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New year. New you. New resolutions, hopes, and dreams. And albums—oh, so many albums. Here they come by the dozen, with new melodies to hum or to murder at karaoke; new songs to cherish; albums to debate; careers to be broken open. Venture below to appraise the 2024 crop, from the long-awaited returns—Brittany Howard and MGMT, among them, with new releases from veterans like Dua Lipa, Vampire Weekend, and A$AP Rocky seeming likely, too—to those that feel right on time, thanks to workhorses like the Smile, Ty Segall, and Kali Uchis. SZA is gearing up to release her deluxe version of SOS, apparently titled Lana, and the other Lana will appear on a Bleachers album said to herald Jack Antonoff’s creative rebirth. Don’t be overwhelmed; just enjoy the music.
070 Shake
With official details still withheld, 070 Shake announced that her next album was forthcoming upon the release of her two 2023 singles. The most recent was “Natural Habitat,” her Ken Carson–featuring track that she previewed during multiple festival sets last year. Before that was “Black Dress.” The new album will be her first since 2022’s You Can’t Kill Me. –Evan Minsker
Amaro Freitas: Y’Y
The next album from Brazilian pianist Amaro Freitas pays homage to the Amazon forest. In his own words, it’s also “a warning about the need to be aware of the impact we cause, based on the concepts of civilization and modernity that keep us away from this connection, and its importance for the balance of life on the planet.” Y’Y features, among others, Shabaka Hutchings playing flute on the songs “Y’Y” and “Encantados.” Freitas also co-produced alongside Laercio Costa and Vinicius Aquino. –Hattie Lindert
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Ana Tijoux: Vida
Chilean hip-hop and pop artist Ana Tijoux announced her first new album in a decade, Vida, in May 2023. The follow-up to 2014’s Vengo features the lead single “Niñx,” which she described as “a manifesto to the child we all have inside of us.” She added: “That living being that is capable of dreaming and building infinite castles of humanity and love.” The new album also follows her 2020 single “Antifa Dance.” –Evan Minsker
Anitta: Funk Generation
After sharing the three-pack Funk Generation: A Favela Love Story in August, the Brazilian pop star Anitta confirmed in October, upon the release of “Mil Veces,” that her next album will be called Funk Generation. She’s continued to share new material like “Bellakeo” and “Joga pra Lua” as she gears up for her Republic debut and first full-length since 2022’s Versions of Me. –Hattie Lindert
Ariana Grande
Ariana Grande has been busy filming the film adaptation of Wicked since releasing her last album, Positions, in 2020, but, in late 2023, she finally gestured towards her return. The comeback may include songs written with longtime collaborators Max Martin and Ilya Salmanzadeh, who have featured in teaser posts. In January, she announced “Yes, And?,” ostensibly the first single. In December, an Instagram story promising things to come noted that 2023 had been “one of the most transformative, most challenging, and yet happiest and most special years of my life,” alluding to her relationship with Wicked co-star Ethan Slater. Whether that will feed into the music remains to be seen. –Jazz Monroe
A$AP Rocky: Don’t Be Dumb
A$AP Rocky’s life has changed a lot since he released Testing in 2018: He’s had two children with his partner, Rihanna, and, more concerningly, he must stand trial for allegedly shooting his former friend Terell “A$AP Relli” Ephron in 2021. His next album is apparently called Don’t Be Dumb after once being referred to as All Smiles (and maybe having a Morrissey feature). Amid the changes, Rocky released two songs in 2023, “Same Problems?” and “Riot (Rowdy Pipe’n).” –Matthew Strauss
Billie Eilish: TBA
Following a year where Billie Eilish delivered the Barbie ballad “What Was I Made For?” and netted Grammy nominations for Record and Song of the Year, it seems that it’s almost time for the follow-up to 2021’s Happier Than Ever. Eilish recently revealed that the album is “almost finished” and due “soon-ish”—this comes after Finneas said it was “85 percent done.” With no further news than that, time will tell what the next Billie Eilish season will bring. –Evan Minsker
Bleachers: Bleachers
