New Music Friday: Rodrigo and Roan Trade Verses, Tate McRae Reclaims 'Housewife,' Zach Bryan Drops an Eight-Track EP

By The News Desk, Previously

October 17, 2026

Some New Music Fridays are a headline. This one was a pile-up. Power 106, in a roundup syndicated across stations including 94.7 WLS, framed the October 16 cycle as a packed one led by Olivia Rodrigo, Tate McRae and Zach Bryan — and independent reporting on each release bears that out, with a Belgian superstar’s long-awaited third album rounding out a week that genuinely had something for every corner of pop.

Rodrigo Does Remixes Now

The week’s marquee collaboration arrived with a wink. According to Universal Music Canada, the label announcement for the release, Olivia Rodrigo announced a remix of her song “expectations” featuring Chappell Roan via Interscope Records, released October 15 at 5 p.m. PST, with an official video dropping at the same time. The label notes the remix marks Roan’s first ever feature and was produced by their mutual collaborator Daniel Nigro. Consequence, reviewing the released track, confirms it is also Rodrigo’s first-ever remix, and describes a ’70s-inspired video fashioned as a fictional 1980s game show called “The Big Expectations Show,” with David Byrne guest-starring as host Johnny Johnson. People likewise reports the new version and video dropped Thursday, October 15, with the video directed by Bardia Zeinali.

The original “expectations” appeared on Rodrigo’s third album, you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love, which Universal Music Canada notes debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 485,000 first-week units — the biggest solo debut of 2026 — while topping charts in 17 countries. Power 106’s roundup highlights what changes in the new version: fresh vocals from Roan that give the song a different dynamic as a collaboration. The pairing has deep roots, as SPIN recounts: Roan opened for Rodrigo on tour, the two share producer Dan Nigro, and Roan performed at Rodrigo’s inaugural Daisy Chain Fields festival in Irvine this past August, which raised $20 million for nonprofits advocating for women and girls. Universal Music Canada adds that the remix is available in physical formats, with limited-edition 7-inch vinyls, CDs and cassettes offered through both artists’ stores — a telling detail in the streaming era: this collaboration is being sold as a keepsake, not just a stream.

Tate McRae, Uncontained

Tate McRae’s return was nearly a year in the making. Just Jared reports that McRae dropped her new single “Housewife” on Thursday, October 15, along with a music video filmed in the south of France — her first new music in nearly a year, and her first single since “Nobody’s Girl” in November 2025. Power 106’s roundup describes the song as focused on financial independence and enjoying the rewards of success, with a video reflecting those themes through images of luxury and wealth. The title, in other words, is a reclaim job: the housewife here answers to nobody.

Just Jared further reports that McRae, discussing the song during a recent appearance on The Tonight Show, described it in her own words as “just kind of about a woman who can’t be contained.” In the same Just Jared report, McRae revealed she first teased the track back in August, when the word “Housewife” appeared as her Lollapalooza set began. Per Just Jared, the song was written by McRae with Julia Michaels, Ryan Tedder, Grant, Aaron Shadrow and El Guincho, and the video was directed by Pierre-Ange Carlotti. Nylon, covering the announcement, noted the single’s cover art — McRae posing beside a stroller filled with cash — which turns the song’s money-and-autonomy argument into a single image. Just Jared also notes McRae is set to perform at the 2026 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show on Sunday, October 18, giving the single a televised runway three days after release.

Zach Bryan’s Eight-Track Detour

Country’s most prolific superstar did not wait for an album cycle. Consequence reports that Zach Bryan released Young Manhood & Other Donatable Organs, an eight-song EP via Warner Records, on Friday, October 16, featuring Lana Del Rey on “Lies” and fellow Oklahoma favorites Turnpike Troubadours on “Plainsman.” MusicRow confirms the eight-song set and the same two collaborations, and notes the EP is Bryan’s first new music since his chart-topping January 2026 album With Heaven On Top and its stripped-down acoustic companion, which arrived three days later. The full tracklist, per Consequence and MusicRow, runs “Lodi When,” “Robot Killed the Working Man,” “Lies,” “Dog Days,” “Backwards,” “Plainsman,” “Is the Blue Tangled in You?” and “You’ll Get By,” with several songs previewed during Bryan’s recent live run.

The Del Rey duet is the EP’s gravitational center — Consequence notes the pair had teased working together earlier this year — while the Turnpike Troubadours collaboration is a home-state summit, two generations of Oklahoma songwriting on one track. JamBase, also confirming the October 16 Warner Records release and both features, situates the EP right after Bryan wrapped his recent tour run. It is, notably, a compression play: where With Heaven On Top sprawled across 25 songs, the EP makes its case in eight.

Angèle’s Instinct

The week’s international headline came from Brussels. Sony Music Canada announced that Belgian superstar singer, songwriter and producer Angèle released her third studio album, Instinct, on October 16 via GGL Records and Sony Music — a bilingual record featuring Justice, Soulwax, Caroline Polachek and SebastiAn. Per Sony Music Canada, Justice joins her on “What You Want,” Soulwax on the club-driven “Trop,” and Caroline Polachek lends her voice to “Love Triangle,” which also features SebastiAn. Numéro, previewing the album, notes it arrives nearly five years after her breakout album Nonante-Cinq (2021) and was heralded by two electro-pop singles. Power 106’s roundup likewise flags Angèle’s third studio album as the week’s international pop entry — the rare case where a syndicated American roundup and the artist’s own label tell exactly the same story.

Add it up and the October 16 cycle reads like a map of pop’s current power structure: two Gen-Z superstars trading verses for the first time, a Canadian arena act rebooting her era on her own terms, country’s biggest workhorse sneaking out an EP between stadium runs, and a Belgian auteur recruiting French-touch royalty for her comeback. Packed, as Power 106 put it, is the right word. More music coverage: our hip-hop and R&B New Music Friday roundup, the latest from Fireboy DML, Zuko and Blaqbonez, and A Boogie’s arena tour announcement.