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Billboard’s First Stream 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.
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This week, GloRilla feeds the “Trolls,” Shania Twain is ready to come back over, and Morgan Wallen previews a huge new release. Check out all of this week’s First Stream picks below:
GloRilla, “Internet Trolls”
After breaking through last year with the Hitkidd team-up “F.N.F. (Let’s Go)” and proceeding to establish herself as a riveting new voice in hip-hop, GloRilla takes aim at those who have hid behind keyboards and tried to tear her down, with Hitkidd back to provide the soundtrack. “Internet Trolls” is a relatively short but dramatically rendered check-in, with GloRilla sneering, “They don’t wanna clap for you, they just want you to clap back,” while simultaneously proving those same haters wrong.
Shania Twain, Queen of Me
While Shania Twain has plenty of hits to enshrine her legacy and bring in packed audiences whenever she heads out on the road, Queen of Me, her new album and second since kicking off a comeback with 2017’s Now, continues to forge ahead with rollicking country-pop and a seasoned perspective. More than any one song on Queen of Me, Twain’s sense of perspective and determination shines through: the album offers more cup-hoisting anthems that recall her Come On Over days, but their fabric is time-honored, and their sense of joy is hard-earned.
Morgan Wallen, “Last Night” / “Everything I Love” / “I Wrote the Book”
A press release for Morgan Wallen’s forthcoming One Thing at a Time previews the 36-song effort as a “deeply personal album that combines Wallen’s musical influences — country, alternative and hip-hop.” And while the gargantuan LP will no doubt take some stylistic detours, this three-pack of songs ahead of its release finds Wallen in the crowd-pleasing modern country sphere that he’s become a force within: “Last Night” in particular sounds like it will be inescapable for months, its snappy rhythm and warbled harmonies ripe for endless country radio replays.
Karol G & Romeo Santos, “X Si Volvemos”
“X Si Volvemos” is a breakup song, with both Karol G and Romeo Santos acknowledging that lingering physical temptations bring complications to a clean split — and while both artists understand how to deliver wide-reaching choruses, the nuances of their vocal deliveries make this collaboration shine. Both artists’ vocals ache over Ovy On The Drums’ scintillating production, as they try to move on from a fractured reality but their tones keep circling back toward each other.
RAYE, My 21st Century Blues
To describe RAYE’s debut album “long-awaited” would be an understatement: the pop singer-songwriter tried for years to get her former record label to give the project a release date to no avail, eventually turned independent, and fortunately for her, scored a top 40 smash in “Escapism” to lead into My 21st Century Blues. Although her path has been winding, RAYE’s ambition has never wavered: the album soars with genre explorations (“Oscar Winning Tears” is a top-notch R&B showcase) and intimate songwriting (“Body Dysmorphia” is as harrowing as its title suggests), as she makes the most of her opportunity to finally share her story.
Billboard’s First Stream 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.
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This week, Sam Smith continues a hot streak, Rosalía is down for fake love and The Kid LAROI brings things back to basics. Check out all of this week’s First Stream picks below:
Sam Smith, Gloria
Sam Smith has scored several hits over the course of their career, but “Unholy,” his team-up with Kim Petras that became their first No. 1 single, sounded like none of them when it was released last year; the smash not only revitalized Smith’s voice at top 40 radio, but suggested a major shift in sonic approach. Gloria, their fourth studio album, sports a level of freedom rarely heard in Smith’s past oeuvre of precisely drawn pop: their vocal gifts are positioned toward sweaty, sexually liberated dance floor anthems like “I’m Not Here to Make Friends” as well as fearless midtempo confessionals like “Perfect,” with Smith sounding more relaxed in every mode on the album.
Rosalía, “LLYLM”
“I don’t need honesty / Baby, lie like you love me, lie like you love me,” Rosalía pleads on new single “LLYLM,” switching over to English and soaring into a falsetto as she explores the theme of fake affection. “LLYLM” is not a complicated single — created in part with Max Martin, the song’s handclaps and muted synthesizers eventually evaporate for a sparse, guitar-led interlude — but Rosalía remains one of the most magnetic vocal presences in music today, and powers “LLYLM” with technical skill and unadulterated emotion.
