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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Michael Cragg, Jason Okundaye, Chal Ravens, Safi Bugel and Shaad D'Souza

Our 2026 listening resolutions: from Radiohead to Kendrick Lamar, critics try to get into music they’ve never liked

Composite picture of Joni Mitchell, Diamanda Galas, Kendrick Lamar and Neil Young
Clockwise from top left: Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Kendrick Lamar and Diamanda Galás. Composite: Guardian Design; Michael Putland; Paul Harris; Aaron Rapoport; Christopher Polk/Getty Images

‘I had dismissed Joni Mitchell as an acquired taste’

The first time I heard Joni Mitchell, in 1997, she was looped across the chorus of Janet Jackson’s single Got ’Til It’s Gone. The song’s credits would educate me on the sample’s origins; I had previously assumed Big Yellow Taxi was an Amy Grant original. The second time I heard a Mitchell song was when Travis covered the beautiful River as a B-side.

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