New Music Friday, October 23: LISA, John Legend and the Week’s Other Releases

One Friday brought albums, an EP, reissues and singles

Official Charts’ guide covers albums and singles released Friday, October 23, 2026. It groups the entries by release type rather than ranking performance. The list includes full albums, LISA’s six-track EP, two twentieth-anniversary reissues and individual songs.

John Legend and Pharrell make Muse a full-album collaboration

John Legend released Muse on October 23. Universal Music says Pharrell Williams produced the full album and co-wrote it with Legend. Its sixteen tracks include the earlier singles “Daylight” and “Fireflies.” The label calls Muse their first full-length project together after more than twenty years of friendship.

Universal dates writing and recording to January 2025 at a studio inside Louis Vuitton’s Paris headquarters, where Williams is men’s creative director. The label traces the project to Legend’s guest vocal on Clipse’s “The Birds Don’t Sing.” After hearing it, Williams called and suggested building an album around Legend’s voice. Universal also reports that “Pray For Ya” previewed the collaboration at Louis Vuitton’s autumn 2026 men’s show and later appeared in a June 2026 Moët & Chandon campaign.

The tracklist names Pharrell as a guest on “Muse,” “Her,” “Get Back,” “Are You OK?,” “Next Time” and “Fireflies,” and Clipse on “Bodies on the Floor.” Universal cites Nina Simone, Nat King Cole and Marvin Gaye among the record’s influences, alongside gospel, standards, doo-wop, classic soul, Afrobeat and hip-hop. Those are label-reported credits and references, not an independent listening review.

Universal gives more detail about two songs. The title track follows a man’s relationship with a muse in Paris, moving through desire, love and betrayal; Legend said the character was invented rather than based on one person. The label describes “Her” as drawing on the doo-wop and gospel he knew growing up. These notes describe subjects and influences, not a verdict on the finished recordings.

Universal’s track notes say “Get Back” uses horns and strings to express the record’s Black James Bond aesthetic. The label describes “Bodies on the Floor” as recasting gang-conflict language into a story about a toxic but hard-to-resist relationship. Legend also says Williams wrote some songs on his own, a less common arrangement for him.

LISA’s first EP arrives with a film-inspired concept

LISA’s PRESS PLAY is a six-track EP, rather than a full-length album. Sony Music Japan’s October 23 notice says it was released worldwide in streaming and CD formats and describes the project as film-inspired. The same-day video for “Tarantino” follows LISA as she tries to deliver a letter to the director she admires. Official Charts identifies PRESS PLAY as her first EP.

The EP includes “SaWaDiKa,” which Sony says came out in September. The label explains that the title is a Thai greeting meaning “hello” and says the video was filmed in Bangkok, LISA’s hometown. Sony also reports the single debuted at No. 69 on the Billboard Hot 100, which it calls her highest debut on that chart; it says she performed the song on television at the MTV Video Music Awards the previous month. These are label-reported release details, and regional stores may list different formats or availability.

Heavy Is The Crown turns years of collaboration into an album

Anderson .Paak and Cordae released Heavy Is The Crown as a joint album after years of working together. Official Charts points to “RNP,” their 2019 collaboration on Cordae’s debut album The Lost Boy. It also reports that the new album’s artwork takes inspiration from the poster for Adam McKay’s 2008 comedy Step Brothers.

The same guide identifies Michael Kiwanuka’s FUDGE as his fifth studio album and notes his earlier albums reached the UK Top 5, with 2016’s Love & Hate reaching No. 1. Tony Iommi, a Black Sabbath co-founder, returns with From The Dark, his first full release in fourteen years. Jazzy’s Peace & Patience is a thirteen-track first solo album; Official Charts notes she had already scored three UK Top 10 hits.

The album section also lists The Doors’ live set Unbound and Dangerous, Strawberry Guy’s Give Me A Dream, Nori’s file_1, Manic Street Preachers’ The Holy Bible Live and Henry Morris’ Kiss Me Extra Hard.

Two 2006 albums return in expanded anniversary editions

The October 23 list also includes twentieth-anniversary editions of Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black and My Chemical Romance’s The Black Parade, both first released in 2006. Official Charts lists different additions for the two packages.

Back To Black is available as 3LP, 3CD and digital deluxe editions. The expanded release adds previously unreleased demos, rare B-sides and a live performance recorded at Paradiso in Amsterdam during Winehouse’s 2007 Back To Black tour. The anniversary set therefore includes both studio archive material and a concert recording.

The Black Parade edition contains six bonus tracks. Three come from the band’s Hoboken show and had not previously appeared on LP, CD or streaming; the other three are B-sides that had been scattered across earlier releases. The guide names “Someone Out There Loves You” as a previously unreleased track. The two packages differ in the material they gather: demos and a full performance for Winehouse, six bonus recordings for My Chemical Romance.

Singles and short releases fill out the day’s list

The Rolling Stones released “Who You Callin’ Crazy,” the first of five songs planned for the deluxe edition of Foreign Tongues. Official Charts says jazz saxophonist Courtney Pine plays on the track and identifies Foreign Tongues as a No. 1 album. Tom Grennan’s “Wrapped In Gold” was set to debut on Jack Saunders’ New Music Show on BBC Radio 1 that night. Skepta’s “Pandora’s Box” is the second track from his November album The Fork and Knife; he had previewed it during his Reading Festival set in the summer.

Jez Williams, Doves’ guitarist and vocalist, released “Hollow Man,” the first single from his upcoming solo debut, Life Of Me And You. In comments reported by Official Charts, Williams described it as a response to the information, opinions and rapid change of modern life, set to an AC/DC-style riff that opens into a wider chorus. The description gives a source-attributed account of the track’s subject and arrangement without presenting it as an independent review.

Official Charts calls Arthur Hill’s “Record Timing” the latest single from his upcoming album and describes it as a song about a relationship ending, including the singer’s regrets. The same list includes Cameron Whitcomb’s “Set Me Free” and Hilary Duff’s five-track Holiday Things EP. Its singles section also flags new tracks from My First Time, mark william lewis, Mimi Webb, Kacey Musgraves, Sammy Virji, Dominic Fike and Temper Trap.