Pop
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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, Billie Eilish hits new sweet spots, Zayn enters a fresh phase and A Boogie Wit da Hoodie keeps climbing. Check out all of this week’s picks below:
Billie Eilish, Hit Me Hard and Soft
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Forget the standout tracks (although there are several of them) and the general atmosphere (which is richly developed and immediately engrossing); the miracle of Billie Eilish’s third studio album, Hit Me Hard and Soft, is the fact that one of the most celebrated young superstars in the history of popular music — who’s coming off of her second Oscar win, at the age of 22! — can continue to sound so freed from expectations, and unconstrained from modern pop trends. Eilish has always made unflinching choices in the face of ever-expanding fame, and from the crackling pop-rock of “Lunch” to the labyrinthine saga of “Bittersuite” to the heartfelt jangle of “Birds of a Feather,” she remains impossible to predict, and a master of her craft, on her latest full-length.
Zayn, Room Under the Stairs
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Room Under the Stairs is Zayn’s first album since he entered his thirties last year — and while the rustic, country-rock sound denotes a change in approach, the songwriting and vocal performances also capture a maturation, as the former One Direction star sounds fully removed from the trappings of pop stardom and ready to tell his story his way. Lead single “What I Am” quickly sets the tone, but “Stardust” immerses the listener in the promise of Zayn’s new era, marrying his knack for melody with deep, hard-earned soulfulness.
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A Boogie Wit da Hoodie, Better Off Alone
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In a few weeks, Bronx rapper A Boogie Wit da Hoodie will perform a headlining show at Madison Square Garden, a full-circle moment for an MC who has always operated left-of-center when it comes to hip-hop’s elite but has steadily built a dedicated following and racked up hundreds of millions of streams. New album Better Off Alone includes guest spots from Future, Lil Durk and Young Thug, among others, but the percolating “Body,” featuring rising star Cash Cobain, best distills A Boogie’s new-school take on NYC hip-hop by way of Jersey club, and sounds like a surefire hit.
Luke Combs, “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma”
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Luke Combs’ burly new rocker comes from the soundtrack to the upcoming Twister sequel Twisters, which helps explain lines like “You’ll know when it’s coming for ya / Riding in on the wind and rain.” Removed from the context of the film, however, “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma” allows Combs to playfully roar over meaty guitar riffs, showcasing a side of the superstar that might be unfamiliar to non-country fans who only know his delicate “Fast Car” cover.
Editor’s Pick: Saweetie, “NANi”
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Saweetie climbed the charts and crossed over to mainstream listeners thanks in part to pop-rap confections like “My Type” and the Doja Cat collaboration “Best Friend,” and new summer single “NANi,” with its plinking keyboard riff and sing-song melody, has a great shot at following in the footsteps of those hits. As always, Saweetie’s rock-solid flow holds her sound together, as she concludes, “Another day, another f–kin’ bag,” with the braggadocio of a superstar.
Dua Lipa‘s surprise performance with Chris Stapleton at Thursday night’s (May 16) 2024 ACM Awards required some seriously stealth maneuvers. The “Training Season” singer took the stage to debut a new duet with Stapleton at the awards show at Ford Theater at the Star in Frisco, Texas and afterwards she talked to Billboard about how they pulled off the high-profile musical sneak attack.
“Lots of zip-up hoodies and running in and out of the arena,” she said of the lengths the two singer’s teams went to in keeping the secret under wraps. “We were all so in on making sure that this stays a surprise to make the moment even more special. I don’t know how we did it, I’m glad we did it because it’s really special when it happened tonight on stage.”
Stapleton won the artist of the year and album award at the 59th annual ACMs, but it was when he performed his song “Thing I’m in Love With You” with Dua — and his wife Morgane — that the audience at the Ford Theater sat up in their seats watching the two singers from different musical words meld their universes.
Dua said she was inspired to attend the ACMs and perform with Stapleton because she’s a “massive fan” of the singer she called a “master of his craft.” She also enjoyed sitting down with Stapleton to brainstorm how they could reimagine the song from his Higher album. “To even just spend a few days with him working with him, and his band and with his wife Morgane as well, it’s just been absolutely incredible. It’s just one of those moments in my life where i’m so happy to be a musician and to be creating something and doing something that feels so exciting,” she said.
