The 49 Most Anticipated Albums of Spring 2021: Taylor Swift, Japanese Breakfast, J Balvin, and More
Spring is in the air, the weather is getting warmer, vaccination rates are climbing, tours are being announced: there’s a lot to be hopeful for right now. And as the bumper crop of albums listed below attests, there’s a ton of great music awaiting our ears just around the corner. Here are 49 records to look forward to in the coming months. (As of April 6, all release dates have been confirmed. But as usual, everything is subject to change.)
Andy Stott: Never the Right Time
UK electronic producer Andy Stott had almost completed his new album Never the Right Time in early 2020, just months after the release of 2019’s It Should Be Us. But then “personal upheaval brought everything to a sudden standstill,” he explained in a press release. Stott finally finished the album in late 2020. In March, he dropped the frosty first single “the beginning,” featuring vocals by Alison Skidmore. –Marc Hogan
Preorder: Boomkat
The Armed: ULTRAPOP
According to the Armed’s guitarist and co-producer Dan Greene, the hardcore collective’s latest album is a “joyous, genderless, post-nihilist, anti-punk, razor-focused take on creating the most intense listener experience possible.” The follow-up to 2018’s Only Love features assistance from Mark Lanegan, Queens of the Stone Age’s Troy Van Leeuwen, producer Ben Chisholm, and executive producer Kurt Ballou. The famously mysterious group revealed its member lineup for this album in the live video for lead single “All Futures.” –Sam Sodomsky
Arooj Aftab: Vulture Prince
Pakistan-born, Brooklyn-based multi-hyphenate Arooj Aftab will release Vulture Prince after sharing the singles “Last Night” and “Mohabbat,” both of which blur the lines between genres and traditions. “It’s about people, friendships, relationships,” Aftab has said of the full-length effort. Vulture Prince follows her 2015 debut album Bird Under Water. –Marc Hogan
Preorder: Bandcamp
Bachelor: Doomin’ Sun
In February, Jay Som’s Melina Duterte and Palehound’s Ellen Kempner revealed they were joining forces under the name Bachelor. After releasing the single “Anything at All,” the indie-rock singer-songwriters later confirmed that the project would carry over to a full-length album, Doomin’ Sun, with contributions from members of Big Thief and Chastity Belt. They also shared the new song “Stay in the Car.” In 2019, Jay Som released Anak Ko, and Palehound released Black Friday. –Marc Hogan
beabadoobee: Our Extended Play EP
Months after her debut album as beabadoobee with last year’s Fake It Flowers, singer-songwriter Bea Kristi returns this spring with a new EP titled, simply, Our Extended Play. Matty Healy and George Daniel of the 1975 are credited as producers and co-writers, and the first single “Last Day on Earth” was released in March with a video. Kristi has said she “wanted to experiment on the sounds and sonics even more.” beabadoobee’s first proper tour behind Fake It Flowers is set for this September in the UK. –Marc Hogan
black midi: Cavalcade
In the lyrics of Cavalcade, the sophomore album from adventurous London rock band black midi, you’ll encounter a cult leader fallen on hard times, a corpse in a diamond mine, iconic singer Marliene Dietrich, and so much more. “When you’re listening to the album you can almost imagine all the characters form a sort of cavalcade,” bassist Cameron Picton said in a press release. “Each tells their story one by one and as each track ends they overtake you, replaced by the next in line.” Lead single “John L” indicates the rest of the album will be just as wide-ranging and unpredictable. –Sam Sodomsky
Bomba Estéreo: Deja
Four years after Bomba Estéreo’s last studio album Ayo, the Colombian band returns with Deja, a project divided into parts based on the four classical elements: Agua, Aire, Tierra, and Fuego. Lido Pimienta and OKAN guest on lead single “Agua.” The group has also shared “Soledad” and the title track. “The album is about the connection and disconnection of human beings—from the planet, from one’s own self,” Bomba singer Liliana “Li” Saumet has said. –Marc Hogan
BROCKHAMPTON: ROADRUNNER: NEW LIGHT, NEW MACHINE
Almost four years since their debut, BROCKHAMPTON will release their sixth album Roadrunner: New Light, New Machine, with an accompanying livestreamed broadcast from Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La Studios in Malibu. To build anticipation for the record, the group teased its arrival with trailers that feature Rubin and RZA. They recently dropped the album’s lead single “Buzzcut,” featuring Danny Brown, as well as “Count on Me,” featuring Shawn Mendes, A$AP Rocky, and Ryan Beatty. –Alphonse Pierre
Cardi B
