Billboard’s Friday Music Information serves as a useful information to this Friday’s most important releases — the important thing music that everybody will likely be speaking about right now, and that will likely be dominating playlists this weekend and past.
This week, Jung Kook makes an prolonged assertion, The Beatles give one final farewell, and Olivia Rodrigo stays unattainable to pin down. Try all of this week’s picks beneath:
Jung Kook, Golden
Jung Kook has spent his complete profession on an upward trajectory — first inside BTS, scoring world hits and conquering stadiums, and extra just lately as a solo artist, notching billions of streams (actually) with a smooth model of pop and sensible collaborations. Golden, his debut solo album, takes a while to mirror on these dizzying highs, but additionally desires to maintain the great occasions rolling: “Nearer to You” (created with Main Lazer) permits Jung Kook to hop between forceful declarations and intimate breaths, whereas songs just like the craving dance monitor “Anyone” and the opulent surefire hit “Standing Subsequent to You” exhibit why Jung Kook deserves to be thought-about a famous person on his personal.
The Beatles, “Now and Then”
Positioning a bit of music as “the ultimate Beatles track” naturally gives it with weighty expectations which can be unattainable to match — so think about “Now and Then,” a demo recorded within the ‘70s that was revived with fashionable know-how and options all 4 members, a shock deal with hiding of their hallowed discography as a substitute. Together with a brand new music video directed by Peter Jackson, the wistful, understated “Now and Then” serves as a delicate reminder of the band’s continued energy, now greater than a half-century faraway from their unique studio albums.
Olivia Rodrigo, “Can’t Catch Me Now”
Though among the lyrics to Olivia Rodrigo’s new single “Can’t Catch Me Now,” which comes from the soundtrack to The Starvation Video games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, appear to doc an motion sequence from the upcoming prequel movie (“However I’m within the bushes, I’m within the breeze / My footsteps on the bottom,” Rodrigo sings), the pop famous person gives a mild contact to the lilting acoustic monitor paying homage to the softer moments from current sophomore album GUTS. As an alternative of aiming at flash for the tip credit, Rodrigo has unveiled a heartfelt re-creation to each the Starvation Video games musical canon and her personal catalog.
Megan Thee Stallion, “Cobra”
Megan Thee Stallion’s “Cobra” opens with a two-note electrical guitar chug that serves as a snarl — and whereas Meg has flaunted loads of braggadocio over the course of her profession, her new single warns towards getting too shut due to how wounded she’s feeling. “Ayy, rattling, I received issues / By no means thought a bitch like me would ever hit all-time low,” she spits, finding a formidable stability between emotional vulnerability and head-knocking hooks on “Cobra.”
Marshmello, Sugar Papi
Marshmello has based a sprawling, globe-trotting profession on deferential collaboration, bending his aesthetic in direction of numerous artists within the worlds of pop, rock, R&B, nation and every thing in between. Sugar Papi, a full-length journey into Latin music, unsurprisingly incorporates a star-studded visitor listing that features Younger Miko, Nicky Jam, Farruko, Anuel AA, Manuel Turizo and Fuerza Regida, amongst many others — but the challenge sounds genuine and hard-earned, with Marshmello augmenting his featured artists with out ever overpowering them, a ability that he’s developed all through his run.
Editor’s Decide: Non secular Cramp, Non secular Cramp
The members of San Francisco punk group Non secular Cramp have been kicking round for years, each releasing EPs collectively and working individually in different tasks — however their self-titled debut carries the kinetic power of a brash younger band barging onto the rock scene with intentions of shaking issues up. The hooks listed here are trendy and relentless, every sugary melody cloaking the band’s anger on the state of the world; like loads of nice punk teams, Non secular Cramp need you to hum alongside and query authority in equal measure.