Jack Antonoff heralds Bleachers’ fourth album as a new era for the project, departing from soul-searching anthems in favor of playful, acerbic songs roasting the embarrassing characters who populate the art and media worlds. As well as the obligatory Lana Del Rey feature, the record is said to include songs about Kendall Jenner, the death of Kobe Bryant, and the juvenile downtown New York scene Dimes Square. –Jazz Monroe
Bolis Pupul: Letter to Yu
Letter to Yu, the debut album from Bolis Pupul, best known for his 2022 collaboration with Charlotte Adigéry, Topical Dancer, was created as a love letter to his late mother. The video for lead single “Completely Half” was shot in Hong Kong. Pupul explained that his mother was Chinese, and that the album comes as part of his effort to get better in touch with his roots. “I went to evening school and began learning Chinese,” he said. “I did that for four years. That was the first step.” Pupul co-produced his album with Soulwax. –Evan Minsker
Brittany Howard: What Now
Brittany Howard returns with a reinvigorated approach to her rich, rootsy, and emotionally perceptive songwriting on What Now, the follow-up to her first solo album, Jaime. She co-produced the LP with Shawn Everett, who worked on Jaime and Alabama Shakes’ Sound & Color. Howard has said that the album’s steely title track, in which she liberates herself from a foundering relationship, is “the truest and bluest of all the songs.” She’s more recently released the churning single “Red Flags.” –Allison Hussey
Charli XCX
So far, there are a few things known about Charli XCX’s imminent follow-up to 2022’s Crash. It’s the first project she’ll release since announcing her engagement to the 1975’s George Daniel. In her own words, it has Berkeley, California, vibes. Most tangibly, it’s also potentially due out this year, although it has yet to receive an official release date or title. After contributing to the Barbie soundtrack last summer, Charli XCX shared the song “In the City” with Sam Smith in late 2023. –Hattie Lindert
Chief Keef: Almighty So 2
Few albums on this list have been mooted as long as Chief Keef’s Almighty So 2. The sequel to the Chicago drill legend’s 2013 mixtape has been pushed back countless times since Keef first shared a lead single—and set a release date— in 2022. Now potentially set for a February 2024 drop, the next album from Keef will follow 2021’s 4Nem. Although Almighty So 2 didn’t come to fruition this year, Keef lent his voice to plenty of other artists in 2023, featuring on songs with Drake, Sexyy Red, and Skrillex. –Hattie Lindert
Chromeo: Adult Contemporary
David “Dave 1” Macklovitch and Patrick “P-Thugg” Gemayel released a collaborative album called Clusterfunk last year with A-Trak and Ric Wilson. Now, with Adult Contemporary, they’ve made a record that Dave called “a meditation on modern, mature relationships.” La Roux appears on the album, as does the lead single “Personal Effects.” –Evan Minsker
Dua Lipa
Even between album cycles, Dua Lipa stays scheming. While the follow-up to 2020’s Future Nostalgia does not have a name or release date, it likely will include “Houdini”—her groovy (but not disco!) collaboration with co-writer Tobias Jesso Jr. and co-producers Danny L Harle and Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker. If her third album is anything like last year’s Grammy and Golden Globe–nominated contribution to the Barbie soundtrack, then Dua Lipa is ready to bask in the spotlight once more and have fun doing it. –Nina Corcoran
Empress Of
It’s been nearly four years since Empress Of released her ambitious, largely self-produced third album, I’m Your Empress Of. In the meantime, Lorely Rodriguez launched her own record label, Major Arcana, along with the imprint’s debut single: an Empress Of track called “You’ve Got to Feel,” featuring Amber Mark. In 2022, Rodriguez released the five-song Save Me EP, which features the standout, downtempo club cut “Dance for You.” Last year, Rodriguez dropped a pair of singles—“Kiss Me,” featuring Rina Sawayama, and “Femenine.” The latter track, a ravey, Nick Sylvester–produced number, is the first Spanish-language preview of Empress Of’s next studio album. –Madison Bloom
Flo Milli: Fine Ho, Stay
The titles of Flo Milli’s full-length trilogy offer a clear emotional narrative. There was 2020’s Ho, Why Is You Here ? (anger), which was followed by 2022’s You Still Here, Ho? (bargaining). Up next is Fine Ho, Stay (acceptance), which features the lead single “Fruit Loop.” While “Fruit Loop,” new single “Chocolate Rain,” and the album announcement come after a prolific string of features and solo singles from Flo Milli in 2023, a release date and tracklist have not been cemented. –Evan Minsker
