Sometimes the truth hurts. It hurts because we’re forced to confront something about life or about ourselves that’s uncomfortable, maybe even painful. That doesn’t feel good. Increasingly, though, mainstream culture is veering away from telling hard truths. Especially those that make anyone feel uncomfortable. And for many, emotions have become the path to their subjective, […]
Continue Reading
The music industry has a new top dog: “Old Town Road.” It took 24 years to beat “One Sweet Day” by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men as the music industry’s longest-running pop chart-topping song. That ditty spent 16 straight weeks on the top of Billboard’s Hot 100 chart in 1995 and 1996. And while […]
Continue Reading
Once upon a time, we bought CDs. (And before that, cassettes, vinyl records and, yup, even 8-tracks for a hot minute in the mid-’70s.) But that list illustrates an inescapable reality: Music formats eventually become obsolete. CDs, while not technically extinct, have given way over the last two decades to digital music-streaming platforms such as […]
Continue Reading
Young people are stressed out, anxious and often depressed. In a recent study by the Pew Research Center, some 70% of teens surveyed reported that anxiety and depression are the biggest issues that they see among their peers. Another study published in February in the journal JAMA Pediatrics found that about one in seven children […]
Continue Reading
Justin Bieber has headlined Culture Clips (and other Plugged In blogs and articles) many times in the last decade. His wildly zigzagging trajectory has often ricocheted between affirmations of faith and reckless behavior. The 24-year-old singer married model and TV presenter Hailey Baldwin last July. And the couple recently sat down for an interview with […]
Continue Reading
A whopping 84 Grammys were awarded this year (though not all were obviously doled out during Sunday night’s Grammy Award telecast). Childish Gambino, aka Donald Glover, took home three of them, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Lady Gaga picked up a couple, too. Country star Kacey Musgraves’ Golden Hour took […]
Continue Reading
See ya, 2018. Wouldn’t want to be ya. Who would? The year was so crazy that even Vincent Van Gogh would have suggested it get a hold of itself. Terrible fires in California. Terrible cold out east. A Tesla Roadster is driving around in space. Certain eels are compulsively swimming into the noses of certain […]
Continue Reading
Every year, I find a handful of music releases to look forward to. (Imagine Dragons and Mumford & Sons, for instance, were on the list this year, even if I wasn’t able to include those two bands’ most recent, more-positive-than-not releases here.) And then, there are surprises. Sometimes big ones. Last year, for example, I […]
Continue Reading
In my 2011 book, Plugged-In Parenting, I included a chapter titled, “Ten Things You Can Do to End Fights Over Family Entertainment.” One of those suggestions was to get your pastors involved. Here’s what I said: When your kids hear other people—pastors, parents, teachers—echoing your advice on media, they may be more willing to listen. […]
Continue Reading
For pretty much my entire adult life, it’s been common knowledge that Michael Jackson’s seminal 1982 album Thriller was the best-selling record (remember those?) of all time. Well, now it’s not. According to new sales and streaming tallies by the Recording Industry Association of America, Thriller’s been dethroned by the Eagles. That band’s 1976 album, […]
Continue Reading
As we reported in Culture Clips on Wednesday, singer and actress Demi Lovato was hospitalized after reportedly overdosing this week. It’s another deeply sad moment in the career of a young woman—Lovato is just 25—who has been in similarly desperate places before. Lovato has long been open about her struggles, serving as a role model […]
Continue Reading
I really love music. I have special playlists for long runs and cooking, for cleaning and relaxing. Whatever the occasion, I like to have a soundtrack of sorts playing in the background, like my life is connected with a scene in a movie. Cinematic, Owl City’s latest album, shares my affinity for these movie-like moments. […]
Continue Reading
For years, faith-based films have been largely ignored in the secular entertainment establishment. They never— I’ma let you finish, faith-based film guy. But first, we have to talk a little about Kanye West. Love him or not, the influential rapper sure says some … interesting things. And with his new album, Ye, out, West is […]
Continue Reading
We’ve all heard about Facebook and Instagram, YouTube and Twitter. Certain apps and social media platforms are as ubiquitous as, well, the smartphone you’re probably clutching in your hand right now. But kids flock to some apps that we parents are sometimes woefully unaware of. The Musical.ly app may be one of those. On the […]
Continue Reading
So Spotify just did a thing. According to their new public hate content and hateful conduct policy, they’ve chosen to take R. Kelly’s music off of their streaming playlists. His music will still be available on Spotify, but will no longer be promoted. After nearly 20 years of allegations that the artist has had sexual […]
Continue Reading
About UsEn Español
Privacy Policy/Terms of Use
©1999-2014 Focus on the Family (1-800-A-FAMILY)
PLUGGED IN is a trademark and SHINING A LIGHT ON THE WORLD OF POPULAR ENTERTAINMENT is a service mark of Focus on the Family
apps
newsletter
facebook
twitter