If we had to say one nice thing about 2023, it’s that the music was there for us no matter how up, down, or weird we felt as we tried to make sense of this increasingly absurd world. Luckily for humanity, the albums on their way signal that 2024 will be different only in its cast of characters, not the scope of artistry. The New Year’s confirmed and rumored releases include rising MCs like Latto and 070 Shake ready to take the crown, a miraculous comeback for the Libertines, a Super Bowl party for Usher, guaranteed electropop earworms from MGMT and Bleachers, and much, much more from across the genre spectrum. So, you can take comfort in the fact that no matter what chaos these next 12 months are sure to bring, there will be at least one record to help you through it.
January
Kali Uchis, Orquídeas
January 12
In the dead of January, still hungover from the New Year, you’ll find Kali Uchis fans shaking ass to hip-twirling reggaeton and stanky dembow trap beats. Titled after the national flower of Colombia, the Colombian American artist’s second all-Spanish release aims to be as fresh and diverse as its namesake — “inspired by the timeless, eerie, mystic, striking, graceful, and sensual allure of the orchid,” Uchis said in a press release. It features collaborations with the gifted Mexican new singer on block, Peso Pluma, along with Latin music leaders Rauw Alejandro and El Alfa. It’s hard not to smile at the “Murder She Wrote” sample on the Karol G–assisted “Labios Mordidos” or the “Papi Chulo” beat in “Muñekita” with El Alfa and JT. Much to get us through these early months. —Zoe Guy
Kid Cudi, Insano
January 12
After threatening to retire from rapping on a number of occasions, Insano seems to have reinvigorated Kid Cudi’s love for the craft. His ninth LP was originally set for a September 2023 release, but the self-described perfectionist pushed it back to January and revealed that the end result will have over 40 songs (once you include all the deluxe versions, that is). So far, Cudi’s already offered up a few of the fresh cuts, including the laidback lead single “Porsche Topless” and the psychedelic Pharrell- and Travis Scott–assisted “At the Party.” The rest of the track list is purported to include A$AP Rocky, Lil Yachty, and Wiz Khalifa, among others. —Dan Reilly
Green Day, Saviors
January 19
This is going to be a massive year for Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tré Cool. They’re releasing their thrashing new album, Saviors, and touring stadiums in the summer to honor the 20th anniversary of American Idiot and 30th anniversary of Dookie. Any band that can maintain their convictions over the decades — while evolving from juvenile delinquents to serious purveyors of rock operas — gets a skinny-tie salute. —Devon Ivie
Sleater-Kinney, Little Rope
January 19
“Hell needs no invitation,” sings Corin Tucker on “Hell,” the lead single to Sleater-Kinney’s Little Rope. It’s something the duo learned well ahead of this album, after guitarist Carrie Brownstein’s mom and stepfather died in a car crash in Italy — and Tucker, who’d been listed as an emergency contact for Brownstein, got the news. After finding their footing as a duo on 2021’s Path of Wellness, the band returned to the studio with a new drive. The results, so far, sound dark and cathartic, with some of Brownstein’s most scorching guitar-playing in years. —Justin Curto
The Smile, Wall of Eyes
January 26
The Smile — the trio of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, and Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner — seems to have really gelled over the last year and a half of touring behind its acclaimed debut, A Light for Attracting Attention, where jittery electronics, punishing rock riffs, and somber reflections on international chaos collided. On the follow-up, they move with purpose, traversing psychedelic avenues without losing the plot, taking their time to get to the most idyllic scenes, like the triumphant stoner-rock coda emerging from the otherwise sedate eight-minute epic “Bending Hectic” or the moment the fluttery guitars circling each other in “Read the Room” lock into a euphoric krautrock groove. You’re gonna want to catch the Smile in 2024. —Craig Jenkins
February
Brittany Howard, What Now
February 2
Right when you put Brittany Howard into a box, she breaks out of it. After her band, Alabama Shakes, was lauded as the next generation of roots-rock on their first album, Boys & Girls, they followed it up with the more polished and psychedelic Sound & Color. Then Howard went solo with 2019’s Jaime, where she traversed garage-rock, jazz, noise, R&B, and country with flair. (It’s easy when you sing like the second coming of Tina Turner — another genre-breaker.) So far, the offerings from solo follow-up, What Now, sound funky and raw, but she surely has more surprises in store. —J.C.
