Emma Dodds
Emma Dodds specializes in connecting music legacies with contemporary cultural conversations, particularly through the lens of mental health awareness and artist storytelling. Her reporting for Rayo consistently bridges historical music milestones with current industry developments across multiple genres.
Music Legacy Journalism
Dodds focuses on celebrating artists' enduring contributions through anniversary coverage and career retrospectives. She documented Phil Collins' 30th-anniversary reissue of 'Both Sides' and examined Coldplay's 'Yellow' as the band's breakthrough song that established their early success. Her John Lennon coverage highlights how his Beatles-era work continues to influence current music through upcoming film projects.
She profiles legacy artists like Madonna by cataloging their most iconic visual moments across decades of pop culture impact.
Genre-Inclusive Reporting
Her work spans pop, rock, and urban music scenes with equal authority.
Dodds covered the MOBO Awards' recognition of Black music across categories including Best Grime Act, Best Reggae Act, and Best African Act. She analyzes contemporary releases like Little Mix's 'Confetti' album while maintaining historical perspective on artists like Britney Spears whose career spans multiple generations of pop music fans.
Her James Arthur coverage details the singer's songwriting process across his fifth album.
Mental Health Integration
Dodds consistently connects music with mental wellness conversations. She reported on Anne-Marie's ambassadorship with mental health charity Mind and her personal discussions about anxiety. During Mental Health Awareness Week, she curated book recommendations featuring works like 'Energize: Make the Most of Every Moment'.
This thematic thread appears across her artist profiles, framing creative work within broader wellbeing contexts without reducing artists to their struggles.
Documentary and Interview Analysis
She provides context for music documentaries and interviews beyond surface-level promotion. Her Kylie Minogue documentary coverage notes the series' structure combining archive footage with recent interviews featuring both Kylie and her sister Dannii Minogue.
When covering Taylor Swift's 'Life of a Showgirl' discussion, she focused on the artist's substantive revelations rather than promotional elements. Her reporting on the Take That documentary demonstrates attention to how archival performance footage connects with the band's current narrative.
4 more music journalists.
Abigail Kellett
Abigail Kellett is a news reporter at the Halifax Courier who stands out for visually led coverage that shows how culture, nightlife and local life play out on the ground. She documents gigs, festivals and major live shows at venues such as The Piece Hall through curated photo sets that capture atmosphere, crowd and setting as much as performers, and she uses extensive image galleries to tap reader nostalgia for nights out in Halifax town centre. Her beat spans arts, entertainment, going out, heritage, books and literary events, along with community life, people stories, local challenges, milestones, transport, regeneration, lifestyle and food. She reports through photographs, checklist-style features, reader-driven lists and roundups of most-read stories, turning announcements, programmes, author events, festivals, shop lists and everyday characters into stories about place, shared memory and how people spend their time.
Adam Lyon
Adam Lyon is a digital audience and content editor whose news beat sits at the intersection of Ayrshire’s cultural life, business environment and public affairs. He works for the Ayr Advertiser and as Digital Audience & Content Editor for Newsquest in the west of Scotland across multiple weekly titles. He covers Ayrshire news with a strong thread of music and local culture alongside business, courts and public affairs. He reports on music when it has a clear community or national hook, treating songs as news events rather than reviews. His business work explains how local firms and retail policy shape town centres. His court coverage uses round-ups of sheriff court cases to show patterns and outcomes. He also fronts video previews and is active in a football supporters trust community.
Adam Maidment
Adam Maidment is a senior What’s On and LGBTQ+ reporter whose work links big-name gigs, new venues and cultural flashpoints to everyday fan culture and inclusion. He covers music, nightlife and the wider cultural scene for the Manchester Evening News, focusing on how concerts, openings and immersive events land with real people and communities. His beat spans live music, arenas and stadiums, new restaurant and bar openings, food reviews, exhibitions, street art and nightlife infrastructure, with a particular focus on LGBTQ+ audiences and neighbourhoods. He reports on venue ambitions and problems, cultural institutions and equality issues, and franchise-led experiences, using straightforward, on-the-ground reporting and clear description. Drawing on a background in community reporting, he looks for underrepresented perspectives and uses social media, analytics and local sourcing to find stories where culture, identity and place meet.
Alex Rigotti
Alex Rigotti is a freelance music and culture editor and journalist who joins fast-turnaround music news with detailed reporting on artists, fandom and politics. They report breaking stories and live music updates for NME and Paste Magazine, covering pop, rock, club music, underground scenes and cultural debates around art and identity. Their live-music beat includes setlists, tours, festival appearances, cancellations, ticketing, venues and onstage collaborations. They previously served as a contributing editor for NME’s Radar section, supporting coverage of emerging artists and new scenes. Rigotti also writes features on rap lyrics and criminalisation, Eurovision and politics, queer feminist bodybuilding, astrotherapy and contemporary art. Their reporting is direct and specific, using clear quotes, concrete details and artists’ own words to explain what happened and how music fits into wider cultural and industry trends.