Music Today: Drake’s Grammy Pullback, a Stacked Friday Drop Day, and Sasha Alex Sloan’s Intimate Tour

LOS ANGELES — Wednesday in music belongs to the long game: a superstar drawing a line with the Grammys, a Friday release slate stacked with fourth albums and fresh starts, a songwriter stepping out of the shadows and onto club stages, and a metal legend proving the riff factory never closes. Here’s what’s moving.

The GrammysThe Grammy pullback

The day’s biggest story is Drake’s — and we’ve given it the full treatment here. The short version: per an October 5 Billboard report, Drake declined to submit ICEMAN, HABIBTI, and Maid of Honour — or any of their songs — for the 2027 Grammy Awards. He foreshadowed it on ICEMAN’s closer “Make Them Know” (“This album, I’m never submittin’ it”), and it extends a standoff that already includes More Life, Certified Lover Boy, and Honestly, Nevermind. The Kendrick Lamar layer — “Not Like Us” won five Grammys at the 2025 ceremony while Drake litigates against UMG over the track — makes this one personal. The full story, with the streaming numbers and the Akademiks “Ja Rule” discourse, is at the link.

FridayFriday’s drop day

Friday, October 9 is the week’s real event. The headliner: Troye Sivan’s She’s the Best, his fourth studio album, out via Interscope. The follow-up to 2023’s Something to Give Each Other — the album that earned him his first Grammy nominations off “Rush” and “Got Me Started” and set up the Sweat Tour with Charli xcx — arrives with Sivan calling it “very experimental” for him, and Clash hearing distant echoes of his Blue Neighbourhood debut in its fabric. The singles, the title track (out August 14) and “Party” (September 17), are already in the world. NPR’s takeaway from its advance listen: the now-31-year-old is digging into darker feelings this time — loneliness, not euphoria, shaped the record, after a run that left him publicly fulfilled and privately alone.

He’s not alone on the slate. Dominic Fike arrives with How to Quit Smoking, Remi Wolf with Mud, Chase & Status with Generic Everything, and Sheryl Crow with Pick You Up — a spread that covers alt-pop restlessness, dancefloor precision, and veteran songcraft in a single Friday. And Thursday gets a head start: Pitbull’s Pitcoin lands October 8, per the month’s release calendar.

One more Friday name you’ll recognize from yesterday’s coverage: Greta Van Fleet’s Palace for the People — we covered the rockers’ return in yesterday’s roundup, so we’ll spare you the repeat and point you there.

On tourSasha Alex Sloan’s club run

The songwriter behind hits for Olivia Rodrigo, Robert Smith, Karol G, and Ty Dolla $ign is stepping into her own spotlight. Sasha Alex Sloan announced a seven-date North American club run behind her forthcoming album And the Crowd Goes Mild, out October 23 via 10K Projects. The intimate trek opens November 29 at Toronto’s Mod Club and winds through Boston, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco before closing December 10 at Nashville’s Exit/In. Presales opened this morning at 10 a.m. local time, with the general sale Friday at 10 a.m. Macy Todd supports on select dates — including the Boston and San Francisco stops, per the listings.

It’s a songwriter’s tour in the best sense: small rooms, her own songs, no co-writing credits to split the applause. After years of shaping other people’s hits, Sloan gets the whole stage.

MetalIommi’s second single

Tony Iommi isn’t done. The Black Sabbath guitarist has released “Stormwatcher,” the second single from his forthcoming solo album From the Dark, due October 23 via BMG. The track — built on a signature Iommi riff, with a maritime theme about a ship caught in a storm and a dramatic animated video — features vocalist Jørn Lande, who co-wrote every song on the record, plus bassist Becky Baldwin, drummer Karl Brazil, and longtime creative partner Mike Exeter co-producing.

The eight-track album also carries a genuine event: Brian May plays the solo on “Death Wake,” Iommi told Rolling Stone. It arrives 26 years after his first solo album and 21 after Fused — fourteen months after the last Black Sabbath show, the riff factory is open again. “Stormwatcher” follows first single “World Alone,” and the deluxe CD adds two bonus tracks.

The calendarOctober keeps stacking

Worth marking while you’re here: October 16 brings Fontaines D.C.’s Dopamine Chamber, Angèle’s Instinct, and The Avalanches’ No Bad Memories on the same day, plus Lucky Daye’s Aloud! — and October 23 is shaping into a pile-up with Iommi and Sloan joined by Offset’s GMFU, LISA’s Press Play, Anderson .Paak and Cordae’s Heavy Is the Crown, John Legend’s Muse, and Brothers Osborne’s Watertown. Plan your listening accordingly.

PreviouslyOn Previously this week

Catch up with the music desk: Paul McCartney’s Boys of Dungeon Lane Special Edition arrived on streaming today with four new recordings, including the McCartney–Starr “flip mix”; FLO mapped a 2027 tour hitting Radio City and Wembley; Alice Cooper’s memoir Devil On My Shoulder landed this week; and the weekend belonged to Ella Langley, whose “Choosin’ Texas” hit 24 weeks at No. 1. We’ll be back tomorrow with Friday’s drop-day verdicts.