It's the first New Music Friday of December, which means one thing: it's officially time for holiday music!
This week's new releases feature a giddy grab bag of festive tracks by the likes of BTS' V and Bing Crosby, Ryan Castro and Juanes, and Joaquina. TWICE also got into the holiday spirit with their 14th mini-album, STRATEGY, which features a lovestruck bop filled with warm fuzzies ("Magical") as well as their second collab with Megan Thee Stallion on the title track.
Elsewhere, Dua Lipa released a new live album recorded at London's prestigious Royal Albert Hall; Moby dropped a massive, 58-track LP always centered at night remixes; Travis Japan unveiled their second studio album, VIIsual; and Pure Prairie League celebrated their first release in nearly 20 years with Back On Track.
Plus, Khalid re-upped his latest album with Sincere (Deluxe), Bruses hosted an existential after party with new single "Coma Party," Quinn XCII completed his Mustard Mikes album with his Dinner EP, and Adam Lambert showed off his Broadway bonafides with a special recording of "I Don't Care Much" from his starring role as Emcee in "Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club."
Below, press play on 10 major new releases worth checking out, including ROSÉ's debut solo album, Quavo's country-rap collab with Luke Bryan and Teddy Swims, a vulnerable new single from Sam Fender and more.
It's been a relatively quiet year for Bad Bunny, but he's closing out 2024 with a banger — and a teaser for a fruitful 2025.
The Puerto Rican superstar dropped the pulsing "EL CLúB," a deceitfully upbeat track that sees Bad Bunny yearning for his ex during a night out. "What could my ex be doing? Haven't seen her around for a while/ Could it be she's over me and doing fine?/ While I'm here drunk, wondering," he ponders on the Spanish chorus.
The song's trippy visual mirrors the whirlwind of emotions and sounds Bad Bunny explores on "EL CLúB." But perhaps the most intriguing part of the video comes at the very end, when a clip of a burning bedroom flashes to a cryptic message: "DTMF 2025." While Bad Bunny didn't reveal any further details as of press time, it seems fans should keep a close watch on the three-time GRAMMY winner in the new year.
Just weeks ago, ROSÉ laid bare her ambitions, insecurities and fears on "number one girl," the second single from her wildly anticipated debut solo album. Now the rest of the LP has arrived and if the diaristic songwriting and heart-on-her-sleeve confessions across rosie's 12 tracks are any indication, the BLACKPINK idol indeed backs up her bid for solo stardom with spades of evidence.
Taking its title from the name the singer's closest friends and family know her by, the studio set reintroduces ROSÉ — already ¼ of one of the most famous girl groups in modern music history — on her own unfiltered and unflinching terms.
Many of the shimmering, iridescent tracks on rosie give insight into the idol's highly guarded personal life, whether she's looking back on a masochistic and destructive love affair on highlight "toxic till the end," seeing through that same unnamed ex's immature machinations on the vintage R&B-leaning "gameboy" or staring down a pivotal crossroads in the relationship in the heart-wrenching piano ballad "call it the end."
Quavo, Luke Bryan and Teddy Swims come from wildly different corners of the music industry, but the three stars have a key commonality: they're all Georgia boys and proud of it.
Over a thumping, stomp-and-clap beat, the Migos rapper and "American Idol" judge take turns shouting out their love for peach-grown country days, quail hunts, boiled peanuts and the UGA football team (Go Dawgs!). Swims' unmistakable timbre rips through the camaraderie with a chill-inducing riff to announce the arrival of the song's spotlight-grabbing climax, which sees all three stars declare "That's just how I was raised/ Stuck in my Georgia ways."
Grab your tissues, because Queen Naija's latest single is a tender-hearted ode to motherhood. "Being your mother didn't come with instructions/ So if I mess up, please just know that I love you/ And every night that I lay you down to sleep/ I pray, no matter what the world may bring, I'll protect you."
The special relationship the singer has with her two kids, Chris and Legend, is on full display in the ballad's official visualizer as well, whether they're kicking a soccer ball around the park, baking cookies in PJs or building a fort and snuggling on the couch. And if that's not enough to make your heart swell, just wait for little Legend's adoring dedication to his mom on the track's outro.
On the latest taste from his upcoming third album, People Watching, Sam Fender commits to telling a "Wild Long Lie" for as long as he possibly can in order to hide his inner turmoil.
"And I've gone quiet 'cause my heart/ Is still choking up from a love I tore apart/ Oh, I've got so much pain here, yet so much love/ But it's drowning every inch of my soul," Fender admits on the track's second verse before eventually recognizing, "I think I need to leave this town/ Before I go down" and launching into a guitar-fueled instrumental break that gives sound to his anguish.
Lil Baby is under the Friday night lights on his new single "Touchdown." In the track's Gerald Victor-helmed music video, the rapper plays the quarterback of his hometown football team — repping the number 10 as he leads his fellow players to victory over their rivals.
"I'm the one, ain't nothing two about me/ I'm that n—a, ain't nothing you can do about it," the Atlanta MC brags from the field before bobbing and weaving his way into the end zone for a touchdown. The song is set to be included on the track list of WHAM, Lil Baby's upcoming fourth studio album, alongside previously released singles "5AM" and "Insecurities."
Max McNown and Hailey Whitters are two of the brightest newly minted stars to come out of Nashville in recent years, so it feels fitting that the pair link up for "Roses and Wolves," the fourth pre-release single off McNown's upcoming sophomore album, Night Diving.
The duet finds the country stars reflecting on a wrecked love affair, down to all the late-night drives blasting Jackson Browne and sharing secrets in the blazing firelight.
And yet, the song's message is that life ultimately goes on no matter how bad the heartbreak. After all, as they sing, "People fall and people love and people pass on through/ Guess tomorrow won't see me and you."
Bing Crosby may have never experienced the phenomenon of BTS during his lifetime, but the legendary crooner is now duetting with a member from the K-pop boy band on one of his most iconic Christmas songs.
Ol' Blue Eyes is so synonymous with "White Christmas" that he even starred in the beloved 1954 movie musical named after the Oscar-winning song penned by Irving Berlin. BTS' V pays reverential respect to Crosby's indelible voice on the posthumous duet — complete with a backing choir and all the twinkling bells and cozy harmonies that make the song a timeless Christmas tradition decade after decade.
Ryan Castro just wrapped a successful U.S. tour on the heels of his debut album, El Cantante del Ghetto, and to celebrate, he's tapped Juanes for his latest annual holiday single.
"Chucu Chucu" follows Castro's past festive releases like "Richy El Pichón," "El Pan de Estefanía" and "Mujeriego," and blends the traditional music of his home district of Antioquia, Colombia with his urban reggaeton style. Add in Juanes' flair for Latin pop and an earworm of a hook, and the result is a single that'll have you shaking your hips around the Christmas tree.
Elsewhere amid the rush of holiday releases comes Joaquina's delicate new song, "Aeropuerto."
The 2023 Latin GRAMMYs Best New Artist winner wrote the single after a trip home to visit her great-grandmother for the holidays. "I see this song as a love letter to all your loved ones far away," Joaquina said in a statement. "Telling them that no matter where you are, you always carry a piece of them with you everywhere."
"Aeropuerto" isn't just for the Christmas season, either. The song serves as the latest preview off Joaquina's forthcoming debut album, al romper la burbuja, which is set for release January 31 via Universal Music Latino.