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\n\tBillboard<\/em>\u2019s\u00a0Friday Music Guide<\/a>\u00a0serves as a handy guide to this Friday\u2019s most essential releases \u2014 the key music that everyone will be talking about today, and that will be dominating playlists this weekend and beyond.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tExplore\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n See latest videos, charts and news<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \n\tThis week: Megan Thee Stallion returns with a song for the lovers, Leon Thomas and Daniel Caesar hold it town for tactile, live-feeling R&B and Bruce Springsteen revisits the same era on record probed by a brand-new Boss biopic. <\/p>\n \n\tMegan Thee Stallion, \u201cLOVER GIRL\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tIt\u2019s been a relatively quiet 2025 for Megan Thee Stallion<\/a>, but the rap star is back this week with the loved-up anthem \u201cLOVER GIRL.\u201d Riding an always-appropriate sample of \u201990s R&B group Total\u2019s swooning love song \u201cKissin\u2019 You,\u201d Megan makes plenty kissy sounds of her own, while spitting about how your guy and hers are not the same: \u201cYour n\u2014a fantasy\/ My man reality.\u201d It\u2019s a little bit early for Valentine\u2019s Day \u2014 especially for Megan donning Cupid\u2019s bow and arrow on the single cover \u2014 but if you\u2019re in need of a cuffing-season anthem, it might just be right on time.<\/p>\n \n\tLeon Thomas, Pholks<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tIt\u2019s already been a triumphant 2025 for Leon Thomas<\/a>, with a viral NPR Tiny Desk<\/em> set, a big breakout win and performance at the BET Awards, and a huge crossover hit with the Billboard Hot 100 top 20 smash \u201cMutt.\u201d Now, he\u2019s capping his year with the seven-track Pholks<\/em> EP, showing off even more of what he can do \u2014 including the pinched, almost D\u2019Angelo-esque funk of \u201c5MoreMinutes,\u201d the woozy, early-Tame-Impala-like psych-rock of \u201cTrapped\u201d and the jazzy, frenetic garage rock of \u201cBaccarat.\u201d Wherever the music goes, it feels like it\u2019s just spilling out of Thomas at this point, as he sets himself further apart from the R&B pack with each new release. <\/p>\n \n\tDaniel Caesar, Son of Spergy<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tBetween Thomas and Daniel Caesar<\/a>, it\u2019s a big week for lush, organic-sounding new releases from R&B singer-songwriters. Caesar\u2019s Son of Spergy<\/em> (Spergy being his father\u2019s nickname) is his first release since 2023\u2019s Never Enough<\/em>, and ranges from the delicate, pleading soul of \u201cHave a Baby (With Me)\u201d to the grungy fuzz-rock of \u201cCall on Me\u201d to the gentle, insecure acoustic balladry of \u201cWho Knows.\u201d Alt-folk stalwart Bon Iver shows up to bless a couple tracks, the dreamy \u201cMoon\u201d and the swirling, piano-led \u201cSins of the Father.\u201d <\/p>\n \n\tDemi Lovato, It\u2019s Not That Deep<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tComing three years after her stellar rock detour set Holy Fvck<\/em>, Demi Lovato<\/a>\u2018s latest set It\u2019s Not That Deep<\/em> doesn\u2019t take long to establish that she\u2019s changed direction yet again: The pulsing beat and hedonistic lyrics of \u201cFast\u201d showcase her once again driving in the turbo-pop lane, and sounding like she\u2019s having a blast doing so. This isn\u2019t an early-\u201910s top 40 throwback though \u2014 the rollerskating synths and tense vocals of \u201cHere All Night\u201d are pure Flashdance<\/em> synth-rock, while \u201cFrequency\u201d and \u201cKiss\u201d approximate the winking sung-spoken club energy of Period<\/em>-era Kesha and \u201cSorry to Myself\u201d is pure cathartic, Robyn-dancefloor release. <\/p>\n\n