New Music Friday: Westside Cowboy, Jorja Smith, DMA'S, Cruz Beckham and more
Fresh from the Top 10 success of Boston, STELLA LEFTY builds on her momentum with debut album Long Way Home, offering a fuller introduction to one of pop’s most exciting new voices.
What are the odds of Jorja Smith landing her first Number 1 album? Her third LP What Are The Odds sees the Walsall star reunite with longtime collaborator P2J for a dance-focused record, with Wizkid guesting on Alive and Devlin joining her for This City, a reworking of his 2010 cult favourite London City. Jorja boasts an unbroken Official Albums Chart Top 10 run, with debut Lost & Found (3), 2021 project Be Right Back (9) and 2023’s falling or flying (3).
Paul Heaton marks four decades on record with Jenius, his 23rd album arriving almost exactly 40 years after The Housemartins’ debut London 0 Hull 4. Produced by The Lightning Seeds’ Ian Broudie in Manchester, Paul is joined again by regular live vocalist Rianne Downey, while Declan O’Rourke guests on The Whisky Did. Its title comes with typically self-deprecating Heaton humour: “If anybody ever calls me a genius, I always say, ‘What?! With a J?!’”
Almost 19 years after its original release, Girls Aloud revisit one of their most-loved eras with a deluxe edition of Tangled Up. Alongside rarities and remixes, it unlocks two previously unreleased tracks - What’s A Girl To Do and My Heart - while chart-topping Sugababes team-up Walk This Way appears on an album for the first time. The original Tangled Up peaked at Number 4 in 2007, spawning three Top 10 singles in Sexy! No No No… (5), Call The Shots (3) and Can’t Speak French (9), and has since shifted 524,000 UK chart units and counting.
Sam Smith turns the page on fifth studio album Hazel Eyes, inspired by requited love and the New York life they now call home. Created with longtime collaborator Simon Aldred and partly recorded at Electric Lady Studios, it blends baroque pop, British folk, outlaw country and left-field R&B, with Feist and Shahzad Ismaily also among its collaborators. Sam brings serious Official Albums Chart form: In The Lonely Hour, The Thrill Of It All and Gloria have all reached Number 1 in the UK.
Five albums in, DMA’S go self-titled. Recorded between the Aussie trio’s Sydney studio and Los Angeles, the record continues to expand the sound that’s built them a sizeable UK following. Their chart trajectory has been moving in the right direction, too: 2023’s How Many Dreams? became their highest-charting studio album to date when it reached Number 3 on the Official Albums Chart.
Cruz Beckham releases his debut EP Wear & Tear, produced in its entirety by Justin Raisen and Lewis Pesacov and recorded alongside his band The Breakers. The project captures what Cruz calls “a life lived” - the good, the bad and the “learning curves” in between. WANNABE (not that one) serves as its focus track. The EP follows Cruz’s inaugural US tour and arrives amid a busy live summer that also includes festival appearances at Reading & Leeds and Rock N Roll Circus.
Just 18 months after Official Dance Albums Chart-topper Service Station at the End of the Universe, Antony Szmierek returns with Decoding Birdsong. Made in Bristol with longtime collaborator Max Rad, the record expands the Manchester poet’s spoken-word-meets-electronic world through collaborations with Pretty Girl, Los Bitchos, 1-800 GIRLS, Imogen and the Knife and Ellur. Antony describes it as a record about “choosing to believe in something” and treating “coincidence as a religion”, exploring luck, loneliness and the meaning we attach to everyday signs. An autumn headline tour includes London’s O2 Kentish Town Forum and Manchester Academy.
British soul favourite Cleo Sol makes a welcome return with Gentlewoman, her fifth studio album and first since 2023’s Gold. Speaking of which...
Blue. Green. Red. White. Teal. Black. And now...Gold. Weezer continue their long-running self-titled tradition with studio album number 20, this time known as the Gold Album. Produced by Klas Åhlund and Kenneth Blume, formerly known as Kenny Beats, the record also features Wednesday frontwoman Karly Hartzman on We Might As Well Be Strangers. Their most recent conventional studio LP, 2021’s Van Weezer, peaked at Number 8 on the Official Albums Chart.
