Sophie McBain
Sophie McBain is an award-winning freelance features writer and non-fiction book reviewer for the Guardian, where she covers music and the wider culture of ideas through longform interviews, essays and criticism. Her work focuses on how art, technology, psychology and science shape the way people think and live. She writes narrative pieces that use individual lives and creative work to examine big questions rather than treating music as a narrow entertainment beat.
Big ideas, technology and the science of us
McBain’s recent Guardian work returns often to how new technologies and media affect cognition, attention and judgment. In one widely discussed feature she explores whether we are “living in a golden age of stupidity”, tracing how brain-rotting videos, AI tools and always-on platforms can erode the ability to work, remember and think independently. She has reported on research showing how generative AI tools can suppress brain activity while people write, connecting laboratory findings to everyday creative practice and the risks of outsourcing thinking to machines.
Her interview with Dave Eggers on AI and writing pushes this theme further, using his scepticism about machine-generated prose to question what is lost when creative work is delegated to algorithms. Across these pieces she treats technology not as a gadget story but as a human science beat, grounding arguments in neuroscience, psychology and lived experience.
Writers, books and the stories behind them
McBain is a prolific interviewer of novelists, essayists and thinkers whose work intersects with culture, politics and the mind. Her Guardian interviews range from George Saunders on ghosts, mortality and contemporary America, to Katie Kitamura on why writing matters in the Trump era, to Chris Kraus on sex, drugs and autofiction. She has profiled writers such as Kiran Desai, Yiyun Li and Tony Tulathimutte, concentrating on the emotional and intellectual stakes behind their books rather than publicity talking points. Alongside interviews, she reviews non-fiction that asks hard questions about human behaviour and social order, including books on criminal responsibility, scientific history and the ethics of medical intervention. Across outlets such as the Guardian, the Times and New Statesman magazine she writes book reviews that combine clear summary with close attention to argument, frequently choosing titles that probe psychology, inequality, science and how we make sense of the world.
Bodies, health and ethical frontiers
McBain’s longform reporting often follows doctors, patients and researchers at the edge of what medicine can do. In her Guardian coverage of extremely premature babies she documents clinicians pushing the limits of viability, weighing the suffering involved in aggressive interventions against the possibility of survival. She has written about the history and politics of body image and fatness, taking in philosophy and feminist thought as well as clinical perspectives. Her criticism includes reviews of books on anatomy and surgery that examine how medical training shapes the way practitioners see the human body.
These stories share an interest in the moral and psychological complexity of medical decisions, and in how scientific advances challenge intuitive ideas about care, risk and responsibility.
Psychology, therapists and the search for meaning
Another strand of McBain’s work follows psychologists, therapists and social scientists trying to explain loneliness, distress and resilience. She has profiled an existential therapist whose work aims to change how people think about meaning and responsibility, using the interview to examine how therapeutic ideas travel beyond the consulting room.
Her essays and reported features consider why younger generations might be experiencing unusual levels of loneliness, why boredom deserves reappraisal, and how smartphones change social behaviour. Across this reporting she draws on clinical research and lived testimony, but keeps the focus on how individuals make sense of their own minds in a crowded, distracted world.
This psychological lens often surfaces in her music and culture coverage, where songs, books and performances become case studies in how people navigate fear, sadness and hope.
4 more music journalists.
Andrea Dresdale
Andrea Dresdale manages entertainment content at ABC Audio and covers music-driven pop culture for news and audio platforms. Her beat centers on chart-friendly pop, new releases, mainstream artists, awards, residencies and industry milestones. She also reports on legacy acts, anniversaries, nostalgia, remixes, live performances and music’s links to film, television, streaming and social media. Her notable coverage includes Taylor Swift, BTS, The Weeknd, Madonna, The Beach Boys, Bruce Springsteen, Patty Smyth and Miley Cyrus. Her work has appeared through syndicated ABC Audio coverage on outlets such as WRMF, KS95 and Hot 96.7. Dresdale writes concise, timely pieces for radio audiences. She frames songs, tours, specials and career moments through cultural impact, fan appeal, commercial momentum and lasting relevance. Her stories connect current hits with music history and show how artists maintain attention through new releases, collaborations and reinterpretations.
Andrew Weber
Andrew Weber uses accountability reporting to examine who benefits from decisions shaping Austin’s music ecosystem. He reports for KUT as a government accountability reporter and works as a freelance reporter and associate editor for KUT News across the public radio network. His music coverage focuses on musicians’ pay at festivals, health care, mental health services, venue relief and working conditions. He treats SXSW as a workplace and economic system, reporting on low fees, sponsorships, boycotts and the political choices behind the festival. He also covers government and institutional issues, including KUT’s relationship with the University of Texas and the firing of general manager Debbie Hiott. His reporting ranges from nonprofit support systems to experimental sound art. He plays music on the side and brings digital storytelling experience, including an Edward R. Murrow award for social media work.
Andy Greene
Andy Greene is a senior writer at Rolling Stone who stands out for long-form interviews and narrative features that follow artists across entire careers. He focuses on music, especially classic rock performers, live shows, tours, and band dynamics. He runs the interview series Unknown Legends and King For a Day, which center on veteran musicians, sidemen, collaborators, and singers who replace legendary frontmen. He also writes cover stories and major features on high-profile figures, including Radiohead, Howard Stern, Bill Withers, Nathan Fielder, Steve Perry, Pete Townshend, and Stephen King. His reporting relies on access, detailed questioning, and a deep command of rock history. He also writes about film and television when they connect to music and culture.
Anna Grace Lee
Anna Grace Lee is a Vogue reporter who covers pop musicians and celebrities through fashion, weddings, and lifestyle culture, focusing on dresses, events, pets, and subcultures rather than industry news. She writes scene-driven features that place entertainers in vivid settings, from villas to underground food markets, and treats music-adjacent stories as fashion and craftsmanship narratives. Her Dua Lipa Sicily wedding coverage shows how she frames a wedding dress as a haute couture moment and a pop-cultural milestone, emphasizing design, making, and handwork. Her Millie Bobby Brown miniature poodle piece reflects a consistent interest in celebrity pets, fandom, and off-stage persona. She also reports lifestyle features like Brooklyn’s buzziest underground cheese sale, embedding in niche food scenes. At Vogue she contributes to weddings, celebrity, living, and Met Gala coverage, and maintains a portfolio of culture and lifestyle work built around entertainment-adjacent storytelling.