In early February, Cardi B shared her new single and video, “Up.” In an interview timed to the release, she said she wanted to put out an album in 2021 and had “like 50 songs” recorded. Since then, Cardi has performed her 2020 hit with Megan Thee Stallion, “WAP,” at the Grammys, although the song isn’t expected to be submitted for awards consideration until next year—hopefully timed to the release of the follow-up to her 2018 debut Invasion of Privacy. –Marc Hogan
CHAI: WINK
CHAI’s fuses cheeky rock music with dance and R&B elements on WINK, the Japanese group’s third album and first for Sub Pop. WINK signals the first time CHAI has teamed up with guest artists (Ric Wilson, Mndsgn, and YMCK), and the quartet has released several vibrant lead singles. Look to the delightful indie-pop song “Donuts Mind If I Do” for a taste of WINK’s culinary theme and undeniably playful energy. –Eric Torres
Damon Locks / Black Monument Ensemble: NOW
Damon Locks and the Black Monument Ensemble’s first album, 2019’s Where Future Unfolds, documented the live debut of the Chicago artist/activist and 15-member collective in a city park. Recording for the follow-up, simply titled NOW, seems to have been almost as spontaneous, comprising “only a few takes” in a garden behind Chicago’s Experimental Sound Studio. The ensemble includes such illustrious International Anthem labelmates as Angel Bat Dawid and Ben LaMar Gay, but the most prominent accompanists on lead single “Now (Forever Momentary Space)” is a swarm of cicadas. –Marc Hogan
Darkside: Spiral
Eight years after their one and only album, 2013’s Psychic, Nicolás Jaar and Dave Harrington have returned. Last December, Darkside announced a new full-length, Spiral, timed for a spring 2021 release. They also shared a new song, the lush and heady “Liberty Bell.” They recently unearthed PSYCHIC LIVE JULY 17 2014—a live set from Belgium’s Dour Festival. –Marc Hogan
Dawn Richard: Second Line: An Electro Revival
For her debut on famed indie label Merge, electronic-R&B artist Dawn Richard adopted the persona of King Creole to pay homage to the parades in her hometown of New Orleans. The follow-up to 2019’s new breed includes previously released singles “Bussifame,” “Pilot (a lude),” and “Jacuzzi.” Richard said she made Second Line to center Black women in electronic music and show beyond doubt that they belong—and always have. She told Pitchfork earlier this year, “I want to fucking break that taboo all the way.” –Eric Torres
Dinosaur Jr.: Sweep It Into Space
Five years after 2016’s Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not, rock legends Dinosaur Jr. will return with a new record, Sweep It Into Space, co-produced by Kurt Vile. The band began recording in late 2019 at Biquiteen in Amherst, Massachusetts but was interrupted by the pandemic. Luckily, “the recording session was pretty well finished by the time things really hit the fan,” according to J Mascis. Meanwhile, the trio has announced 2021 tour dates and a rescheduled Camp Fuzz retreat in Big Indian, New York. –Quinn Moreland
Drake: Certified Lover Boy
Last August, after the longest-ever break between albums, Drake announced Certified Lover Boy—the follow-up to 2018’s Scorpion—and shared his Lil Durk collaboration “Laugh Now Cry Later.” The news followed last spring’s Dark Lane Demo Tapes project. Multiple teased release dates for the Six God’s sixth album have come and gone, but Drake has lost none of his bravado along the way. On this year’s surprise, guest-filled Scary Hours 2 EP, he boasts, “Come with a classic, they come around years later and say it’s a sleeper.” –Marc Hogan
Ethel Cain: Inbred EP
Indiana-based singer-songwriter Ethel Cain, born Hayden Silas Anhedonia, has described her Cain persona as “the unhappy wife of a corrupt preacher.” She’s brought that image to vivid life through two caustic singles from the forthcoming EP so far: the sawtoothed “Michelle Pfeiffer,” featuring emo-trap artist lil aaron, and “Crush,” both of which display Cain’s sharp strain of indie rock. –Eric Torres
Georgia Anne Muldrow: VWETO III
Georgia Ann Muldrow revealed news of her instrumental VWETO III in March. It’s the third entry in a series, after 2011’s VWETO and 2019’s VWETO II. Muldrow also shared the track “Mufaro’s Garden.” Last year, Muldrow released an album by her solo jazz project Jyoti, Mama, You Can Bet!. The upcoming record, she’s said, “is intended for movement.” –Marc Hogan
Preorder: Bandcamp
girl in red: if i could make it go quiet
Norwegian indie-pop singer-songwriter girl in red announced her debut album, if i could make it go quiet, in March. If the open-hearted, FINNEAS co-produced lead single “serotonin” is any indication, expect the LP to contain more memorable pop-rock mutations and piano balladry. Marie Ulven has described her highly anticipated debut as “an attempt to learn what it’s like to be human; to deal with the scariest parts of myself; to live with the pain of knowing i’m only flesh and bones.” –Eric Torres