Finally, British electronic duo Maribou State release a deluxe edition of their 2025 Top 10 album Hallucinating Love, featuring demo versions of the original tracks. It arrives ahead of the pair's headline LIDO Festival set at London's Victoria Park on August 31.
Now, onto singles.
New Music Friday singles 🎶
Jamie T dials up the nostalgia on 3310, an ode to the seemingly indestructible Nokia brick of Millennial legend. It previews sixth album Ghosts (100 Days of Morning), out October 9, following 2022 chart-topper The Theory of Whatever. Jamie’s also scored five UK Top 10 albums, while Calm Down Dearest remains his biggest single (9).
The Glitter anniversary era begins! Mariah Carey teams up with Rochelle Jordan for a sleek new remix of Didn’t Mean To Turn You On, first released on her 2001 soundtrack album. The rework previews Glitter’s 25th anniversary reissue, arriving October 30 with a few surprises in tow. The original album reached Number 10 on the Official Albums Chart.
Fontaines D.C. enter a darker new chapter with Marianne, the cinematic lead single from fifth album Dopamine Chamber, out October 16. Partly inspired by Netflix thriller Ripley, it follows 2024’s Number 2 album Romance and the Dublin rockers’ first UK Top 40 single, 2025’s It’s Amazing To Be Young (39).
Chaka Khan gets inquisitive on Curious Subject, co-written with Sia and Greg Kurstin and lifted from new album Chakzilla, out September 18. Meanwhile, Arielle Free makes her Black Book Records debut with hypnotic house cut 'Cause I Can, featuring a commanding Idris Elba vocal that nods to his Daily Duppy performance while giving it a fresh club-ready spin.
Agnes Obel previews her first album in six years, The Meaning of Flowers, with new single Laymelli; a typically spellbinding introduction to a record exploring birth, growth, metamorphosis and our connection to the natural world.
Shaking up the charts of late, French DJ and producer HUGEL continues his hot streak with new cut Bad Bitch featuring Sexyy Red and Gatano, while Sonny Fodera unites with dance music powerhouse Becky Hill on Say Something.
Keeping things club-ready, HoneyLuv gets High In Ibiza, Pegassi drops Ascension, and Tiësto puts his own spin on KUKO’s Voicemail with a brand-new remix.
Can you rewrite this?
Irish outfit Bleech 9:3 have released their first single since their pulsating self-titled EP titled Figure 8, which is quoted to be "the product of crying quietly so your flatmates don't hear you."
There’s no forgetting North London star Eric IV’s new track Amnesia, a song he says “encapsulates the art of seduction between myself and the muse in question.”
Malta’s own AIDAN is living la dolce vita with his latest sun-drenched single, fresh from reaching the Eurovision Grand Final with Bella. Lifted from latest album Cowboys Don’t Cry, Dolce Vita arrives ahead of his biggest headline show yet, THE SHOW 2026, taking over Malta’s MFCC on September 5.
Can you also make this snappier?
Mac Miller has posthumously unveiled Butterflies, which will appear alongside two other unreleased tracks on the 10th anniversary of his album, The Divine Feminine. Moreover, British rap royalty Central Cee wants you on his side with The Team, this year's definitive soundtrack to the upcoming Premier League season, which kicks off tonight.
Elsewhere, Rex Orange County reunites with Daniel Caesar on Indecision, while KATSEYE PINKY UP co-writer Sorana steps into the spotlight with E.T. Talia Mar is also back with A Bitch Always Knows, while BEKS recruits Bentley Robles on the VNSSA remix of Melodrama.
Also among this week’s new releases are RIVER’s City of thirst, The Buoys’ Alone in Vegas, Gizmo’s brilliantly-titled Antiques Roadshow, Juli von Lou’s Honky Tonk Angels, Myke Towers’ Carita Feliz, World News’ The Way It Goes, Martin Luke Brown’s highest high, Alien Chicks’ Madmen, NOAHFINNCE’s TOO SENSITIVE and Dandelion’s ONONON.
Rounding things out are the likes of Balu Brigada (BedHead), Blu DeTiger (Feel Good), Shygirl (Alyse), Beck (Ride Lonesome), Remi Wolf (Bottle), The Hellflowers (Wild Ones), Dean Lewis (From Ember To Ash To Smoke), Jasper Hodges (Bound To Leave) and Dexter and The Moonrocks (It’s A Lot).