There are some songs that pose a question and others that feel like an answer. Shyfrin Alliance’s new single, “Colours of Time,” does something far stranger: it wrestles with a question so personal it barely knows how to form the words. It’s an exercise in trying to name the unnamable, that internal puppet-master who tugs at the strings of doubt and ambition from a...

Some pop songs are built for escapism. They offer a three-minute vacation from the weight of things. Paul Jenner, the creative force behind the musical project 50mething, seems uninterested in this kind of holiday. His work is consistently grounded in the here and now, tackling the social and political agitations of our time with a composer’s ear and a critical eye. His 2026 single, “You Can’t...