Friday Music Guide: New Music From Chappell Roan, Playboi Carti, Haim & 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, Chappell Roan gets the job done, Playboi Carti finally drops the album, and Haim kick off the spring. Check out all of this week’s picks below:

Chappell Roan, “The Giver” 

2020s pop, meet 1990s country: “The Giver,” Chappell Roan’s long-awaited new single that was debuted on Saturday Night Live last November and has been teased for weeks, has arrived as a swirling, fiddle-filled gay anthem as well as an homage to the boot-stomping mainstream smashes of artists like The Chicks and Shania Twain, aware of the past but full of singular energy from a new superstar.

Playboi Carti, Music

At long last, we have the follow-up to Playboi Carti’s towering 2020 album Whole Lotta Red: at 30 songs and 76 minutes, Music is a gargantuan undertaking that hides its A-list guests throughout the track list (Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd, Travis Scott and Future are among the attendees), but the project stands as a coronation of a relentless, rabble-rousing superstar, who iterates on his past flows and rage sound while also reveling in his improbable rise.
 
Haim, “Relationships” 

Him returning a few days after we push the clocks forward, and receive more sunlight on a daily basis, couldn’t be more perfect — “Relationships” sounds like an overdue embrace from an old friend, the cozy stylings of the trio typified by a buoyant bass line, rhetorical questions about relationship statuses and a breakdown that opens the song and then happily swings back around.

Sleep Token, “Emergence” 

“Go ahead and wrap your arms around me,” goes the refrain of “Emergence,” the dazzling return of the mysterious British rock group Sleep Token: a six-minute epic that combines metalcore, hip-hop, electronic and pop, the lead single to Even in Arcadia is designed to command attention but pulls off its elaborate concept, and sets up Sleep Token for a huge year.

Selena Gomez & Benny Blanco, “Sunset Blvd” 

We’ve gotten a few different shades of Selena Gomez and Benny Blanca’s collaborative album before its arrival next week, and “Sunset Blvd” is by far the dreamiest: over a warm bed of synths and unobtrusive drums, Gomez reflects on her first date with her fiancé, tossing out a few sexual innuendoes and big-hearted declarations.

Lil Nas X, “HOTBOX” 

Concluding a full week of new singles from Lil Nas X, “HOTBOX” offers sing-rap opulence over a sample of Pharrell Williams’ “Frontin’,” with Nas calling everybody to the dance floor while the beat wordlessly does the same thing; the other new tracks were worthy, but he saved the best for last.

LE SSERAFIM, HOT 

The fifth mini-album from the K-pop quintet finds LE SSERAFIM sharpening their aesthetic over five tracks, and while the title track to HOT is the group’s latest single, “Come Over,” which plays out like an extended flirtation over a Bossa nova-esque riff, is the easy standout here, and one of the strongest songs the group has ever made.

Lizzo, “Still Bad” 

If “Love in Real Life,” Lizzo’s first new music in three years, arrived two weeks ago as the opening credits to her return, “Still Bad” sounds like the main event, as an unapologetic showcase of the Grammy winner’s vocals, sense of humor and party-ready rhythmic pop flair.

Peso Pluma, “RARI” 

The latest single from Peso Pluma comes back to a successful blueprint for the superstar, but “RARI” might be the most instantly catchy track he’s released in years, with a vocal hook that is woven throughout every line and emphasizes the rougher textures in his delivery.

Editor’s Pick: Charley Crockett, Lonesome Drifter 

On first blush, Charley Crockett’s new album Lonesome Drifter is a traditional country project, full of hard-scrabble storytelling, strummed hooks and the singer-songwriter’s rumbling twang — but multiple listens reveal an impressive synthesis of classic and modern styles from an emerging star, as Crockett folds well-worn country tropes into charming explorations of R&B, blues and modern rock.