Bartees Strange's Horroris one of our favorite albums out Feb. 14.

It's Friday, which means dozens of new albums hit streaming services in the middle of last night. NPR Music's Stephen Thompson welcomes Nate Chinen of Philadelphia's WRTI to New Music Fridayto discuss the best records out on Valentine's Day 2025.

The Starting 5

Bartees Strange, 'Horror'

Denison Witmer, 'Anything At All'

Marshall Allen, 'New Dawn'

Sullivan Fortner, 'Southern Nights'

John Patitucci, 'Spirit Fall'

Other notable albums out Feb. 14:

Pop

• Drake & PartyNextDoor, $OME $EXY $ONGS 4 U
• Mallrat, Light hit my face like a straight right
• Alessia Cara, Love and Hyperbole
• Morgan Saint, Out of the Blue

Rock/Alt/Indie

• Horsegirl, Phonetics On And On
• The Lumineers, Automatic
• Richard Dawson, End of the Middle
• Cathedrale, Poison
• Cryogeyser, s/t
• Das Beat, Frau Fatal
• Doves, Constellations for the Lonely
• James Felice, The Little Ones
• Mereba, The Breeze Grew a Fire
• Oracle Sisters, Divinations
• Saint Motel,Symphony in the Sky
• Thala, Avalanche
• The Delines, Mr. Luck & Ms. Doom
• The Velveteers, A Million Knives
• The Wombats, Oh! The Ocean
• Winona Fighter, My Apologies to the Chef

Country/Folk/Americana

• The War & Treaty, Plus One
• Kevin Kaarl, Ultra Sodada
• Chatham Rabbits, Be Real With Me
• Ron Pope, American Man, American Music

R&B/Soul

• John Glacier, Like A Ribbon
• The Altons, Heartache in Room 14
• Candi Staton, Back To My Roots
• THEY., LOVE.JONES

Rap/Hip-Hop

• Brother Ali & Ant, Satisfied Soul
• OhGeesy, Paid N Full
• skaiwater, #mia
• Westside Gunn, 12

Jazz

• Anna Gréta, Some Other Time
• Sachal Vasandani, Best Life Now
• Mathias Eick, Kristjan Randalu, Ole Morten Vågan, Hans Hulbækmo, Lullaby
• Yuval Cohen Quartet, Winter Poems

Classical

• Lei Liang, Dui
• London Symphony Orchestra, Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé
• Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Stravinsky: Pulcinella, Le Baiser de la fée (Divertimento)

Electronic/Out There

• Raven, GNOSIS
• Anish Kumar & Hagop Tchaparian, KINOEP
• BLOND:ISH, Never Walk Alone
• GAIKO, GAIKO
• Immersion & SUSS, Nanocluster Vol. 3
• Jean Claude Vannier, et son orchestre de mandolines

Stream The Playlist

Credits

• Host: Stephen Thompson
• Guest: Nate Chinen (WRTI)
• Producer: Simon Rentner
• Editor: Otis Hart
• Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
• Vice President, Music & Visuals: Keith Jenkins