New Music Friday: Gracie Abrams, Drake, and Tove Lo lead a packed week of releases

A lot to process on one Friday

Some weeks the New Music Friday queue is manageable. This is not one of those weeks. According to Billboard, the headline releases span pop, rap, and indie, and between them they add up to a serious amount of listening time.

Gracie Abrams opens the door to Daughter From Hell

Lead single "Hit the Wall" is the first taste of Abrams' fourth album, Daughter From Hell. Her collaborator Aaron Dessner teased the project on Instagram earlier this week, describing music that "expands their musical vocabulary and pushes into uncharted waters sonically." The single itself is airy but lyrically dense, with imagery that leans into cycles of anxiety and silence. If this is where the album starts, the rest of it should land hard.

Drake delivers three projects in one day

After teasing Iceman, Drake arrived with not one but three bodies of work: Iceman, Maid of Honour, and Habibti. The three releases combine for 43 tracks and nearly two and a half hours of music, pushing his solo full-length discography into double digits. The Iceman focus track, "Ran to Atlanta," features Future and Molly Santana and is one of only two guest appearances on that project. Maid of Honour and Habibti are busier on the features side, with Sexyy Red, Central Cee, and PARTYNEXTDOOR among the names involved. His previous solo album, For All the Dogs, came out in 2023.

Tove Lo ends a four-year silence

Tove Lo has not released an album since Dirt Femme in 2022, and new single "I'm Your Girl Right?" makes the wait feel longer in retrospect. The track sits between mid-tempo pop and dance floor territory, which is exactly where she tends to do her best work. It serves as the lead single for ESTRUS, her sixth album, due September 18.

Also worth your time

• Rostam releases his third solo album, American Stories, featuring standout track "Hardy" with Clairo. His previous album, Changephobia, came out in 2021.
• Jorja Smith offers "What's Done Is Done," a track that pairs her expected silky vocals with a heavier, synth-and-bass-driven production that fits the basement club energy of its music video.