The Kid LAROI, “Love Again”
Anticipation is high for The Kid LAROI’s first full-length album, and the release of lead single “Love Again” was preceded by a lead-in intro track, “Can’t Go Back to the Way It Was,” last week, and is being paired with a one-of-a-kind Fortnite experience. Yet LAROI wisely decided not to one-up that rollout with an overly grandiose song: “Love Again” recalls the raw acoustic nerve that his breakout hit, “Without You,” touched to make LAROI a star, and this time he offers clipped, unflinching rhetorical questions while trying to find resolution in a relationship.
Chlöe, “Pray It Away”
After years of readying her solo debut, Chlöe’s first album will arrive in March, and “Pray It Away,” an ode to heading to church to shake off the energy of a romantic mistake, displays a greater confidence in personal craft that should excite longtime believers in the powerhouse vocalist. The harmonies on “Pray It Away” are downright gorgeous, even as Chlöe admits to unsavory thoughts and decisions — a gleeful juxtaposition of soulful R&B and pissed-off exclamations that the singer handles masterfully.
Zach Bryan feat. Maggie Rogers, “Dawns”
With his epic project American Heartbreak last year, Zach Bryan enjoyed the type of breakthrough year that Maggie Rogers, who issued her sophomore album Surrender, experienced three years earlier with her debut LP Heard It In a Past Life; the artists may be at slightly different chapters in their respective stories, but as two supremely gifted songwriters, a collaboration was always going to yield an interesting product. “Dawns” is delightfully haunted, a broken howl of a duet on which Bryan sounds lost as he navigates a breakup, and Rogers steadies his hand and centers the song’s intensity.
Lil Yachty, Let’s Start Here.
Let’s start here: Lil Yachty’s new album is not a rap project, even slightly. Those expecting the veteran hip-hop star to follow up his recent viral rap single “Poland” with a mainstream victory lap will be upended by this freaky, fuzzed-out psychedelic rock album, which Yachty created with a host of guitar-toting collaborators in an effort to capture his love of Pink Floyd. Somehow, the full-throttle detour completely works: Yachty’s warbling sounds natural over the swirling ‘70s-indebted production, and even when the instruments pile up, Let’s Start Here. never implodes, or bores the listener.
Billboard’s First Stream 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.
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This week, Trippie Redd drops back in with a surprise, Kali Uchis gives us a kiss-off and The Kid LAROI introduces a new era. Check out all of this week’s First Stream picks below:
Trippie Redd, Mansion Musik
If the title of Trippie Redd’s new surprise album is familiar, that’s because it’s one letter removed from Chief Keef’s fiercely beloved 2018 mixtape Mansion Musick; Keef serves as the executive producer, as well as something of a spiritual forefather, to Trippie’s latest opus, which boasts 76 minutes of unhinged energy and A-list guest stars. Mansion Musik begins with a zonked-out burst — Future, Lil Baby, Juice WRLD and Keef himself are all featured within the first five songs — never really lets up, with Trippie Redd flexing over distorted guitars, trap beats and anyone who doubts his ferocious power.
Kali Uchis, “I Wish You Roses”
Kali Uchis’ placement on the 2023 Coachella lineup — the third most prominent name on Sunday’s bill, right behind Frank Ocean and Björk — is a subtle indication for the perceived potential of the genre-blending singer-songwriter following a pair of beguiling albums and the viral sensation of “Telepatía.” “I Wish You Roses” delivers on that promise, a swaying, luxurious vocal showcase that acts as a fond farewell to someone circling out of one’s life and another showcase of Uchis’ power as a hook creator; her ability to conjure lush choruses and sing them with verve and tenacity nods to the artist stepping more into the mainstream this year.
The Kid LAROI, “I Can’t Go Back to The Way It Was (Intro)”
“I Can’t Go Back to The Way It Was (Intro)” may represent the soft launch of The Kid LAROI’s return: as the first song released from long-awaited full-length The First Time, its short run time and parenthetical note suggest that “Love Again,” which arrives next week, will more closely resemble a proper single. Yet that doesn’t mean the 95-second track isn’t full of intrigue: although “I Can’t Go Back” features LAROI’s brand of warbled melancholy, the pounding drums and ghostly harmonies hint at an expansion of his sound, which has yielded some major hits thus far but could be ballooning into something on a grander scale.
Måneskin, Rush!
