Calling all tortured poets! This week’s round-up of new music is filled with heavy hitters.
Taylor Swift’s long-awaited 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, arrived in the form of a surprise double album on Friday (April 19), which features two major collaborations: Post Malone, whose name is billed on the lead single, “Fortnight,” as well as Florence + The Machine on track eight, “Florida!!!” On Instagram, Swift described the project as “an anthology of new works that reflect events, opinions and sentiments from a fleeting and fatalistic moment in time – one that was both sensational and sorrowful in equal measure. This period of the author’s life is now over, the chapter closed and boarded up. There is nothing to avenge, no scores to settle once wounds have healed. And upon further reflection, a good number of them turned out to be self-inflicted. This writer is of the firm belief that our tears become holy in the form of ink on a page. Once we have spoken our saddest story, we can be free of it.”
Over in the hip-hop world, Nicki Minaj tapped the star-studded trio of Travis Scott, Chris Brown and Sexyy Red to join her for the “FTCU (Sleeze Mix).” In its 18th week on the Hot 100, “FTCU” sits at No. 79 after peaking at No. 15. The Pink Friday 2 track should receive a chart boost thanks to the “Sleeze Mix.”
In the rock genre, Pearl Jam dropped their 12th studio album, Dark Matter. The album, which arrive via Monkeywrench Records/Republic Records, spans 11 numbers, including the previously-released midtempo cut “Wreckage” and the title track, which powered to No. 1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay and Rock & Alternative Airplay Charts.
DJ Snake and Peso Pluma also teamed up for the dance floor hit “Teka,” which dropped just in time for Peso’s performance at Coachella weekend two.
With so many great music options available this weekend, we want to know which is your favorite. Check out our Friday Music Guide here, and let us know by voting in our poll below.