Helado Negro, Phasor
February 9
Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Roberto Carlos Lange ponders the interconnectivity of musical systems and human relationships on Phasor, his eighth album as Helado Negro. Referencing studio effects and electronic-instrument components while incorporating synthesizer atmospherics in airy guitar compositions, he keeps the technical nature of his ideas accessible, crooning softly inside thickets of lush sound. The billowing “Echo Finds Me” is as roomy as its title infers; “LFO,” a celebration of Fender amp tech Lupe Lopez and accordionist and electronic music pioneer Pauline Oliveros, tucks a dark story inside a sprightly indie-rock tune, typifying the sonic and narrative layers Phasor is inviting you to unpack. —C.J.
Usher, Coming Home
February 11
Usher’s first solo album in seven years may be called Coming Home, and he may have just done a (stellar) stint in Vegas, but don’t expect a full retreat to the early 2000s. The R&B superstar knows how to keep up with the trends, whether he’s collaborating with the rappers of the moment or dipping a toe into EDM. He did it again on lead single “Good Good,” which taps contemporary stars Summer Walker and 21 Savage — and even pulls from new slang. If you want to hear Usher play the hits, though, you’ll get a chance when he headlines the Super Bowl halftime show the same day his album drops. —J.C.
Grandaddy, Blu Wav
February 16
The first Grandaddy record in seven years is bound to surprise longtime fans of the band. For starters, over half of its 13 songs are waltzes. Also, as frontman Jason Lytle said in the LP’s announcement, “There’s an inordinate amount of pedal steel.” It’s part of a theme, though — the album’s title is a play on “bluegrass New Wave,” the sound Lytle got inspired to pursue after hearing a classic country tune on the radio while driving through the Nevada desert, as these things usually go. —D.R.
IDLES, Tangk
February 16
With an overarching theme of love, IDLES’ fifth full-length moves farther away from the punk pigeonhole with an album that features tape loops, twitchy grooves, a bit of saxophone, and LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy and Nancy Whang guesting on the lead single, “Dancer.” Produced by Nigel Godrich, Kenny Beats, and Mark Bowen, Tangk sands off some of IDLES’ rougher edges in favor of a soulful brutality reminiscent of Mark Lanegan, all centered around singer Joe Talbot’s commands to surrender to the joy. —D.R.
Jennifer Lopez, This Is Me … Now
February 16
In 2022, J. Lo announced that, 20 years on, she was returning with the sequel to This Is Me … Then, her double-platinum third LP that was heavily influenced by her first stint with Ben Affleck. This Is Me … Now finally arrives just after Valentine’s Day, complete with an accompanying Amazon Prime film that the streamer describes as “an intimate, fantastical, and narrative-driven reflection of Lopez’s journey to find love.” Some of the album’s tracks include “Dear Ben Pt. II,” a sequel to Lopez’s original ode to Affleck, as well as “Greatest Love Story Never Told,” “Midnight Trip to Vegas,” and the planned first single, “Can’t Get Enough,” so the record’s theme is pretty clear — she’s madly in love with that guy from Dunkin’ again. —D.R.
serpentwithfeet, GRIP
February 16
Serpentwithfeet’s music is for hopeless romantics. His gospel-inflected albums sound like devotional hymns, praising Black gay love with the same tender warmth of your average Barry Jenkins montage, and his sacred-sounding voice is an advocate for a simple yearning — even if the bliss of his airy crushes often feels like it could turn to dust in his hands. His forthcoming album once again defies expectations. Accessible Afrobeats, Jersey club, and trap-inflected R&B sounds pervade, but that doesn’t mean he’s done talking about desire. —Z.G.
MGMT, Loss of Life
February 23
Years after MGMT released their fourth album, Little Dark Age, the title track became a pandemic-era TikTok hit. How did they respond? By dusting off their ’90s records. The indie-pop duo lead off their new record with “Mother Nature,” an anthem that channels Britpop and features a guitar solo from Nels Cline of Wilco. Follow-up “Bubblegum Dog” leans further into ’90s rock, complete with a video ode to MTV Alternative Nation tropes. Thank God a brush with viral fame didn’t change these reliable weirdos. —J.C.
