Welcome to Conversations With Journalists! In this series, we invite students to join discussions about New York Times articles with Times journalists and other teenagers from around the world. A new selection publishes every two weeks. Learn more about the feature and find a schedule of the pieces we’ll be reading together in the future here.
Are you a music fan? How do you learn about and discover new songs and artists?
In this conversation, you’ll get to chat with Lindsay Zoladz, a pop music critic for The New York Times, whose entire job is to listen to music and tell you what to cue up next. Whether she’s surfacing the week’s best new tracks or putting together quirky playlists around specific themes (like this one on songs about clowning or this one on songs about specific times of day), she uses her expertise to cut through the noise and create soundtracks with a human touch to both surprise and delight listeners.
If you’re planning to participate in our new “My List” Review Contest from Jan. 15 to Feb. 12, you can learn a lot from Ms. Zoladz. We hope you’ll use this forum both to find out what it’s like to be a music critic and to get expert tips for making your own useful and creative pieces.
What do you think makes a great playlist? In a time when we have millions of songs at our fingertips and faceless algorithm-created playlists have taken over our streaming services, what makes Ms. Zoladz’s work stand out?
Featured Article
We’re reading selections from The Amplifier, a twice-weekly newsletter in which pop music critic Lindsay Zoladz compiles playlists to help readers discover songs they’ll love. For this conversation, choose one of the following recent editions to read:
6 New Songs You Should Hear Now
7 Hot Tracks From a New Generation of Female Rappers
9 Great Songs That Mention Baseball Stars
Note to teachers: Please preview any articles you assign to make sure they are appropriate for your students.
We’ll be joined by Ms. Zoladz, who has been a cultural critic for over a decade and became a full-time pop music critic for The Times in 2022. She writes reviews, features and critical essays about music and other popular culture, and compiles playlists for The Amplifier newsletter.
You can read more about Ms. Zoladz and how The Amplifier came to be in this Times Insider article.
Questions to Think About As You Read
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What parts of the article — whether individual lines, paragraphs, photos, quotes or anything else — stand out to you? Why?
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Is there anything that challenges what you know or thought you knew? What did you learn?
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What connections can you make between this article and your own life?
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Is there anything missing from this article that you wish was included? If so, what and why?
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What questions does this piece raise for you?
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What would you like to ask or say to the journalist who created it, whether about this specific article or about the journalist’s work in general? (Not sure what to ask? Check out this list of more than 20 ideas (PDF) — but don’t feel that you have to stick to them!)
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What would you like to ask or say to other teenagers who are reading this article with you?
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Focus questions: What do you think makes a great playlist? In a time when we have millions of songs at our fingertips and faceless algorithm-created playlists have taken over our streaming services, what makes Ms. Zoladz’s work stand out?
How to Join the Conversation
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First, read the featured article and use the questions above to help you reflect on what you’ve read.
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Post a response in the comments. Be sure to introduce yourself and then share your reactions to what you read. Ask Ms. Zoladz a question, either about the article or about her work in general.
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Post your response by Thursday, Jan. 16, and then Ms. Zoladz will respond by the following Wednesday, Jan. 22.
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Be sure to come back to the conversation to read Ms. Zoladz’s replies and respond. What is something she shared that intrigued you? What is something you learned about her reporting process? What questions do you still have?
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And remember you can reply to and recommend other students’ comments throughout the two weeks. We hope you’ll keep the conversation going among one another.
Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public and may appear in print.
Are you a teacher or student who has feedback on this new feature or would like to suggest a Times piece for future discussion? Please post a comment here.