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.
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This week, *NSYNC sounds “Better” together, Ed Sheeran bundles up for fall, and Bad Bunny drops a hint of what’s to come. Check out all of this week’s picks below:
*NSYNC, “Better Place”
“I’m already up, but you lift me higher,” Justin Timberlake sings in the opening seconds of “Better Place,” the first new song from *NSYNC in over 20 years. The quintet is singing about a euphoric relationship, but that line might as well be about the long-awaited boy band reunion: “Better Place,” which will be featured in Trolls Band Together, translates Timberlake’s solo success with his previous single entries from the Trolls films and raises the stakes, as *NSYNC shimmy through whistle hooks and “Yoo-hoo’s!” like they’ve been waiting for this day for a while (and they’re not alone in that).
Ed Sheeran, Autumn Variations
Prior to releasing Autumn Variations, his second full-length of 2023, Ed Sheeran spent the year unveiling – (Subtract), an intimate and often devastating exploration of grief and fear, and performing at stadiums while often alone onstage. As he wraps up that mega-selling tour and waves goodbye to his “Mathematics” album series, Sheeran spins that moment of transition into Autumn Variations, a lovely and understated collection that puts his songwriting front and center; credit Aaron Dessner, who helped guide Sheeran’s previous album, for finding new ways to transport his voice into rustic, fall-friendly arrangements.
Bad Bunny, “Un Preview”
After a record-breaking 2022, Bad Bunny’s studio output this year has been relatively limited, with a handful of solo tracks and collaborations — but perhaps new single “Un Preview” is exactly that of a potentially huge 2024? Regardless of its context within Bad Bunny’s greater discography, “Un Preview” crackles, with the superstar rapping with conviction over a reggaeton beat and deploying pinpoint melodies when necessary; had this been released in May, the single may have ruled the summer, but Bad Bunny has instead given us an enticing glimpse at next year’s output.
Jung Kook feat. Jack Harlow, “3D”
“3D” will undoubtedly draw comparisons to Jung Kook’s “Seven” — considering that the previous single reached the top of the Hot 100 chart, and also featured a hip-hop collaborator — but whereas the Latto team-up leaned into pop immediacy, “3D,” with Jack Harlow, presents itself as a rhythmic dance track that would have sounded at home on Justin Timberlake’s Justified album. Jung Kook’s confidence as a solo star continues to grow, while Harlow rides the sleek production with tossed-off charm: “I’m on my Jung Kook,” he crows, “take a chick off one look!”
The Rolling Stones feat. Lady Gaga & Stevie Wonder, “Sweet Sounds of Heaven”
A seven-minute hymn from The Rolling Stones, featuring a soul-baring performance from Mick Jagger, powerhouse vocals from Lady Gaga and keys from Stevie Wonder? “Sweet Sounds of Heaven” feels designed in a lab for some all-star awards show performance, but instead, the track from the Stones’ upcoming Hackney Diamonds album leaps out of the speakers with studio vibrancy, as all A-listers involved commit to climbing the mountain and don’t stop until the lighters-in-the-air finale; there’s a radio edit of “Sweet Sounds of Heaven,” but really, you gotta let the whole epic bowl you over.
PinkPantheress, “Mosquito”
“Mosquito” demonstrates why, long before “Boy’s a Liar Pt. 2” became an out-of-nowhere smash for PinkPantheress earlier this year, so many pop listeners had invested in the British 22-year-old: her latest single flaunts a natural gift for world-building and hook creation, engrossing the listener with rhetorical questions for a romantic partner before dropping the bomb, “’Cause I just had a dream I was dead / And I only cared ’cause I was taken from you.” Although PinkPantheress often works with songs that clock in at under two minutes, “Mosquito” is slightly longer, more well-rounded, and an absolute gem.
Editor’s Pick: U2, “Atomic City”
U2’s launch of the Sphere, a groundbreaking new venue in Las Vegas, is as good of an occasion as any for the band’s best single in years: “Atomic City,” an ode to the veteran superstars’ longtime supporters, possesses a quickness and stomp-clap jangle that hits a delicious groove about halfway through, with the interplay between Bono’s warble and The Edge’s riffs sounding especially refreshed. Whether enjoyed within an enormous spherical structure or in your headphones, “Atomic City” marks a resounding return to form.
