Billboard’s Friday Music Guide serves as a handy guide to this Friday’s most essential releases — the key music that everyone will be talking about today, and that will be dominating playlists this weekend and beyond.
This week, Harry Styles returns with his hotly-anticipated fourth solo album, Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally. Plus: Yebba releases her stunning second album, Jean; Ayra Starr releases a much-teased new single; and aespa reveal their theme song for an upcoming anime series. Check out all of this week’s picks below:
Harry Styles, Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally.
The long-awaited release of Harry Styles’ new album is indeed cause to celebrate — and, if there was ever a time to occasionally disco, this is surely it. Kiss All The Time delivers plenty of dancefloor-ready tracks and even more introspective lyrics, which together offer a glimpse into Styles’ life of late, proving that sometimes a dim-lit nightclub is the perfect place to have a bright idea. Kiss All The Time was executive produced by Styles’ longtime collaborator, Kid Harpoon.
For more on Kiss All The Time, be sure to check out Billboard‘s tracks ranked and critic’s take.
Yebba, Jean
Just two weeks ago, celebrated singer-songwriter Yebba announced that her second album, Jean, would arrive on March 6. The reveal came with lead single (and album standout “Yellow Eyes”). The album follows Yebba’s 2021 debut, Dawn, which was largely inspired by the loss of her mother and earned a Grammy Award nomination for best traditional R&B performance. And while Jean is expectedly gorgeous, there’s a softer beauty about it — a quiet calm that can only accompany years of healing and acceptance. As a press release for the album states: “Releasing this album required surrender. And surrender requires a kind of letting go. In this case, letting go of expectation, of the idea that grief resolves neatly, and of the fear of oversharing.”
Ayra Starr, “Where Do We Go”
In February, Ayra Starr started teasing new music on the way — and today, the first taste arrived. “Where Do We Go” kicks off with a haunting piano melody that lasts just a few seconds before a sticky, booming beat picks up along with Starr’s assured vocals. And despite repeatedly questioning “where do we go from here?” by the sound of it, Ayra is good either way.
aespa, “Attitude”
After collaborating with Anderson. Paak in February on “Keychain,” a single inspired by his directorial debut, K-POPS!, girl group aespa is continuing to explore the intersection of music with TV and film. The punchy “Attitude” arrives as the opening song for anime series Kill Blue (which airs in April on TV Tokyo) and not only previews the fierce tone of the show, but perhaps also hints at even more on the way from aespa.
The Warning, “Kerosene”
Fast-rising Mexican rock band the Warning has started the year strong, releasing its collaboration with Carin León in February (“Love To Be Loved”) and now sharing its incendiary new single “Kerosene.” The hard-hitting track could mean the band’s fifth album is on the way — its last full-length, Keep Me Fed, arrived in 2024 — but until then, the Warning are booked and busy with major festivals booked across Latin America and an opening slot on Yungblud’s global trek. A press release for the new single explains: “The band is poised for a massive 2026.”
