Friday Music Guide: New Music From Chappell Roan, Metro Boomin, Demi Lovato 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, Chappell Roan takes “Subway” uptown, Metro Boomin packs the guest list and Demi Lovato briskly comes back to pop. Check out all of this week’s picks below:

Chappell Roan, “The Subway” 

There’s a reason why, more than a year after Chappell Roan performed “The Subway” during a few summer 2024 festival sets, fans were still pining for a studio version, which finally arrives today: the midtempo alt-pop ballad focuses on a dissolved romance with sweeping force, culminating in an extended outro that turns the phrases “She’s got a way” and “She got away” into a wounded belt-along.

Metro Boomin, Metro Boomin Presents: A Futuristic Summa 

While it’s easy to slot Metro Boomin’s A Futuristic Summa mixtape into the tradition of star-studded compilations from well-connected producers, a la Calvin Harris’ Funk Wav Bounces series, the late-00’s tone of this new project is defined by its thrilling splicing of old and new hip-hop generations, with veteran voices like Young Duo and Roscoe Dash joining Metro’s stable of mainstays.

Demi Lovato, “Fast” 

Following a foray into rock music that included reworking her old hits as guitar-heavy headbangers, Demi Lovato makes her pop return with “Fast,” a sweaty, kinetic club track that makes good use of her far-reaching vocals; Lovato has always possessed the talent to morph into a dance floor diva, and “Fast” hints that such a path is right in front of her.

Reneé Rapp, Bite Me 

The title of Reneé Rapp’s sophomore album suggests a newfound aggression, but really, the multi-hyphenate is simply honing her pop persona and rejecting those who want to dismiss it: Bite Me bristles with gleeful pop-rock anger at times, but on songs like “Shy” and “Sometimes,” that extended middle finger is balanced out by breathtaking vulnerability that deepens the project overall.

Mariah The Scientist & Kali Uchis, “Is It a Crime” 

“Is it a crime to fall in love a couple times?” Mariah The Scientist ponders on her new collaboration with Kali Uchis, which quickly follows the viral success of “Burning Blue” with an affecting meditation on modern romance — and utilizes Uchis’ gifts as a co-star, with two artists playing off of each other with deference and soulfulness on “Is It a Crime.”

Hayley Williams, “Glum” 

“Glum” is one part of a much bigger, and more amorphous, statement from Hayley Williams, as the Paramore leader surprised fans this week with 17 new songs (but not an album, exactly); the entire musical drop is worth perusing, but “Glum” is a muted, lightly strummed highlight, with Williams’ voice pitched up in the opening verse before clarifying on the hook.  

$uicideboy$, Thy Kingdom Come 

The underground rise of $uicideboy$ is well-documented, and on Thy Kingdom Come, the duo once again prove why their cultural resonance is less unlikely than you think: their sixth studio album is full of quick-hit observations and bruising rhymes per usual, but with some of the more deeply felt hooks of their career, as their bars wrap smoothly around each melody.

Editor’s Pick: Sofia Kourtesis, Volver 

Peruvian singer-producer Sofia Kourtesis’ 2023 debut Madres stands as one of the most mesmerizing dance albums of the decade, and while new EP Volver does not sprawl out as rapturously, the six-song project (which is dedicated to the LGBTQ+ community) pushes her thumping warmth towards a different set of grooves — most compellingly on “Unidos,” an acid-house riff made with Dan Snaith’s Daphni moniker.