Friko: Where We’ve Been, Where We Go From Here
Friko’s debut album, Where We’ve Been, Where We Go From Here, sounds absolutely urgent. Joined by drummer Bailey Minzenberger, vocalist-guitarist Niko Kapetan sings with a lonely warble and punchy enunciation not too dissimilar from Conor Oberst, and the band’s scrappy, delicate take on indie rock draws justified comparisons to Bright Eyes. The Chicago duo has given listeners a peek into the LP with singles—“Crimson to Chrome,” “Crashing Through,” and “For Ella”—that accurately capture its rousing mood. As Kapetan puts it, “I want our music to pick people up, so that they can actually go out and do something with whatever they’re feeling.” –Nina Corcoran
Future Islands: People Who Aren’t There Anymore
Across more than a year, Future Islands released multiple songs that would come to appear on People Who Aren’t There Anymore. Following the gradual trickle of “Deep in the Night,” “King of Sweden,” and “Peach,” the band unveiled the album with a new song called “Tower.” Its accompanying music video was directed by Jonathan van Tulleken, who worked with Samuel T. Herring on the Apple TV+ show The Changeling. It’s the Baltimore band’s first new full-length since 2020’s As Long as You Are. –Evan Minsker
Gossip: Real Power
After more than a decade-long hiatus, Gossip are back to reclaim their spot atop the dance-punk pyramid. Real Power, their sixth studio album and follow-up to 2012’s A Joyful Noise, promises to champion chosen family, creative expression, and escaping trauma on the dancefloor. That much can be heard in lead single “Crazy Again” where Beth Ditto sings about the thrill of crushing hard without the promise of anything more. –Nina Corcoran
Grandaddy: Blu Wav
It’s been seven years since Grandaddy released a new album, and, for the comeback Blu Wav, the California band went for “an inordinate amount of pedal steel,” Jason Lytle said. The Last Place follow-up includes “Watercooler” and “Cabin in My Mind.” –Hattie Lindert
Green Day: Saviors
“The American Dream Is Killing Me” was the lead single of Saviors, which arrived with a new music video where Billie Joe Armstrong, Tré Cool, and Mike Dirnt acted like zombies. The new album was recorded in London and Los Angeles with Rob Cavallo, the producer with whom the band has worked on some of its most famous work (including Dookie). Saviors is the band’s first album since 2020’s Father of All…. –Evan Minsker
Helado Negro: Phasor
Helado Negro’s new album, Phasor, opens with “LFO (Lupe Finds Oliveros),” a quick jaunt through playful strings and peppy bass as an ode to the magic of craftsmanship; the song draws inspiration from the legacy of Mexican American woman Lupe Lopez, who built amplifiers for Fender Guitars in the 1950s, and minimalist composer Pauline Oliveros. Quickly, Helado Negro brings calm with the aqueous single “I Just Want to Wake Up With You.” At times, the album sounds like laying flat in the park on an early spring day, awake but eyes closed to take in the serenity, while ideas and dreams play on your eyelids. –Nina Corcoran
Hurray for the Riff Raff: The Past Is Still Alive
Written and recorded following the death of their father, Alynda Segarra’s next album as Hurray for the Riff Raff opens with lead single “Alibi,” which Segarra described as “a last ditch effort to get through to someone you already know you’re gonna lose.” Segarra worked on the album with a number of notable collaborators, including Anjimile, Conor Oberst, S.G. Goodman, Brad Cook, and more. –Hattie Lindert
Idles: Tangk
Where do Idles go after their 2021 Grammy-nominated album Crawler? They make Tangk, a record that features collaborations with some massive and perhaps unexpected names in co-producers Nigel Godrich (Radiohead’s go-to producer) and Kenny Beats (a hip-hop producer whose recent credits include work with Vince Staples and Denzel Curry). LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy and Nancy Whang contributed vocals to the lead single “Dancer.” Joe Talbot has said it’s “all love songs.” Get ready to find out what that sounds like. –Evan Minsker
J Mascis: What Do We Do Now
