Tyrone Lebon
Billboard's Friday Music Guide serves as a handy guide to this Friday's most important releases: the essential music everyone's talking about today and dominating your playlists this weekend and beyond.
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Check out the latest videos, charts and news
Check out the latest videos, charts and news
This week, Dua Lipa is bringing the party back, Kendrick Lamar is drinking Hatalaide, and Gunna is dropping another Zombie-like hit. Check out all of this week's picks below.
dua lipa, radical optimism
In the four years since the release of her second album, Future Nostalgia, Dua Lipa has become an A-list celebrity, appearing in blockbuster movies, fashion shows, magazine covers and dominating arena stages. It's all thanks to the big hit songs. From its disco revival work and subsequent one-off singles (such as “Cold Heart” and “Dance the Night”). Her Lipa hits are the driving force behind her rise to fame, and her radical optimism is poised to reveal more of the artist behind it all as she racks up more of her Ws. With candy-coated dance maneuvers over her production and attacking each chorus with all her might, Ripa sings about desire and passion. Betrayal—though sometimes the album's quieter moments, like the understated guitar pop of “Maria,” sting most deeply.
Kendrick Lamar “6:16 in LA” and “Euphoria”
Kendrick Lamar spent the week staring at a picture of Drake on a bulletin board. As the rap/superstar feud continues, K. Dot has posted a pair of blistering diss tracks aimed at questioning the very nature of his opponents. Earlier this week, we received “Euphoria,” a more than six-minute recording of how Drake speaks, walks, and dresses. This morning, Lamar dropped “6:16 in LA.” The song echoes Drizzle's Timestamp Song Series and aims for gravitas (“Fake bully, I hate bullies, you must be a terrible person/Everyone on the team is trying to make you feel bad” whispers that he is entitled to it).
Gunna, “Whatsapp”
One week before the release of her new album One of Wun, Gunna returns with a fun and chill new single. “Whatsapp (Wassam)” returns the rap star to the spacey heights of Wunna highlights like “Skybox” and “Wunna Flo.” No one in hip-hop can capture this kind of relaxed, stream-of-consciousness better than with actual hits, and after last year's “Fukumean” became the biggest solo hit of his career, Gunna is back to rapping. A staple that has likely created a playlist.
Imagine Dragons feat. J Balvin “Close Your Eyes”
Imagine Dragons didn't shy away from mashing up guitar-heavy pop-rock with hip-hop via guest rappers, from “Soccer for Pain” to “Enemy,” but with “Eyes Closed,” J Balvin participated in the new version of “. The Spanish-language bar takes this hard-hitting song in a new direction. Dan Reynolds deftly lifts the hook over heady percussion and production wobbles, but Balvin highlights the track, making “Eyes Closed” his own, visiting the worlds of other artists. I use it as a showcase to show off my skill set.
Kane Brown & Marshmello “Miles on It”
Kane Brown and Marshmello have already found huge success with their mash-up of country-pop and dance styles thanks to their 2019 single “One Thing Right,” and their new collaboration “Miles on With “It,” they both try to recapture that magic. Give the world a not-so-subtle summer song. “Just you and me in a big truck bed like a king in California/We can break in if you know what I mean,” Brown sings in the chorus before doubling the tempo, adding, “Miles on Miles “It” suggests that this is the case. I'm not exactly referring to his Chevrolet's odometer.
Editor's Pick: WILLOW, Empathogen
After getting her start as a preteen with “Whip My Hair,” Willow has spent more than a decade subverting expectations in her recording career, pivoting from family-friendly pop to lush R&B to raucous pop-punk. I did. Her new album Empathogen adds jazz, art pop, indie and rock to her expanding palette, but WILLOW's personality drives the whole project, with songs like “Run!” is empowering. and “The Fear is Not Real,” with its nervous energy and brilliant charm. Even though she's a veteran at this point, she still deals with unpredictable situations.