Music News

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, Future and Metro Boomin make magic together, Shakira is still on fire, and Olivia Rodrigo has a few more bangers for the faithful fans. Check out all of this week’s picks below:

Future & Metro Boomin, We Don’t Trust You 

Allow the early headlines about We Don’t Trust You, the new collaborative album from Future and Metro Boomin, to focus on Kendrick Lamar’s guest verse on “Like That,” which features some house-torching bars and some thinly veiled shots aimed at the J. Cole-Drake partnership. That’s understandable, and deserved. Yet don’t overlook the fact that We Don’t Trust You features Future’s most complete end-to-end performance on a project in a half-decade: with Metro’s all-star run of cinematic beats stretching longer, Future sounds reinvigorated, lurking underneath heavy bass at moments and pouncing on his doubters over widescreen drums.

Shakira, Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran 

Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran marked one of Shakira’s most successful eras even before its release, thanks to a bevy of hit singles, from the Internet-smashing “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53” to the blockbuster Karol G collaboration “TQG,” both of which returned the icon to the top 10 of the Hot 100. The album is divided into two halves — the first is fully new material, the second is the slew of recent releases — but that opening eight-song run includes plenty of exciting new tunes, including “Puntería,” a Cardi B team-up in which Shakira locks in on the production shimmer and scoops up another undeniable melody.

Olivia Rodrigo, GUTS (spilled) 

Olivia Rodrigo has already scored major hits, competed at the Grammys and kicked off an arena tour in support of sophomore album GUTS, limiting the incentive to unveil more new songs as part of a deluxe edition of the album — but the five new tracks comprising the GUTS (spilled) release are a hearty thank-you to her many fans, and include plenty of moments worthy of her top-notch second LP. “So American” is a jittery rock jam that builds upon the guitar alchemy of “Bad Idea Right?,” while “Obsessed” features a Rodrigo vocal take dripping with attitude, and deserves to be another radio staple.

Tyla, Tyla 

Tyla’s smash hit “Water” was another commercial win for the Afrobeats and amapiano sounds that have helped define global pop this decade, but Tyla represents something even more meaningful — a front-to-back excellent full-length that should immediately rank among the strongest crossover bids that those coalescing movements have ever produced. The South African star knows exactly how to blend American pop and R&B into amapiano, resulting in breathtaking tracks like “Truth or Dare” and “ART” that sound unique to Tyla’s skill set while also bridging continents and generations.

Pearl Jam, “Running” 

Listen to the way Eddie Vedder absolutely howls in the final 25 seconds of “Running” — his voice quivering with emotion, his words possessed with repetition, until he (and the song) seemingly collapse. Urgent moments like that have defined Pearl Jam’s towering discography, and showcase that Vedder and co. are still going strong all these years later: “Running,” which previews next month’s Dark Matter, is a mangy rocker with a galloping pace, like a more menacing version of “The Fixer” with a bigger payoff.

Editor’s Pick: Matt Champion, Mika’s Laundry 

Brockhampton has produced a fair amount of notable solo releases since the groundbreaking rap collective splintered, but Mika’s Laundry, the debut full-length from Matt Champion, sounds less like an offshoot than its own galaxy, an expansive look at the talented multi-hyphenate’s prodding worldview. Champion croaks out hooks at some points, and lets his voice soar at others; he mumbles rhetorical questions over collapsing production, then speeds up into pop warmth (like on the JENNIE collaboration “Slow Motion). Whatever he’s up to, Mika’s Laundry depicts an artist working through a mountain of ideas in provocative, engrossing fashion.