New Music Friday: Madonna’s Confessions II, mary in the junkyard’s Role Model Hermit & More

Madonna – Confessions II

Madonna’s fifteenth studio album Confessions II lands as a direct sequel to her 2005 club classic Confessions on a Dance Floor. Reuniting with producer Stuart Price, the record centres her most explicitly dance-floor-focused persona and arrives via Warner on July 3 with guests including Sabrina Carpenter, Martin Garrix, Feid, Stromae and Lola Leon. It positions itself as sleek disco and diva house that reclaims the “Queen of the Dancefloor” narrative rather than chasing fleeting radio trends. The album plays like a curated night out: high-gloss beats, nostalgia for mid-2000s club euphoria, and a framing that lets her test how much presence a veteran can still command inside the global pop conversation. What gives Confessions II its weight is the precision with which it treats legacy as an active proposition rather than a museum piece.

mary in the junkyard – Role Model Hermit

Role Model Hermit is the debut album from London trio mary in the junkyard, released via AMF on July 3 and produced by Oli Bayston. The record crystallises a run of quietly cultish singles into a full-length that sits at the intersection of indie rock and chamber pop, built around strings, off-kilter melodies and tightly wound dynamics. It reads as a study in intimate chaos: domestic, small-room storytelling rendered with theatrical vocal delivery and arrangements that feel both scrappy and meticulous. Slotting into the current wave of UK art-rock, Role Model Hermit stands as a patient, detail-obsessed debut built for listeners who want guitar music to feel literate, awkward and emotionally specific rather than stadium-sized. The album earns its presence through restraint and the clarity of its small-scale world.

Smirk – Speculative Fiction

Speculative Fiction, out July 3 on Smoking Room, is the third full-length from Smirk, the project of California musician Nick Vicario. Across thirteen tracks, the album is framed as a concept record about “unrest in the suburbs,” looking back at past indiscretions and the quiet defeat of leaving city life behind. Compared to Smirk’s earlier speed-freak punk releases, it pivots toward a more measured, power-pop-leaning approach with fuzzed guitars and hooky, almost classicist songcraft while keeping a hardcore-informed grit. The tension between anxious, self-reckoning lyrics and tight guitar-pop structures makes the record feel like suburban malaise rendered as concise, nervy art-punk rather than pure chaos. What gives it weight is the way the unease sits inside the hooks rather than overwhelming them.

Sienna Spiro – Visitor

Visitor is the debut studio album from British singer-songwriter Sienna Spiro, released July 3 via Capitol. It expands on the momentum of singles such as “Die on This Hill,” “The Visitor” and “You Stole the Show,” and was built with producers including Blake Slatkin, Eddie Lopes, Max Wolfgang, Michael Pollack, Omer Fedi and Yakob. The record positions Spiro inside contemporary pop-soul and adult contemporary space. It arrives as a carefully polished introduction: big choruses, ballad-leaning mid-tempos and a narrative arc that casts her as a stage-ready, emotionally direct performer. With multiple physical editions and retailer-exclusive vinyl already in circulation, the campaign frames Visitor as a long-term artist build aimed at listeners who want glossy songwriting with a slightly grown, theatrical sensibility.

Ken Carson – Xperiment

Xperiment, released July 3, is the fifth album from Atlanta rapper Ken Carson. The 22-track record arrives through Opium and Interscope and continues his role as one of the main architects of the post-Playboi Carti, festival-scale rage sound. Early coverage frames it as a world-building project rather than a tight concept LP, with blown-out drums, Auto-Tune and mosh-pit energy that speaks directly to fans living in the overlap between SoundCloud chaos, fashion-driven aesthetics and arena-level bass. The sheer track volume signals an immersive proposition: music that treats volume and length as part of its architecture.

Addict – “Call Me Home”

“Call Me Home” is the new single from international indie-pop project Addict, out worldwide on July 3. It marks the start of a new chapter after millions of streams and the breakout EP I Don’t Wanna Die Young. Originated in 2019 by producer-songwriter Federico Martelli, Addict has evolved from its sad-lofi beginnings into a broader indie-pop act that blends atmospheric production, nostalgic textures and cinematic songwriting with emotionally vulnerable storytelling. The single draws from two transformative trips through Mexico and Peru, folding themes of distance, emotional rebirth, loneliness, human connection and the search for belonging into a slow-burn, immersive track. Built for headphones and late-night playlists rather than chart-bait maximalism, it earns attention through its restraint and the clarity with which it renders personal geography as emotional landscape. What gives the song weight is the way atmosphere functions as structure, not decoration.

Rico Nasty – “Cupcake”

“Cupcake” drops as the lead single from Rico Nasty’s fourth studio album RX, announced for July 24 and produced by long-time collaborator Kenneth Blume, better known as Kenny Beats. The track and its Miggy-directed video arrive together, casting it as the opening chapter in a new era that reconnects Rico with the manic, high-contrast chemistry she and Blume established on 2019’s Anger Management. It is a “sugar-coated trap” cut filled with whirlpool electronic textures and pixel-bright synths. Rico swaps some of her usual feral aggression for a more playful, lightly mocking delivery. Even when dismissing fake fans and bots, the single feels engineered for club systems and chaotic playlists. It stands as a stylish flex for anyone tracking the more futuristic, character-driven side of rap in 2026.

Skrillex & Solomun – “Rumpta”

“Rumpta” finally surfaces as an official release after living as a sought-after ID in Solomun’s sets, particularly his high-profile appearance at EDC Las Vegas 2026. The track pairs Skrillex with Solomun, bringing together two different ends of global dance culture in a collaboration positioned as a marquee festival weapon. It fuses Skrillex’s hyper-detailed sound design and rhythm switch-ups with Solomun’s patient, big-room progressive house sensibility. As a New Music Friday release, it is the stylish electronic pick that will likely migrate straight from mainstage sets into club playlists and late-night driving soundtracks, bridging underground credibility and superstar name recognition through precise architecture rather than volume alone.

The Through Line

What connects these releases is a shared sense that music still matters when it arrives with clear intention. Madonna tests the limits of pop centrality on her own terms. mary in the junkyard and Smirk build worlds from intimate or suburban detail rather than chasing scale. Sienna Spiro enters the pop conversation with theatrical polish, while Ken Carson extends the rage architecture into longer-form immersion. Rico Nasty leans into playful character, Addict renders personal geography with atmospheric restraint, and Skrillex and Solomun bridge scenes with festival-grade precision. In different registers, they all treat the release as something worth framing, not just streaming. The week’s strongest moments are the ones that know exactly what kind of attention they are asking for.