The summer heat may be showing no signs of letting up one week into August, but neither does the season's red-hot release schedule of new music.
Amaarae shines on Black Star, Bailey Zimmerman stampedes through Different Night Same Rodeo, Big Freedia paints a portrait of gospel-rooted resilience on Pressing Onward, The Black Keys unveil No Rain, No Flowers and Miley Cyrus gifts fans with five new edits from Something Beautiful.
Elsewhere, Good Charlotte checks into Motel Du Cap on their first full-length in nearly seven years, J.I.D insists God Does Like Ugly on his fourth studio set and Jeremy Jordan, Lizzy McAlpine and company shed gorgeous light the real-life story of a doomed 20th century cave explorer on the long-awaited original Broadway cast recording of Floyd Collins.
As far as new songs go, Laufey finds inspiration in the story of "Snow White," keshi makes his desires clear on "WANTCHU," Lucy Dacus surprises with dual singles "Bus Back to Richmond" and "More Than Friends," KATSEYE remix "Gabriela" with help from Young Miko and Disclosure partner with Anderson .Paak for "NO CAP."
Plus, Lauren Alaina puts the "Little Things" in perspective, Ole 60 insist they "Really Wanna Know," Hit-Boy joins forces with Spank Nitti James for "Eat Couch" and Wolf Alice drops "White Horses."
Below, press play on 10 new releases to soundtrack your weekend, from new songs by Ed Sheeran and Marshmello with Jelly Roll to albums from Gunna, Jonas Brothers, mgk and more.
Ed Sheeran — "A Little More"
Someone hacked Ed Sheeran's social media accounts last week, with the singer's official headquarters warning fans that the shadowy, redheaded figure in an orange hoodie dating back to circa 2011 had posted an unreleased track that just so happened to be a "total banger" to Sheeran's profile.
The rascal-y troublemaker in question turned out to be none other than Rupert Grint, who last co-starred with the then-nascent pop star in the music video for his +-era single "Lego House." Nearly 15 years after that album earned Sheeran his first trio of GRAMMY nominations, the superstar has reteamed with his celebrity doppelgänger for "A Little More," the latest single off his forthcoming eighth album, Play.
The cheeky music video for the track picks up right where the "Lego House" narrative left off, with Grint's character being released from prison after a 14-year stint for, well, sort of stalking Sheeran. This time, however, the "Sapphire" singer is utterly inescapable despite his best efforts to stay on the straight and narrow. Just wait until Grint pulls back the veil of his bride on his wedding day (and stick around for the first dance!).
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Gunna follows last year's One of Wun with both a sequel and a self-pronounced ending in the form of The Last Wun.
Across a whopping 25 tracks, the rapper makes yet another bid for hip-hop greatness with help from A-list pals like Offset ("at my purest"), Burna Boy ("wgft"), Wizkid ("forever be mine"). However, the vast majority of the album finds Gunna ably handling the mic all on his own, including on previously released singles like "him all along" and "won't stop," which close out the full-length with a certified one-two punch.
For their seventh album, Greetings From Your Hometown, Jonas Brothers brought their music back to its roots, transporting themselves back to the New Jersey family room where their musical ambitions as both a band and brothers began.
Whether or not the project outsells Kelly Clarkson — as they once prepubescently predicted on "Year 3000" — the siblings' new music is a testament to the old adage that home is where the heart is, whether they're tapping into their early love for the Bee Gees on disco-infused single "No Time To Talk," harmonizing their way through standout ballad "When You Know" or enlisting Switchfoot to help deliver the sentimental "Greetings" of the title track.
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Bryson Tiller — 'The Vices'
The Vices is just one half of Bryson Tiller's upcoming double album, Solace & The Vices, which is slated to be unveiled in full on Oct. 2.
Taking cues from the duality of now-classic projects like Nelly's 2004 concept albums Sweat and Suit, The Vices leans hard into the artist's rap persona, featuring guest appearances from the likes of Rick Ross ("Mini Kelly"), Plies and T-Pain ("200 Bands"), Bun B ("Burnout") and more. Meanwhile, Solace will reportedly complement the hip-hop-induced sounds of the newly-released installment with a return to Tiller's well-documented R&B roots.
