Friday Music Guide: New Music From Lorde, Alex Warren & ROSÉ, KATSEYE and More
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, Lorde reinvents herself, Alex Warren brings ROSÉ into his sonic world, and KATSEYE continue a 'Gnarly' run of success. Check out all of this week's picks below:
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Lorde,
The promotional campaign for Lorde's long-awaited fourth album has involved tales of a bitter breakup and body dysmorphia, creeping feelings of stage fright and questions about her gender identity. Instead of retreating from the intimate pressure points and personal changes that have defined her mid-twenties, she poured them into a new album, and is now hoisting them up for the world to see. One listen to Lorde's Virgin confirms that it is by far the bravest album of her career.
Read the full review of Lorde's new album.
Alex Warren & ROSÉ, 'On My Mind'
A No. 1 smash will often result in some interesting phone calls about potential collaborations, and after Alex Warren followed up his enormous hit 'Ordinary' with the Jelly Roll team-up 'Bloodline,' ROSÉ has now hopped on the latest single from his upcoming album You'll Be Alright, Kid, with the BLACKPINK star holding her own amidst the horns and kick drum on the somber, likable folk-pop sing-along.
KATSEYE,
More pop songs should sound as audacious as 'Gnarly,' KATSEYE's off-the-wall breakthrough single that leads off their new five-song EP — and while that hyperpop sledgehammer sets up a slightly more subdued project, the girl group scores with slinky pop harmonies ('Gameboy'), dance balladry ('Mean Girls') and a smart twist on the anthemic 'Gnarly' sound to close things out ('M.I.A').
Lizzo,
Although Lizzo has released a handful of pop-leaning singles so far in 2025, My Face Hurts From Smiling features none of them — instead, the surprise mixtape is a full-throated foray into rap music, designed to let her have a blast on tracks alongside SZA and Doja Cat and further regain her mojo before a presumably more mainstream-focused new album.
Don Toliver, 'FWU'
Don Toliver's helium-coated voice joins forces with Mustard's hard-clapping production on 'FWU,' a new single that serves as Toliver's first solo single of the year and boosts his momentum without high stakes — 'FWU' rolls along ceaselessly and purposefully, meant to be played loud and more than twice.
Various Artists,
On the same day that the Brad Pitt racing drama zooms into theaters, the full F1 album is unveiled as the most star-studded soundtrack of the year, with previously released tracks by Don Toliver and Doja Cat, Tate McRae, Ed Sheeran and ROSÉ complemented by new offerings from Burna Boy, RAYE, Madison Beer and more — just be sure to save time for Peggy Gou's bright, shuffling 'D.A.N.C.E' in the back half.
Barbra Streisand,
Barbra Streisand's elegant sequel to her 2014 duets album Partners succeeds due to its smart guest list: while legends like Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan and James Taylor swing by to sing and pay homage, the appearance of artists like Hozier and Laufey nicely shake up the sound, and the Babs-Mariah Carey-Ariana Grande summit 'One Heart, One Voice' lives up to its high-powered pedigree.
Editor's Pick: Blood Orange, 'The Field'
On the same day that a major new pop release that Dev Hyne contributed to, Lorde's Virgin, is unveiled, indie fans can be equally enthralled by the first song in three years from his Blood Orange project: 'The Field' — which melds the voices of Caroline Polachek, Daniel Caesar and others with Hynes' own — is hauntingly gorgeous, a hymn-like variation on Blood Orange's danceable pop-R&B that hopefully previews more to come from the studio master.
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