Billboard’s First Stream 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, Eminem’s got another surprise, Paul McCartney has a message in the pandemic, and Why Don’t We pay tribute to Billy Corgan. Check out all of this week’s First Stream picks below:
The Album That Underlines Its Creator’s Relentlessness:
Eminem, Music To Be Murdered By (Side B)
Releasing one surprise full-length in 2020 simply wasn’t enough for Eminem, who returns with an 16-song “Side B” to his No. 1 album from earlier this year, Music To Be Murdered By. And while the new project features team-ups with mentor Dr. Dre and R&B savant Ty Dolla $ign, the second half of Music To Be Murdered By feels like a thank-you to diehard fans who, 20 years after the landmark Marshall Mathers LP, still devour every piece of Slim Shady wordplay and pop culture reference. Since 2017’s Revival, Eminem has been generous with his recorded output and unyielding in his social critiques; this new full-length is ostensibly the sound of a hall of famer putting up more points on the scoreboard.
The Album That Beautifully Defies Time:
Paul McCartney, McCartney III
For those who need to brush up on their Macca history, McCartney III is a sequel to the rock legend’s 1970 album McCartney and 1980’s McCartney II; although it took him four decades to return to the series, he’s done so in a way that abides by those albums’ stripped-back, lovingly solo approaches. Recorded during the pandemic lockdown, McCartney III ends the year on a note of resilience at an unprecedented moment in history, reflecting on the world at large from a perspective of an icon with nothing left to prove. In the midst of the masterful pop craft is “Deep Deep Feeling,” a centerpiece that stretches beyond the eight-minute mark and jerks in several different directions, as if demonstrating that McCartney will never let his songwriting ambitions slip away.
The Song That Will Have You Dusting Off Your Melon Collie CD:
Why Don’t We, “Slow Down”
The Smashing Pumpkins’ “1979” is a stone-cold classic single, and no reworking is going to change that. Ascendant boy band Why Don’t We understand this to be true, and so instead of trying to one-up “1979,” the sample that serves as the bedrock of new single “Slow Down” pays homage to the original and introduces a new generation to its magic. In a pop landscape where guitars are being slowly reintroduced to top 40 radio, “Slow Down” could feasibly serve as Why Don’t We’s long-sought breakthrough at the format — and if not, the track will still collect a ton of TikTok adaptations.
The Song That Watches a K-Pop Group Prepare for a Major Year:
TWICE, “Cry For Me”
“Cry For Me,” the new single by K-pop group TWICE, was co-produced by Ryan Tedder, and indeed sounds like an attempt for greater U.S. exposure: with an elastic hook that makes use of the group’s harmonies and swerves into a hip-hop approach, the track bottles up a sense of vitriol that’s still digestible on top 40 radio. TWICE has spent 2020 expanding their sonic palette, most notably on the sophomore album Eyes Wide Open; if “Cry For Me” isn’t a breakout single, it certainly sets up what could be a major 2021 for the group.
The Album That Refuses To Bow To Convention:
Mike Posner, Operation: Wake Up
A few years removed from his commercial resurgence with “I Took a Pill In Ibiza,” Mike Posner has not stopped pushing his creativity into unkempt territory: today, he’s back with a surprise album that is a pitch-black L.A. rap opera that takes place over a 48-hour period. Operation: Wake Up is not for the faint at heart and unpacks a lot of different emotions related to mental health, but “Weaponry,” a poetic collaboration with Jessie J, shows that Posner can still dabble in pop appeal when he wants to.