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, Bruno Mars at long last returns, Zach Bryan checks in with another sprawling statement, and The Kid LAROI keeps growing up. Check out all of this week’s picks below:
Bruno Mars, “I Just Might”
Bruno Mars hasn’t released a solo album in nearly a decade — but fortunately for the superstar showman, his music has always been unstuck from time constraints and modern trends. “I Just Might,” which precedes the long-awaited full-length The Romantic, sashays straight from the ‘70s with funked-up guitar and canned horns, while always shoving Mars’ beguiling personality straight up front, just like most of his biggest and best hits.
Zach Bryan, With Heaven on Top
Although Zach Bryan is prolific enough that a year-and-a-half between full-lengths feels like an eternity, With Heaven on Top, which follows 2024’s The Great American Bar Scene, quickly makes up for the relative wait with 25 songs that examine a whirlwind period in the singer-songwriter’s life — a breakup, a marriage, professional enormity amidst personal growth — with vulnerability and grace.
The Kid LAROI, Before I Forget
Considering how far back he’s been scoring hits, it’s hard to believe that The Kid LAROI is still only 22 years old — and new album Before I Forget finds the genre-crossing star trying to untangle complex emotions on the cusp of adulthood, reveling in nostalgia for simpler times while also serving up some radio fodder (the silky-smooth recent single “A Perfect World” sounds like it could cross over).
Luke Combs, “Sleepless in a Hotel Room”
Luke Combs closed out 2025 with the release of “Giving Her Away,” a muted reflection on the shared bond between the groom and the father of the bride at a wedding; “Sleepless in a Hotel Room,” the latest track from his upcoming album The Way I Am, is much more rollicking, with the country superstar picking up the tempo and growling out a “whoa-oh-OH” hook on his first offering of the year.
Ari Lennox, “Twin Flame”
“I never thought that I would fall for your type,” Ari Lennox admits on “Twin Flame,” an effective new entry from the R&B star’s upcoming Vacancy project, on which Lennox waxes poetic about acting out of character in the presence of her crush and wields her powerhouse voice to convey her surprise and delight.
Carín León & Xavi, “La Morrita”
Kicking off 2026 in the most spirited fashion possible, Carín León hoists up his national pride — alongside Xavi, one of Mexican music’s skyrocketing new talents — on “La Morrita,” a firecracker collaboration with a dizzying interplay between the pair of voices and the production over the course of two-and-a-half minutes, making for an overflowing celebration.
Editor’s Pick: Robyn, “Talk to Me”
While Robyn unveiled “Dopamine” as the lead single of her upcoming album Sexistential last fall, “Talk to Me,” one of two new tracks released this week, provides the more blissful physical rush: co-written by Max Martin, “Talk to Me” is spectacular in its dance-pop intricacies and Robyn’s unadorned expression of sexual longings, heralding the full return of one of pop’s very best stars.
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