BABYMETAL enlist virtually everyone who's anyone in the metal scene to contribute to the kawaii stylings of their aptly titled fifth full-length, METAL FORTH.
Not only is the album the first to feature member Momometal since she was promoted from Avenger status in 2023, its 10-song track list is packed to the gills with a truly diverse array of guest features — from Poppy on melodic opener "from me to u" and Slaughter to Prevail on "Song 3" to Tom Morello on the hard-charging "METALI!!," India's Bloodywood on the chant-ready "Kon! Kon!" and even Bring Me the Horizon's Jordan Fish behind the boards as an executive producer.
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Marshmello x Jelly Roll — "Holy Water"
Pour one out for "Holy Water," Marshmello's link-up with Jelly Roll. The song pays tribute to the sudden passing of an unnamed friend as the latter mourns, "One tear for the brokenhearted/ Pour out a little holy water/ Two tears for the soul departed/ Pour out a little holy water."
Despite its sad subject matter, the high-profile collab appears to have earned Jelly Roll some serious street cred at home, with the four-time GRAMMY nominee gleefully announcing, "MY SON FINALLY THINKS I'M COOL!!" alongside a video of the DJ presenting him with a "Jelly Mello" helmet — complete with recreations of his famous face tattoos to boot.
Zach Bryan and Kings of Leon are "in it for the long haul" on their new single "Bowery." The rootsy track arrives just weeks after "Madeline," the first preview of the country singer's long-gestating EP With Heaven on Top, and finds him matching tones with the rock band's frontman Caleb Followill as they sing, "You picked the wrong one if you're in it for the long run/ I got the passion but I don't give it away/ But when the time's right, I'm a hell of a good night."
For his part, the country singer seems positively bowled over to be working with the "Use Somebody" GRAMMY winners, calling the collaboration the "honor of [his] life" in a proud Instagram post announcing the duet.
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Ethel Cain — 'Willoughby Tucker, I'll Always Love You'
The fact that Ethel Cain's hotly anticipated sophomore full-length contains a mere 10 songs on its track list is a welcome deception, considering the singer's love letter to one Willoughby Tucker clocks in at an hour and 13 minutes by the end of the ambitious closer (which, for the record, runs at more than 15 minutes alone).
As it turns out, pre-release singles "Nettles" and "F— Me Eyes" only hinted at the grandeur and mythmaking contained in Willoughby Tucker, I'll Always Love You. Emotional centerpiece "Dust Bowl" unfurls a creeping tale of 8th grade death pacts and drive-in movies with the "pretty boy, natural blood-stained blonde" that turned out to be Cain's first love.
Meanwhile, instrumentals like "Willoughby's Theme" and "Radio Towers" add haunting foreshadowing to the cyclone of destruction that arrives on penultimate track "Tempest" and leaves Cain lamenting, "I never meant to hurt you/ But somehow, I knew I would/ Will it be like this forever?" on that aforementioned closer, "Waco, Texas."
Following his high-profile singles with Shaboozey and Bailey Zimmerman, BigXthaPlug completes a hat trick of countryfied collabs for the year 2025 by teaming up with Ella Langley for the scathing "Hell At Night."
With her Southern twang, Langley lays the foundation of heartbreak and revenge on the opening verse: "I hope it's hell at night/ Straight through the mornin'," she sings on the subsequent hook. But it's the rapper who really lets it rip with a laundry list of less-than-well wishes for an unlucky ex like, "I hope you finally find some love and every day he hurts your feelings" and "I hope you have a nightmare every single day of your life." Ouch.
"All the pages are blank till my life goes to s—/ I know I do that on purpose just to write again," mgk confesses early on "outlaw overture," the exhilarating, gear-shifting opener to his seventh album, lost americana.
The artist formerly known as Machine Gun Kelly is the king giving himself a clean musical slate, — as evidenced by his skillful pivots from Cleveland rapper to pop-punk revivalist to emo sad boy and back again — and if Bob Dylan narrating the album trailer was any indication, he'd be reinventing himself once again on the new full-length.
Mgk's latest left turn blasts straight down the interstate through America's heartland, retaining some of the crunchy guitars and bright melodies he delivered on 2020's Tickets to My Downfall and 2022's GRAMMY-nominated mainstream sellout while adding dashes of synth and interpolations of Third Eye Blind to the, frankly, raucously fun proceedings.