At press time, reps for both singers had not responded to Billboard‘s request for comment about news that they plan to release the collaboration soon.
Lipa was also excited to see fellow pop-to-country crossover star Post Malone performing at Thursday’s event, but the thing that she was most psyched about was her new album, Radical Optimism, debuting at the peak of the Top Album Sales chart.
Dua said she celebrated the long-gestating album’s release at home with friends and family with food, drinks and music. And, because she was in Texas, she had to try some local bbq as well, of course. “That and going on a hunt for the best cowboy hat,” she said of her Lone Star state adventures.
Watch Dua Lipa talk about the surprise performance and her album’s chart debut in the video above.
Nick Jonas is getting cool for summer. The 31-year-old Jonas Brothers singer/guitarist showed off his fresh buzz cut in a series of Instagram pics on Thursday (May 16) that also included an adorable snap of his two-year-old daughter with wife Priyanka Copra, Malti Marie. The first slide in the series was a selfie of a […]
They’re all grown up, but New Kids on the Block are still kids.
The iconic Boston boyband returns with Still Kids, their first studio album in more than a decade and first through BMG.
Spanning 14 tracks, the LP was led by the mid-tempo single “Kids,” which was co-written and co-produced by David Stewart (BTS, Jack Harlow) and Luke Batt (Katie Melua) and is “full of pop anthems, dance tracks, love songs and grooves that will become fast favorites for the Blockheads,” reads an earlier statement.
Formed in 1984, NKOTB features brothers Jonathan and Jordan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, and Danny Wood.
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NKOTB racked up the hits through the late 1980s and early 1990s, with career album sales topping 80 million, according to BMG. The pop act landed 13 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, including nine top 10 appearances and a hattrick of No. 1s: 1989’s “I’ll Be Loving You (Forever),” 1989’s “Hangin’ Tough” and 1990’s “Step By Step.”
Still Kids is the followup to reunion album 2013’s 10, which peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard 200, one of the group’s six top 10 appearances on the tally, a list that includes two leaders, 1988 sophomore effort Hangin’ Tough and 1990’s Step By Step.
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The quintet got Blockheads in a tizzy last year with the 15th anniversary of their reunion album, The Block, by way of a special edition The Block Revisited, including remixes and guest collaborations.
As we now know, that just a teaser for a full reactivation across touring and recordings, orchestrated through a new label deal.
“We promise 2024 is going to be a big year for NKOTB and our blockheads,” the pop outfit announced in February, following their signing to BMG. “New label, big tour, we are just getting started.”
That trek, NKOTB’s Magic Summer 2024 tour, gets underway next month.
Stream Still Kids in full below.
05/17/2024
The pop star’s third studio album dropped at midnight May 17.
05/17/2024
Billie Eilish‘s new album Hit Me Hard and Soft has officially made contact, arriving on streaming services promptly at midnight Friday (May 17). Produced as usual by the pop star’s brother and longtime collaborator, Finneas, the 10-track set marks Eilish’s third studio LP, following 2019’s When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? and […]
Zayn is back with his long-awaited new album, Room Under the Stairs. The 15-track album, which arrived on Friday (May 17), features lead single “What I Am,” as well as additional tracks including “Alienated,” “My Woman,” Stardust,” “Something in the Water,” “Fuchsia Sea” and more. Room Under the Stairs marks Zayn’s first full-length solo project since 2021’s Nobody Is […]
Love is in the air for Halsey and Avan Jogia, who have been The duo first sparked romance rumors in September 2023 when they were photographed getting cozy during a night out in Los Angeles, as seen in photos by Page Six at the time. However, their private relationship soon became public in October, when Halsey and […]
Kelly Clarkson singing an Olivia Rodrigo song? That’s always a good idea. On the latest episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show on Thursday (May 16), the talk show host took the Kellyoke stage for a cover of the 21-year-old pop star’s single “Bad Idea Right?,” injecting her New York City studio with a bit of […]
Prime Video has dropped a new music video from The Idea of You‘s fictional boy band, August Moon. In the clip, the five-piece boy band — featuring Raymond Cham as Oliver, Vik White as Simon, Nicholas Galitzine as Hayes Campbell, Dakota Adan as Rory and Jaiden Anthony as Adrian — turn a stuffy classroom into […]