Although Måneskin has taken a highly unorthodox path toward international fame — the Italian rock quartet blew up thanks in part to a years-old cover of a Four Seasons song being scooped up on TikTok and crossing over to streaming platforms — the group isn’t going anywhere now that they’ve arrived. Rush!, their first full-length since their global boom, capitalizes on the brighter spotlight with limitless hooks (some of which are courtesy of Max Martin) and clean, radio-ready guitar hooks; Måneskin is adept at pivoting to the mainstream without shedding any of their ostentatious personality or rock tenacity, which makes the album both a solid introduction as well as a logical next step.
Kim Petras, “Brrr”
Kim Petras is wasting no time harnessing the momentum of “Unholy,” her enormous No. 1 hit with Sam Smith: after ending the year with the single “If Jesus Was a Rockstar,” Petras quickly returns with “Brrr,” a hypnotic hyperpop track that more closely resembles the seductive swirl of “Unholy.” Petras has long been adept at tossing out double entendres and sinking her teeth into synth-pop refrains, but with newfound top 40 juice, a crackling song like “Brrr” could help translate a chart-topping assist into a major solo moment.
Mac DeMarco, Five Easy Hot Dogs
Last year, Mac DeMarco challenged himself to start driving and not return home until he had created a new album. “Maybe it’s the last couple of years, or maybe it’s my age now, but the idea of forgoing any sort of normalcy or comfort and making my entire life, for a segment of time, completely insane feels very inspiring to me,” he explains in a press release. “I stayed out on the road doing this for almost four months.” He came back with Five Easy Hot Dogs, a charming instrumental exercise that plays out in the order of his trip, and feels like a sumptuous conversation with a curious soul who happens to be an acclaimed, still-evolving indie singer-songwriter.
Billboard’s First Stream 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.
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This week, Miley Cyrus grows with “Flowers,” Shakira doesn’t hold anything back alongside Bizarrap, and Sam Smith recruits two pals to keep evolving. Check out all of this week’s First Stream picks below:
Miley Cyrus, “Flowers”
Throughout her career, Miley Cyrus has remade her image and sound at the start of a new album era, from the grown-up synth-pop of Can’t Be Tamed to the audacious hip-hop influence of Bangerz to the pensive country-pop of Younger Now to the homage-paying guitar-rock of Plastic Hearts. As a sleek, disco-adjacent midtempo pop track, “Flowers,” the first taste of upcoming album Endless Summer Vacation, doesn’t tip its hand and reveal a radical sonic reinvention for Cyrus — but that lack of transformation actually benefits the superstar, who sings of changing course and finding self-fulfillment after a breakup, in this context. Singing with wisdom and a steady sense of space on “Flowers,” Cyrus shows that she can still conjure pop magic, but can also feel comfortable in her own skin.
Bizarrap & Shakira, “Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53”
“This is for you to be mortified, to chew and swallow, swallow and chew,” Shakira declares on volume 53 of Bizarrap’s acclaimed (and increasingly popular) music sessions — and indeed, the collaboration is intended as an evisceration, with several haymakers directed at Shakira’s ex-husband, soccer star Gerard Piqué, already making the rounds on social media. However, don’t let the tabloid fodder outshine Shakira’s most vibrant single in years: “Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53” is rich with hooks, beat changes and invigorated singing, as if dunking on her ex has unlocked the most dazzling version of an all-time superstar.
Sam Smith feat. Koffee & Jessie Reyez, “Gimme”
The Sam Smith Renaissance continues with “Gimme,” a lush dancehall riff on which the singer-songwriter, having recently tinkered with their microphone persona on the sweaty hyperpop smash “Unholy,” downplays their crooning for a more subtle, sensual delivery, to great effect. Instead of sacrificing the intimacy of a sexually charged song like “Gimme,” guest stars Koffee and Jessie Reyez switch up the song’s chemistry and make every second of the track, from the chiming refrain to the bumping second verse, as impactful as possible.
Moneybagg Yo & GloRilla, “On Wat U On”
Give Moneybagg Yo and GloRilla, two rock-solid Memphis rappers increasingly crucial to mainstream hip-hop, a bass-heavy beat with a menacing piano line, and the results are probably going to be stellar. Yet “On Wat U On” represents more than a reliable head-knocker from the CMG label mates: as the pair justify their kiss-offs while cosplaying in an unstable relationship, they form a symbiotic relationship of loners who know what they want and can toss in the right ad-libs to demonstrate as much (GloRilla earns extra points for dropping “Hate yo’ ass!” to punctuate a line).