Gojira: Fortitude
Fortitude is the first album in five years from the French heavy metal band Gojira, known for philosophical and environmentally conscious lyrics. According to guitarist/vocalist Joe Duplantier, opening track “Born for One Thing” has an anti-consumerist message. “We have to practice detaching ourselves from everything, beginning with actual things,” he said in a press release. “Own less possessions, and give what you don’t need away, because one day we’ll have to let everything go, and if we don’t, we’ll just become ghosts stuck between dimensions.” —Sam Sodomsky
Hiatus Kaiyote: Mood Valiant
The next album from Australia’s Hiatus Kaiyote, Mood Valiant, is the Brainfeeder/Ninja Tune signees’ first since 2015’s Choose Your Weapon. That album spawned samples by the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Drake, and Chance the Rapper. It’s also the band’s first album since lead singer Nai Palm’s recovery from breast cancer. Lead single “Get Sun,” featuring Brazilian arranger Arthur Verocai, is jazz funk that’s at once somber and triumphant. –Marc Hogan
Iceage: Seek Shelter
Iceage teamed up with Spacemen 3’s Peter “Sonic Boom” Kember for their fifth album, marking the first time the Danish punk band has ever worked with an outside producer. “For Seek Shelter, we had a definite vision of how we wanted the album to be carved out,” vocalist Elias Bender Rønnenfelt said in a press release, “yet still the end result came as a surprise in terms of where we sonically were able to push our boundaries.” So far, they’ve shared the tracks “The Holding Hand,” “Vendetta,” and “Shelter Song,” which features vocals from the Lisboa Gospel Collective. –Sam Sodomsky
India Jordan: Watch Out! EP
Clubs were shut down for most of 2020, but India Jordan didn’t rest. Following their breakout EP, For You, the ascendant dance producer returns with Watch Out!, a new collection of tracks for Ninja Tune. They describe it as “a homage to both physical and conceptual movement,” led by the single “And Groove.” That track, they said, was crafted “in peak Lockdown #1 and is reminiscent of a train journey—repetitive and rhythmic movement that goes on and on (and groove!)” –Noah Yoo
J Balvin
J Balvin hasn’t revealed much about the follow-up to last year’s Colores, but the Colombian reggaetón colossus has already shared two singles from it, “Tu Veneno” and “Ma’ G.” He has also lately teamed up on tracks with Mr Eazi and Eladio Carrión. His collaborative album with Bad Bunny, OASIS, arrived in 2019.–Marc Hogan
Jack Ingram / Miranda Lambert / Jon Randall: The Marfa Tapes
Country singer-songwriters Miranda Lambert, Jack Ingram, and Jon Randall recorded their new album together with a pair of microphones and an acoustic guitar in the desert of Marfa, Texas. Reflecting their natural, collaborative process, the trio intersperses the songs with field recordings and friendly banter: “There’s something singular that happens in that moment of collaboration and creation, something you can never really recreate in the studio,” Ingram explained in a press release. “Our hope with this album was to share a little bit of that magic with people.” –Sam Sodomsky
Japanese Breakfast: Jubilee
“After writing two albums and a book about grief, I feel very ready to embrace feeling,” Michelle Zauner told Pitchfork ahead of her third album as Japanese Breakfast, Jubilee. Zauner’s memoir, Crying in H Mart, is still upcoming, but Japanese Breakfast has become a breakout indie-pop sensation thanks to the shimmering melancholy of those prior LPs, 2016’s Psychopomp and 2017’s Soft Sounds From Another Planet. The first Jubilee single “Be Sweet” is a beacon of a brighter future, as Zauner sings, “I want to believe in something.” –Marc Hogan
Kacey Musgraves
With the exception of her campy Amazon Prime Christmas special in 2019, Kacey Musgraves has been relatively quiet on the music front since releasing her third album, 2018’s magnificent Golden Hour. In a recent Rolling Stone interview, Musgraves disclosed that the new album, slated for this year, will dissect both her divorce from singer-songwriter Ruston Kelly and the dire state of America as she’s seen it over the last turbulent year. –Eric Torres
Lana Del Rey: Rock Candy Sweet
Lana Del Rey announced her March album Chemtrails Over the Country Club, the follow-up to 2019’s world-conquering Norman Fucking Rockwell!, almost a year in advance. The wait apparently won’t be as long for Rock Candy Sweet, which the singer-songwriter announced one day after Chemtrails’ release. It’s been a productive several months for Del Rey, who recently released a poetry collection and audiobook, Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass. –Marc Hogan