J Mascis released his last solo full-length album in 2018, and he’s decided 2024 is the time for something new. The Dinosaur Jr. frontman has a new solo project out this year, What Do We Do Now. It features Ken Maiuri (of the B-52’s) on keyboards and Matthew “Doc” Dunn on steel guitar, as well as the recent song “Can’t Believe We’re Here.” –Hattie Lindert
Jennifer Lopez: This Is Me…Now
Jennifer Lopez’s new studio album, This Is Me…Now, arrives just about a decade after A.K.A. and over 20 years after This Is Me… Then. The new album is set to include a sequel to 2002’s “Dear Ben,” a song for Lopez’s husband, Ben Affleck. –Matthew Strauss
The Jesus and Mary Chain: Glasgow Eyes
The Jesus and Mary Chain are marking their 40th anniversary with a new album: Glasgow Eyes follows 2017’s Damage and Joy and features the lead single “Jamcod.” Jim Reid said his creative process with brother, William, is “remarkably the same as it was in 1984,” and said fans should expect it to sound like any of the band’s other albums. “There’s a telepathy there,” Jim Reid said, adding, “we are those weird not-quite twins that finish each other’s sentences.” –Evan Minsker
Kali Malone: All Life Long
Over the past three years, Kali Malone has been gathering compositions for All Life Long, her eighth album and first set of compositions for organ since 2019’s breakthrough full-length The Sacrificial Code. Not all of the album’s 12 tracks are solo affairs by Malone. Joining her for select passages are pieces for voice and brass performed by Macadam Ensemble and Anima Brass, as well as drone figurehead and Sunn O))) member Stephen O’Malley. –Nina Corcoran
Kali Uchis: Orquídeas
Per Kali Uchis, the orchid—the national flower of Colombia—is “timeless, eerie, mystic, striking, graceful and sensual.” It’s also a central inspiration to her latest Spanish-language full-length, Orquídeas. The Colombian American singer has already shared three songs ahead of the album: “Muñekita” with El Alfa and City Girls’ JT, “Te Mata,” and “Labios Mordidos,” a new collaboration with fellow Colombiana Karol G. –Hattie Lindert
Kid Cudi: Insano
Rap may not be the end-all be-all for Kid Cudi, whose recent forays have included acting and writing a comic book, but he’s still set to release his ninth solo studio album, Insano, in 2024. He shared the song “Porsche Topless” in June, and collaborated with Pharrell Williams and Travis Scott on “At the Party” later in the year. He released his last album, Entergalactic, in 2022 in conjunction with a Netflix series. –Hattie Lindert
Laetitia Sadier: Rooting for Love
In the time since Laetitia Sadier released her last solo album in 2017, Stereolab reunited for multiple runs of shows. Sadier is now striking back out on her own for a new album and tour. Rooting for Love features “New Moon,” which arrived way back in 2021, and the new single “Une Autre Attente.” –Evan Minsker
The Libertines: All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade
The Libertines’ heyday was astonishingly brief—by the release of their self-titled second album, in 2004, the dream was all but over—but it cast reverberations through British rock music. Even as the landfill indie scene, which formed in their wake, rapidly died out, the influence of songwriters Pete Doherty and Carl Barât echoed into the recent generation of chatty, London-based bands who split the difference between Clash-indebted punk and U.S. indie-rock. After several false starts, the Libertines returned to the studio in 2015 for their first comeback album, Anthems for Doomed Youth, and now they are back again. They announced All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade with a throwback single called “Run, Run, Run,” which Barât said is about escaping the temptation “to get stuck in a ‘Run-run-run’ rut, constantly trying to relive our past.” –Jazz Monroe
Mannequin Pussy: I Got Heaven
Mannequin Pussy cavorted and caterwauled into their new era with “I Got Heaven,” the incendiary alt-rock title track of the Philadelphia band’s fourth studio album. They made the record in Los Angeles with John Congleton (and new member Maxine Steen, who wrote the title track’s demo), expanding their impulses towards punk, pop, and the sacred and profane outward in every direction. Said singer Marisa Dabice in press materials, “We’re supposed to be living in the freest era ever, so what it means to be a young person in this society is the freedom to challenge these systems that have been put on to us. It makes sense to ask, what ultimately am I living for? What is it that makes me want to live?” –Jazz Monroe
