Friday Music Guide: Linkin Park, Halsey, Megan Thee Stallion & RM and More

Andrew Unterberger
·4 min read

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, Linkin Park is back with a new frontwoman, Halsey suffers a hard-earned ego death, A$AP Rocky is swagged out on his way to church, Camila Cabello makes a return trip to Magic City and much more. Check out all of this week’s picks below.

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Linkin Park, “The Emptiness Machine”

Yes, Linkin Park are back — with a new tour, a new singer, and a new single, “The Emptiness Machine.” You can read all about the story behind their remarkable comeback here, including how they connected with frontwoman Emily Armstrong of Dead Sara, and you can hear the first sounds of the partnership now with the hard-charging “Machine.” If longtime fans were worried the band’s new lineup would feel too far removed from their classic sound, they should be pretty easily won over by the time of the new song’s chorus, which could not feel more textbook LP as Armstrong belts: “Let you cut me open just to watch me bleed/ Gave up who I am for who you wanted me to be/ Don’t know why I’m hopin’ for what I won’t receive/ Fallin’ for the promise of the emptiness machine.”

Halsey, “Ego”

With an October 25 release date now set for her The Great Impersonator album, Halsey is giving fans at least one more advance taste of the new LP with this week’s “Ego.” The dizzying pop-rock blast is absolutely prime Halsey, a lyrically frenetic plea to “go back to the beginning, when it all felt right… didn’t give a f–k if I was winning,” with a brutal refrain admitting “I’m really not as happy as I seem… I’m really not that happy being me.” It’s a welcome reminder that 10 years into their career, Halsey remains one of the most vital songwriters and performers in either pop or rock.

Megan Thee Stallion feat. RM, “Neva Play”

Following the exciting LP releases from both earlier this year — Right Place, Wrong Time in May and Megan in June — RM and Megan Thee Stallion link up for the first time this week for the one-off “Neva Play.” The song’s speeding-up geiger counter of a beat prompts both artists to keep coming harder, as Megan spits “Money talks, and it’s my first language,” and RM meets her with “We just bossin’, pour out the sauces in the face of the big bosses.” The all-star collab has an anime-inspired music video, because of course it does.

A$AP Rocky feat. J. Cole, “Ruby Rosary”

The slow drip of new songs from A$AP Rocky’s upcoming Don’t Be Dumb continues with the slow piano creep of the Alchemist-produced “Ruby Rosary,” with the rapper spitting about his jewel-encrusted religious necklace and generally phenomenal swag (“They ain’t seen drip like this since Rick the Ruler”). Last year’s assist king J. Cole also comes through for a guest verse, but don’t ask him for him to repeat his previous highlights: “When they ask for the old you, ignore ’em,” he advises. “Goin’ backwards is borin’, b–ch, and I’m not Michael Jordan, I don’t do the retro.”

Camila Cabello, C,XOXO – Magic City Edition

Camila Cabello released fourth solo album C,XOXO back in June to somewhat mixed critical and commercial reaction — though even its biggest critics would have to admit the album was pretty interesting, if nothing else. It’s even more fascinating now in its extended Magic City Edition reissue, which tacks on four new songs, including the pulse-racing “Baby Pink,” the frisky “Can Friends Kiss?” and the thundering now-closer “Godspeed.” These new pieces don’t necessarily make the C,XOXO puzzle feel complete, but they do make the final image even more sprawling, weird and beautiful.

Fred again.., Ten Days

Prolific U.K. dance sensation Fred again.. released three installments in his Actual Life LP series in about an 18-month period over 2021 and 2022, but it’s been almost two years now since his latest full-length. The (very minor) drought is now over with this week’s release of Ten Days, with a loaded guest list featuring Sampha, The Japanese House, Anderson .Paak, country legend Emmylou Harris and of course, supertrio producer buds Skrillex and Four Tet. Like Fred’s previous albums, it’s a huge album built around small moments, like Irish singer-songwriter SOAK admitting of a revelatory romantic experience, “I remember thinking to myself… don’t you dare get used to this,” on early highlight “Just Stand There,” or the producer himself singing “You’re further away now than you used to be/ But darling I saw you and you saw me” on album centerpiece “I Saw You.”

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