Friday Music Guide: Normani, Tommy Richman, Luke Combs, Don Toliver and 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, Normani's debut album is finally upon us, as are new sets from Don Toliver and NxWorries, and a new Father's Day-ready LP from Luke Combs. See all of this week's picks below.

Normani, dopamine

That's right, everyone: We've reached Normani's release week. After years of teases, delays and false starts, 5H's incredibly anticipated debut solo album dopamine it's finally here. The 13-track affair, featuring pre-release singles like the Cardi B team-up “Wild Side” and Gunna-featuring “1:59,” is an impressively tight affair, with its biggest thrills like the Slim Thug sample (via Mike Jones' “Still Tippin') on “Still”, the slow shredding guitar solo on “Insomnia”, the skipping house beat on “Take My Time” and of course the Advertising sign vocals at the opening of the 'Big Boy' album. Only her longtime fans can really determine if the set was worth the wait, but it's a welcome listen this Friday regardless.

Tommy Richman, “Devil Is a Lie”

If you finally get your fill of “Million Dollar Baby”—unlikely, given how the song is still in the top five of the Billboard Hot 100—unblocked singer-rapper Tommy Richman is back this week with his follow-up. “Devil Is a Lie” is intoxicating in many of the same ways that “Baby” was, its buttery falsetto floating over clean, backwards trap-nB beats and a chorus (“I'm not no Travis , baby no Chase B/ I work too hard can you pay me?”) that should do big things on TikTok. We'll see if it's enough to knock Richman out of wonder status on his first try after that “Million,” but it sure sounds like another potential crush.

Luke Combs, Fathers and Sons

Happy Father's Day from Luke Combs! The country superstar has announced his new album, Fathers and Sons, just a week ago, planning to release just before the patriarch-holiday. The album, which was previewed last Friday (June 7) by the single “The Man He Sees in Me,” is a predictably emotional and heartfelt set of tributes to his two sons, Tex Lawrence Combs and Beau Lee Combs, as well as his own father, Chester Combs. Heartwarming (and occasionally tear-jerking) stuff, of course — though some of us who prefer the less sentimental version of Combs might stick to his prime Twisters: The album The hit “Ain't No Love in Oklahoma” soundtrack when making our summer playlists.

Don Toliver, Hardstone Psycho

Lt. Cactus Jack returns with his fourth studio album with fast-paced trap beats and piercing R&B vocals. by Don Toliver Hardstone Psycho is divided into four sections of four tracks each and includes breakthrough singles (and Billboard Hot 100 hits) “Bandit” and “Attitude” (featuring Charlie Wilson, Cash Cobain and a clever sample of Pharrell's hook from “Beautiful ” by Snoop Dogg). Additional guests include Future and Metro Boomin on “Purple Rain,” label boss Travis Scott on “Ice Age,” and Kodak Black on “Brother Stone,” while other inspired samples include a dynamic Whitney Houston singing “Exhale (Shoop, Shoop)” in “Glock.”

Pharrell, “Double Life”

Pharrell plus the Despicable Me franchise always equals pure pop soundtrack gold, right? Perhaps, although this new entry from the upcoming The despicable me 4 The film probably doesn't sound exactly like you'd expect: “Double Life” leads a growling guitar riff, punchy chorus harmonies and an action-packed bridge into perhaps Pharrell's most dramatically high-stakes soundtrack single yet. “It doesn't matter if you got heads or tails/ You just don't like flippin' all the time,” a double-P track ties in on the chorus, sounding more like it's trying to match “One Night in Bangkok” than “Happy.”

NxWorries, Why Lawd?

Yes, it's his return but superduo with R&B critical favorite Anderson .Paak. We haven't gotten a full-length from NxWorries, which pairs .Paak with underground favorite hip-hop producer Knxwledge, since 2016 — with .Paak also experiencing pop stardom in between as one half of Silk Sonic with Bruno Mars. The new project Why Lawd? may not experience this level of chart-topping success, but it should be a delight for long-time fans of the producer and singer – with 19 tracks of chill grooves, also soundtracked by big names like HER, Earl Sweatshirt, Snoop Dogg and R&B legend Charlie Wilson, who seems to be everywhere in 2024.