Friday Music Guide: New Music From Megan Thee Stallion, Camila Cabello, LISA and more

Billboard's 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, Megan Thee Stallion has plenty of venom, Camila Cabello reinvents her sound and LISA rocks. Check out all of this week's picks below:

Megan Thee Stallion, Megan

Weeks before a different rap beef babe took the Internet by storm, Megan Thee Stallion's snarling diss track 'Hiss' topped the Hot 100. new album Megan lead to the top of the chart, and the rest of the project takes its cues from its uncompromising lyricism and lush production. While the back half of it Megan is guest-heavy, highlighted by UGK's collaboration “Paper Together” with a posthumous Pimp C verse, the album is dominated by Meg's rapping, which is as controlled and remarkable as ever—as she puts it early on, “As the sooner you accept that I'm this b–ch, the better your life will be.”

Camila Cabello, C, XOXO

When Camila Cabello released “I Luv It,” her sassy, ​​hyper-pop duet with Playboi Carti, as the lead single from her fourth solo album. C, XOXOfans immediately knew that the 2022 sequel Familia would be far from the simple brand of pop. And while C, XOXO Not as unusual as its opening track, Cabello uses the full-length to explore her evolving interests, from reggaeton to Afrobeats and piano ballads, revealing more of her identity after years in the spotlight.

LISA, “Rockstar”

Part of the reason BLACKPINK has been able to break records and perform to huge audiences around the world is due to their futuristic approach to pop, incorporating rap, electronica and club music into their mainstays. “Rockstar,” LISA's new solo single, similarly looks forward while presenting a fast-paced package of melodies and mood. LISA works quickly, delivering towering choruses and accounts of a jet-setting lifestyle in two minutes and change, and “Rockstar” finds an effortless feel that its title (and the artist's entire vibe) suggests.

Kelsea Ballerini with Noah Kahan, “Cowboys Cry Too”

After Kelsea Ballerini teamed up with Noah Kahan at the ACM Awards for a performance of “Mountain with a View” and “Stick Season,” the two singer-songwriters reunited for “Cowboys Cry Too,” a tender duet that appreciates sensitivity . in his narrative. The baller has long roamed outside of Nashville conventions, but “Cowboys Cry Too” is being heard straight into the heart of country radio — an interesting development for Kahan, who has worked with artists like Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves, but he never sounded so comfortable. the cowboy hat as he does here.

imagine dragons, Loom

In this century, the biggest rock bands have often remained on top, even as the sound of popular music has moved away from the idea of ​​”rock bands”, developing their own aesthetic and meeting listeners where they are. Imagine Dragons have mastered this shape-shifting approach and sixth album Loom once again defies expectations of how a popular rock band should work: “Kid” is funk-pop isolated like “Feel Good Inc.”, the first single “Eyes Closed” also appears as a dubstep- wobble anthem and with a J Balvin remix and “Wake Up” sound primed to inspire awkward shuffling on arena floors.

Editor's Pick: Omar Apollo, God said no

The smash hit “Evergreen (You Didn't Deserve Me At All),” which earned Omar Apollo his first Hot 100 hit as well as a Best New Artist Grammy nod, unlocked the singer-songwriter's lively banter — and ushered in the beautiful details of the debut album Ivory — to a much larger audience. Sophomore LP God said no allows Apollo to reflect on a whirlwind few years, examine his struggles with anxiety and depression, share stories of heartbreak, and above all, offer fans a new collection of dynamically delivered rhythmic pop tracks, expertly sung, many of which they will surprise and delight at the first hearing.