Margo Price, Strays
In the summer of 2020, during the throes of the pandemic, Margo Price and her husband/collaborator Jeremy Ivey spent six days in South Carolina taking a ton of hallucinogenic mushrooms and furiously penning the album that would eventually become Strays; that backstory explains the inhibited songwriting at the heart of the country-folk mainstay’s fourth album, but also underscores how nuanced the album can be in between more free-wheeling moments. Tracks like the kicky “Been to the Mountain” are balanced out with “County Road,” a poignant message to a young victim of a car accident, and “Lydia,” a powerhouse ballad about abortion that stands among Price’s best work.
PartyNextDoor, “Her Old Friends”
About 95 seconds into new single “Her Old Friends,” PartyNextDoor locks into a groove that reminds casual fans why he’s still such an exciting presence in popular R&B: his voice floats up then twists back down, and stacked vocals circle in and out of harmonizing, as if a ghostly chorus can’t decided whether or not to support him. The new track follows singles like “Sex in the Porsche” and “No Fuss,” hinting at the first PND full-length since 2020… but regardless of when that arrives, moments like that in the middle of “Her Old Friends” are worth savoring.
Billboard’s First Stream 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.
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This week, YoungBoy keeps his prolific streak alive, Popcaan and Drake re-team with a new mission, and Shania Twain keeps us dancing into the new year. Check out all of this week’s First Stream picks below:
YoungBoy Never Broke Again, I Rest My Case
YoungBoy Never Broke Again’s output is not only mind-boggling — four mixtapes, one album and a compilation album in 2022, the majority of which reached the top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart — but also serves as a simple way to track the Baton Rouge native’s gradual rise as a musician and lyricist: YoungBoy generally gets more discerning and ferocious with every new project, and I Rest My Case is one of his strongest full-lengths to date. The album’s momentum snowballs from the opening bodyslam of “Black,” “Louie V” and “Swag On Point,” and ends with an affecting open letter, “Hey Pops”; in between, YoungBoy suggests that, if last year had nonstop highs, 2023 could be even bigger.
Popcaan feat. Drake, “We Caa Done”
From “Controlla” on Drake’s Views to “All I Need” on Popcaan’s Fixtape project, the hip-hop superstar and dancehall king have proven reliable collaborators for more than a half-decade — and now, ahead of Popcaan’s album Great Is He, they’ve re-teamed for a triumphant start to the new year. “We Caa Done” functions as a raised glass after overcoming tribulations, with Drake crooning in patois, Popcaan demonstrating a flow that’s long been hypnotic, and the percolating beat helping both along the way, setting up what’s sure to be a club staple across borders in 2023.
Shania Twain, “Giddy Up!”
The story of modern country-pop could not be told without Shania Twain, and as she embarks on a big year that will include a new album and sprawling tour, the legendary singer-songwriter is still serving up crossover singles designed to get hands clapping and butts out of seats. “Giddy Up!” will lead forthcoming album Queen of Me and is indeed a party-starter, all call-and-response problem-shedding and frothy lines written for Friday night gatherings; by the time the acoustic strumming has segued to electric riffing, you’ll find that you, too, would like to shout “Giddy up.”
Yahritza Y Su Esencia, “Cambiaste”
Anyone paying close-enough attention to the rapid rise of Yahritza Y Su Esencia last year understood that the Regional Mexican trio’s TikTok success would probably not be ephemeral — the talents of Yahritza Martinez, and her older brothers Armando and Jairo, were too distinct to ignite and then dissipate. New single “Cambiaste” relies heavily upon Yahritza’s pleading voice and Mando’s 12-string guitar, but that formula remains effective — if not even more emotionally harrowing, especially as the song circles around and then hammers down during the finale.
Skrillex feat. PinkPantheress & Trippie Redd, “Way Back”
After returning earlier this week with “Rumble,” a teeth-smashing dance-rap track featuring Fred again.. and Flowdan, Skrillex has kicked off 2023 with another intriguing three-artist summit: “Way Back,” with PinkPantheress and Trippie Redd, sizzles in the places that “Rumble” shimmers, with Trippie handed hook duties and PinkPantheress weaving a compelling story within a single verse. Both songs are relatively short — “Way Back” clocks in at under two minutes — but are satisfying enough to raise hopes that the year will bring more tunes from a rejuvenated Skrillex.