Lil Yachty: Michigan Boy Boat
Lil Yachty’s Michigan Boy Boat mixtape has been endlessly teased, but now the artist’s heavy output makes it seem like it’s actually about to come to fruition. Since 2017’s “From the D to the A” with Tee Grizzley, Atlanta’s Yachty has had close ties with the Motor City’s fast-growing rap scene. Throughout 2020, he released collaborations with Michigan artists, including YN Jay, Sada Baby, and Rio Da Yung OG. In early 2021, he put out “Royal Rumble,” with a starting roster of rappers from the state, and “Hit Bout It,” a collaboration with Florida’s Kodak Black where both tackle a heart-beating Michigan-style beat. –Alphonse Pierre
Loraine James: Reflection
London electronic producer Loraine James released her fearless debut album For You & I in 2019. Following a pair of EPs released during lockdown—Hmm and Nothing—she’s set to make a full-fledged return with Reflection. Produced in the summer of 2020, the new album draws its R&B and drill influence from James’ own listening habits. It features vocal collaborators like Eden Samara, Baths, and other artists who she said “complement her own diaristic lyrics.” –Noah Yoo
Preorder: Bandcamp
Lucy Dacus
In the more than three years since Lucy Dacus’s last album, 2018’s Historian, she’s remained a cultural force. That year, Dacus teamed up with Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker for the indie-rock supergroup Boygenius, releasing a self-titled EP. A year later, she delivered the solo 2019 EP and appears to be gearing up yet again. In March, she unveiled a devastating studio version of a live-show fan favorite, “Thumbs.” –Marc Hogan
Mannequin Pussy
Philadelphia punk rockers Mannequin Pussy tightened from a quartet to a trio ahead of the Perfect EP. It was announced in March alongside a video for the new song “Control.” Written on the fly after a pandemic year apart, the EP follows 2019’s Patience. Last year, lead singer Missy told Pitchfork how Mannequin Pussy used Bandcamp revenue to support their out-of-work touring team. –Marc Hogan
Matt Sweeney / Bonnie “Prince” Billy: Superwolves
More than 15 years since their first collaborative album, the cult favorite Superwolf, guitarist Matt Sweeney and Bonnie “Prince” Billy mastermind Will Oldham have joined forces for the follow-up. “I think it’s the most substantial group of songs on record that I feel like I’ve been involved with in years, in terms of original compositions,” Oldham told GQ. So far, the duo has shared “Hall of Death,” which features Tuareg guitarist Mdou Moctar, and the more stripped-back “My Blue Suit,” which received a video from director Geoff McFetridge. –Sam Sodomsky
Mdou Moctar: Afrique Victime
Mdou Moctar, a Tuareg guitarist and songwriter from northern Niger, and his powerhouse backing group make their Matador debut with Afrique Victime. Moctar’s expressive guitar playing and hypnotic rhythm section were on full display with his first full-band album, 2019’s Ilana (The Creator). While Afrique Victime opener (and first single) “Chismiten” explores similarly propulsive territory, the previously released track “Tala Tannam” showcases a quieter, unplugged side. Moctar has said, “I want the world to know that we are making music to promote world peace.” –Marc Hogan
Mustafa: When Smoke Rises
“Smoke rises in such a gentle way, unlike how relentless and horrifying a fire can be,” Toronto singer-songwriter Mustafa told Pitchfork last year. His debut project When Smoke Rises includes the poet and musician’s first two head-turning singles, “Stay Alive” and “Air Forces,” as well as the moving “Ali,” which arrived in late March with a self-directed video. –Marc Hogan
Noname
In February, Noname shared her first song of the year, “RAINFOREST,” a Tropicália-tinged track with lyrics that blend introspection and climate-scale social commentary. At the same time, the Chicago rapper revealed that her next album Factory Baby would be on the way later in 2021. It’s her first full-length since 2018’s Room 25. –Marc Hogan
Olivia Rodrigo
Olivia Rodrigo exploded into the public consciousness (beyond the Disney Channel universe, at least) seemingly overnight in early 2021 with “drivers license,” a debut single that premiered at the top of the charts in the U.S. and several other countries, shattering multiple streaming records. The Filipino-American singer-songwriter followed that up with the Billy Joel-referencing single “deja vu” at the top of April, with her yet-untitled debut album arriving on May 21. –Noah Yoo
Patrick Paige II: If I Fail Are We Still Cool?