Jacob Collier, Djesse Vol. 4
February 29
Jacob Collier is a music nerd of the highest order. That’s what it takes to see through a four-part album series that bridges classical, jazz, folk, choral, R&B, hip-hop, and pop music. Djesse Vol. 4 is the culmination of the project, synthesizing the orchestral music of Vol. 1, the stripped-back and acoustic Vol. 2, and the electro-R&B mishmash of Vol. 3. Collier collaborates widely — the new album features Brandi Carlile, Michael McDonald, Shawn Mendes, and Stormzy, to name a few — while also singing, playing instruments, arranging, producing, and engineering himself. Your fave literally could never. —J.C.
March
Mannequin Pussy, I Got Heaven
March 1
It seems like every few years, Mannequin Pussy returns more fiery than before. Still, they’re on another level with the vicious title track to I Got Heaven. “I went and walked myself / Like a dog without a leash,” singer Marisa Dabice snarls. “Now I’m growling at a stranger / I am biting at their knees.” Don’t confuse fire for aggression, though — it’s passion, which comes through just as well on gentler follow-up singles “I Don’t Know You” and “Sometimes.” —J.C.
Bleachers, Bleachers
March 8
A band choosing to release a self-titled album years into their career is a daring move — a promise that they’ve reached some definitive version of their sound. But Bleachers, the fourth record from Jack Antonoff’s band, might be more of a reintroduction. When he’s not in the studio with pop’s biggest names, the producer has spent a decade chasing bombastic, ’80s-indebted pop-rock with his band. Now, he says getting married to Margaret Qualley and deepening other friendships has sharpened his songwriting. The wandering single “Alma Mater,” a downbeat, Destroyer-ish song with help from close collaborator Lana Del Rey, is a thrilling departure. —J.C.
The Jesus and Mary Chain, Glasgow Eyes
March 8
Brothers Jim and William Reid are celebrating their 40th anniversary as bandmates with an autobiography, tour, and release of their eighth full-length, Glasgow Eyes. Recorded at Mogwai’s Castle of Doom studios in the titular city, the album is inspired by the Reids’ love of Kraftwerk, the synth-punk duo Suicide, and, interestingly, jazz, which they say has more to do with the freedom of the genre than the notes played. Take a listen to lead single “jamcod,” a title that would make more sense if it were stylized as an acronym, and you’ll hear it’s classic Jesus and Mary Chain, in all their hypnotically abrasive glory. —D.R.
The Libertines, All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade
March 8
I’ve come to accept that the Libertines aren’t a huge Stateside draw, and that’s okay. More mythologizing indie sleaze for me. But perhaps I can convince everyone reading this blurb to give the captains of the good ship Albion your ears for a few minutes, because, truly, it’s amazing Pete Doherty and Carl Barât are even alive to record a fourth album together. (I’m not exaggerating. “From my view,” Barât said in 2022, “I thought everyone would be dead.”) Don’t let their sober lives fool you. They still sound as raucous as ever. —D.I.
Lenny Kravitz, Blue Electric Light
March 15
Now that he’s a dozen albums into his sprawling career, Lenny Kravitz has more than earned the right to do whatever the hell he wants. The ageless guitar wonder will return with a 12-track double album on which he played most of the instruments himself. The collection looks to be an exploration of love, sex, and spirituality, as evidenced by some song titles — the opening track is “It’s Just Another Fine Day (In This Universe of Love)” — and the lead single, “TK421,” which is a reference to both a scene from Boogie Nights and a Star Wars stormtrooper. (In this case, Lenny is referring to his penis. Watch the accompanying NSFW video if you need proof.) —D.R.