Ice Spice, “In Ha Mood”
“I’m proud that I’m still gettin’ bigger / Goin’ viral is gettin’ ’em sicker,” Ice Spice raps on the victory-lap single “In Ha Mood.” The Bronx rapper, fresh off of gaining well-deserved fame for her Internet sensation “Munch (Feelin’ U),” serves up another drill track with a refrain that’s primed for TikTok users to feast upon — but “In Ha Mood” is also snappier and more lyrically dense than Ice Spice’s past offerings, allowing her to swoop down upon her naysayers with a sharpened sword.
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Billboard’s First Stream 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.
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See latest videos, charts and news
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This week, The Weeknd trumpets the arrival of Avatar: The Way of Water, Cardi B offers an extra shot of espresso to a Rosalía hit, Little Simz drops a surprise follow-up album to her acclaimed 2021 LP and more. Check out all of this week’s First Stream picks below:
The Weeknd, “Nothing Is Lost (You Give Me Strength)”
The Weeknd is no stranger to big movie soundtrack singles, having previously scored Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hits from Fifty Shades of Gray (“Earned It (Fifty Shades)”) and Black Panther (“Pray for Me” alongside Kendrick Lamar). Still, “Nothing Is Lost (You Give Me Strength)” is perhaps his biggest soundtrack look yet, as the theme to the longer-than-long-anticipated sequel Avatar: The Way of Water. The bombastic ballad, co-written and co-produced by Abel’s buddies in Swedish House Mafia, matches the size of the assignment, with thundering drums, anthemic backing vocals, and a refrain that’s reminiscent of Gerard McMann’s “Cry Little Sister” from ’80s cult classic The Lost Boys.
Rosalía & Cardi B, “DESPECHÁ RMX”
“DESPECHÁ” already stands as Rosalía‘s biggest hit as a lead artist to date, hitting No. 63 on the Hot 100 and spending 12 weeks on the chart. But as she’s previously proven to Bruno Mars and GloRilla, nothing helps a song’s commercial fortunes like landing Cardi B on the remix. The Bronx bomber shows up for an always-welcome guest verse on “DESPECHÁ” this week, spitting, “You’ve been trying too hard not to watch my stories/ I’ve been shakin’ this ass, better not report me,” and of course signing off with a little español: “But I’m good though, ¿Cómo estás?”
Little Simz, NO THANK YOU
British rapper Little Simz was a fixture on 2021 year-end lists with her stellar LP Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, securing the No. 19 spot on the Billboard staff’s own ranking. Earlier this week, she surprised fans with the arrival of that set’s previously unannounced follow-up, the 10-track set NO THANK YOU. The LP ranges from the tender to the tense to the triumphant, Simz changing lanes in her bimma with a true professional’s ease, aided in navigation by regular producer Inflo and backing vocalist Cleo Sol. The late release hasn’t kept it from landing on yet more end-of-year lists; Rolling Stone just named it one of the year’s 25 best hip-hop albums. “‘Play the game, play the game,’ is what they scream/ You can play the game, I don’t see the need, no,” she offers on opener “Angel.” Hard to argue with at this point.
Juice WRLD, “Face 2 Face”
The latest one-off posthumous release from the late rapper Juice WRLD — whose devastating death just passed its third anniversary earlier this month, with a second annual Juice WRLD Day being celebrated in his Chicago hometown — is an acoustic trap ballad, led by a disarmingly gentle and compassionate unplugged riff. “Everytime I go to fall to sleep/ These demons haunting me/ Facing my fears face to face as we meet,” the artist born Jarad Higgins wails in the particularly signature-sounding chorus. As comforting as it is to still hear his voice on new music this long after his passing, it’s just as disconcerting to feel like not even death has freed him from grappling with these issues.
