Table of contents for October 2024 in Rolling Stone

RANDOM NOTES “We don’t want to see another Trump presidency.”CORIN TUCKER MJ Lenderman is one of indie rock’s sharpest songwriters — and he’s leveling up (p.11). Suki Waterhouse shares her secrets to stardom, while the cast of His Three Daughters finally reunites (p.13). Shows like Watchmen project powerful Black women onscreen (p.18). Brit punks Lambrini Girls take America with their wildly fun, outrageously loud salvos against the right wing (p.20). Justin Vernon, Corin Tucker, and Carole King all voice their support for Kamala Harris (p.21). SONIDO LATINO: LOUDER THAN EVER Latin music’s global takeover continues: From Argentina’s DIY heroes (p.24) to Nicki Nicole’s breakout moment (p.25) to Mexico’s spin on reggaeton (p.28) and the Latin pop girls making their mark (p.29), we take a look at some of the…

MJ Lenderman has no idea where to go. It’s mid-July, and downtown Durham, North Carolina, is hot and empty. The first bar we try is closed, so now we’re searching Google Maps for another one. “The Pour Taproom — looks kind of bright in there,” he says with deadpan concern. “There’s a swanky, sophisticated cocktail bar; that looks OK.… Irish pub?” After a pause and a shrug, we settle on the pub. Durham is not where I expected to meet Lenderman, 25. He was born and raised just more than 220 miles west of here, in Asheville. I’d heard tales of Lenderman and his friends and bandmates all living in a kind of compound just outside of Asheville — a creative paradise in the fast-growing mountain town. That’s where…

Phoebe Lunny and Lilly Macieira have just been going wild when I find them on Zoom. “We’re currently at a rage room,” Lunny, 27, says. “Do you guys have them in the States, where you just, like, smash up loads of shit?” A few drinks in at a bachelorette party, the two women behind the Brighton, England, punk band Lambrini Girls are taking a brief break from touring in support of their 2023 debut EP, You’re Welcome, to chat with me about what’s currently pissing them off. (Cops, J.K. Rowling, and sullen crowds rank high on the list.) They excel at turning all of that frustration into exhilaratingly loud anthems. “I find the idea of taming really horrible noise into something musical alluring,” adds Macieira, 28. Lunny gets into…

The election may be just a few weeks away, but don’t ask Jelly Roll for voting advice. As a convicted felon who spent time in and out of jail for robbery and drug possession, country music’s face-tattooed star lost his right to cast a ballot. “People go, ‘Why don’t you tell people to vote for somebody?’” he says during a break in rehearsals for his headlining arena tour. “You want me to tell people to vote for a system that won’t let me vote? Fucking c’mon now.” But on his new album, Beautifully Broken, the Grammy-nominated singer-rapper — born Jason DeFord in the hardscrabble Nashville suburb of Antioch — tries to steer fans toward their own personal brand of redemption. In the song “Winning Streak,” for example, he takes…

Nicolai Fella, an MC who’s part of the Bogotá collective LosPetitFellas, has long incorporated blues, funk, and other experimental sounds into his music — but rap has always been the cornerstone. “Whenever I sit down to write lyrics, no matter what rhythm is playing in the background, I’m always thinking about rap — that’s the world I inhabit,” he says. LosPetitFellas embody the exuberant collision of styles that defines the current wave of Colombian rap. The quintet’s 2023 live album, backed by the Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, is a reminder of how adventurous rap colombiano has become. Colombian rap blossomed between the mid- and late-Nineties, with outfits such as La Etnnia and Gotas de Rap. It made a splash in the U.S. in 2010, when Nacional Records released ChocQuibTown’s Oro,…

CHAPPELL ROAN Do you want to bedazzle my grinder?” ● Chappell Roan is standing in front of a vintage armoire, holding the silver weed-crushing tool and contemplating what to do today. It’s a hot, gorgeous July Friday, and she has a rare day off in between her increasingly viral festival performances. The crimson curls that usually fall to her lower back are pinned up, her face bare except for a swipe of black liner around her eyes. In lieu of, say, a pink cowgirl suit or a Hannah Montana wig or a latex wrestling uniform, all of which she’s worn onstage, she’s opted for gray cargo pants and a matching bodysuit. “I wear gray and black IRL because I can’t handle the shit that I wear [onstage],” she says.…

As Vice President Kamala Harris rakes in record-breaking donation hauls, Donald Trump’s campaign is falling behind — and increasingly relying on billionaires to bankroll Super PACs to remain competitive. It’s happening as the former president promises favors to donors: lucrative new policies, regulatory rollbacks, administration roles. You name it, it’s on offer. To be clear, Trump is still raising real money. His campaign and committees brought in $139 million in July, and $130 million in August. But Harris raised $310 million in July after taking over the Democratic ticket, and a campaign official says she raised another $360 million in August. There’s one area where Trump is still beating Harris: spending by outside groups. Pro-Trump Super PACs have made $184 million in independent expenditures boosting his campaign since President…

“You get content with the little things.” What was your favorite book as a kid, and what does it say about you? I always liked Dr. Seuss books. And I’m actually born on the same day as him, so that’s what it says about me. As a rapper, you’re known for your flow. How long does it take you to catch your cadence from a beat? I usually catch it pretty quick, but the words have to have meaning, so that takes a minute. But the melody is always there. And then, there’s those comfortability moments where you stick with what you know, the comfortable flow and things of that nature. There’s always a go-to. But I like to challenge myself. How do you prepare for a day on…

