Louder: Tracy Chapman wants to speak for herself

April 5, 2025

	By Caryn Ganz

“I haven’t really done press in a long time,” Tracy Chapman told Lindsay Zoladz earlier this week as they settled in for an interview in San Francisco. Tracy, we know! Which is why this warm, insightful look back at the creation of her 1988 debut album — which arrived as a vinyl reissue on Friday — and how music has shaped her life is a rare delight. “‘Fast Car’ was just written in the same way that I wrote everything else,” she said. “Just playing, singing, late at night, early in the morning, and just working something through.” They discussed Chapman’s journey from Ohio to college to the record business, the fact that she wasn’t actually coming from the ’60s folk tradition, Luke Combs’s hit country cover of “Fast Car” (and that moving Grammys performance) and how her songs have spoken to the moment, then and now. This is a real don’t-miss conversation (with beautiful photos by Nicholas Albrecht), I hope you make it to the end for a green-hued surprise.

Also this week: Mark Yarm talked with Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus about his memoir tracing the dramatic twists and turns of his pop-punk band and his battle with cancer; Bruce Springsteen announced seven (!) albums of previously unreleased material are coming out in June; Marcus J. Moore guided us through five minutes that will make you love Billie Holiday; and Jon Pareles provided your weekly guide to new music.

A woman with graying dreads sits in a field of yellow flowers, smiling and clapping her hands together while wearing a light button-up shirt, jeans and a dark blazer.

Nicholas Albrecht for The New York Times

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By Lindsay Zoladz

Adali Schell for The New York Times

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PLAYLISTS

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Richard Perry/The New York Times

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Kieran Dodds for The New York Times

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Jeremie Souteyrat for The New York Times

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THE BEATLES

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BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

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