Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!

The essential message of this surprise album by Beyoncé and Jay-Z can be found on the closing track “Lovehappy.” “We broke up and got back together,” raps Jay-Z. “Now we’re happy in love,” replies Beyoncé. The husband-and-wife superstars, who 15 years ago famously proclaimed to be “crazy in love,” have weathered their share of marital discord, as revealed on their Lemonade and 4:44 albums. But Bey and Jay, who was born Shawn Carter, have clearly worked out their problems and these nine tracks celebrate the reconciliation. On “713,” the area code for Beyoncé’s hometown of Houston, her husband calls his wife a “black queen” and raps “you rescued us.” Queen Bey raps more than she sings, shining...

She’s a groundbreaker, bringing African music into the pop mainstream. Now the Grammy-winning diva has pulled off an impressive feat: taking Talking Heads’ classic 1980 worldbeat album and deepening its essential African-ness, upping the hypnotic polyrhythmic grooves on “Crosseyed and Painless” and turning “Once in a Lifetime” into a joyous carnival celebration.

Neko’s latest is a gem—self-produced and full of melodic charms and fairy-tale delights. “Bad Luck” is all soaring girl-group harmonies, while “Oracle of the Maritimes,” co-written with Laura Veirs, and “Gumball Blue,” one of two songs penned with New Pornographers bandmate Carl Newman, take listeners deep into the raven-haired siren’s rich, imaginative world.