State Champ Radio Pop
Page: 16
As summer continues to heat up, stars such as Cardi B, Lorde and Benson Boone spent their Friday (June 20) dropping new singles and albums.
Cardi kept her fans fed with the long-awaited release of her latest single “Outside,” a scathing diss track aimed directly at her soon-to-be-ex-husband Offset. Amidst the many fiery bars the Bronx-native drops throughout the track, she saves some of the best for the songs opening moments, referring to her ex and his ilk as “Good-for-nothing, low-down dirty dogs, I’m convinced/ Next time you see your mama, tell her how she raised a b—h.”
Meanwhile, Lorde hit the nail on the head with her final preview of Virgin on “Hammer,” a pulsating pop anthem that serves as “an ode to city life and horniness,” as she said on X. The synth-heavy production sees Lorde embracing her fluidity throughout the song, as she sings on the pre-chorus that “I burn and I sing and I scheme and I dance/ Some days I’m a woman, some days I’m a man.”
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Elsewhere, back-flipper-in-chief Benson Boone delivers his much-anticipated sophomore album, American Heart, featuring previous singles “Sorry I’m Here For Someone Else” and “Mystical Magical,” while Public Enemy take to the streets with the group’s new protest single, “March Madness,” railing against gun violence, corrupt politicians and police violence.
Trending on Billboard
Also this week, Karol G celebrates her past as well as her future with the sunny new album Tropicoqueta, Haim turn up the volume on their established pop-rock sound with their fourth studio album I Quit, Megan Moroney laughs off a loser ex who comes crawling back on “6 Months Later” and Sombr finds himself pining for a love that never was on his latest single “We Never Dated.”
Billboard wants to know which new release is your favorite of the week! So let your voice be heard and vote in the poll below.
SZA might be extraordinarily busy as she prepares to head overseas with her and Kendrick Lamar‘s Grand National Tour — but that didn’t stop her from swooping in for a quick recording session with her friend Lizzo.
In a series of posts to her Instagram Stories early Friday (June 20), SZA teased fans with a forthcoming collaboration between her and the “Juice” singer. What started as a glimpse of Lizzo’s own new music in the video, the “Luther” singer started sharing clips of her voice playing alongside Lizzo’s in the background. “Working on a guest star for bookie @lizzobeeating’s new mixtape,” SZA wrote in one caption, while calling their link-up a “lil after-dinner session” in another.
Back in March, Lizzo announced that she was officially “done” preparing her new album Love in Real Life, adding that she “got an emergency root canal, announced SNL & finished my album all in one day.” While it’s unclear whether Love in Real Life is the “mixtape” SZA referred to in her post, the album has yet to receive an official release date.
Trending on Billboard
Earlier this week, SZA opened up to Chappell Roan about her friendship with Lizzo during a conversation for Interview Magazine. Speaking about the first time she and the “About Damn Time” singer met, SZA praised the “organic and very random” connection they immediately shared. “One day, we were on the same tour, and I was like, ‘We’re about to drive out to Lake Michigan, do you want to come?’ And she was like, ‘Yeah, let’s go,’” SZA recalled. “And then we just got drunk and hung out, and we kept doing that, and then our lives and careers progressed, and we kept talking and hanging out.”
The new song wouldn’t be the first time the pair have worked together, either. Back in 2023, SZA appeared on a revamped version of Lizzo’s 2022 hit “Special.” In May, Lizzo even crashed the stage during SZA and Lamar’s tour stop in Los Angeles to perform the track with her on stage.
The news comes after SZA and her co-headliner Lamar wrap the first leg of their 2025 Grand National Tour. Starting in July, the pair will begin performances across Europe — including shows in Paris, London, Barcelona and Rome — and close out their headline-making run with a set of shows in Australia this December.
