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 dominating playlists this weekend and beyond.
This week, SZA and Doja Cat are having a killer reunion, Post Malone is back with pop chemistry, and Metallica is still riding the thunderbolt. Check out all of this week’s picks below:
SZA feat. Doja Cat, “Kill Bill (Remix)”
While SZA’s “Kill Bill” was one of the defining hits of the first half of 2023, the S.O.S. single did so while stuck outside the top spot on the Hot 100 – this week, spending its eighth nonconsecutive week at No. 2 on the chart. Will this remix with his “Kiss Me More” pal Doja Cat give “Bill” the boost he needs to be No. 1? Graphic effects aside, Doja’s inclusion on the track injects new excitement: the superstar opens the remix with detailed rap narration, documenting a violent encounter with his ex and new girlfriend that blows off the well-worn hook of SZA from the speakers. again and potentially serves as a prelude to the hip-hop album that Doja Cat has been hinting at for some time.
Post Malone, “Chemical”
When “Circles” became one of the biggest hits of Post Malone’s career when it was released in 2019, the hip-hop superstar seemed to be gesturing towards a new pop-rock template for his crossover singles. Last years Twelve karat toothache downplayed that transition a bit, but “Chemical,” Posty’s first new release of 2023, emphatically embraces that sonic setting: This single is giddy pop euphoria, with a driving beat, sunny guitar strums, and a singsong upper register. about a relationship that ultimately falls apart. Although Post Malone has demonstrated the ability to straddle the two sounds, “Chemical” sounds like a nod to radio’s top 40 and a surefire summer hit.
Metallica, 72 seasons
Metallica can take their time with studio albums these days – 72 seasons comes six and a half years after 2016 Wired… to self-destructwhich took place eight years after that of 2008 magnetic death – but each time they return, they hit longtime fans with riffs, hooks and kinetic energy. At 77 minutes, 72 seasons presents his ideas over a long period of time, but at breakneck speed: Kirk Hammett’s technical skills work overtime on songs like “Lux Æterna” and “Shadows Follow”, while James Hetfield hasn’t lost a beat. stage in four decades of career, evoking personal pain and lifting it with classic thrash god instincts. Metallica’s studio release may have slowed down a bit, but 72 seasons shows how vital they remain.
Ice Spice feat. Nicki Minaj, “Princess Diana (Remix)”
A key part of Ice Spice’s meteoric rise is her skill as a collaborator: from the top 10 hit “Boy’s a Liar Pt. value As..? EP, the Bronx rapper knows exactly how to accentuate her own voice while leaving room for other types of art. The “Princess Diana” remix not only slips a huge Nicki Minaj co-sign into her back pocket, but seamlessly brings a larger-than-life personality into the world of a really good existing song – after the smooth cadence of ‘Ice Spice and internal rhymes glide to the beat, Minaj provides new highlights with quotable snickers like “She’s the princess, so f–k who the fuck are you?”
Dominic Fike, “Dancing at the Courthouse”
After experiencing a few run-ins with the law growing up in Florida, Dominic Fike sums up his experiences and the resulting emotions on “Dancing in the Courthouse” — part tongue-in-cheek riff on our modern legal system, part joyous throwback to a rising singer-songwriter, whose second album is due out later this year on Columbia Records. “Dancing in the Courthouse” makes good use of Fike’s subtle puns and pop sensibility, with each barbed line eventually coalescing into one of the most soaring refrains of his career to date.
Marshmello & Farruko, “Esta Vida”
A month after teaming up with Colombian reggaeton star Manuel Turizo on new single “El Merengue”, Marshmello continues his exploration of disparate Latin pop styles with “Esta Vida”, a summer-ready anthem with Farruko, the Puerto Rican initiator of the party. “Esta Vida” is clearly inspired by the playbook Farruko used on the stadium-sized hit “Pepas” – the thousand-voiced effect returns on the chorus here – but both artists bring their game A to the dance cut, with rubbery synth production backing Farruko’s smooth oscillation between rapping and singing.
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