Mary Halvorson: Cloudward
With 2022’s companion releases Amaryllis and Belladonna, the genre-fluid guitarist Mary Halvorson explored new melodic ideas with a jazz quintet and a string quartet, respectively. For January’s Cloudward, Halvorson reunites with her Amaryllis ensemble for more material that she’s described as an extension of those ideas. “The main thing I felt while writing the music was optimism,” she said. Halvorson wrote most of the LP in late 2022, and she shared “The Gate” as the album’s first preview in November. Laurie Anderson joins Halverson and company on “Incarnadine.” –Allison Hussey
MGMT: Loss of Life
MGMT are coming back with their first album since 2018’s Little Dark Age. Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser have previewed the new one, Loss of Life, with “Mother Nature” and “Bubblegum Dog.” The latter came alongside a music video that leaned into ’90s alternative rock hard enough to include a faux MTV Unplugged set. –Hattie Lindert
PartyNextDoor: PartyNextDoor 4
He may have dipped off in a different direction, at least title-wise, with 2020’s Partymobile, but Toronto singer PartyNextDoor looks likely to return with the fourth installment of his self-titled series in 2024. Details around the drop have shifted—there still isn’t a release date or tracklisting— but he shared the song “R e s e n t m e n t” in July, and performed at the Lights On Festival in California in September. –Hattie Lindert
Real Estate: Daniel
Indie rock outfit Real Estate are back next year with a sixth studio album, Daniel. The band released its last full-length, The Main Thing, in 2020, and also shared the EP Half a Human in 2021. Real Estate recorded their new album over nine days with producer Daniel Tashian at Nashville’s RCA Studio A. –Hattie Lindert
Rihanna
Listen, we don’t know for sure if Rihanna will ever release a new album. She’s said multiple times that she’s been working on it, and, while we definitely believe her, it’s been a long wait. She knows that, too. “Like, honestly, it’d be ridiculous if it’s not this year,” she said in an early 2023 interview after headlining the Super Bowl halftime show. That same feature noted that she’s got years’ worth of songs she’s “fallen in and out of love with.” When she does finally put an album out there, it’s all but guaranteed to be one of the biggest event releases of the year. –Evan Minsker
Serpentwithfeet: Grip
Serpentwithfeet previewed his third album, Grip, with “Damn Gloves,” featuring Ty Dolla $ign and Yanga YaYa. The new album will follow Deacon and the companion Deacon’s Grove EP. –Hattie Lindert
Sheer Mag: Playing Favorites
Sheer Mag are taking their talents to Third Man Records, which will release the Philadelphia rock ensemble’s new album, Playing Favorites, in March. “Nobody seems to write straight up rock bangers anymore–more than anything else, we want this record to put huge, catchy songwriting front and center,” said vocalist Tina Halladay. “There are parts on this record that I couldn’t imagine being able to sing ten, five, or even three years ago.” –Allison Hussey
Sheryl Crow: Evolution
Sheryl Crow, now a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, comes back in March with her first album since 2019, Evolution. Per Crow, the album’s first single “Alarm Clock,” which she co-wrote with Emily Weisband and Mike Elizondo “came from sitting in the quiet and writing from a deep soul place.” –Hattie Lindert
Sleater-Kinney: Little Rope
Little Rope, the follow-up to Sleater-Kinney’s 2021 album, Path of Wellness, is due out in January, and the duo has already shared small tastes of the records with singles “Hell” and “Say It Like You Mean It.” Recorded in Portland, Oregon, the new project was, in part, inspired by the deaths of Brownstein’s mother and stepfather. –Hattie Lindert
The Smile: Wall of Eyes
Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, and Tom Skinner kicked the Smile’s second phase into gear with “Bending Hectic,” a delirious ballad turned hell-raising anthem that collides together Greenwood’s orchestral and primal impulses. With its raw production and sonic extremism, the single pointed towards a violently exploratory mode that Yorke and Greenwood have rarely activated since Radiohead’s early years, as if the Smile’s lower stakes had reawakened a more volatile, unpredictable energy. Released a few months later, the title track was a more muted acoustic affair, but its arresting, slanted arrangements suggest Greenwood may be pulling the strings more than ever before—a uniquely appetizing prospect for the composer and guitarist’s loyalists. –Jazz Monroe
