Ilana Kaplan
Ilana Kaplan covers popular music and its wider culture through news-driven stories and artist-focused features that connect songs, careers and fan communities. She tracks both the creative side of songwriting and performance and the business, legal and reputational moments that shape how artists work and how audiences respond.
Music news and artist moments
At Yahoo News, Kaplan reports on current developments around major recording artists and their projects, with a focus on how these moments land with fans and in the industry. She has covered Taylor Swift’s induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, detailing Swift’s own description of songwriting as the “only thing I ever naturally did,” and the historical significance of her becoming the youngest woman to receive that honor. Her work follows other headline events, such as a copyright lawsuit preventing Miley Cyrus from dismissing claims that her hit “Flowers” is too close to Bruno Mars’ “When I Was Your Man,” giving readers a clear account of the allegations and the stakes for a contemporary pop star. She also writes about viral or offbeat artist behavior—like Benny Blanco showing his dirty feet to fans and sparking a social media “meltdown,” where she documents the online reaction and the way these small moments reinforce an artist’s persona.
Kaplan’s reporting mixes straight news with narrative detail. In coverage of Oliver Tree, she picks up on his remarks about living a high-risk life during a podcast appearance, framing his comments within the larger image he presents as an artist. Pieces on Riley Green’s preferred name and the story behind it similarly show her interest in the small personal anecdotes that reveal how performers see themselves and how those choices shape their public identity. Across these stories, she translates interviews, legal filings and online chatter into concise music news items that keep focus on the artist and the implications for their career.
Songwriters, performance and creative process
Kaplan frequently centers songwriters and the craft behind major hits, approaching music not just as entertainment but as work and artistry. In her reporting on Taylor Swift’s Songwriters Hall of Fame induction, she highlights Swift’s reflections on writing, performance and the role of songwriting in her life, positioning the Hall of Fame recognition as a milestone in the profession as much as a fan event. In coverage of Sombr’s performance of Taylor Swift songs at the same ceremony, she explains how the selection of specific songs increased the pressure on the performer, emphasizing the weight of repertoire choices in high-profile tribute performances.
Her work extends to other musicians’ creative worlds, such as a story about Phoebe Bridgers becoming a “magical elf” in the “Lost Boys” music video, where Kaplan notes the visual concept and ties it to Bridgers’ wider artistic persona. She also reports on Melissa Auf der Maur’s relationship with Courtney Love, describing how they “bonded” for the first time and connecting personal history and memoir to the creative lives of rock musicians. These pieces show Kaplan’s pattern of anchoring music news in the lived experience of artists, with attention to how they talk about their work, influences and professional milestones.
Legal, reputational and industry context
Alongside performance and creativity, Kaplan covers legal and reputational developments around musicians and public figures. Her reporting on the Miley Cyrus “Flowers” lawsuit breaks down the claim that the song infringes on Bruno Mars’ earlier track and explains why a judge declined to dismiss the case, situating a pop single within the realities of copyright enforcement in the streaming era. She has written on Jermaine Jackson’s successful effort to have a default judgment voided in an ongoing rape case, outlining the procedural turn and its potential impact on the case and on Jackson’s standing.
Kaplan also covers adjacent entertainment figures whose stories intersect with music and celebrity culture, such as Liam Payne and his girlfriend Kate Cassidy’s response to recent “legal drama,” where she documents how personal relationships and legal troubles play into the public narrative around a former boy-band member. Pieces on Gene Simmons’ candid thoughts about aging and not giving up link a veteran rocker’s comments to broader questions about longevity and reinvention in the music business. Through these stories, she situates music and musicians inside legal, personal and business frameworks that matter to public perception.
Broader music and culture work
Beyond her Yahoo News reporting, Kaplan serves as a writer and music editor at People magazine, where she works on music and culture coverage for a mainstream audience. She has held editorial roles at outlets that cover entertainment and culture, including a prior position at Yahoo Entertainment as well as work for MTV, E! and the New York Daily News. Her broader portfolio includes writing for music and culture publications such as Alternative Press, Rolling Stone, the New York Times, GQ and NPR, giving her experience across both specialist music press and general-interest media.
Kaplan is also the author of “Nora Ephron at the Movies,” a book that explores Ephron’s work as the “queen of rom-coms,” reflecting an interest in screen storytelling and popular culture beyond music. In public appearances and descriptions of her role, she is identified as a music editor and USA Today best-selling author, underscoring a career that spans daily entertainment reporting, deeper cultural criticism and book-length work. For sources, she regularly draws on interviews, podcasts, memoirs, legal documents and social media, and she uses them to build clear, accessible narratives about the artists and stories she covers.
4 more music journalists.
Aisling Murphy
Aisling Murphy is the theatre reporter and critic at The Globe and Mail. She stands out for writing about theatre as both art and infrastructure, with coverage that links new Canadian stage work, awards culture, and pop-inflected criticism. She covers theatre, music, and pop culture in a detailed, conversational style, moving between reviews, reported features, and analysis of the systems that shape what gets produced. Her beat includes the Dora Awards, Toronto stages, new writing, intimate productions, and smaller venues, as well as controversy where artistic decisions meet politics and community response. Before The Globe, she was senior editor of Intermission Magazine, and her bylines include The New York Times, Toronto Star, CBC Arts, and the Baltimore Sun.
Alex Hudson
Alex Hudson is Editor-in-Chief of Exclaim! and leads coverage of music’s links to sports, literature, and technology, with a strong focus on Canadian artists. Hudson reports on how music intersects with other fields, not as a separate industry. Recent coverage has included Blue Jays pitcher Max Scherzer on how playing piano saved his career, Ottawa Bluesfest’s Canada-wide soccer watch party, Lakes of Canada’s Margaret Atwood-inspired album Transgressions, Hannah Mary McKinnon on The Beaches influencing her rock-themed novel, and Alexander Nilsson’s 1001 Albums Generator as a tool for broadening music discovery beyond algorithmic recommendations.
Alexis Mikulski Ruiz
Alexis Mikulski Ruiz is a commerce writer whose distinct focus is the buying and streaming side of music, entertainment and lifestyle, helping readers decide how to watch major events and what to purchase around them. She is an e-commerce specialist at Rolling Stone, covering products, platforms and deals tied to award shows, festivals, sports and everyday culture. Her beat blends music streaming guides with shopping and product recommendations across fashion, beauty, tech, food, wellness and drinks. She reports through experience-focused service journalism, using lists, comparison roundups and step-by-step guides to answer concrete questions about how to stream major cultural moments, where to shop and which products to choose. Her background includes commerce and lifestyle writing for consumer publications such as Esquire, Men’s Health, Good Housekeeping, Oprah Daily, Women’s Wear Daily and Billboard.
Allie Gregory
Allie Gregory maps how audiences encounter new music by tracking the practical pathways of releases, tours, festivals, platforms and projects. She is a managing editor and news writer at Exclaim!, where she is a primary editorial contact for forthcoming releases and news tips and helps shape the outlet’s daily agenda around new music and its broader entertainment context. Her reporting centres on timely album and tour announcements, live logistics and festival programming across indie, metal, country, pop and adjacent film and streaming news. She writes direct, information-heavy pieces that foreground calendars, support acts, set times and programming structures, while also producing longer-form interviews, cultural stories and staff-pick recommendations that connect artists’ work, controversy and creative campaigns to how audiences encounter music and entertainment on the road, at festivals and on screens.