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, Luke Combs is feeling wistful, Leon Thomas is feeling vindictive, and of course, the most anticipated pop release of the entire year is finally upon us. Check out all of this week’s picks below:
Taylor Swift, The Life of a Showgirl
Yes, Taylor Swift‘s finally back doing big pop, and yes she’s got Max Martin and Shellback in tow again — but 1989, Pt. 2 this ain’t. The Life of a Showgirl has some of the big drums and plenty of the big hooks of this trio’s extended collaboration a decade earlier, but the songwriting and sonic palette are both updated for the mid-2020s, with many tracks based around an organic-skewing pop-rock sound more reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac than Forever Your Girl. Plenty of its songs seem destined to impact on a similar scale though: “Actually Romantic” and “Wood” will be the headline-grabbers for their provocative subject matters, but “Ruin the Friendship” and “Eldest Daughter” may end up the fan favorites for their personal lyrics and wistful melodies.
Luke Combs, “Days Like These”
“When the sky is blue/ And the grass is green/ How much better can it be?” Luke Combs has always had a knack for expressing simple lyrical sentiments as profound truths — particularly when he relies on the power of his voice to carry the song, rather than dulling it with radio-ready overproduction. “Days Like These” features just Combs and an acoustic guitar singing this ode to the core pleasures that make up life — and you can bet country radio will still find it absolutely undeniable.
Leon Thomas, “Just How You Are”
Despite the title’s similarity to classic pop love songs from Billy Joel and Bruno Mars, don’t expect Leon Thomas in a sentimental mood on his new single. “I wrote all these songs about you/ And you never even said a word/ Not even just to say you heard/ I guess ‘congrats’ is your least favorite word,” the R&B singer-songwriter seethes over an airtight soul-funk groove. The wedding ballads can wait; this nasty jam should still get the dancefloor packed in the meantime.
Louis Tomlinson, “Lemonade”
We haven’t heard much from Louis Tomlinson since 2022’s Fate in the Future, but in September he announced he’d be back with the full-length How Did I Get Here? in January 2026. The first taste of that record was delivered this week with lead single “Lemonade,” in which Tomlinson does his best Adam Lambert strut over a muscular disco-rock bounce. No one’s going to be bringing the chorus (“She’s so bitter/ She’s so sweet/ Lemonade”) into Language Arts class anytime soon, but there’s never been a song called “Lemonade” that wasn’t mostly irresistible, and this one is no exception.
Kali Uchis feat. Mariah the Scientist, “Pretty Promises”
After teaming up for one of the year’s most sublime collabs with “Is It a Crime?” from Mariah the Scientist‘s Hearts Sold Separately album, it’s time for Kali Uchis to play host on the deluxe edition of her 2024 LP Sincerely, entitled Sincerely: P.S. The two reconvene for the equally lovely “Pretty Promises,” as the two swear that their word is bond over an underwater groove that they swim around like mermaids. If these are gonna be the results every time this duo teams up, they should really start thinking about doing a full album together.
Fred again.. & Amyl and the Sniffers, “You’re a Star”
Of all the artists you might expect producer phenomenon Fred again.. to team up with for one of his overwhelmingly emotional dancefloor anthems, Australian indie-punk band Amyl and the Sniffers would probably be fairly low on the list, if it made the cut at all. But sure enough, the artist born Frederick John Philip Gibson enlisted Amy Taylor and company for his drum n’ bass-inflected latest single, harnessing the group’s energy and then exploding it with Gesaffelstein-like sirens and typically all-over-the-place vocal triggers. Unexpected but effective — and that’s why he’s a star.
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