SZA: Lana
SZA has teased Lana as the expanded edition of her landmark album SOS. And, in recent months, she’s hinted that it might be a new album altogether. In an interview with Variety, SZA said that she initially intended for the project to be “outtakes” from SOS along with new material. “It’s become more than I expected,” she said. “It’s definitely turning into its own album… and I guess I could drop a new album randomly, because no one’s actually expecting that from me right now.” SZA also posted a series of photos on Instagram in recent weeks, with the sole caption “Lana,” on each one. The title of the project is a nod to SZA’s first-ever tattoo, which she got at age 13 after she couldn’t afford to pay for all of the letters of her first name, Solána. –Madison Bloom
Torres: What an Enormous Room
Mackenzie Scott is readying her sixth full-length as Torres, What an Enormous Room. Scott co-produced her Thirstier follow-up with Sarah Jaffe and tracked the songs in October 2022 at Stadium Heights Sound in Durham, North Carolina. Scott plays a range of instruments on the record, including guitar, bass, programmed drums, organ, synthesizer, and piano. –Madison Bloom
Ty Segall: Three Bells
The always prolific Ty Segall is back once again with Three Bells. The new album’s singles “My Room,” “Void,” and “Eggman” have hinted at a more psychedelic and prog-leaning project. Fittingly, the collection was co-produced by Cooper Crain of Bitchin Bajas. Along with Segall’s wife, Denée Segall, it features contributions from his Freedom Band. If you sat through the whole video leading up to the album announcement, where Segall ate way too many eggs while wearing a tiny cowboy hat, then you don’t need this blurb to convince you to check for this album. –Evan Minsker
Usher: Coming Home
Three decades into his career, Usher is headlining one of the biggest music events of any year: the Super Bowl halftime show. The same day he’ll be performing at the event, he’ll release his first solo album since 2016. He’s promised that Coming Home will feature people with whom he’s previously collaborated on some of his best-selling records. “I’ve been coming home in a lot of different ways,” he told Zane Lowe earlier this year. “In a sense, I’m coming home because I'm in that comfortable space.” –Evan Minsker
Vampire Weekend
It felt like an eternity between Vampire Weekend’s third and fourth albums. Well, the six years that separated Modern Vampires of the City and Father of the Bride are not looking all too different from the five that’ll separate the latter and its follow-up. The good news is, according to bassist Chris Baio, Vampire Weekend are done with their fifth album, and, according to drummer Chris Tomson, singer Ezra Koenig took time between albums to do “a raga singing lesson with Terry Riley in rural Japan.” While Vampire Weekend have not shared concrete details about the new album, they’re playing Primavera Sound Barcelona in May, giving hopes that it’ll land in 2024. –Matthew Strauss
Vijay Iyer Trio: Compassion
Pianist Vijay Iyer is reassembling a familiar team for his next album. Iyer, bassist Linda May Han Oh, and drummer Tyshawn Sorey will return as the Vijay Iyer Trio at the top of February with the release of Compassion. It’s the trio’s first full-length since 2021’s Uneasy, and the artists will mark the occasion with a residency at New York’s Village Vanguard. –Hattie Lindert
Yard Act: Where’s My Utopia?
Leeds quartet Yard Act are following their 2020, Mercury Prize–nominated debut, The Overload, with Where’s My Utopia? The 11-track album features their signature post-punk song structures with sneering, conversational vocals, but, this time, the tracks are more self-referential, relaying (and roasting) their recent successes. Disco-tinged lead single “Dream Job” addresses the surreal state of being a professional musician, while vocalist James Smith skewers himself for being “a moaning ungrateful little brat,” as he revealed in a press release. On the sarcastic “We Make Hits,” Smith refers to his band as “post-punk’s latest poster boys” and recounts Yard Act’s signing to a major label. Even after three years of chart-climbing, sold-out tours, and high-profile collaborations, Yard Act are still quick to knock themselves down a notch. –Madison Bloom
