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, Drake and SZA join forces for slime time, Doja Cat gifts us one more preview of Scarlet, and Demi Lovato lets those guitar solos squeal. Check out all of this week’s picks below:
Drake feat. SZA, “Slime You Out”
“I’ma fall back and let SZA talk her s–t for a minute.” That’s how Drake concludes his opening verse on “Slime You Out,” a new high-wattage collaboration from his imminent new album For All The Dogs, and indeed, he’s made a wise decision ceding the floor: this atmospheric evisceration of fake lovers is dominated by SZA, who’s become one of the biggest names in music in the months since Drake’s last project, and sounds wholly engaged while crooning through a brush-off here. It helps that “Slime You Out” exists within the woozy, brutally honest R&B lane that SZA perfected on SOS, and instead of trying to compete with his co-star, Drake fires off a few capable similes before and after she highlights the track.
Doja Cat, “Balut”
When Doja Cat showcased her Scarlet singles (“Attention,” “Paint the Town Red” and “Demons”) during a show-stopping medley at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards earlier this week, not only did anticipation for her Planet Her follow-up continue to heighten, but the performance also demonstrated to those who hadn’t been paying attention: Doja is one of the most exciting rappers alive. “Balut,” a more contemplative track from the imminent album, glides where her other recent songs slam on the gas, but her flow remains just as hypnotic — “Is it coke, is it crack, is it meth / What the f–k do she put in them hits?” she asks, her voice fluttering through every syllable with casual swagger.
Demi Lovato, Revamped
Although Demi Lovato recruited some of rock music’s heavy hitters — Slash, The Used’s Bert McCracken and The Maine, among others — for a headbanging re-imagining of her pop hits, Revamped is led by Lovato’s own technical wizardry, as their vocal power is refracted through a different prism but sounds no less potent in the process. Songs like “Heart Attack,” “Cool for the Summer” and “Neon Lights” sound revitalized behind stinging guitar solos, while Lovato, whose underrated 2022 album Holy Fvck hinted at a rock makeover, giddily completes the transformation here.
Rod Wave, Nostalgia
Nostalgia is Rod Wave’s fifth album in five years, and could potentially become his third straight Billboard 200 chart-topper — the Florida native has impressively expanded his fan base (an arena headlining tour kicks off next month) while remaining prolific with his heartfelt, ultra-melodic hip-hop. The follow-up to last year’s Beautiful Mind looks back on his journey (naturally, considering the album title) while also folding some unexpected voices into his emotive aesthetic, including indie-pop collective Wet and rising singer-songwriter Sadie Jean.
Diddy, The Love Album: Off the Grid
Although the track list to Diddy’s long-awaited new project The Love Album: Off the Grid posits the hip-hop dynamo as something of a master of ceremonies — guests include Justin Bieber, The Weeknd, Summer Walker, 21 Savage, Herb Alpert, The-Dream and Swat Lee, and that’s just on the first half of the full-length — the man himself is far more than just a curator, as present within the futuristic R&B ideas of the album as he was on Diddy-Dirty Money’s landmark LP Last Train To Paris. In fact, the back half of the project, featuring stars ranging from Teyana Taylor to Coco Jones to Jeremih, illustrates just how adept Diddy remains at bridging gaps between a new generation of stars and his own.
Thirty Seconds To Mars, It’s The End of the World but It’s A Beautiful Day
“Stuck” and “Seasons,” the two hits that preceded Thirty Seconds to Mars’ sixth studio album It’s The End of the World but It’s A Beautiful Day, suggested a tightening of the veteran rockers’ long-running aesthetic, which has sprawled out in the past but was sanded down to compact hooks and concise sentiments on those singles. Indeed, Jared and Shannon Leto’s latest effectively simplifies the band’s appeal for its strongest work in years: songs like “World on Fire” and “Midnight Prayer” boast intricate electro-rock foundations without ever getting lost in the details, and over 33 minutes, the band explores themes of heartbreak, isolation and personal evolution with brisk confidence.
Editor’s Pick: Mitski, The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We
Whether or not you’re invested in the context of Mitski’s latest release — following last year’s widescreen triumph (yet critically polarizing) Laurel Hell, as well as a greater profile, label contract negotiations and retirement thoughts — The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We is all-out gorgeous, a studio masterclass that’s grounded in some of the most arresting arrangements of the singer-songwriter’s career. Mitski’s incisive lyricism will always be a calling card, but these 11 lush, organic songs are worth getting lost in before her words help guide the listener back home.
