Friday Music Guide: Green Day, Nicki Minaj & Future, Bleachers & More

Advertising signThe Friday Music Guide serves as a handy guide to this Friday's most essential releases — the essential music everyone will be talking about today and that will dominate playlists this weekend and beyond.

This week, Green Day returns to save something (rock 'n' roll maybe?), Nicki Minaj and Future hit the remote together, and Jack Antonoff scores an alt-rock ballet for his new bride. Check out all of this week's picks below:

Green Day, Saviors

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers first album since 2020 Father of all Motherf–kers sees the trio reunited with Rob Carvallo — producer behind most of the group's classic albums since 1994 Dookie until 2004 stupid american — for the first time since 2012 UN! Dos! Three! trilogy. Carvallo helps Green Day discover some of their size and scope after a few more back-to-bass albums, giving Saviors a feel reminiscent of their mid-00s blockbusters. Whether the singles will ultimately live up to skyrocketing rock radio smashes like “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” and “21 Guns” remains to be seen, but lead single (and album opener) “The American Dream Is Killing Me” certainly it will not prove. good start, having spent seven weeks at the top Advertising sign's Rock & Alternative Airplay Chart.

Nicki Minaj feat. Future, “Press Play”

Nicki Minaj Billboard 200 album 2023 Latest Version Pink Friday 2 is titled “Pluto Edition” — so you could probably who appears on the edition's only new bonus track. “Press Play” indeed features Future, who already appeared on the original album highlight “Nicki Hendrix,” and leads here with the song's quickly unmistakable hook: “Press play, lil' booty b–ch/ Press play, big booty b–ch.” He and Minaj then trade chilly bars over an ATL Jacob beat with racing piano and swinging bass, with the latter even giving your own name: “Top of every list including your man bucket/ I was on the chart so a lot, I said Advertising sign to dust it off.”

Bleachers, “Tiny Moves”

After another year of big moves as a writer/producer — including work for Lana Del Rey's Did you know there is a tunnel under Ocean Blvd. album and its signature single “A&W,” which earned him both album and song of the year nominations at the upcoming Grammys — Jack Antonoff returns to his main gig in 2024 as frontman for alt-rockers Bleachers. “Tiny Moves” is a typical rousing rave-up from the New Jersey outfit, but with strings driving the action more than the group's typical mix of guitars and synths, lending extra drama and intensity to lyrics like “The tiniest moves you make/ The whole world shakes.” Margaret Qualley, an Emmy-nominated actress and Antonoff's wife, choreographed, directed, and dances solo (with Antonoff watching nearby from the hood of his car) in the song's music video.

Mumford & Sons & Pharrell Williams, “Good People”

Legendary hip-hop, R&B and pop producer (and occasional solo star) Pharrell Williams as one of the Sons in alt-folk arena-dwellers Mumford & Sons; It doesn't sound like the most obvious fit, but Pharrell's never been afraid to branch out into a new genre – he made an entire mini-album with country band Little Big Town in the mid-10s – so he meets the retro stompers here in their ground, adding the piercing of “welcome to the apocalypseThe backing vocals on the lyrics that are heard and give a little extra punch to the group's beat. It won't be as big as “I Will Wait” or “Happy,” most likely, but an interesting new chapter in the storied careers of both artists.

Norah Jones, “Running”

Two decades after Norah Jones became one of the few artists in music history to sell a million copies in a week with her 2004 album It feels like home — a follow-up, of course, to her groundbreaking diamond-certified set Come with me — is back with new single “Running.” The first taste of the upcoming ninth album Visions, due out in March, the song features Jones bemoaning her perpetual panic over sympathetic production from Leon Michels, accurately summed up by Jones in a press release as “kind of garagey, but also kind of psychedelic.” He may not be doing the blockbuster numbers he did in the early '00s, but Jones' music just keeps getting better.

Kygo & Ava Max, “Whatever”

Teased extensively by both artists in the weeks leading up to its release, tropical house producer Kygo and pop hitmaker Ava Max are the latest duo to attempt to replicate David Guetta and Bebe Rexha's 'I'm Good' formula for to create an undeniable club. a massive, unmissable, turn-of-the-century interlude. In this case, the dropped hit is Shakira's English-language single “Anytime Anywhere,” which indeed gives a rush to the chorus of the break-up theme song. It wouldn't be a shock if it heated up the Top 40 airwaves this winter, though you might end up just wanting to hear the classic original. (Guetta also returns with an interlude single of his own this week, ripping off Cathy Dennis' 1991 chartbuster “Touch Me (All Night Long)” for his collaboration with Kungs and Izzy Bizu “All night.”)