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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, Billy Joel makes his grand return, Don Toliver gets into psych-rock and TWICE keep the energy high. Check out all of this week’s picks below:
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The first new Billy Joel single in decades arrives with uneven mix of anticipation and expectation — after all, the fact that “Turn the Lights Back On” exists at all marks a breathlessly exciting new development for a legendary artist, regardless of its quality. What a lovely discovery, then, that “Turn the Lights Back On” is both gorgeously rendered and a deeply felt personal check-in from Joel, who sounds like the same soulful storyteller he’s always been: “I’m late, but I’m here right now,” he sings, “though I used to be romantic, I forgot somehow.” For both decades-long fans and a new generation of listeners, “Turn the Lights Back On” stands tall as a meaningful new moment.
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Although Don Toliver’s 2023 album Love Sick included guests like Justin Bieber, Future, Lil Durk and his partner Kali Uchis, new single “Bandit” features Tame Impala in sample form, as the 2020 track “One More Hour” turns into the backbone of a widescreen chest-thumping to kick off the new year. Toliver has never sounded more confident as he does spitting rhymes and hitting his falsetto over the stadium-rock guitar squeals, and “Bandit” becomes the rare sample-heavy track to both stand on its own merits and accentuate the high points of its source material.
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As we enter February, New Year’s fitness resolutions may have started to fall by the wayside — but here comes K-pop titans TWICE to motivate you anew with their propulsive, dizzyingly fun new single. “I Got You,” the latest track from upcoming mini-album WITH YOU-th, builds upon the success of the group’s previous English-language singles by highlighting the collective’s melodic strengths and doubling down on the snappiest parts of the synth-pop production, creating a flash point that could cross over to U.S. platforms in a big way.
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Next week is showtime for Usher, with new album Coming Home due out next Friday (Feb. 9) and a little performance called the Super Bowl halftime show two days later, but before his latest full-length and the biggest performance of his career are unveiled, the suave, sumptuous new track “Ruin” serves as a final preview of what sounds like a return to form. Rising Nigerian artist Pheelz lends a nifty assist over the dimly lit, Afrobeat-adjacent rhythms, but “Ruin” demonstrates Ursh pushing himself as a veteran artist, all while his silky-smooth appeal hasn’t dulled one bit.
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“Straight Line” was “born of wanting to break out of routine and feeling like somewhere along the line, life lost some color and excitement,” Keith Urban explains in a press release; indeed, the first track released from Urban’s next studio album takes the country veteran’s time-honored formula and injects some adrenaline, with a driving tempo and some choice wooooooo-hoo’s in the post-chorus. While “Straight Line” will no doubt soundtrack some boisterous sing-alongs during Urban’s next tour, the song also bodes well for the follow-up to 2020’s The Speed of Now Part 1.
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New music from Burial — one of the most influential and enigmatic producers of the 21st century — is always a gift, considering how sporadic his releases have been over the past decade, but “Dreamfear/Boy Sent From Above” feels particularly special, as a 25-minute double single that’s at once mysterious and intoxicating. Longtime Untrue fans will gravitate towards the ghostly vocals and shuffling beats, but proponents of Burial’s more abstract recent work should embrace the sprawl here, too.
As MAGA Nation continues to have a four-alarm meltdown about a conspiracy theory claiming the upcoming Super Bowl is rigged in favor of the Kansas City Chiefs as part of an elaborate psyop involving Taylor Swift, Nikki Haley says everyone needs to calm down.
The former South Carolina governor and U.S. ambassador to the U.N. is the only candidate still challenging one-term former president Donald Trump for the GOP’s presidential nomination and during a chat with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Thursday (Feb. 1) Haley said she was confounded by the right wing’s latest phantom menace.
“I’m not going to lie. I don’t know what the obsession is,” Haley said of the barrage of outlandish stories on conservative media outlets such as Fox News, OAN and Newsmax wildly speculating that Swift is somehow colluding with the NFL and the White House to turn the Feb. 11 Super Bowl into a glorified Pres. Biden endorsement-fest.
“Taylor Swift is allowed to have a boyfriend. Taylor Swift is a good artist. I have taken my daughter to Taylor Swift concerts before,” Haley said. “To have a conspiracy theory of all of this is bizarre. Nobody knows who she’s going to endorse, but I can’t believe that that’s overtaken our national politics.”
Swift, for the record, has not endorsed anyone in the upcoming election, though she did throw her support behind Biden in the 2020 election in which he beat Trump. To boot, the singer may or may not even make it to Super Bowl LVIII to see boyfriend KC tight end Travis Kelce take on the San Francisco 49ers because she has an Eras Tour gig in Japan the night before.
That has not stopped wildly unfounded speculation from at least one former GOP presidential candidate and avid Trump supporter Vivek Ramaswamy. The Ohio businessman recently tweeted out a suggestion that “there’s a major presidential endorsement coming from an artificially culturally propped-up couple this fall,” in seeming reference to the elaborate QAnon-like theory that Swift will steal the spotlight at the most-watched TV event of the year by announcing her support for Biden during the big game.