Sheryl Crow, Evolution
March 29
Leave it to a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction to encourage Sheryl Crow to come out of an early album retirement. (She previously claimed 2019’s Threads, would be her last.) “Making an album seems like a waste of time and money,” Crow told me in early 2023. “I can only say that because I’ve been around 30 years.” Well, surprise! This isn’t a waste: Evolution is a return to her more radio-friendly pop sheen, with “Alarm Clock,” its lead single, giving off those easy “Soak Up the Sun” vibes I’ve been missing. —Devon Ivie
Spring
FKA twigs
FKA twigs appeared to be gearing up to release a new album sooner rather than later when, in October, 85 songs and demos of the artist’s were leaked online and she vowed to go “back to the drawing board.” “Well done. No new music for a while now,” she wrote in an Instagram story following the unsanctioned drop. What will become of the songs she’s formally teased since the release of her 2022 mixtape Caprisongs, not to mention her 2022 single “Killer”? It’s hard to say. Several of the tracks, produced by frequent collaborator Koreless, were featured in a performance she did for fashion brand Valentino at Paris’s fashion week just weeks before the leak. They appear to unite the dancier sensibilities she gravitated towards on Caprisongs with some of the more baroque sensibilities she’d made a name for previously. But this is twigs, so it won’t be surprising if she takes another six sharp left turns before she releases the album. —H.P.
Peggy Gou
Peggy Gou is a student of dance music and the club scene as much as she is a high-fashion tastemaker and influencer cool girl. Her first LP, a full-fledged DJ mix, is a survey of techno, breakbeat, house, and experimental electro sounds, cementing the South Korean producer as a mainstay for the Boiler Room rats and Ibiza clubhounds. “(It Goes Like) Nanana,” Gou’s breakout 2023 hit, is set to appear on the album, which makes sense for a record influenced by the Balearic house and pop music of the early-’90s, not to mention the dance albums Gou grew up listening to in London and Korea. —Z.G.
NxWorries
NxWorries, Anderson .Paak’s side project with producer Knxwledge, made one of Vulture’s favorite albums of 2016 with Yes Lawd!, a fascinatingly weird blend of R&B/hip-hop/funk jams that rarely exceeded three minutes. They’d been fairly dormant up until last year, when they returned with the singles “Where I Go” featuring H.E.R. and “Daydreaming,” then hit the road for a summer tour. Both songs serve as the first tastes of the duo’s next album, which still doesn’t have a title or exact release date. —D.R.
Tierra Whack
Whack World was Tierra Whack’s debut album, but, at just 15 minutes long, we’re all still waiting for the full thing. Six years later, we’re finally getting it. Not that Whack hasn’t been busy — she’s released a steady drip of singles and EPs; features with other artists, including Beyoncé and Alicia Keys; and a pseudo doc on Hulu called Cypher. But given Whack’s uninhibited, rabbit hole-ing, melodic flow is one of the most original in music right now, the promise of a full-length project still holds mystique. First single “Chanel Pit” is classic Whack. Who else is bragging about their “Mosh pit smell like Chanel”? —Jason P. Frank
Summer
Camila Cabello
The biggest piece of information we currently have on this album is that it’s in the works for a 2024 Summer release. We mostly know this because of Cabello’s Instagram feed, on which she’s shared snaps from the studio in recent months. She was extremely guarded about revealing any details regarding her fourth LP in an interview with Rolling Stone, other than to say, “I’m always scheming but I won’t say too much about it because I love a calculated surprise.” Either way, it sounds like we’ll soon be parsing her lyrics for Shawn Mendes references once again, just as we did with 2022’s Familia. —D.R.
HAIM
HAIM have collaborated with Taylor Swift, become movie stars, and, on their most recent album Women in Music Part III, shepherded us through COVID. They’re coming back this summer with a new project, but with no singles out yet, we will just have to speculate on what it will sound like. Considering the trio’s overall trajectory, which has brought them continually further into theatricality — alarm clarks, gasps, and even spoken voicemail interludes made their way into WIMPIII — they will head further in that direction, pairing the scale of their ever-expanding careers with the sonic palette to match. —J.P.F.
Kacey Musgraves
Well, we’re not exactly sure what Musgraves has in store but she’s been on a roll as of late, recently covering Elvis’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love” at Graceland and lending her considerable talents to songs by Zach Bryan, Madi Diaz, and Noah Kahan. As for her own output, the country supernova has never gone more than three years between albums — and she purportedly won’t break that streak this summer, following up 2021’s star-crossed with her still-unannounced sixth LP. Given how many guest spots Musgraves did this year, we’ll bet a few sawbucks that many a star will return the favor. —D.R.
