Essential New Music Drops: Major Releases from Carly Rae Jepsen, Miley Cyrus, Neil Young, and More

With an endless stream of new music arriving on streaming platforms every single week, navigating the vast landscape of contemporary releases can quickly become an overwhelming task for even the most dedicated music enthusiast. To help listeners cut through the noise, weekly music roundups offer a curated guide to the most significant new drops available across digital service providers. This week’s extensive batch of releases features major new albums from veteran pop icons, indie rock stalwarts, electronic innovators, and critically acclaimed hip-hop artists, providing a diverse cross-section of sounds for audiences to explore.

Carly Rae Jepsen: Day and Night [School Boy/Interscope]

Carly Rae Jepsen continues to prove that she is having more fun than almost anyone else in the modern pop landscape. That is the overarching takeaway from Day and Night, her expansive new 24-track double LP that arrives via School Boy and Interscope Records. Split neatly into two halves—much like a versatile convertible slip dress—the album spans a wide array of themes that chronicle her life, including marrying her husband, traveling across Europe, and starting a family.

Given its massive scope and generous tracklist, listening to Day and Night can occasionally feel like sorting through a treasure trove of demos from her personal archive. However, because this is Carly Rae Jepsen, there is no shortage of brilliant, glittering moments for the keen-eared collector to uncover. Highlights include the scrapbooked travelogue of "Versailles," an unexpected and delightful homage to Serge Gainsbourg on "Blue Skies," and "Amalfi Coast," a track as effervescent and bubbly as a glass of Grand Cru. The sheer density of the project leaves fans with only one lingering question: will listeners eventually be treated to a corresponding double album of B-sides as well?

Empress Of: Dream House [Major Arcana / Giant Music]

The title of Empress Of’s latest studio album carries a deeply bittersweet significance rooted in profound personal tragedy. In January 2025, the Los Angeles native found herself among the many Altadena locals whose family homes were completely destroyed during the devastating Eaton Fire. Empress Of spent the two grueling years between the disaster and the release of Dream House both physically and spiritually rebuilding her life, pouring the literal concrete for a new foundation while simultaneously undertaking the heavy emotional labor required to heal from such a catastrophic loss.

This journey of restoration serves as the central connecting theme of the album, which she co-wrote and co-production with Cecile Believe. The resulting sound provides an ideal anchor for Empress Of’s signature fantastical, club-oriented alt-pop. Featuring notable vocal contributions from Blood Orange and her mother, Reina, the musician offers listeners yet another intimate glimpse into her prismatic world, courageously swinging open the door on the difficult realities of grief and resilience.

Miley Cyrus: Bass Persuades [Atlantic]

Few modern pop stars possess the chameleon-like ability to reinvent themselves quite like Miley Cyrus, a trait that feels entirely natural given that she has operated under the public eye with an alter ego from minute one. From her rebellious "Can’t Be Tamed" era to the maximalist hip-hop-inflected days of Bangerz, and continuing through her 2025 indie rock concept album Something Beautiful, Cyrus has consistently demonstrated a desire to explore fresh facets of her persona.

Her latest full-length project, Bass Persuades, marks her first release under her own mononym and effectively rechristens her as a hybrid club kid and hopeless romantic who spends her nights balancing late-night partying with deep-seated pining. Traditional, heartfelt love songs like "Let’s Get Married" share ample physical space on the tracklist with grittier, industrial-leaning cuts like "Different Religion," the latter of which owes much of its dark sonic palette to the influence of Model/Actriz.

Team Dresch: Furthermore [Jealous Butcher]

The sonic tone of Furthermore, the latest release from iconic punk outfit Team Dresch, remains true to their foundational roots: furious, righteous, and deliciously driving. However, singer and bassist Jody Bleyle infuses her verses with a renewed sense of urgency, an intensity undoubtedly informed by the increasingly suffocating climate of fear, legislation, and subjugation facing LGBTQ+ people around the globe.

"You can’t erase us, we are stars," Bleyle snarls fiercely on the barnstorming track "Growing Underground," driving home the defiant message that queer communities have always existed and will continue to persist. Furthermore broadens its narrative of generational community as an act of resistance beyond the traditional concept of chosen family. Notably, the track "One Song" stars and was explicitly choreographed by Twylo Landey, Bleyle’s daughter. Whether forged through biological ties, spiritual connections, or both, Team Dresch’s triumphant return stands as a timeless victory of the many against the few.

AZ Chike: No Rest for the Wicked [Warner]

AZ Chike has maintained steady momentum within the Los Angeles rap underground for quite some time, but 2024 proved to be a definitive turning point for the distinctive MC following standout appearances on Schoolboy Q’s acclaimed Blue Lips and Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy-winning GNX. His new studio album, No Rest for the Wicked, places him front and center over massive, horn-and-808-heavy production that would feel right at home on a major West Coast release.

Yet, AZ Chike’s signature fluid flow and sharp, observant commentary on street politics ensure that the record shines entirely on its own merits. On the hard-hitting lead single "Look Like My Mama," he holds his own firmly across the booth from Tyler, the Creator, effortlessly channeling the grand, theatrical band energy of Chromakopia without ever running the risk of fading into the background.

