By: Brennan Carley

Perhaps it was Aristotle who said once that “haters just gonna hate,” and oh, how the fountains of discontent have rapidly burst forth following the release of Nicki Minaj’s sophomore album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded.

By: Brennan Carley

It’s a controversial show, that Spring Awakening, a rock musical teeming with teenage sex and the troubles that come with growing up. Though two of the protagonists in the musical are male, it was the women who walked away with the Contemporary Theatre of Boston College’s production, unapologetically yanking on our heartstrings with their wrenching performances.

By: Brennan Carley

If you’re a music fan who lives in the Northeast, a common complaint is the lack of festivals that make their way to our neck of the woods.

By: Brennan Carley

Miike Snow is, in fact, not a man, but a band. “Oh yeah, I’ve heard of him, he does that song ‘Animal,'” friends have said in the past, but not many understand that the band is, in fact, a they, not a he. The band, composed of Christian Karlsson, Pontus Winberg, and Andrew Wyatt, are former producers who won a Grammy for their work on Britney Spears’ pre-breakdown “Toxic.”

By: Brennan Carley

Taylor Kitsch 

The Heights:What does it mean to you to portray a character that has existed for a century?

Taylor Kitsch:I don’t think you’re going to put more pressure on it because it’s existed this or that. I think that’s a lot of the outside pressure trying to come in, but no one is going to put more pressure on it than I will. I think the most pressure I truly had was probably playing a guy that’s lived and has passed on, but I’m not going to prep more because it’s Edgar Rice Burroughs’ vision or anything like that— but I mean it’s very flattering to be a part of it, and I think that scope of it all is quite cool to be a part of as well. I think to breathe life into Stanton, who directed it, his childhood dream is an amazing thing to do and be a part of.

By: Brennan Carley

Critics often fall into that oft-used “less is more” trope in their work. Just look at any recent Cirque du Soleil review, or pick up any of Michael Riedel’s snark-laden Spider-Man:

By: Brennan Carley

I work on campus with a woman whose only TV watching consists of reality shows, so, in an effort to keep up with her, I tuned in to several of them over the past year. Here are my findings about 2011’s best and worst reality shows.

By: Brennan Carley

All may be fair in love and war, but Childish Gambino’s new album takes no prisoners in its fantastically-merciless lyrical acuity, itself a sharply driven wit that comes with a seriously hard edge.

By: Brennan Carley

Countless Top-40 stations herald Bruno Mars as the long awaited soul revivalist the country has been waiting for since the 1970s, but Fitz and the Tantrums proved that they are much more suited for the job during their raucous concert on Friday night. There was a harmonious and wholly enjoyable set that incorporated influences from the past while paving a new musical road.

By: Brennan Carley

Perhaps owing a debt of gratitude to its massive college population, Boston has one of the nation’s most sprawling music scenes.