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, Doja Cat travels back in time, Laufey meets her moment and Sombr makes a sparkling debut. Check out all of this week’s picks below:
Doja Cat, “Jealous Type”
Doja Cat has always existed as a singer and rapper, but on new single “Jealous Type,” she seems to exist between two eras: while the single from upcoming album Vie proudly wears its ‘80s rhythmic pop influences on its tiger-print sleeves, Doja carries a modern ferocity, pummeling her relationship woes in the second verse with lines like, “I don’t need a pin-drop or a text tonight / I ain’t even coming out with you, you don’t wanna show me off to your ex or your friends tonight.”
Laufey, A Matter of Time
Laufey’s trajectory cannot be replicated — she’s a Chinese-Icelandic singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist, revitalizing jazz and mastering classical pop in front of packed arenas — and her singular spot in modern music makes A Matter of Time so triumphant: her latest full-length sounds unstuck from sonic or storytelling expectations, and thus, Laufey once again surpasses them.
Sombr, I Barely Know Her
“Back to Friends” and “Undressed,” Sombr’s pair of streaming smashes, were not flukes: the singer-songwriter born Shane Boose is adept at refracting immediate pop hooks through an earnest croon that’s ripe for alternative radio play, and on debut album I Barely Know Her, he handles every genre exercise — from the slick dance-funk workout “12 to 12” to the breathtaking folk ballad “Canal Street” — with ease, talent and truth.
BigXThaPlug, I Hope You’re Happy
Love “All the Way,” BigXThaPlug’s top 10 team-up with Bailey Zimmerman? You’ll find a lot more to embrace on I Hope You’re Happy, the Dallas hip-hop star’s full-length country foray: while Nashville staples like Jelly Roll, Darius Rucker, Luke Combs and Ella Langley handle the hooks, BigX bodies the rap verses, resulting in a mash-up jamboree that’s earnest, commercially viable and a whole lot of fun.
Kid Cudi, Free
Scott Mescudi’s creativity runs in so many different directions, and across various multimedia platforms, that a new, proper Kid Cudi album always feels like both a gift and a check-in with an old friend; Free lives up to its title, composed of lyrical fearlessness and fuzzed-out musical explorations (crank “Truman Show” up to the absolute maximum volume, please) that made him such a beloved figure at the start of his career.
Stray Kids, KARMA
After conquering charts and arena stages around the world, Stray Kids spend new album KARMA challenging themselves: there’s plenty of their hard-charging, electro-rap pop sound across the best-selling K-pop group’s latest proper album, but songs like “In My Head” and “Ghost” tweak their formula in compelling new ways, and nod toward Stray Kids’ musical growth.
Offset, KIARI
As one might expect for a project titled after his birth name, KIARI finds Offset at his most vulnerable, with the Migos mainstay offering a snapshot of his whirlwind life and memories of his rise within popular hip-hop while joined by a wrecking crew of guest stars, including Gunna, Teezo Touchdown, YoungBoy Never Broke Again and Key Glock, the lattermost on the head-knocking highlight “Run It Up.”
Editor’s Pick: Deftones, private music
Deftones’ gradual rise to rock’s commercial elite — in which they’re playing to their biggest crowds ever, 30 years into their career — has coincided with consistently great-to-excellent studio output; when it comes to their brooding, atmospheric hard rock, private music does not reinvent the wheel, but songs like “infinite source” and “cut hands” contain more tempo and swagger than their recent full-lengths, and often sport thrilling highs.