As is her wont, Haley tried to pivot from MAGA madness to the issues she’s trying to promote in what most political pundits believe is a lost cause effort to wrest the nomination from twice-impeached Trump. “I mean, right now, you have got 60 percent of American families living paycheck to paycheck. We’ve got a border that’s out of control. We have got wars happening around the world,” Haley said. “The last thing I really think we need to be worried about is who Taylor Swift is dating and what conspiracy theory is going to have her endorsing a person for president.”
Haley isn’t the only one throwing cold water on the right’s bizarre obsession. NBA great Charles Barkley slammed those complaining that Swift has “ruined” football. “You’re just a loser,” Sir Charles told CNN this week, while The View host Whoopi Goldberg asked “why is she triggering everybody? They are freaking out.”
Watch video of Haley talking Swift (at the 5:00 minute mark) here.
As more and more artists from the pop world add writing a Broadway musical to their career-goal lists, Sara Bareilles stands out as one of the brightest success stories from that group.
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Waitress — the musical adaptation of Adrienne Shelly’s beloved independent film, featuring music and lyrics by Bareilles — was an unequivocal Broadway hit, running for nearly four years after an opening in April 2016.
That year, Bareilles’ score earned her two Tony nominations (out of a total four for the show), and she went on to perform the lead role of Jenna for three different stints. The production played London’s West End as well as internationally, garnered a Grammy nomination for its original Broadway cast recording, and yielded both a standalone Bareilles album (What’s Inside: Songs From Waitress, released on Epic Records between the show’s off-Broadway and Broadway runs) and a film of the stage show (which debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2023).
Sara Bareilles performs during the curtain call for Broadway’s “Waitress” at The Brooks Atkinson Theatre on March 31, 2017 in New York City.
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Now, Bareilles — who’s been warmly embraced by the wider theater community, and racked up another Tony nomination last year for her portrayal of The Baker’s Wife in Into the Woods — is making her return to Broadway.
She’s writing the music and lyrics for The Interestings, an adaptation of the New York Times bestselling novel by Meg Wolitzer with a book by Pulitzer- and Tony-nominated playwright Sarah Ruhl.
The plot of Wolitzer’s novel revolves around character Jules Jacobson and her friends from an exclusive childhood arts camp (the titular Interestings, as they call themselves) who grow up to find varying degrees of success and satisfaction or disillusionment with where a creative life has led them.
When it came out in 2013, the Times called it “warm, all-American, and acutely perceptive about the motivations of its characters,” likening it to modern Great American Novels and praising Wolitzer’s “inclusive vision and generous sweep.” With its complex, layered female protagonist and diverse cast of characters, as well as the knotty themes it explores — ranging from what qualifies as success to whether being extraordinary is the only path to it — the book seems rich material for musical adaptation, and it’s easy to see why it appealed to Bareilles, whose Waitress balanced the buoyant with the bittersweet.
The Interestings is being produced by Matt Ross, and is currently in development; additional creative team and production details will be announced in the coming months.
Let this be a lesson to Louis Tomlinson: be careful what you sign. During the former One Direction singer’s show last month on his Faith in the Future world tour date in Jakarta, Tomlinson was signing some items for fans and apparently one of the slips of paper he was handed was an official document.
In a TikTok video, the fan said she went to the show as a single woman, “but I got back there as a married woman because,” she said as she showed off a document featuring her picture next to Tomlinson’s on what appeared to be an official document. “He signed a marriage certificate… of me and him,” she said in disbelief.
“I’m a married woman. I’m married to Louis Tomlinson,” she said with a smile. “I’m his lawfully wedded wife.” The fan said she did not go to the post-concert meet-and-greet, but a friend did and asked Tomlinson is he plans to return to Jakarta. “And he answered, ‘If my wife wants to!’ After he signed this! ‘IF MY WIFE WANTS TO!’ I’M HIS WIFE! Are you kidding me?”
The whole thing was just for fun, of course, but woman shared another video in which Tomlinson (who is heard, but not seen in full) asks, “what’s this some kind of declaration of marriage, is it?” as he’s handed a document that looked like a version of the Republic of Indonesia marriage certificate. “It’s official, is that right?” he adds laughing. As she assures him it is, Tomlinson says, “yeah, right right” and asks where he needs to sign. When she implores him to come visit more often, dutiful fake husband Tomlinson responds, “well I have to, yeah, if my wife wants me to, I have to.”
It was all fun and games, of course — according to the U.S. Embassy & Consulate in Indonesia, a marriage in the country requires a religious ceremony by two parties of the same religion — so, alas, Tomlinson will continue on his world tour without his phony bride, touching down at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney tonight (Feb. 2).
Watch the TikTok below.