INEZ VAN LAMSWEERDE AND VINOODH MATADIN Photographers Dutch American photographers — and married couple — Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin have been working together for nearly 40 years. They shot Chappell Roan for the October cover of Rolling Stone, seeking, as they put it in an email, to blend the pop star’s eclectic style with “the oscillation between the sublime and the grotesque” that characterizes their work. This is the pair’s first Rolling Stone cover. Previously, they have shot covers for Time, Vogue, W, and others. Taking in Roan’s songs, music videos, and performances, they were particularly struck by “her humor and fearless way of representing all aspects of her persona in her looks,” they added. GENESIS WEBB Stylist Genesis Webb has been one of the creative forces…

Suki Waterhouse knows a thing or two about the downsides of fame. The British model turned actress turned singer became a tabloid fixture years ago because of who she dated (names like Bradley Cooper and Diego Luna come to mind). Now, as she releases her second album, Memoir of a Sparklemuffin, she finally feels in control. “It’s all mine, and it’s kind of fabulous,” she says. Here are five lessons that Waterhouse, 32, has taken from her years in the limelight. Speak up for yourself In her early modeling days, Waterhouse never felt like she got to tell her side of the story. “It wasn’t even an option,” she says. “It was very much like, ‘You’re going to adhere to this image, and it’s better if you don’t speak…

One night last summer, Allegra Krieger woke up to an apartment full of smoke. Unable to unlock the fire escape, she stumbled out of her fifth-floor walk-up unit in New York’s Chinatown and into an even smokier stairwell. “I just took a deep breath and ran down the stairs, and it got thicker and thicker, to the point where you can’t see,” recalls the singer-songwriter, 29. “So I fell, and then a fireman found me and took me out.… Then you’re outside watching it happen. You’re half-asleep, panicked, and then you’re on the other side of it.” A few days later — unharmed but shaken, and living in a hotel room provided by the city — Krieger wrote a stark, haunting song called “One or the Other.” “Nancy from…

When millions of Americans cast their ballots on Nov. 5, they will be nudging the world in one of two directions: a difficult climate future or one that could be catastrophic. Their vote could alter the strength of hurricanes, the intensity of droughts, the rate of sea-level rise, how much land burns, and more. That’s because a second Trump presidency, scientists argue, would be disastrous for the climate. At a time when the country needs to rapidly transition to renewable energy, they say, Trump’s fossil-fuel-heavy proposals would make the country more reliant on energy sources that pump noxious fumes into the atmosphere. Some experts say the policies supported by Vice President Kamala Harris, on the other hand — though perhaps not sufficiently aggressive — would help the energy transition…

This summer has seen a political season unlike anything in our nation’s history. An assassination attempt on a former president running for a second term. An aging president bowing out of the election weeks before his party’s convention. A vice president giving a zombie campaign a desperately needed adrenaline shot, revitalizing a party and motivating first-time voters and loyalists alike. This wild turn of events could not come at a more perilous time. Multiple foreign wars threaten our security and risk setting the world further aflame. Soaring interest rates and inflation have made people across the country uneasy. This year is on track to be the hottest on record: Hundreds died in the scorching temperatures, crops withered, sea levels rose, and forests burned. Yet in this time of true…

AFTER 15 YEARS of bitter feuding and cranky denials that they would ever reunite, on Aug. 27, Noel and Liam Gallagher looked forward in anger and announced an Oasis tour to kick off next summer. What could possibly go wrong?…

Nicki Nicole had the kind of earth-shattering breakout moment most artists dream of: When she was just 19, the first song she ever posted on YouTube — the moody, minimalist “Wapo Traketero” — exploded in Argentina, making her a star. Fans got to know her soulful vocals and her ability to toggle between R&B and hip-hop. Five years later, Nicole has cemented herself as a leading female voice out of the country, showcasing her versatility across her past three albums, which have earned her eight Latin Grammy nominations and hundreds of sold-out shows. “I’ve learned to not only enjoy myself… I’ve learned to trust my intuition, which I didn’t do before,” Nicole says. With that newfound confidence, Nicole is hoping to release her fourth album, a trap and hip-hop…

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The Venezuelan rapper Akapellah was about 10 when he came across a street vendor selling a bootleg copy of Tego Calderon’s 2003 album, El Abayarde. “His rapping was exceptional,” Akapellah remembers. “The percussion, the topic of his Blackness… it captivated me.” He decided he wanted to pursue rap himself. As a teenager, he persuaded his mom to pay for time at a local studio to record his first song. When she picked him up, she stared at the producer and asked one question: “So, is he good?” The producer assured her that he was. Akapellah quickly became a standout in the country. But in his twenties, as the situation worsened in Venezuela, he left. The move not only reflects the migratory experiences of Venezuelans today, but has also come…

The Art of the Deal With the Devil A brutal Trump biopic shows how the infamous Roy Cohn made him into a monster. Every superhero gets an origin story. So, for that matter, do supervillains. The Apprentice drops viewers into New York City circa 1973, when a 27-year-old resident of Queens walked into a ritzy midtown Manhattan establishment known as Le Club. He’d leave having met a well-connected lawyer who would change his life. That member of New York’s elite was the notorious Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong, doing some of the best work of his career). The outer-borough wannabe was Donald Trump (Sebastian Stan). Director Ali Abbasi (Holy Spider) knows he’s playing with fire by focusing on how the young real estate developer learned his Teflon techniques of deflection,…