Pop Loser: This Week In Music News

This week's music news. by Audrey Vann

The 2026 Capitol Hill Block Party lineup is here. This year’s lineup dives back into the pop sphere with gems like MUNA, Magdalena Bay, Wet Leg, and Parcels, plus DJ sets from Trixie Mattel and Tinashe. The festival will once again be 21+ in an effort, according to Daydream State, to “[optimize] the footprint across the Pike/Pine corridor to deliver an elevated fan experience while supporting neighborhood flow and local businesses,” aka hopefully avoid Chappell Roan–sized crowds. (I was there, and I was afraid for my life—can someone please make commemorative shirts that say “I Survived Chappell Roan at CHBP 2024?”)

The ZooTunes lineup has also dropped, and it’s really good this year. Highlights include Pavement, the Breeders (with Team Dresch!), and Belle and Sebastian, celebrating the 30th anniversary of If You’re Feeling Sinister with Quasi. See the full lineup over on the ZooTunes website.

Pioneering French electronic musician Éliane Radigue has died at 94. Known for reinventing the synthesizer through “meditative and feedback-drenched sonic explorations” (the Guardian), Radigue released over two dozen albums in her lifetime that pushed the boundaries of what music can be. The best way I could describe her sound is like holding your ear up to a seashell (which there happens to be a beautiful image of her doing). Her 1986 ambient composition, Jetsun Mila, remains one of my favorite things to listen to while I write.

RIP Willie Colón and Lil Poppa. On Saturday, family confirmed that pioneering salsa trombonist Willie Colón died at the age of 75. Along with his 40-plus-album discography, he was also known for musical partnerships with artists ranging from Celia Cruz to David Byrne. Jacksonville rapper Lil Poppa died by suicide on Thursday at 25. The young artist began making music at 7 years old, writing religious raps for his church before pivoting to secular music, which led to his breakthrough single “Purple Hearts” at just 18.

LEAVE LIZA ALONE! While promoting her new memoir, Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!, legend, icon, and my president Liza Minnelli has claimed that the Academy “inexplicably ordered” her to sit in a wheelchair at her 2022 Oscars appearance with Lady Gaga. She told Variety, “I was told it was because of my age, and for safety reasons, because I might slip out of the director’s chair, which was bullshit. I will not be treated this way, I said. I was heartbroken. I was much lower down than I would have been in the director’s chair. Now I couldn’t easily read the teleprompter above me.”

Bad Bunny represents the USA better than the president, survey finds. A recent poll, conducted by Yahoo! and YouGov after the Super Bowl, found that more Americans feel better represented by the Puerto Rican star than the president. What is surprising is that slightly more participants identified themselves as Republicans than Democrats.

Did you watch Alysa Liu’s free skate!? I have watched it at least 15 times with tears streaming down my face. The 20-year-old team USA figure skater won a gold medal with her joyful performance to Donna Summer’s “MacArthur Park.”