Check out the must-hear releases of the week.
New Music Guide serves as a handy guide to New Music most essential releases each week — the key music that everyone will be talking about today, and that will be dominating playlists this weekend and beyond.
Last week, Karol G, Role Model, FLO, Stray Kids and more. Released their new project
This week, three is the magic number: indie-rocker Phoebe Bridgers releases her highly-anticipated third album, Lost Weekend; KATSEYE drops its third EP; and Ayra Starr shares her third album as well… plus much more. Check out all of this week’s picks below:
Phoebe Bridgers, Lost Weekend
After Phoebe Bridgers performed a semi-impromptu, highly in-demand, phone-free show at New York’s Madison Square Garden in early June, it was clear something was coming. And just a few weeks later, that hunch was confirmed when the indie-rockstar announced her first solo album in six years, Lost Weekend. Across its 16 tracks, “the album fluctuates between grief and elation, agitation and contentment, as Bridgers sings like someone who has loved and lost — and still has something to lose,” writes Billboard‘s Christine Werthman for the album’s tracks ranked. Surely, it’s the perfect album to get lost in this weekend.
KATSEYE, — “WILD”
Despite this girl group’s ongoing lineup changes (with Manon and Sophia both on mental health breaks), one thing is certain: KATSEYE brings the energy. Its third EP, WILD (out on HYBE x Geffen Records) is packed with high-impact, hard-hitting tracks like single “Pinky Up” and focus track “Hootie Frutti.” Meanwhile, sassier songs like single “Animal” and “That Way” slow it down — but just a bit. As a release for the EP states, “the project captures the feeling of a wild ride fueled by growth and transformation” and marks the start of a new “electrifying new era” for the now foursome.
Troye Sivan, “She’s the Best”
Troye Sivan is back — and not only with a new single. The pop singer’s low-toned “She’s the Best” — about all the qualities, expected and less so, of a particular person that wows him — serves as the lead single and title track of his fourth album, out Oct. 9 on Interscope. “She’s the Best is a painting that captures my life in all of its moods and colours,” Sivan said in a statement. “It explores the high-octane highs of the last few years, and the solitude and longing that sat underneath. It’s chaotic, layered, organic, troubled and alive. It feels like the truest and most creative version of myself I’ve ever shared. At some point along the way I realised: the only constant in my life keeping me somewhat sane has not been the work, or the men, but the feminine. Thank god for them.”
Ayra Starr, — “STARRGIRL”
Nigerian Afropop sensation Ayra Starr is back with STARRGIRL, her third studio album and first full-length effort since 2024’s The Year I Turned 21. The new 16-track set — which includes the Grammy-nominated, Wizkid -assisted “Gimme Dat”
— expands the 24-year-old’s sonic foundation with more pronounced notes of dance and R&B. Effortlessly fostering synergy with Leon Thomas, kwn and ZAYN (as well as Danny Ocean on a Latin remix of fan-favorite “Hot Body”), Ayra Starr spends her latest LP proving she can dominate in any lane her heart desires.
Jorja Smith, “I Lied, You Lied”
Ahead of her third album releasing next week, English singer-songwriter Jorja Smith is sharing one more single to preview the set. “I Lied, You Lied,” is a heart-racing track in both its uneven production and the story she tells that essentially details a race to see whose lie will come to the surface first. Yet, only a voice as smooth and serene as Jorja’s can manage to sound totally unbothered through it all.
Becky G, — “Baraja Bendita”
On her fifth studio album, Becky G is steering away from her Música Mexicana era, as heard in her past albums Esquinas (2023) and Encuentros (2024). Rather than a reinvention, it’s a musical symbol of duality, ownership and the freedom to exist fully without contradiction, where she bridges Becky G (the artist) with Rebecca (her real name). “For so long, people wanted to define me by one thing: one language, one sound, one version of myself. This album isn’t about becoming someone new. It’s about fully owning every part of who I’ve always been,” she said in a statement.