Coming but who knows when
070 Shake, Mango Tree Story
Another artist with plenty of upward momentum, New Jersey’s 070 Shake reached an international audience in late 2022 when she guested on Raye’s entrancing single “Escapism.” She followed that up this year with a slew of festival dates, a stint opening for Coldplay, and the release of two moody-as-hell singles, “Black Dress” and “Natural Habitat,” the latter of which features rapper Ken Carson. Those are the first tastes of the hip-hop and R&B ingenue’s third album, Mango Tree Story, which follows 2022’s stellar You Can’t Kill Me. —D.R.
Dua Lipa
Future Nostalgia was the happiest of accidents — a hit of bright, glimmering disco-pop to get us through the days when we couldn’t even go outside. For her next trick, Lipa is trying to recreate that success in a post-pandemic world. She’s spoken about leaving dance music behind for her third album, and brought Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker into the fold for the groovy, psych-pop lead single “Houdini.” —J.C.
Empress Of, Q1
After releasing I’m Your Empress Of on her own label in 2020 and following it up with last year’s Save Me EP, Lorely Rodriguez’s upcoming fourth record promises to be her most eclectic and ambitious to date. While the title has yet to be announced, the Honduran American singer-songwriter-producer has already graced us with the alluring “Kiss Me,” a duet with her autumn tourmate Rina Sawayama, and the hot and heavy club track “Femenine,” the LP’s first Spanish-language cut. According to a press release, Rodriguez’s vocal-heavy approach to the album will include plenty of ASMR breathing. —D.R.
Justice
One of the last times we saw Justice parts was when they took to the desert with Susan Sarandon for their “Fire” video. That was back in November 2016, when everyone had other things on their minds, so you’re forgiven if you memory-holed that. Anyway, that disco ditty came from the French electronic duo’s third album, Woman, and they’re finally planning to follow it up with a new LP this year. The news comes from Pedro Winter, founder of the influential label Ed Banger, who also confirmed that maestros Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay will be hitting the road in support of the record. —D.R.
Coming, maybe
Ariana Grande
Ariana Grande hasn’t released an album in more than three years, which is a short time if you’re Rihanna but a long time if you’re me. She has spent the past several years preparing for and filming the Wicked movies, as well as promoting her REM Beauty makeup line and keeping her roots blonde, all of which are full-time jobs in and of themselves, so maybe it’s unfair to ask more of her, a mere human woman. But during the actor’s strike, she was spotted in the studio in New York, snapped attending producer Max Martin’s And Juliet, and made some opaque jokes on Instagram about AG7 and goats — all classic signs of a possible album on the way. In early December, she finally confirmed it by posting photos of herself in the studio. Will it come out in 2024, ahead of the first Wicked film, or will she wait until 2026, after both movies have premiered, when the sun will have perhaps burned out already? Will it be Positions-y or Dangerous Woman-y? Will she finally let me interview her about it??? —Rachel Handler
Beyoncé, Renaissance: Act II
Renaissance has been a whirlwind: an album, a world tour, a film. With the release of “My House,” Act One appears to finally be over, and we’re finally ready to move forward, visuals or not, to the previously announced Act II. It seems like everyone has thoughts about what the next chapter might be: a rock album, a country album, a collaborative album with Jay-Z, the visuals. But predicting where Beyoncé might swerve next is a fool’s errand; all we know is that we want it. —J.P.F.
Cardi B
Another year came and went without Cardi B’s sophomore album. But she’s still one of the best and busiest rappers in the game. In 2023, she made her case with a cocksure outing on Latto’s “Put It on Da Floor Again,” her frisky “WAP” follow-up “Bongos” with Megan Thee Stallion, and a heated appearance on husband Offset’s “Jealousy.” As exciting as a Cardi feature can be, though, we can’t stay fed on those forever — nothing matches the brazen energy of a solo cut like “Bodak Yellow” or “Get Up 10.” —J.C.
