Billboard’s Friday Music Guide serves as a handy guide to New Music Friday’s most essential releases each week — the key music that everyone will be talking about today, and that will be dominating playlists this weekend and beyond.
Last week, we featured Jhené Aiko, Bleachers, Dove Cameron and more.
This week, Miley (sans Cyrus) releases her Atlantic debut Bass Persuades; Carly Rae Jepsen shares her anticipated double album Day and Night; and country star Riley Green’s fourth album, That’s Just Me, is out… plus much more. Check out all of this week’s picks below:
Miley, Bass Persuades
Ahead of her 10th studio album, the pop star ushered in some changes — as she’s wont to do. She signed a new record deal with Atlantic Records and is just Miley now, no Cyrus. While the album’s lead single and title track is a full-on dance-pop banger, second single “Let’s Get Married” slows it down as Miley adoringly sings of wanting to wed her fiancé Maxx Morando. The rest of the album’s 10 tracks (including a “Bass Persuades Remix”) fluctuate between these two realms, largely united by the idea that Miley is, without a doubt, in love and looking forward to all that is yet to come her way as a result. — LYNDSEY HAVENS
Carly Rae Jepsen, Day and Night
Pop star Carly Rae Jepsen is on her eighth studio album — and as a gift, it’s a two-for-one special. The two-disc album fittingly features one set that’s full of “daytime” songs that explore varied tempos and spotlight songwriting, while the second set is purely sundown dance-pop productions. Together, the 24 songs make for a stellar one-and-a-half hour long sonic journey. — L.H.
Rosé, “New Trick”
Rosé’s latest is a pop-rock hit that is begging for a remix with Olivia Rodrigo, with its grungy, high-energy production and scream-along chorus bookended by syrupy sweet vocals on each verse. As Rosé works on her upcoming second full-length album, she’s teamed back up with Amy Allen — and the two co-wrote “New Trick” together just a few days after this year’s Met Gala in May (though a statement confirms this isn’t the album’s official comeback single, which will come next year). Though, considering how well the new tricks on this single land, here’s hoping she explores it more on whatever comes next. — L.H.
Freya Skye, “bad taste”
Rising pop star Freya Skye’s latest is an ode to not knowing how to pick ’em — and owning it. As she told Billboard of the song, “‘Bad Taste’ is the first time I was a bit less serious. What meets the eye is a playful, kind of sarcastic tone that I’ve never gone into before.” Now that she has, she’s hoping the song will get her fans excited “for the next shift…I do think it will feel more elevated than anything before.” — L.H.
Kim Petras, Detour (Rare N’ Deluxe)
Nearly four months after the release of her third album Detour this May, Petras is sharing its deluxe version led by focus track “Autobahn,” one of four new songs. The melodic pop song is the most downtempo of the deluxe additions (most in line with “Jeep” from the original album) and is a refreshing peek into Petra’s lesser-shown artistic side. — L.H.
Riley Green, That’s Just Me
As Jessica Nicholson writes in Billboard‘s Tracks Ranked of Riley Green’s new set: “he’s remained focused on the main thing: continuing to cement his reputation as a musical purveyor of timeless-feeling country songs, and a writer on many of them, in the tradition of artists such as Alan Jackson and Toby Keith.” His fourth full-length, which explores heartbreak and the freedom that comes with it, comes after Don’t Mind If I Do, which entered the top 10 on Top Country Albums last year. — L.H.
AZ Chike, No Rest for the Wicked
Almost exactly two years after he stole the show on “Peekaboo,” a standout track from Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy-winning GNX album, AZ Chike has finally unveiled his debut solo studio album. With the South Central LA rapper at the helm of a creative team comprised of Lamar, Sounwave, Pharrell, Hit-Boy, JMSN, Terrace Martin and Tyler, the Creator, No Rest for the Wicked arrives as mature, clear-eyed introduction to an MC with boundless ambition and a West Coast-honoring style that’s unafraid of evolution. — KYLE DENIS
Travis Scott, “RHYNO” (from Grand Theft Auto VI: The Album)
What do you get when you throw Travis Scott and Daft Punk’s Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo in a blender? Apparently, one of the first six singles from the forthcoming soundtrack for the long-awaited Grand Theft Auto VI video game. The new track fuses Scott’s trap foundation with Homem-Christo’s cinematic electronic soundscape, making for what’s sure to be a knockout background song for the beloved game. — K.D.
