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 at this time, and that will likely be dominating playlists this weekend and past.
This week, SZA and Doja Cat craft a killer reunion, Submit Malone is again with some pop chemistry, and Metallica are nonetheless using the lightning. Try all of this week’s picks under:
SZA feat. Doja Cat, “Kill Invoice (Remix)”
Whereas SZA’s “Kill Invoice” has been one of many defining smashes of the primary half of 2023, the SOS single has executed it whereas caught outdoors of the Scorching 100’s prime spot — this week spending its eighth nonconsecutive week at No. 2 on the chart. Will this remix along with her “Kiss Me Extra” pal Doja Cat give “Invoice” the push it must No. 1? No matter chart results, Doja’s inclusion on the observe injects a brand new pleasure: the famous person opens up the remix with detailed rap storytelling, documenting a violent run-in along with her ex and his new girlfriend that makes SZA’s well-worn hook leap off the audio system as soon as once more and probably serves as a prelude to the hip-hop album that Doja Cat has been hinting at for a while.
Submit Malone, “Chemical”
When “Circles” grew to become one of many largest hits of Submit Malone’s profession upon its 2019 launch, the hip-hop famous person appeared to be gesturing at a brand new pop-rock template for his crossover singles. Final 12 months’s Twelve Carat Toothache downplayed that transition a bit, however “Chemical,” Posty’s first new launch of 2023, adamantly embraces that sonic tweak: this single is giddy pop euphoria, with a driving beat, sunny guitar strums and upper-register singing a couple of relationship lastly collapsing. Though Submit Malone has demonstrated a capability to straddle each sounds, “Chemical” feels like a nod towards prime 40 radio, and a surefire summer time smash.
Metallica, 72 Seasons
Metallica could take their time with studio albums today — 72 Seasons arrives six-and-a-half years after 2016’s Hardwired… to Self-Destruct, which got here eight years after 2008’s Dying Magnetic — however each time they return, they pummel longtime followers with riffs, hooks and kinetic vitality. At 77 minutes, 72 Seasons presents its concepts over an prolonged time frame, however at a breakneck pace: Kirk Hammett’s technical ability works additional time on songs like “Lux Æterna” and “Shadows Observe,” whereas James Hetfield hasn’t misplaced a step throughout a four-decade profession, conjuring private ache and hoisting it up with basic thrash-god instincts. Metallica’s studio output could have slowed a bit, but 72 Seasons showcases how important they continue to be.
Ice Spice feat. Nicki Minaj, “Princess Diana (Remix)”
A key part of Ice Spice’s meteoric rise is her ability as a collaborator: from the highest 10 smash “Boy’s a Liar Pt. 2” with PinkPantheress to “Gangsta Boo,” the Lil Tjay team-up that highlights her Like..? EP, the Bronx rapper is aware of precisely learn how to intensify her personal voice whereas making room for different forms of artistry. The remix to “Princess Diana” not solely slides an enormous co-sign from Nicki Minaj into her again pocket, however seamlessly brings a larger-than-life character into the world of an excellent present music — after Ice Spice’s slick cadence and inner rhymes glide throughout the beat, Minaj supplies new highlights with quotable sneers like “She the princess, so f–okay who you lames is?”
Dominic Fike, “Dancing within the Courthouse”
After experiencing some run-ins with the legislation whereas rising up in Florida, Dominic Fike synthesizes his experiences and ensuing feelings on “Dancing within the Courthouse” — half tongue-in-cheek riff on our fashionable authorized system, half joyful return of a rising singer-songwriter, whose sophomore album is due out later this 12 months on Columbia Data. “Dancing within the Courthouse” makes good use of each Fike’s refined wordplay and pop sensibility, with every barbed line finally coalescing into one of the vital hovering refrains of his profession to this point.
Marshmello & Farruko, “Esta Vida”
One month after linking up with Colombian reggaeton star Manuel Turizo on the brand new single “El Merengue,” Marshmello continues his exploration of disparate Latin pop types with “Esta Vida,” a summer-ready anthem co-starring Puerto Rican party-starter Farruko. “Esta Vida” clearly takes inspiration from the playbook Farruko used on the stadium-sized hit “Pepas” — the thousand-voiced impact returns on the refrain right here — however each artists convey their A-game to the dance minimize, with rubbery synth manufacturing backing Farruko’s easy oscillation between rapping and singing.
