Billboard’s Friday Music Guide serves as a useful information to this Friday’s most important releases — the important thing music that everybody will probably be speaking about as we speak, and that will probably be dominating playlists this weekend and past.
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This week, SZA and Doja Cat craft a killer reunion, Post Malone is again with some pop chemistry, and Metallica are nonetheless using the lightning. Check out all of this week’s picks beneath:
SZA feat. Doja Cat, “Kill Bill (Remix)”
While SZA’s “Kill Bill” has been one of many defining smashes of the primary half of 2023, the SOS single has completed it whereas caught outdoors of the Hot 100’s high spot — this week spending its eighth nonconsecutive week at No. 2 on the chart. Will this remix together with her “Kiss Me More” pal Doja Cat give “Bill” the push it must No. 1? Regardless of chart results, Doja’s inclusion on the observe injects a brand new pleasure: the famous person opens up the remix with detailed rap storytelling, documenting a violent run-in together with her ex and his new girlfriend that makes SZA’s well-worn hook leap off the audio system as soon as once more and probably serves as a prelude to the hip-hop album that Doja Cat has been hinting at for a while.
Post Malone, “Chemical”
When “Circles” grew to become one of many largest hits of Post Malone’s profession upon its 2019 launch, the hip-hop famous person appeared to be gesturing at a brand new pop-rock template for his crossover singles. Last yr’s Twelve Carat Toothache downplayed that transition a bit, however “Chemical,” Posty’s first new launch of 2023, adamantly embraces that sonic tweak: this single is giddy pop euphoria, with a driving beat, sunny guitar strums and upper-register singing a couple of relationship lastly collapsing. Although Post Malone has demonstrated a capability to straddle each sounds, “Chemical” feels like a nod towards high 40 radio, and a surefire summer season smash.
Metallica, 72 Seasons
Metallica might take their time with studio albums as of late — 72 Seasons arrives six-and-a-half years after 2016’s Hardwired… to Self-Destruct, which got here eight years after 2008’s Death Magnetic — however every time they return, they pummel longtime followers with riffs, hooks and kinetic vitality. At 77 minutes, 72 Seasons presents its concepts over an prolonged time period, however at a breakneck pace: Kirk Hammett’s technical ability works extra time on songs like “Lux Æterna” and “Shadows Follow,” whereas James Hetfield hasn’t misplaced a step throughout a four-decade profession, conjuring private ache and hoisting it up with basic thrash-god instincts. Metallica’s studio output might have slowed a bit, but 72 Seasons showcases how very important they continue to be.
Ice Spice feat. Nicki Minaj, “Princess Diana (Remix)”
A key part of Ice Spice’s meteoric rise is her ability as a collaborator: from the highest 10 smash “Boy’s a Liar Pt. 2” with PinkPantheress to “Gangsta Boo,” the Lil Tjay team-up that highlights her Like..? EP, the Bronx rapper is aware of precisely learn how to intensify her personal voice whereas making room for different kinds of artistry. The remix to “Princess Diana” not solely slides an enormous co-sign from Nicki Minaj into her again pocket, however seamlessly brings a larger-than-life persona into the world of an excellent present tune — after Ice Spice’s slick cadence and inner rhymes glide throughout the beat, Minaj offers new highlights with quotable sneers like “She the princess, so f–k who you lames is?”
Dominic Fike, “Dancing in the Courthouse”
After experiencing some run-ins with the legislation whereas rising up in Florida, Dominic Fike synthesizes his experiences and ensuing feelings on “Dancing in the Courthouse” — half tongue-in-cheek riff on our trendy authorized system, half joyful return of a rising singer-songwriter, whose sophomore album is due out later this yr on Columbia Records. “Dancing in the Courthouse” makes good use of each Fike’s delicate wordplay and pop sensibility, with every barbed line ultimately coalescing into probably the most hovering refrains of his profession to date.
Marshmello & Farruko, “Esta Vida”
One month after linking up with Colombian reggaeton star Manuel Turizo on the brand new single “El Merengue,” Marshmello continues his exploration of disparate Latin pop types with “Esta Vida,” a summer-ready anthem co-starring Puerto Rican party-starter Farruko. “Esta Vida” clearly takes inspiration from the playbook Farruko used on the stadium-sized hit “Pepas” — the thousand-voiced impact returns on the refrain right here — however each artists deliver their A-game to the dance lower, with rubbery synth manufacturing backing Farruko’s easy oscillation between rapping and singing.
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