed off on hip-hop. Guest: Andrew Nosnitsky.

Breaking down the sounds, the themes, the obscure (and not-so-hidden) messages and more on her seventh album. Guests: Joe Coscarelli, Caryn Ganz and Jon Pareles.

Conversations about his songwriting, his struggles and his striking sweetness outside of music. Guests: Jeff Johnson; The New Yorker's Amanda Petrusich; and Nick Weidenfeld.

The Hot 97 D.J. and the hip-hop disrupter shared the wildest interview of the year. Guests: Rolling Stone's Charles Holmes and Pitchfork's Alphonse Pierre.

There’s more data about music consumption than ever before. That doesn’t mean we understand who’s the most popular. Guests: The New York Times's Joe Coscarelli and Ben Sisario.

Critics who were writing about the band at the peak of its fame look back at how the group became so bitterly divisive. Guests: Jim DeRogatis and Danyel Smith.

The superstar complained that the powerful manager acquired her master recordings, setting off a debate that divided the industry. Guest: The New York Times's Joe Coscarelli

“Cracked Rear View” catapulted the band to superstardom. But the group made great music long before — and after — anyone paid attention. Guest: former A&R representative Tim Sommer

From “Rocketman” to “Her Smell,” “Blaze” to “Vox Lux,” the film industry seems to think all musicians have the same ups and downs. Guests: The New York Times's A.O. Scott; Vanity Fair's K. Austin Collins; Kristen Yoonsoo Kim.