FLO, “Losing You”
British vocal trio FLO has built a lot of buzz this year for their run of 2022 singles calling back to classic R&B girl groups of the ’90s and early ’00s, even scoring one of our staff’s top 100 songs of 2022 with the kiss-off “Cardboard Box.” The girls score another winner this week with the “Since U Been Gone”-themed ballad “Losing You,” as they realize they’re better off without the trifling dude they’ve been saddled with for too long. “Losing you was easier than I thought it’d be/ I’m happy on my own/ It’s the first time that I finally feel at home,” the trio sings on the Stella Quaresma-led chorus, over warm ’90s synth chords and a snappingly sympathetic beat (co-produced by U.K. hitmaker MNEK).
PinkPantheress, “Take Me Home”
Though she’s yet to release an LP follow-up to her breakthrough 2021 debut LP To Hell With It, PinkPantheress has still had a very productive 2022, releasing a series of excellent singles like “Where You Are” (with Willow), “Picture in My Mind” (with Sam Gellaitry”) and “Boy’s a Liar.” This week, the U.K. phenom caps her sophomore year with “Take Me Home,” a pulse-racing synth-pop banger with drum-n-bass accents and a typically arresting chorus: “It’s sad that I/ Prepared to be so young till the end of time/ I realized/ When I struggled to get out of my room last night.” Closing with a half-time coda, the single breaks new ground for PinkPantheress length-wise: at a full three minutes and twenty seconds, it’s basically her “Free Bird.”
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Billboard’s First Stream 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.
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See latest videos, charts and news
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This week, SZA’s SOS marks the return of a queen, A Boogie Wit da Hoodie fights inner demons and Lana Del Rey has a beautiful-sounding fun fact for you. Check out all of this week’s First Stream picks below:
SZA, SOS
Five years after dropping a jaw-dropping debut with Ctrl, SZA has finally returned with a follow-up that somehow sounds both pored-over, the product of endless hours in the studio sharpening edges and refining ideas, and as natural as the R&B star’s inherent gifts as a vocalist and songwriter. No one else could sing the words of SOS with an ounce of the personality that SZA brings to each track — in part because these songs are breathtakingly intimate, photographs of years of personal evolution as relationships scale up and sometimes crumble — but mostly because SZA is just that special of a performer, with every syllable on SOS popping out from the dense, varied production. SOS takes plenty of time to unpack across its 23 tracks, but whatever expectations you may have had for SZA’s second album probably weren’t high enough.
A Boogie Wit da Hoodie, Me vs. Myself
If Me vs. Myself, A Boogie Wit da Hoodie’s fourth studio album, ends up being the final major rap release of 2022, the NYC rapper will end up closing out the year on a triumphant note: his latest full-length meets the local-to-national hype that A Boogie has been incubating for years, and features the most complete songs of his career. That list begins with the Lil Durk team-up “Damn Homie,” which augments both rappers’ melodic instincts, and also includes the solo showcase “Ballin” and “Water (Drowning Pt. 2),” a sequel to A Boogie’s recent collaboration with Kodak Black that improves upon the original.
Lana Del Rey, “Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd”
The Jergins Tunnel, the passageway in Long Beach, Calif. that was abandoned in 1967, is a closed-off tunnel to a California beach — perfect lyrical fodder for Lana Del Rey, who sings on her stirring new track, “I can’t help but feel somewhat like my body marred my soul / Handmade beauty sealed up by two man-made walls.” The title track to her next full-length, “Did you know…” marries Del Rey’s sweeping approach to orchestral pop with an ideal subject, upon which the singer-songwriter can translate her longstanding curiosities with faded American beauty.
Polo G, “My All”
“I’m just tryna drop a hit and make the club jump / But I hate that I was too deep in so young,” Polo G admits at the end of the chorus to “My All,” a new single to close out the year before it appears on his much-anticipated new project dropping in 2023. Most popular rappers wouldn’t close out a hook with a moment of such succinct honesty — at 23 years old, Polo G is already a veteran who has the ability to entertain the masses yet has witnessed too much personal strife — but vulnerability has always been the key to his mainstream appeal, and “My All” sets the stage for more intricate stories to be unfurled next year.
Paramore, “The News”
Five years ago, Paramore preceded their album After Laughter with “Hard Times,” a brilliant bit of sociopolitical satire on which Hayley Williams begged to be excluded from reality’s narrative. Ahead of follow-up album This Is Why, the band grapples with everyday life in more serious fashion: “The News” questions how much space in our minds our modern atrocities, specifically wars in far-off countries, can take up before we explode with uselessness, as the band locks in to a jagged groove and Williams oscillates her tone between jittery and outraged to sell the song’s concept.
