It's Friday, and yes, on Tuesday, Taylor Swift got engaged. While we all wait to see what a happy, settled and soon-to-be-wed Taylor Swift album could look like, our newest pop royalty, Sabrina Carpenter is still making sense of love and lust in her new album, Man's Best Friend.
Ahead of the 2025 AMERICANAFEST (which you can stream thanks to WMOT in Nashville), folk and country stars are coming into a big weekend as well. Not only does genre veteran Rodney Crowell's new album Airline Highway shine, but he motivates Margo Price to do the same, playing guitar on her album Hard Headed Woman.
Before Stephen Thompson welcomes Jessie Scott from WMOT in Nashville to dig into this week's massive Americana offerings, NPR Music's Hazel Cills walks us through Sabrina Carpenter's return as well as some shimmery indie-pop highlights.
Listen to the show wherever you get your podcasts and then scroll down to the long list and find your next favorite new album.
The Starting Five
Our hosts share the backstories and best songs from the following albums:
💿 The Beaches, No Hard Feelings (Stream)
- Recommended If You Like: Blondeshell, Wet Leg
💿 The Beths, Straight Line Was A Lie (Stream)
- RIYL: illuminati hotties, Alvvays
💿 Margo Price, Hard Headed Woman (Stream)
- RIYL: Charley Crockett, Sierra Ferrell
💿 Rodney Crowell, Airline Highway (Stream)
- RIYL: Buddy Miller, Emmylou Harris
💿 Anna Tivel, Animal Poem (Stream)
- RIYL: Joan Shelley, S.G. Goodman
New Music Friday is a feature of NPR's All Songs Considered podcast. Hear the discussion on the NPR App, Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
The Lightning Round
Five more albums we wish we had time to discuss on the podcast:
💿 Blood Orange, Essex Honey
💿 Jaelee Roberts, Let Me Be Lonely
💿 Brad Mehldau, Ride Into the Sun
💿 CMAT, EURO-COUNTRY
💿 Tiwa Savage, This One Is Personal
Listen to each album's best songs on our New Music Friday playlists on Spotify and Apple, or wherever you stream music.
The Long List
For those who want to dig even deeper, here are the week's new albums sorted by genre:
Country/Folk/Americana
- Candice Ivory, New Southern Vintage
- Chance Peña, When I Change My Mind I Don't Mean It
- Colbie Caillat, This Time Around
- Connor Selby, The Truth Comes Out Eventually
- Levi Foster, We Made Fire
- Preston Cooper, Toledo Talkin'
- Ron Sexsmith, Hangover Terrace
- Tift Merritt, Time and Patience
- Wynn Williams, Country Therapy
- Zach Top, Ain't In It For My Health
Electronic/Out There
- K-Lone, Pressure EP
- C.R. Gillespie, Island of Women
- Galya Bisengalieva, Polygon Reflections
- Glisz, NO:MAD
- Llasa Petik, Thymia
- Lyder, weird.fishes
- Myd, Mydnight
- NGHTMRE, MINDFULL
- Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthling / Andreas Werliin, Ghosted III
- Rockers Hi-Fi, Mish Mash
- Trinix, Origin
Global
- Guedra Guedra, MUTANT
- The Good Ones, Rwanda Sings with Strings
- Pitbull and IAmChino, UNDERDOGS
- SPINALL, ÈKÓ GROOVE
- V'ghn, Point of View
Jazz
- Christian McBride, Without Further Ado, Vol. 1
- Nate Smith, LIVE-ACTION
- Nicholas Payton, TRIUNE
- Trombone Shorty, Second Line Sunday
- Aruan Ortiz, Créole Renaissance
- Conrad Herwig, Reflections-Facing South
- Dan Rosenbloom, Coordinates
- daoud, ok
- George Coleman, George Coleman with Strings
- Jacob Garchik, Ye Olde 2: At the End of Time
- Roy Ayers, Roy Ayers Delfonic Reworked #1 - EP
Pop
- Belinda Carlisle, Once Upon a Time in California
- John Oates, Oates
R&B/Soul
- Braxton Cook, Not Everyone Can Go
- Maurice Brown, Betta Days
- Nicholas Cole, Blue Magic
- KIRBY, Miss Black America
Rock/Alt/Indie
- Jehnny Beth, You Heartbreaker, You
- Nova Twins, Parasites & Butterflies
- The Hives, The Hives Forever Forever The Hives
- Balu Brigada, Portal
- Big Wild, Wild Child
- Bryan Adams, Roll With The Punches
- Chartreuse, Bless You & Be Well
- Darian Doovan Thomas, A Room With Many Doors: Day
- Dummy, Dump EPs
- End It, Wrong Side of Heaven
- Flyte, Between You and Me
- Forever★, Second Gen Dream
- Fun Lovin' Criminals, A Matter of Time
- Ganser, Animal Hospital
- Hawkwind, Hall of the Mountain Grill (Box Set)
- Jens Kuross, Crooked Songs
- Joseph Shabason, Nicholas Krgovich, Tenniscoats, Wao
- Lathe of Heaven, Aurora
- Lucie Sue, Battlestation
- Marshall Crenshaw, From the Hellhole
- merci, mercy, Don't Take It To Heart
- Modern Nature, The Heat Warps
- Pinkshift, Earthkeeper
- Runnner, A Welcome Kind of Weakness
- Slow Crush, Thirst
- Sowulo, NIHT
- TTSSFU, Blown
- Eiko Ishibashi and Jim O'Rourke, Pareidolia
- Mana Pools, Frederick Street
Credits
- Host: Stephen Thompson
- Guests: Hazel Cills, Jessie Scott (WMOT)
- Audio Producer: Noah Caldwell
- Digital Producer: Elle Mannion
- Editor: Otis Hart
- Production Assistant: Dora Levite
- Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Copyright 2025 NPR
