New Music Friday – August 29, 2025

August 29, 2025 Ben Pagani

This New Music Friday features a release from one the world’s biggest music stars. There are plenty of exciting albums out now, including drops from Hayley Williams and one of New Zealand’s greatest musical exports, The Beths. Scroll down to view a full list of top records out this week. First, here’s a deep-dive on the most-talked about album out today.

The Best of New Music Friday:

Sabrina Carpenter – Man’s Best Friend

In the year of the “performative male,” pop superstar Sabrina Carpenter has dropped her highly anticipated seventh studio album, complete with 12 tracks, Man’s Best Friend. Carpenter is on top of the world right now because of her recent single “Manchild,” which found its place at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in June, and her new record’s striking album cover. The image features a man holding back Carpenter’s hair while she’s down on all fours. She says this album is “not for the pearl clutchers.” Also, if you’re a man who likes to drink matcha and hide your disposable vape up your oversized Uniqlo work jacket sleeve while pretending to read Bell Hooks at coffee shop window counters, this album is a humorous call out on your pathetic and privileged little life.

Carpenter is the most explicit version of herself yet on Man’s Best Friend. The lyrics are sexual, powerful and vulnerable. On “Tears,” she sings “I get wet at the thought of you being a responsible guy // Treating me like you’re supposed to do, tears run down my thighs.” She leaves little to the imagination, especially in the song’s music video.

“My Man On Willpower” is the most experimental song here. The track opens with fun synths that carry the beat, and Carpenter shyly sings “He’s clingy, he’s loving, he always initiates // Callin’ and touching, it feels like just yesterday,” before a pedal steel carries this fun tune to the end.

“You can go like, ‘Oh, we can all sigh ‘relief’,” Carpenter said of her new album. “This is just fun. And that’s all it has to be.”

Man’s Best Friend is a commentary on this current moment in pop and internet culture. It’s a tad goofy (in a good way), never takes itself too seriously and delivers a performance that the masses can enjoy for now, until the next cycle of mainstream whatever comes along.

New Music Friday Top Picks:

Hayley Williams – Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party [Post Atlantic]

The Beths – Straight Line Was a Lie [Anti-]

Blood Orange – Essex Honey [RCA]

The Hives – The Hives Forever Forever the Hives [Play It Again Sam]

IDLES & Rob Simonsen – Caught Stealing (The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) [Partisan]

Margo Price – Hard Headed Woman [Loma Vista]

Which of these tracks from New Music Friday will you add to your favorite playlists today? Any we missed? Let us know in the comments or on Instagram!

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Ben Pagani

Music Projects Manager at Beyond The Stage Magazine

Ben is a music journalist living and working in Chicago. They joined Beyond The Stage as an intern and have stayed on the staff for several years. Now serving on the editorial board, Ben is proud to be BTS' Music Projects Manager, coordinating coverage between international record labels and our staff. Ben has interviewed, photographed and written about bands from across the world. Ben has lived all over the United States working in television and media. They are an Emmy Award-winning writer. Ben can be found spinning records as 'DJ Wearing Sunglasses' in clubs and basements across the US.