Billboard’s First Stream 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.
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This week, RM presents a bold solo vision, Metro Boomin ends another big year with a superstar affair, and Lewis Capaldi’s latest will turn your frown upside down. Check out all of this week’s First Stream picks below:
RM, Indigo
Even with the context of every recent solo project from the members of BTS, which have presented their millions of listeners with individual aesthetics and ideas, RM’s official solo debut Indigo ruptures with artistic ambition from the opening minutes, where he raps about his humanity over a buttery R&B beat before Erykah Badu slides in with a majestic pre-chorus. Indigo wriggles free of easy classification, much like its creator: the moment one tries to peg the project as a mainstream hip-hop effort, a song like the arena-ready sing-along “Wild Flower” or the forlorn strummer “Lonely” upends expectations. RM’s curiosity balances out his natural talent on Indigo, resulting in an accomplished, multi-faceted solo step.
Metro Boomin, Heroes & Villains
From Future to 21 Savage to The Weeknd, Metro Boomin has helped mold the sound of some of the biggest mainstream stars of the past decade as a producer and songwriter — so when he releases his own projects, they (and many others) naturally show up to pay homage. Heroes & Villains, the long-awaited follow-up to the Atlanta studio whiz’s underrated 2018 opus Not All Heroes Wear Capes, is a star-studded heat check before the end of the year that allows superstars to operate over slow-rolling beats (“Trance,” a bleary-eyed team-up between Travis Scott and Young Thug, is a highlight), as well as engage in some rollicking genre exercises (“Creepin’” joyfully re-creates Mario Winans’ “I Don’t Wanna Know” with The Weeknd and 21 Savage).
Lewis Capaldi, “Pointless”
Lewis Capaldi became a star on the strength of sorrow: his singles “Someone You Loved” and “Before You Go” grew into unlikely top 10 Hot 100 hits while embracing heart-wrenched balladry, as the singer-songwriter bet on unbridled emotion as a commercial vehicle and won handily. “Pointless,” the second taste of his upcoming sophomore album Broken By Desire to be Heavenly Sent, taps into another rush of feelings, but this one could soundtrack a wedding dance instead of a tearful night in bed: “Everything is pointless without you,” Capaldi sings, the intensity of his voice and stabs of piano drawing the listener into his love story.
Morgan Wallen, One Thing at a Time (Sampler)
After nearly two years of watching his Dangerous: The Double Album become one of the biggest commercial LPs of the past decade, and rebuilding trust in and out of Nashville following some high-profile controversies, Morgan Wallen is setting himself up for a major 2023, with a recently announced international stadium tour accompanied by a three-song sampler of an upcoming studio project. “One Thing at a Time,” “Days That End in Why” and “Tennessee Fan” don’t try to reinvent Wallen’s appeal, instead augmenting the long-running juxtaposition between his rustic, lived-in voice and sparkling, sophisticated country-pop songwriting, while also suggesting that fans will have plenty to look forward to in the new year.
Latto feat. GloRilla & Gangsta Boo, “FTCU”
From the moment you realize that the acronym “FTCU” stands for “f-ck the club up” in the new collaboration between Latto, GloRilla and Gangsta Boo, you hope that the trio can come as correct as Three 6 Mafia and Waka Flocka Flame did on their respective destroying-the-club anthems from different generations of hip-hop. Fortunately, they deliver: “FTCU” is pure, menacing fun, with Latto dropping threats with efficiency and GloRilla relying on her drawl to accentuate punchlines like “Walk up in your party, make that bitch my party, ayy.”
Arcangel, Sr. Santos
Sr. Santos, the new project from former Arcangel & De La Ghetto leader Austin “Arcangel” Santos, will likely draw most of its attention toward the explosive Bad Bunny team-up “La Jumpa,” which sounds ready to dominate clubs for the foreseeable future. Although Arcangel’s new album gains strength from its high-wattage collaborators — Bizarrap, Myke Towers and Duki all swing by — the reggaetón veteran also sounds reinvigorated on the project, surrounding the guest-heavy portions of the projects with sizzling solo tracks like “La Roca” and “PortoBello.”