Chance the Rapper, Star Line Gallery
Chance the Rapper’s last full-length project, 2019’s The Big Day, was such a commercial and critical let-down that the palpable excitement surrounding the artist post-2016’s Coloring Book has not only dissipated but feels retroactively ahistorical. Nevertheless, the artist who inspired those feelings deserves another chance to prove they were earned before he’s relegated to the status of washed-up The Voice coach forever. His upcoming album, Star Line Gallery, takes inspiration in name and concept from Marcus Garvey’s Black Star Line, a ship fleet that connected the African diaspora to Africa via trade and tourism, and will likewise feature collaborations with Black artists from across the world. (First single “YAH Know,” a catchy footwork track, features Ghanaian artist King Promise.) If all this sounds a bit grand, recall that this is the work of “Kanye’s best” self-proclaimed “prodigy” and Coloring Book was also maximalist in scope. —Hershal Pandya
J. Balvin and Ed Sheeran
It’s always intriguing to hear what happens when two artists cross paths during their most prolific creative periods, for better or worse. So, yeah, we’re intrigued to hear what a full album from Balvin and Sheeran will sound like, following their style-blending 2022 singles “Sigue” and “Forever My Love.” During those sessions, the Colombian and British singers reportedly tracked a full LP’s worth of songs and even filmed some music videos that have been waiting to see the light of the day. We’ll have to wait until these stars align to unleash it all upon the world. —D.R.
Latto
What a year it’s been for Latto — she was up for Best New Artist at the Grammys, topped the charts with Jung Kook on his raunchy debut single “Seven,” and had a top-20 hit with the Cardi B–assisted “Put It on da Floor Again.” The Atlanta rapper has been tight-lipped about her plans for the follow-up to her second album, the 2022 breakout 777, other than to say it’ll feature guest stars and include a deeply personal song about her father. Most promisingly, Latto told Cosmopolitan that working on this record has been “the best recording process thus far in my career,” a great sign she’ll continue her ascent to superstardom with album number three. —D.R.
Playboi Carti
With so many false starts, tentative titles like Narcissist and Music, and leaks and snippets floating around, confirmed details about Playboi Carti’s upcoming album are hard to come by. But jludging by the breathless social media reception sparked by each new scrap of information — the most recent of which being the release of music videos for the woozy new track “Different Day” and “2024,” produced by Ojivolta, Earl on the Beat, and Ye — it’s safe to say anticipation for the project is feverish. With apologies to Mario Judah, the last time Carti put out an last album, 2020’s Whole Lotta Red, rap had yet to be overrun by the legions of followers he’s inspired. Can King Vamp continue to push the genre into new anarchic territory in a landscape where Ken Carson is putting out acclaimed albums and Yeat is guesting on hit Drake songs? This is his chance to prove he can.—H.P.
Rih
Ring ring ring. Wassup Rihrih?
Sky Ferreira, Masochism
It has now, painfully, been ten years without a followup to Sky Ferreira’s debut album, Night Time, My Time. But could a change finally be in the air? Ferreira went on her first solo headline tour since Night Time’s release this fall, and was unceremoniously dropped by her label, Capitol — whom fans speculated was keeping her sophomore album, Masochism, from being released. Yeah, we seem to go through this every year, but we need something to look forward to in 2024. —J.C.
Taylor Swift, Reputation (Taylor’s Version)
We’re not like those Swifties who can follow the red threads on their corkboards and tell you when the release date will be, but we tend to agree that Reputation will be the next album to get a “Taylor’s Version.” For one, it would make a lot of sense for her to end this rerecording project with her debut, the only other LP in her catalog to not get a new edition. More concretely, we’ve heard parts of two of her remade Reputation songs, including the chart-topper “Look What You Made Me Do,” thanks to Amazon Prime. In the meantime, if you need a refresher on where we’re at in the “up yours, Scooter Braun” saga, we’ve got you covered right here. —D.R.
Willow
As the child of two very public figures, Willow has been through a lot over the past few years. As she recently explained to Rolling Stone, her foray into pop-punk was partly a means of exorcising some anger and resentment, as heard on the rip-roaring “hover like a GODDESS” off 2022’s Coping Mechanism. The 23-year-old is shifting into a more gentle, introspective era for her upcoming, still-untitled sixth album with the smooth lead single, “alone.” —D.R.
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