Camila Cabello is a brunette seńorita no more. The 26-year-old pop star debuted her shocking hair transformation via Instagram on Thursday (Feb. 1), showing off bright blonde locks ahead of her upcoming new era in a self-filmed video. Taken on a handheld camcorder, the video shows Cabello rocking a white baby tee and ’90s glam […]
The Piano Man is back, and to celebrate his first new single in nearly two decades, “Turn the Lights Back On,” Billy Joel and his co-writer Freddy Wexler discussed the writing process with Audacy Check In this week. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Joel opened up […]
Remember when Harry Styles was just one of five young men randomly assemble to become arguably the most successful boy band of the 2010s? Over a decade removed from his X Factor UK days, Styles has grown into one of pop music’s most formidable hitmakers across the Billboard charts.
The “Treat People With Kindness” singer first appeared on the Billboard charts as a member of One Direction alongside bandmates Zayn, Niall Horan, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson. During its run, the boy band earned four No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 and six top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including “What Makes You Beautiful” (No. 4) and “Best Song Ever” (No. 2).
In 2017, Styles embarked on his solo career with an eponymous album that debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Harry Styles gave way to two more No. 1 albums — 2019’s Fine Line and 2022’s Harry’s House — earning Styles the impressive distinction of launching each of his studio albums atop the chart.
On the Hot 100, the Grammy-winner has scored seven top 10 hits, including the No. 1 singles “Watermelon Sugar” — which won the Grammy for best pop solo performance in 2021 — and “As It Was.” Serving as the lead single from Harry’s House, “As It Was” became one of only five songs to spend at least 15 weeks atop the Hot 100. The track landed at No. 2 on the 2022 Year-End Hot 100, and its success was so massive that the song ranked at No. 15 on the 2023 Year-End Hot 100.
“As It Was” also holds a pair of monumental radio records. The song spent a whopping 63 weeks on Pop Airplay, good enough to rank behind Rema and Selena Gomez‘s “Calm Down” as the song with the second-most weeks on the chart. According to Luminate, “As It Was” also ended 2022 as the most heard song on U.S. radio, garnering over three billion audience impressions.
Check out the full Billboard Explains video on Harry Styles’ chart success above.
After that video, catch up on more Billboard Explains videos and learn about Peso Pluma and the Mexican music boom, the role record labels play, origins of hip-hop, how Beyoncé arrived at Renaissance, the evolution of girl groups, BBMAs, NFTs, SXSW, the magic of boy bands, American Music Awards, the Billboard Latin Music Awards, the Hot 100 chart, how R&B/hip-hop became the biggest genre in the U.S., how festivals book their lineups, Billie Eilish’s formula for success, the history of rap battles, nonbinary awareness in music, the Billboard Music Awards, the Free Britney movement, rise of K-pop in the U.S., why Taylor Swift is re-recording her first six albums, the boom of hit all-female collaborations, how Grammy nominees and winners are chosen, why songwriters are selling their publishing catalogs, how the Super Bowl halftime show is booked and more.
For Britney Spears, what goes around comes all the way back around. The pop princess took to Instagram on Thursday (Feb. 1) to seemingly respond to her ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake, who reportedly took a shot at her during his “One Night Only” birthday concert at Irving Plaza in New York City on Wednesday night. “Someone told […]
Ariana Grande has had big plans for her new album Eternal Sunshine from the very beginning. In a Thursday (Feb. 1) Instagram video, the pop star pulled back the curtain on an early rollout meeting she had with her team at Republic Records, during which she revealed that the project is both “really vulnerable” and […]
Kelly Clarkson started the year looking noticeably thinner and during a chat with comedian Kevin James on her daily talk show on Monday the singer revealed what spurred her to make a lifestyle change. “You look great!” she said to the King of Queens star, who returned the compliment. “Oh , thank you. Well I was told I was prediabetic,” Clarkson responded.
“That was literally what happened,” Clarkson, 41, continued. “They were like — and I was, well, I wasn’t shocked. I was a tiny bit overweight. So, yeah, I wasn’t shocked by it. But they did. They were like, ‘You’re prediabetic. You’re right on the borderline.’ And I was like, ‘But I’m not there yet.’ And then I waited two years and then did, however, move into the — I was like, ‘OK, I’ll do something about it.’”
According to the Mayo Clinic, a prediabetes diagnosis means that the patient has a higher than normal blood sugar level, one that is not high enough to be considered type 2 diabetes. However, “without lifestyle changes, adults and children with prediabetes are at high risk to develop type 2 diabetes.” Those with prediabetes are at risk for suffering from some of the long-term damage of diabetes — especially to the heart, blood vessels and kidneys — which can be counteracted by eating healthier, daily physical activity and maintaining a healthy weight, which can help bring blood sugar levels back to normal.
In an interview with People earlier this month, the single mom to daughter River Rose, 9, and son Remington Alexander, 7, New York transplant Clarkson credited the constant walking around the city with her kids as a factor in losing some weight. “Walking in the city is quite the workout,” she said. “And I’m really into infrared saunas right now. And I just got a cold plunge because everybody wore me down.”
In addition to those trendy health measures, Clarkson said she’s also switched up her diet. “I eat a healthy mix. I dropped weight because I’ve been listening to my doctor — a couple years I didn’t,” she said. “And 90 percent of the time I’m really good at it because a protein diet is good for me anyway. I’m a Texas girl, so I like meat — sorry, vegetarians in the world!”