Home to 17 tracks — all written by Becky and that ooze baddie energy — the Mexican-American singer seamlessly navigates from a kizomba and R&B fusion in “Chula,” to bachata in “Te va a doler,” merengue in “Mal Tiempo” and reggae in “Bandera Blanca.” She also delivers her signature reggaetón sound, as well as many club-ready bangers rooted in house and deep bass music.
Morgan Freeman, Morgan Freeman’s Symphonic Blues Experience
Inspired by his lifelong love of the Delta Blues, Academy Award-winning screen legend Morgan Freeman has released his 12-track Symphonic Blues Experience LP. Serving as narrator and producer, Freeman recruited some of Mississippi’s finest present-day instrumentalists — alongside celebrated jazz and blues artists Taj Mahal, Keb’ Mo’, Lawrence “Boo” Mitchell and Shemekia Copeland – to deliver a sweeping tribute to a distinctly Black American sound. Chineke! Orchestra, Europe’s pioneering majority-Black ensemble, also adds a cinematic feel to the listening experience.
Masicka, Forever Reign
About half a year after he dedicated his doe-eyed Her Name Is Love EP to the ladies, Jamaican dancehall superstar Masicka is back with Forever Reign, his excellent third studio album. Featuring appearances by Damian Marley, Lila Iké, Blaqbonez and Kraff Gad, Masicka has delivered a 17-track set that builds on his sterling collection of motivational anthems and gyal tunes with an expansive sonic palette that brings in notes of Afrobeats, ’00s hip-hop and Arabic pop. Forever Reign is precisely the kind of project that should lean into an arena-headlining debut, which Masicka will make at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center this weekend (Aug. 15).
Little Big Town ft. Kelsea Ballerini, “Closing Time”
Little Big Town teams up with Kelsea Ballerini on this sultry ballad. LBT’s Karen Fairchild leads off the song with her distinct smoky vocal, as she’s soon joined by her Little Big town cohorts, while Ballerini slowly weaves her voice into the mix. The result is an intimate track that feels classic and polished.
Mack Geiger, “Pouring”
Australia native Geiger’s new song brings out the turbulent depths of heartbreak. His velvety country twang embodies the song’s desolate feel, as he etches a picture of a heartbroken guy alone at home, while the unyielding memory of his ex-lover threatens to “bring this whole house down.” Geiger is sole writer on this song, which was produced by Jared Adlam.
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Alien Metal
The Australian freakout band’s 28th (!) studio album goes full send at the rave in a manner only King Gizz could pull off, which is to say it’s as heady as it is spectacular. Speaking with Billboard‘s Eric Renner Brown, the band’s Stu Mackenzie said that the heart of project is the vintage modular synthesizer the band nicknamed “Nathan” and used to make all the sounds on Alien Metal “from the ground up.” Practically speaking, that equates to layers and layers of wavy percussion and synth outfitted with a tapestry of intricate, spacey flourishes, many of which will be familiar to those well-versed in psytrance. The album launches off in its final third — “Rapid Alpha Decay,” “Uqt” and “Atomic Collapse” — songs that will surely deliver when King Gizzard play them live tonight at the band’s Field of Vision festival in Meadow Creek, Colo. A safe and happy voyage to deep space.
Channel Tres, Enigma POV
Channel Tres’ second studio album is out today, arriving with predicable swagger. Folding in funk, house and R&B, the Los Angeles-based artist whips the vibe of a party we’d want to go to, with the music oozing with style and laid back cool. “I started making this album in Topanga Canyon. I took a trip there to mourn,” the artist wrote of the album on social media. “One night I watched The Wizagain, and this time I broke down in tears. I realized the characters had everything they were searching for all along and that the Wiz was just a man. That’s when shit really clicked for me. Everything I needed to be an artist was already within me. Once I embraced where I was instead of chasing what I thought I lacked, the songs started to flow.” The 16-song album is a no skips affair, but if you must, “Only One,” “Medicine,” “Pop Pop” and “Black Techno Guy” are essentials. Tres is on tour across North America through early November.
