Louder: Meg White’s drumming spoke louder than words

November 8, 2025

	By Caryn Ganz

Sometimes I think I remember shows well and I am off by months or years. I just checked when I saw the White Stripes open for Sleater-Kinney at Bowery Ballroom (quite a bill, right?) and it was September 2000. Pre-9/11. That is just hard to believe.

But believe it or not, the White Stripes are old enough to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, which is happening tonight in Los Angeles. While Jack White has gone on to become, as Lindsay Zoladz writes, “a sort of front-facing spokesman for 21st-century rock,” Meg White walked away from the spotlight and never returned. In a fabulous essay, Lindsay examines the power of Meg’s quietness, which was a hallmark of her time in the band before it ended, too. (Lindsay also provided a rundown of the inductees in The Amplifier newsletter.)

There’s been a bit of chatter about the health of rap the past few weeks, after Billboard reported a dearth of hip-hop on the Hot 100, but Jon Caramanica found it thriving (and heaving, and moshing and screaming) at Barclays Center this week as one of the genre’s leading stars, Playboi Carti, brought his tour to Brooklyn. Jon and Joe Coscarelli also chatted with Yung Lean, the Swedish rapper (and now actor) whose early taste of viral fame in the mid-2010s pushed him to the brink. (He, too, is thriving.)

Plus: Josh Barone, one of our classical music writers and editors, took a closer look at Rosalía’s new album, “Lux”; Kyle Buchanan profiled Ariana Grande, who had some unexpected thoughts on her music career; and Grayson Haver Currin interviewed the experimental jazz quintet SML, who make albums from fragments of live shows.

A woman dressed in red with dark hair in two ponytails closes her eyes and plays a drum kit.

Martin Philbey/Redferns, via Getty Images

Critic’s Notebook

Meg White’s Drumming Spoke Louder Than Words

The White Stripes musician, who joins the Rock Hall on Saturday, exited the band 18 years ago. Her quiet — in the duo and afterward — has long been one of her powers.

By Lindsay Zoladz

Cyndi Lauper sits and rests her elbows on a tabletop, bringing her hands together. She’s wearing a sweepy white top and bright-red lipstick.

Meet the 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductees

Listen to songs from Cyndi Lauper, Outkast, Soundgarden and more ahead of the ceremony on Saturday night in Los Angeles.

By Lindsay Zoladz

A man dressed in black with gold chains around his neck and dark sunglasses raps into a mic and shines a pointy light.

Critic’s Pick

Playboi Carti, Rage Rap’s Goth King, Beckons Brooklyn to the Pit

The rapper, who has become one of hip-hop’s leading stars, presided over a sweaty tangle of young men outfitted in black and ecstatically moshing.

By Jon Caramanica and Graham Dickie

Cristina Quicler/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Critic’s Notebook

Rosalía’s ‘Lux’ Is Operatic. But Is It Opera?

This Spanish pop star’s new album is being advertised as symphonic and operatic. Its music borrows from both, without committing to either.

By Joshua Barone

Bathed in a purple-pink light, a young man with a bandanna tied around his forehead plays a keyboard.

‘Purple Rain’ Review: A Stage Musical That Misses Prince’s Charisma

Prince was mysterious, sexy. This adaptation of his 1984 film, onstage in Minneapolis, explains too much and comes off as disorienting.

By Elisabeth Vincentelli

A portrait from the chest up shows a woman in a strapless black top resting a cheek in a tattooed hand. The other hand, also tattooed, rests on her shoulder.

Ariana Grande Still Has Surprises in Store

The pop superstar reinvented herself in the first “Wicked,” but the sequel shows just how much further she can go as an actress.

By Kyle Buchanan and Geordie Wood

Popcast

Yung Lean’s Early Viral Fame Nearly Killed Him. Now, He’s Thriving.

A decade ago, the Swedish rapper was an internet sensation finding global fame. After struggling with drugs, he’s back with new music, a new film and welcome clarity.

1 HR 34 MIN LISTEN

Five people stand on dusty patch outside in Los Angeles, blue skies behind them.

How Does SML Make Experimental Jazz Albums? Very Unconventionally.

The Los Angeles quintet was born onstage, and that’s exactly how it records LPs: by capturing live performances and twisting them, sometimes beyond recognition.

By Grayson Haver Currin and Ariel Fisher

Illustration by Dante Zaballa

5 Minutes That Will Make You Love Alto Saxophone

Almost no other instrument seems so synonymous with jazz as the sax. Listen to some classic alto playing from Charlie Parker, Cannonball Adderley, Sonny Stitt and more greats.

By Giovanni Russonello

NEWS

A black-and-white photo of Bob Dylan holding a cigarette near his mouth.

A Zohran Mamdani Ad Used a Bob Dylan Song. The Music Was Removed.

New York’s next mayor played “The Times They Are a-Changin’” in a spot on social media. The company that owns Dylan’s catalog said his songs can’t be used for politics.

By Ben Sisario

Two photos are placed side by side. The one on the left shows a woman wearing glasses, strumming a guitar and singing into a microphone. On the left, a woman in a black dress is posing for the camera.

‘Girl, Interrupted,’ With Aimee Mann Songs, to Be Staged in New York

The Public Theater will present the play, which Martyna Majok adapted from the best-selling memoir.

By Michael Paulson

OBITUARIES

A woman with black hair wearing a blue blouse and earrings, she sits in front of a shelf of books and records holding a record album with an open gatefold jacket.

Jodi Hilton for The New York Times

Marcyliena Morgan, Founder of Harvard’s Hip-Hop Archive, Dies at 75

Her university’s vast collection of albums, scholarly essays and other ephemera helped establish rap as a course of serious study on a par with classical music.

By Alex Williams