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.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
This week, Karol G explores Latin history, Benson Boone’s Heart beats loudly, and Cardi B is ready to take the gloves off. Check out all of this week’s picks below:
Karol G, Tropicoqueta
In the lead-up to Tropicoqueta, Karol G has been candid when discussing how 2023’s smash hit Mañana Será Bonito and its coinciding world tour left her wondering what the best next step would be for her long-term future; it turns out that the answer was in the past, as Tropicoqueta reveals more of Karol’s backstory while also exploring and celebrating different strands of Latin music, creating a curious, wholly absorbing new chapter.
Trending on Billboard
Benson Boone, American Heart
If “Beautiful Things” changed the trajectory of Benson Boone’s pop career, then American Heart, his new album released more than a year after his breakthrough smash, represents the crystallization of everything we’ve learned about the backflipping, big-voiced singer-songwriter in the interim: the 10-song project is relatively short but full of theatrical spunk, as Boone prowls across each song with feeling and determination.
Cardi B, “Outside”
A long-awaited new Cardi B track titled “Outside,” released on the cusp of summer, might be perceived as a new warm-weather anthem from an artist who’s had a few of them — but the single is instead a cutthroat diss track at an estranged romantic partner, with Cardi using her clout and cunning (“Favorite player from your favorite team, he in my DMs!” she exclaims) to move on personally and artistically.
Haim, I Quit
By releasing a new album every four years, Danielle, Alana and Este Haim have been able to take their time expertly crafting the pop-rock melodies that they’ve always traded in, and the overarching themes of the full-lengths that house them. With I Quit, 2021’s masterful Women In Music Pt. III receives a follow-up full of airtight compositions, housed within a full-length statement about moving on from unnecessary details in order to appreciate our limited time on Earth.
Sombr, “We Never Dated”
“I can’t make you love me,” Sombr repeats on new single “We Never Dated,” approaching a time-honored theme in pop songwriting with Beach Boys-esque vocal harmonies and a modern sense of tenacity; with breakthrough hits “Undressed” and “Back to Friends,” the teen star was able to reinvigorate a classic alternative sound for 2025, and “We Never Dated” continues that balancing act with aplomb.
Megan Moroney, “6 Months Later”
Megan Moroney’s songwriting has rapidly sharpened over the past few years, as a line like “What doesn’t kill you calls you six months later” on her new single makes for a devastatingly funny eye-roll toward an ex — but the real attraction here is Moroney’s voice, full of weariness when recalling a breakup and packing smoky, sarcastic personality in each syllable, on a song that the rising country star soundly commands.
Fred again.., Skepta & PlaqueBoyMax, “Victory Lap”
After playing a surprise show together in Brooklyn earlier this week, Fred again.. and Skepta have commemorated the unexpected team-up with a summer-ready single: “Victory Lap” is a restless, scorching dance cut, with the fusion of Fred and Skepta’s respective energies producing a slickly rhymed, garage-adjacent banger that does not stop moving.
Editor’s Pick: Lorde, “Hammer”
The third and final pre-release single from Lorde’s Virgin begins with what sounds like out-of-focus chatter, before the pop star’s voice barges in to provide clarity: “There’s a heat in the pavement, my mercury’s raising / Don’t know if it’s love, or if it’s ovulation.” Lorde has long been a wry, literary songwriter, and throughout “Hammer” — the album track, which she described as “an ode to city life and horniness” — she once again captures universal feelings in striking, singular fashion.
06/20/2025
The rising pop star comes even further into his own on his second studio album.
06/20/2025
“Elvis Presley. Bob Dylan. Lennon & McCartney. And now SLY STONE. The new leader.” So proclaimed an ad that ran in Billboard in April of 1969, essentially proclaiming that it was Sly Stone’s turn to take over as the leading voice in all of popular music. And given the run that he was in the […]
As fortunate fans spilled into the intimate and sweaty Maxim’s de Paris on Wednesday night (June 18), no one knew exactly what to expect. Vocals? For sure. Fashion? Absolutely. This is Miley Cyrus, after all.