Actress: Radical Frame [Ninja Tune]

The music created by British electronic producer Actress functions almost as an entirely distinct genre of its own, defined by the singular way he distorts drone, R&B, grime, dubstep, and techno into smoke-filled synthesizer odysseys. His bleary-eyed chord progressions and pneumatic beats serve as atmospheric pathways into rain-streaked London streets, Berlin concert venues blanketed in thick layers of cigarette haze, and late-night after-parties where eyes are growing heavy but nobody is quite ready to head home.

While the producer has long occupied a definitive space within the Black avant-garde, Radical Frame finds him embracing that title with absolute conviction. He establishes scenes with the precision of an independent film auteur, opening the record with surreal vocal snippets before descending gracefully into a tunnel of static and dark ambient pads. The rhythms remain taut, but the compositions retain Actress’s trademark spaciousness, even as the haunting, spoken-word deliveries of grime MCs Casisdead and Rainy Miller drift into the mix to fill the shadowy crevices.

Beck: Ride Lonesome [Capitol]

Navigating emotional lows has long proven to be fertile creative territory for Beck, cementing his status as one of the great modern bards of melancholy and introspection. For his latest project, Ride Lonesome, the acclaimed artist reunited with the exact core backing band that helped him craft landmark records like Mutations, Sea Change, and Morning Phase: Smokey Hormel, Joey Waronker, Justin Meldal-Johnsen, Roger Joseph Manning Jr., and Jason Falkner.

Tapping back into that deeply resonant creative well, the group delivers a windswept collection of folk, country, and alt-rock compositions. Listeners should not let Beck’s hushed, understated vocal delivery fool them; tracks such as the evocative title track and "Disappearing Act" function as full-fledged, powerful ballads built on emotional weight and sophisticated musicianship.

Beabadoobee: Pylon [Dirty Hit/Interscope]

Regardless of whether Beabadoobee truly believes that the modern dance floor has run its course, one fundamental truth is immediately apparent on her new album, Pylon: she is making rock music again. Following a deliberate stylistic detour into a more stripped-back acoustic register on her 2024 effort This Is How Tomorrow Moves, Bea Kristi sheared off her hair and leaned back into the grunge, emo, and 1990s FM rock sounds that originally defined the college-radio, bottle-dye charm of her 2020 debut.

The resulting LP reads like a blown-out tour diary that draws heavy inspiration from aggressive guitar licks and walls of reverb. Across the tracklist, she invites a roster of musical idols and close friends who shaped her artistic taste to contribute, enlisting talent ranging from Hayley Williams and Turnstile frontman Brendan Yates to Title Fight’s Shane Moran, alongside production duties handled by Matty Healy and George Daniel on the standout track "Write Me a Letter."

Boy Harsher: Get Mean [Atlantic]

Exploring darker sonic territory might seem like an unnecessary venture for a duo already bearing the name Boy Harsher, but Jae Matthews and Augustus Muller dive headfirst into the abyss on their latest album, Get Mean. The pair takes their signature, sui generis blend of EBM, darkwave, and industrial music into raw, painful new dimensions to accurately reflect the harrowing real-life circumstances under which the record was written: the painful dissolution of their romantic relationship.

However, Get Mean is not exclusively a document of endings. The project uses the sunset of one romance as a springboard to introduce the band’s burgeoning interest in unexpected sonic elements, incorporating pedal steel guitars, New Romantic textures, and a subtle touch of pure pop cheekiness. Matthews summarizes the ethos of the record with striking brevity: it is simply "what I had to give during the most extreme period of my life."

Kristin Hersh: Sugar on Blackstone [Fire]

Listeners can almost hear the salty Atlantic waves crashing against rugged New England shorelines on Kristin Hersh’s Sugar on Blackstone, a raw and spectral collection of indie-rock vignettes deeply rooted in her memories of growing up in Providence, Rhode Island. The album’s title directly references a local city street she walked countless times before eventually relocating across the United States.

Collaborating with Rob Ahlers of 50FootWave alongside drummer-turned-cellist Pete Harvey, Hersh deliberately keeps her backing ensemble minimal to maintain an intense focus on her complex lyrical reflections regarding the passage of time and the eventual liberation found in loss. As she remarked in promotional materials for the emotional centerpiece track "101 Run," the song captures a feeling of being "blissed out and pissed off, lost on some adventure, trying to get home, running down the 101 in the sunshine," concluding that she could hardly have asked for much more from life.

Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts: Second Song [Reprise]

A true bridge between eras is established on Neil Young’s latest full-length release, which marks the milestone 50th studio album of his legendary career while serving as only his second outing with his backing band, the Chrome Hearts. Recorded at Shangri-La in Malibu and expertly produced by the legendary Lou Adler, Second Song blends historical material with contemporary compositions. Tracks such as "Casting Me Away From You" and "I’ll Love You Forever" were actually written back in the 1960s, whereas other pieces were brought to life during fresh studio sessions.

Among the newer additions is the sprawling, 11-minute title track, which stands as a towering, poignant meditation on the realities of aging and a rapidly changing world. "I need to talk to someone, someone who smiles and answers back," Young laments over sparse acoustic guitar and banjo strums underscored by an ultra-soft hi-hat. "Someone as old as I am who still remembers some of that." Thanks to this enduring recording, those memories are safely preserved on record for generations to come.