Culture

Culture

Is pop star Sienna Rose really a singer? And is she really Black?

Mar 6, 2026

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8 min read

Is pop star Sienna Rose really a singer? And is she really Black?

The soul sensation – who started off as a white redhead – is seemingly taking music born of authenticity and community and reducing it to code. What does it mean if the making of music is taken over by machines?, asks Kadish Morris

Kadish Morris

Culture

Mar 6, 2026

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6 min read

The Recommender: Jeremy Deller

The Turner prize-winning conceptual artist shares his current cultural favourites

Culture

Mar 6, 2026

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7 min read

Review of the Week: Lily Allen on tour

The kitsch live version of the singer’s gut-punch breakup album West End Girl feels, appropriately, like theatre, but somehow lacks a joyful climax, writes Nerve music critic Kate Hutchinson

Kate Hutchinson

Culture

Mar 3, 2026

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9 min read

The Nerve Hotlist

The best culture to enjoy this week - from Maggie Gyllenhaal's bold take on Frankenstein to Tracey Emin's deeply poignant Tate show - as seen and enjoyed by our team of editors and writers

Culture

Mar 3, 2026

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8 min read

‘My father was my first dictator’: activist Loubna Mrie on oppression, murder and escape from Assad’s Syria

In her raw new memoir, the campaigner reveals how her political awakening came at a horrifying cost to her and those she loved – and why, even so, she still believes in the power of defiance, writes Natasha Walter

Natasha Walter

Culture

Review: Rose Wylie: The Picture Comes First at the Royal Academy

Feb 27, 2026

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7 min read

Review: Rose Wylie: The Picture Comes First at the Royal Academy

The huge, energetic paintings of the unstoppable 91-year-old artist, the first female British painter to have a solo exhibition in the RA’s main galleries, are a remarkable celebration of life and memory, writes Emily LaBarge

Emily LaBarge

Culture

Shattered windows, broken rules ... and victory! The medics who protested against the climate emergency

Feb 27, 2026

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11 min read

Shattered windows, broken rules ... and victory! The medics who protested against the climate emergency

In the latest blow to draconian restraints on the right to protest, six doctors and nurses linked to Extinction Rebellion were dramatically acquitted last week. A play about their trial aims to shine a light on a barely publicised case. Claire Armitstead tells their story

Claire Armitstead

Culture

Feb 27, 2026

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6 min read

The Recommender: Shabaka

The jazz star and genre-defying saxophonist who made his name with groups including Sons of Kemet shares his current cultural favourites

Culture

"A historic night for representation will now be remembered for one thing": Hanna Flint on the Baftas racism row

Feb 24, 2026

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9 min read

"A historic night for representation will now be remembered for one thing": Hanna Flint on the Baftas racism row

The slur from John Davidson who has Tourette syndrome was involuntary but it should not have been broadcast by the BBC. When I hosted a Q&A screening of I Swear with Davidson I was properly prepared in advance, writes the film critic and podcaster

Hanna Flint

Culture

Feb 24, 2026

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9 min read

The Nerve Hotlist

The best culture to check out this week – from Gisèle Pelicot’s unmissable memoir to a brilliant slice of Americana – as seen and enjoyed by our team of editors and writers

Culture

Review of the Week: Dracula at the Noel Coward theatre

Feb 20, 2026

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6 min read

Review of the Week: Dracula at the Noel Coward theatre

Cynthia Erivo is a remarkable presence playing every character in this multimedia gothic revival – even if it feels more like watching an arena concert than a play, writes Nerve theatre critic Dorian Lynskey

Dorian Lynskey

Culture

Feb 20, 2026

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8 min read

The Recommender: Bella Freud

The fashion designer and podcaster shares her current cultural favourites

Culture

Feb 17, 2026

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9 min read

The Nerve Hotlist

The best culture to check out this week – from a captivating Brazilian thriller to Charli xcx's 'goth spring' – as seen and enjoyed by our team of editors and writers

Culture

Review of the Week: Sessa live at Rich Mix

Feb 13, 2026

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6 min read

Review of the Week: Sessa live at Rich Mix

As Brazilian music enjoys a resurgence in Britain, São Paulo’s rising star troubadour visits a rainy London and lifts the crowd to a higher, happier plane, writes Nerve music critic Kate Hutchinson

Kate Hutchinson

Culture

Feb 13, 2026

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6 min read

The Recommender: Olia Hercules

The British-based Ukrainian chef and author reveals what’s on her current cultural menu

Culture

Mills & Boon meets TikTok: as literary adaptations go, this Wuthering Heights is a bit clueless

Feb 13, 2026

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8 min read

Mills & Boon meets TikTok: as literary adaptations go, this Wuthering Heights is a bit clueless

The problem with Emerald Fennell’s adaptation is not the mad casting or that it’s unfaithful to the novel; it’s that it isn’t true to the teenage experience of raunchy, reckless first love, writes Nerve film critic Ellen E Jones

Ellen E Jones

Culture

Feb 10, 2026

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9 min read

The Nerve Hotlist

The best culture to check out this week – from a luminous show of Lucian Freud’s drawings to Lisa McGee’s hilarious follow-up to Derry Girls – as seen and enjoyed by our team of editors and writers

Culture

The Turkish writer and thinker Ece Temelkuran: ‘We're going through a political crisis, but also a moral crisis’

Feb 6, 2026

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8 min read

The Turkish writer and thinker Ece Temelkuran: ‘We're going through a political crisis, but also a moral crisis’

The exiled author of How to Lose a Country: The 7 Steps from Democracy to Fascism, returns with a new book exploring how dissidents can find new communities. She talks about resilience, the comfort of trees and why the future is female. Interview by Hephzibah Anderson

Culture

Feb 6, 2026

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6 min read

Review of the Week: My Father’s Shadow

British-Nigerian director Akinola Davies Jr's acclaimed debut about an estranged father spending a busy day in Lagos with his sons, is a radiant and moving film about parents and children everywhere, writes Ellen E Jones

Ellen E Jones

Culture

Feb 3, 2026

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7 min read

The Nerve Hotlist

The best culture to check out this week – from TV's new Welsh coast noir to a profound book about how we eat - as seen, enjoyed and recommended by our team of editors and writers

Culture

Feb 3, 2026

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11 min read

'There has to be a way to actively oppose these thugs without losing ourselves': novelist George Saunders on life in America now

The Booker prize-winning author of Lincoln in the Bardo, whose new novel imagines the last hours of an oil tycoon, talks to Dorian Lynskey about Trump, truth and how to reconcile empathy with political opposition

Dorian Lynskey

Culture

Actor-director Cherien Dabis: "Cinema plays a huge role in shifting perspectives"

Jan 30, 2026

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8 min read

Actor-director Cherien Dabis: "Cinema plays a huge role in shifting perspectives"

The Palestinian-American’s work ranges from the hit TV comedy Only Murders in the Building to much more personal films. She talks to Guy Lodge about All That's Left of You, a shattering drama following three generations of a family torn apart by the 1948 Nakba

Guy Lodge

Culture

Jan 30, 2026

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6 min read

Review of the Week: Our Town

The Welsh National Theatre’s first large-scale production, currently on tour with artistic director Michael Sheen in the lead role, brings a shimmering Celtic quality to Thornton Wilder’s tale of smalltown America, writes Jude Rogers

Jude Rogers

Culture

Jan 30, 2026

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7 min read

The Recommender: Lyse Doucet

The BBC’s chief international correspondent shares the highlights of her whirlwind cultural month