SAMPLEDNew music this week: Zeds Dead, Beyoncé, U2, Kihyun and Told Slant
Five releases worth your ears from the first week of July 2026 — a surprise dance album, a surprise Beyoncé single, a first U2 song in years, a K-pop mini-album, and the return of Told Slant.
The first week of July 2026 was quietly stacked. A dance duo surprise-dropped a full album with no rollout. Beyoncé used the Fourth of July as a launchpad for her B''Day 20th-anniversary campaign. U2 posted their first new song from a still-unannounced record. Kihyun of MONSTA X came back solo. And Felix Walworth of Told Slant broke a six-year silence.
Here are the five drops worth queuing up before the weekend.
1. Zeds Dead — Return to the Return (of the Spectrum of Intergalactic Happiness)
Released: July 2, 2026 · Label: Deadbeats / Universal Music Canada
No single, no announcement, no cover leak — Zeds Dead simply put out their third studio album at midnight ET on July 2 and premiered a visual album on YouTube two hours earlier. Return to the Return is a direct prequel/sequel to 2025''s acclaimed RSIHAT and pushes deeper into the same cosmic universe. The drop is timed to a triple anniversary: 15 years of Zeds Dead, 10 years of their Deadbeats label, and the launch of the duo''s biggest headlining tour to date.
If you liked how dense and psychedelic the 2025 record got, this one is more of that with less restraint.
2. Beyoncé — "Morning Dew (Donk)"
Released: July 4, 2026 · Label: Parkwood Entertainment / Columbia
Beyoncé opened a 60-day countdown to her 45th birthday by dropping a new single at midnight on the Fourth of July. "Morning Dew (Donk)" was written by Beyoncé, Pharrell Williams, The-Dream and Darius Dixon, and produced by Beyoncé and Pharrell. It''s the anchor track for a 20th-anniversary edition of B''Day, due September 4 — her birthday.
The lyric video, cut from footage by Cliff Watts, crossed 1.4 million views inside 24 hours and hit No. 2 on YouTube''s Trending chart. On streaming it is exactly what a Beyoncé/Pharrell record in 2026 sounds like: bounce chassis, big-room low end, a chorus built for a stadium.
3. U2 — "Street of Dreams"
Released: July 7, 2026
U2 posted "Street of Dreams" this morning — the first song from a forthcoming studio album they haven''t formally announced yet. The press release calls it exactly that: "first song from yet-to-be-announced forthcoming studio album." No tracklist, no title, no date. Just the song and a promise.
Read it as the opening move of a rollout that will unfold over the rest of 2026.
4. Kihyun (MONSTA X) — BORDERLINE
Released: July 7, 2026 · Label: Starship Entertainment
Kihyun returned with his second solo mini-album BORDERLINE on Tuesday, his first solo release since MONSTA X''s activities picked back up. The mini leans into pop-R&B rather than the group''s harder EDM lane and puts his voice — one of the strongest technical vocals in fourth-gen K-pop — completely at the front of the mix. If you only sample one track, start with the title cut.
5. Told Slant — announces What''s Up, shares "Real Love"
Released: July 7, 2026 · Label: Mtn. Laurel Recording Co. · Album out: September 4
The first Told Slant album in six years. Felix Walworth announced What''s Up on Monday and shared lead single "Real Love" alongside a ten-track sequence that reads like a proper record, not a comeback EP: "Real Love," "Manhattan," "What''s Up," "Rain of God," "Sailor," "Draw Blood," "Three Anchovies," "I am a Singer," "Marcie Come Home," "Hold You Down."
Fans of Going By and the whole Double Double Whammy-adjacent scene should mark September 4.
Queue it up
For a one-sitting playlist of everything above, in vibe order:
- Told Slant — "Real Love" (soft open)
- Kihyun — the title track from BORDERLINE
- U2 — "Street of Dreams"
- Beyoncé — "Morning Dew (Donk)"
- Zeds Dead — Return to the Return (side A, all the way through)
We''ll roll a fresh new-music roundup every week. If there''s a drop you think we missed, send it.