But when the superstar combined two of her biggest hits – none other than “The Climb” and “We Can’t Stop” – into a special one-off medley, fans were floored. “We put this together just for all of you tonight,” shared Cyrus, in her first of two Mugler looks.
The special and career-spanning fusion – reminiscent of two distinct times in the pop star’s life – was fitting for an equally special evening. Cyrus hadn’t performed in Paris for over 10 years, and she made sure her grand return was well worth the wait. The evening’s set was for Spotify’s Billions Club Live, making Cyrus only the second artist, after The Weeknd, to ever earn a Billions Club concert. (As Spotify previously confirmed to Billboard, Cyrus’ Billions Club Live show was filmed to be released later this summer.)
Trending on Billboard
Despite such a massive milestone, Cyrus stayed true to form and kept the setting and guest list rather intimate, with only a few hundred fans packed into Maxim’s downstairs venue. But unlike her famed Chateau Marmont sets in Los Angeles or her recent performance at an equally intimate New York space — all in support of her latest album, Something Beautiful — Wednesday night was perhaps the most wide-ranging setlist fans have enjoyed for some time.
Thanks to the nature of Spotify’s Billions Club Live, Cyrus’ set was a tight hour (including an outfit change) of her biggest hits on the platform — all of which, yes, have reached more than 1 billion streams. (On the pre-show playlist, deep cuts including “Cattitude” off her She Is Coming EP satiated superfans.)
“Being a part of the Billions Club is only a part of me – it’s an honor, but in no means is it holistic,” Cyrus said. “Each of you are a piece of a billion, and without each of you, the billion doesn’t even exist. That’s how important and crucial you are to the success in my life. The confidence and goals that I have achieved [is] because of you and your support. And I’ve never really been too interested in numbers because math is done from the mind, but true authentic beauty is from the heart.”
During her set, Cyrus demonstrated just how much of her heart has always been in her hits – and is likely what has pushed these in particular to become some of her biggest. During opener “Flowers,” she emphasized and riffed on the line “no regrets, baby” while holding up a bouquet of flowers gifted by a fan. And while introducing “The Climb,” she shared that the song is “inspired by the effort and the struggles that it takes to become the person you want to be. … I truly believe the most authentic version of yourself is deep within the struggle. … Everything in my life that I can stand here and be proud of at one point was towering over me like a mountain.” (The mere mention of a mountain elicited emphatic cheering.)
And before performing her Plastic Hearts hit “Angels Like You” accompanied by nothing more than a piano, Cyrus told her fans: “You are the earth angels that make my life heaven.” And in another unexpected twist, she performed the impassioned “Wrecking Ball” next while still backed by only keys.
After an outfit and hairdo change – from teased waves and a Mugler dress dripping with crystals to an updo with a Mugler crystal corset and suit jacket – Cyrus returned to the stage alongside her full backing band, which included a four-person string section and guitarist Maxx Morando. A front-row fan declared that Cyrus looked “super French,” to which Cyrus replied that they’ve actually been discussing what to name her current backing band, before concluding that “Super French” was the best idea they’ve heard yet.
Cyrus then closed the show with a one-two punch of Something Beautiful standouts: “End of the World” and “More to Lose.” Before performing the latter, she said, “A lot of my songs are about resilience, and I’m very proud of that,” noting that the theme of resilience is one not only personal to her and her music, but that is universally felt – and desperately needed right now.
Halfway through “More to Lose,” she turned to Morando and said she’s tired of crying and wanted to do something a bit more fun. The solution? “Easy Lover.” Cyrus performed the song with an extended outro, during which she strutted from one side of the small stage to the other, blowing kisses to fans who were within arm’s length before returning to its center to take a bow.
And after showing off her outfit one last time, Cyrus seamlessly disappeared behind thick red velvet curtains, as if bringing her “End of the World” lyric to life: “Let’s go to Paris, I don’t care if we get lost in the scene.”
