Friday Music Guide: New Music From Travis Scott, Bad Bunny & The Weeknd, Zayn, Britney Spears and More

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, Travis Scott forms a super-team with Bad Bunny and The Weeknd, Zayn reintroduces himself and Britney Spears links back up with Will.i.am for more electro-pop. Check out all of this week’s picks below:

Travis Scott, Bad Bunny & The Weeknd, “K-Pop”

Nearly every major Travis Scott hit, from “Sicko Mode” to “Highest in the Room” to “Goosebumps” to “The Scotts,” has been only minimally danceable, the rapper turning into a superstar with abrupt beat switches and zonked-out melodies; that may change with “K-Pop,” the first taste of his long-awaited Utopia album, which sends Scott’s flow to the club and corrals Bad Bunny and The Weeknd as his entourage. All three artists adapt to the sweaty Afrobeats tempo, with Scott and Benito anchoring the song’s first half — The Weeknd shimmers across the finale, and unpacks the drug reference of the song title — and provoking some mid-summer movement.

Will.i.am & Britney Spears, “Mind Your Business” 

“Paparazzi shot me, I am the economy / Follow me, follow me, follow me,” Britney Spears sings on new single “Mind Your Business” — harkening back to her Blackout era, where she used her pop smashes to fend off the outside world obsessed with her every move. Here, Spears reunites with Will.i.am, the Black Eyed Peas leader with whom she scored a hit a decade ago with “Scream & Shout,” for another electro-pop bumper that, much like its predecessor, worms its way into your skull and refuses to let go.

Zayn, “Love Like This” 

Think of “Love Like This” as the start of Zayn 3.0: after becoming a global sensation as part of One Direction and then bursting out as a solo artist with the No. 1 hit “Pillowtalk,” the pop star has switched record labels, rejiggered his sound and returned with a re-energized outlook. Riding some UK garage production and aiming squarely at summer-jam status, Zayn uses “Love Like This” to demonstrate what every version of his musical career has been founded upon: the marriage of melodic understanding and sensual, deeply felt vocals.

Various Artists, Barbie The Album 

Sorry, Oppenheimer: only one major theatrical release this weekend comes with a star-studded soundtrack, and it belongs to Greta Gerwig’s big-screen adaptation of a certain beloved Mattel doll. Although the Barbie soundtrack has been previewed for weeks ahead of its official release — with previously released songs by Dua Lipa, Charli XCX, Billie Eilish and Nicki Minaj & Ice Spice (with Aqua), among others — the full album still has plenty of new A-list firepower, from Lizzo’s kicky “Pink” to Tame Impala’s “Journey to the Real World” to Sam Smith’s kinetic “Man I Am.”

Ice Spice, Like..? (Deluxe) 

Ice Spice’s debut EP was released only six months ago, but it feels like much, much longer: after all, the Bronx rapper has convincingly captured a lifetime’s worth of hip-hop buzz as well as crossed over to pop in that half-year, scoring top 10 hits with Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj and PinkPantheress all since releasing Like..? in January. The deluxe edition of the EP includes four new songs — highlighted by “Deli,” a relentless thumper that should be scooped up by DJs ASAP — as well as some bonus goodies like the Minaj remix of “Princess Diana.”

Diplo feat. Jessie Murph & Polo G, “Heartbroken” 

“Heartbroken” may follow Diplo’s recent country music project titled Diplo Presents Thomas Wesley: Chapter 2 – Swamp Savant, but the spirit of his new single recalls that of his mid-2010s Major Lazer work, where he’d put artists like Justin Bieber and MØ in positions that allowed their artistic elements to form a compound. With “Heartbroken,” rising singer-songwriter Jessie Murph’s dejected twang shines over simple acoustic strums, while Polo G’s gritty storytelling is translated into a more universal verse, his singsong flow balancing out Murph’s perspective.

Editor’s Pick: Chris Stapleton, “White Horse” 

It’s an understatement to say that, with the first taste of his November album Higher, Chris Stapleton has come roaring back: unlike past lead singles like “Traveller” and “Starting Over,” the country star has preceded his latest project with a hell-raising anthem, meant to be blared with windows down and enjoyed with ears ringing. “White Horse” finds Stapleton pairing an outlaw swagger with some heaven-scraping vocals, going for the gusto throughout the chorus to try and match the guitar snarl — it’s not a reinvention as much as a showcase for the passion that’s always lurking in even Stapleton’s most muted songs.

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