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, A$AP Rocky checks the dummies, Madison Beer fully arrives and ENHYPEN keep fans on their toes. Check out all of this week’s picks below:
A$AP Rocky, Don’t Be Dumb
In a hip-hop ecosystem where most A-listers are hyper-prolific, A$AP Rocky has remained a headliner by taking his time and carefully curating his discography; Don’t Be Dumb, his long-awaited and oft-delayed fourth studio album, not only rewards patience but adds new wrinkles to the rapper’s approach — a evolved relationship with melody, and a wiser lyrical slant — that could have only come with time.
Madison Beer, Locket
More than a decade after making her pop debut, Madison Beer has reached an enviable point in her career, in which she’s straddling a line between fresh new star and longtime indie heroine capable of booking a Madison Square Garden date. Locket, her third studio album, represents a mainstream breakthrough — not just because singles like “Make You Mine” and “Bittersweet” have earned hundreds of millions of streams, but also because album tracks like “Bad Enough” and “Angel Wings” are among the strongest of Beer’s catalog.
ENHYPEN, The Sin: Vanish
While ENHYPEN’s seventh mini-album The Sin: Vanish is led by the crackling hip-hop single “Knife,” that anthem serves as something of a red herring for the K-pop group’s most wide-ranging body of work in recent memory — the vampire mythology adds to the product, but even casual listeners will be able to (sorry) sink their teeth into a lot here.
Wizkid & Asake, “Jogodo”
Not only are Wizkid and Asake two of Nigeria’s biggest crossover stars, but — with 2020’s Made in Lagos and 2022’s Mr. Money With the Vibe, respectively — each has translated global smashes into sumptuous, front-to-back great studio projects; a forthcoming joint EP is a thrilling prospect, and the sly, shimmering lead track “Jogodo” surpasses expectations.
Megan Moroney, “Wish I Didn’t”
Ahead of her upcoming Cloud 9 album, Megan Moroney has just unveiled one of the catchiest tracks of her career: “Wish I Didn’t,” a country-pop ode to a force-of-nature personality, pairs Moroney’s smoky delivery with a timely warning to someone who’s about to underestimate her, and stokes greater anticipation for her new project.
Editor’s Pick: Mitski, “Where’s My Phone?”
Finally, an indie-rock anthem for those of us who can never find their phones! The first taste of Mitski’s upcoming eighth album, Nothing’s About to Happen to Me, is deeper than a misplaced cell, but offers straightforward delights for longtime fans, including a jangly hook and fuzzed-up guitar freakout in the song’s final 30 seconds.
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