As the wide-eyed expressions across the room proved, there’s hardly a better scene to get lost in.
As Sabrina Carpenter continues to field criticism for her suggestive Man’s Best Friend cover, singer-songwriter Carly Simon is “Coming Around Again” to help her fellow performer out. In an interview with Rolling Stone on Wednesday (June 18), Simon commented on the ongoing backlash Carpenter has received since unveiling the new artwork for her forthcoming album. […]
Haim have performed on The Tonight Show before. But Alana, Este and Danielle have never taken a trip to the couch to chat with host Jimmy Fallon, so on Tuesday night (June 17) the sibling trio made the most of their maiden voyage by doing all the things.
In addition to performing their single “Down to Be Wrong” with a full band from their forthcoming album I Quit (June 20), the trio popped in for the episode’s cold open to teach Fallon how to speak in perfect Haim-style harmony. Hanging out in their green room, the sisters answered everything Fallon said in a perfectly calibrated single voice. “I know you sing like this, but do you actually talk like this?” Fallon asked nervously.
“Yeah, we do Jimmy,” they said in a sing-song, robotic fashion. “It’s kind of like a special thing we do, Jimmy.” They invited Fallon to join them and when the beat kicked in they did a call-and-response until Este stopped the song to ask, for real, if there were any more snacks available.
Trending on Billboard
A short time later they were on the couch, describing to Fallon how the moody cover of their album was shot by longtime collaborator and friend director Paul Thomas Anderson, with Este lamenting how her sisters are both in perfect focus, while she is a blurry figure in the foreground. “We’re lucky enough that he’s done 10 of our music videos, he did [the cover] of our last record, Women in Music, Part III,” she said.
What Fallon really wanted to know, though, was what inspired the title of their fourth album. Este explained that as children they were obsessed with the 1996 Tom Hanks musical comedy That Thing You Do!, the Oscar-winning actor’s writing and directorial debut and homage to the fictional Beatles-wannabe one-hit wonder band the Oneders.
“We watched it as kids like every weekend on VH1,” she said as the trio flawlessly broke into an impromptu round of the movie’s signature earworm title track. “So we loved that movie and there’s this pivotal moment in the movie at the end of the movie the lead singer is like, ‘Okay we have to do our second record,” and he wanted to do this really, like brooding, emotional song,” Este explained.
“And he comes up to the mic and he’s basically like, ‘Okay, I’m ready to record.’ And then Tom Hanks, the manager, is like, ‘Listen Jimmy, I want something peppy, something snappy.’ And then Jimmy goes [clears throat], ‘I quit, I quit, I quit,’” she sang as her sisters snapped along. So, she said, whenever they would do mic checks they would do so with a round of “I quit, I quit.” They did so during sessions for their fourth album as well, and after using the phrase as a placeholder to organize their musical files they decided to just keep it as the title for the album about breakups and romantic spin-outs.
“It stuck and we also realized that a lot of our songs are kind of about, like, quitting,” Este said. “Quitting the things that aren’t good for us anymore.” For the record, they are not quitting music. In fact, they proved how much they’re not quitting by revealing that as kids they were also constantly drumming on each other and everything in sight.
So when Fallon gave them a series of random objects, Este snagged a trash can for Danielle to bang on and some paper for Alana to tear while the host shook a box of Altoids and she tapped on a coffee mug for an impromptu, stripped-down version of their I Quit single “Relationships.”
Check out Haim on The Tonight Show below.
Lola Young only has “One Thing” on her mind: The British songwriter’s third full-length album is officially on its way. Young will release I’m Only F–king Myself on Sept. 19, following a huge 18 months that have put the Londoner on the map as a main pop girl. The forthcoming record was written with her […]
BTS fans’ long wait is nearly over. The K-pop supergroup’s label, BIG Hit, announced on Wednesday morning (June 18) that Suga, the final member of the group awaiting discharge from mandatory military duty in the South Korean army, is preparing to join his bandmates. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, […]
