New Music Friday: Olivia Rodrigo, Charli xcx, and Lola Young lead this week's essential releases

New Music Friday picks for this week

This week's New Music Friday brings a strong batch of releases worth your time. According to Billboard, the highlights include Olivia Rodrigo's second single from her forthcoming album You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love, Charli xcx's latest album tease, and Lola Young stepping back into the spotlight with a co-write from James Blake. Here is a breakdown of the most essential drops.

Olivia Rodrigo, "The Cure"

Olivia Rodrigo leans hard into her indie-rock side on "The Cure," a nearly five-minute song built around a recurring guitar riff that opens the track from its first chord. The song shifts gear in its final minute with a sped-up bridge, which, Billboard notes, makes the name of her upcoming Unraveled Tour feel a lot more fitting. It is the second single from You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love.

Charli xcx, "SS26"

"SS26" is the second single from Charli xcx's upcoming album, and it does not sound much like the divisive lead single "Rock Music." The track is surprisingly mid-tempo, puts her vocals front and center, and leans on a subtle fuzzy riff throughout. The lyrical concept frames the end of the world through the lens of a fashion collection, closing on: "Nothing's gonna save us, not music, fashion, or film."

Lola Young, "From Down Here"

Following her Grammy win for best pop solo performance with "Messy," Lola Young is back with "From Down Here," co-written and co-produced by James Blake. His production instincts are audible across the track's layered arrangement, which Billboard describes as a "plush sonic playground" for Young's vocals.

Also worth noting

• Bleachers release focus track "we should talk" from their fifth album, everyone for ten minutes, out May 22. The pop-rock song meditates on the gap between the life you lived and the one closing in.
• Blondshell opens a new cycle with "Heart Has To Work So Hard," a track she describes as being about "friendship and betrayal" but also "a love so enduring that you find compassion no matter what."

All five of these land on the new releases playlist as strong candidates for weekend listening.