In 2018, the Internet’s bassist Patrick Paige II released his intimate solo debut album Letters of Irrelevance. He’s prepared to follow it up this May with If I Fail Are We Still Cool? via Fat Possum. Leading up to the album, Paige has put out two singles: the soulful “So They Say” and “Whisper (Want My Luv),” which features bandmate Steve Lacy, Allen Love, and Durand Bernarr. –Alphonse Pierre
Porter Robinson: Nurture
Porter Robinson’s long-awaited sophomore album Nurture arrives seven years after the producer’s influential debut Worlds. In between albums, Robinson released the trance-inspired Virtual Self EP but said he had to overcome a period of burnout and creative block to finish his new record. Nurture includes the recent songs “Get Your Wish,” “Something Comforting,” “Mirror,” “Look at the Sky,” and “Musician.” –Noah Yoo
Rostam: Changephobia
Rostam recorded his second solo album Changephobia at the same time that the producer was working on critically acclaimed albums for HAIM, Clairo, and others. The songs were written in various locations around the world as he traveled for production. Don’t let the title fool you: “This collection of songs is not celebrating a fear of change,” Rostam has said. “Rather, it’s the opposite. It’s about who we are capable of becoming if we recognize these fears in ourselves and rise above them.” –Noah Yoo
Sharon Van Etten: epic Ten
In 2010, Sharon Van Etten released her second studio album, epic. In celebration of the album’s anniversary, Van Etten is sharing epic Ten, a double album featuring the original record and a series of covers by the likes of Fiona Apple, Lucinda Williams, Big Red Machine, and Shamir. On April 16 and 17, epic Ten: the documentary and concert, will stream with proceeds benefiting the Los Angeles venue Zebulon. The film includes a complete performance of epic by Van Etten and her band. –Quinn Moreland
Silk Sonic: An Evening With Silk Sonic
Silk Sonic is your mom’s new favorite band. Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak made their new group official with their debut single “Leave the Door Open,” a Philly soul tune that featured string arrangements from Larry Gold, who played on classic records by the O’Jays, the Spinners, and more. The duo then performed the song on Music’s Biggest Night, replete with matching leisure suits. Details of An Evening With Silk Sonic are scant, but if Mars and .Paak’s Lacoste promotion is any indication, expect more music soon. –Noah Yoo
Sons of Kemet: Black to the Future
More than three years after Sons of Kemet’s Impulse! debut, 2018’s Your Queen Is a Reptile, the ensemble led by London jazz mainstay Shabaka Hutchings returns with Black to the Future. Guests on the album include Angel Bat Dawid, Moor Mother, and, on newly shared lead single “Hustle,” Kojey Radical and Lianne La Havas. Hutchings’ groups Shabaka and the Ancestors and the Comet Is Coming both released albums in the past couple of years. –Marc Hogan
Spirit of the Beehive: ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH
Philadelphia’s Spirit of the Beehive makes exceptionally ambitious music that transcends genre and convention. The band’s debut on beloved indie label Saddle Creek, ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH, is no different. Arriving three years after Hypnic Jerks, the self-recorded and self-produced album finds the band—now a trio composed of guitarist/vocalist Zack Schwartz, bassist/vocalist Rivka Ravede, and multi-instrumentalist Corey Wichlin—pushing their boundaries further. With songs titled “GIVE UP YOUR LIFE” and “I SUCK THE DEVIL’S COCK,” ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH promises to be a wild ride. –Quinn Moreland
St. Vincent: Daddy’s Home
The era of MASSEDUCTION—the latex, the reworked and remixed versions, the bright visuals—has come to a close. Four years later, Daddy’s Home. St. Vincent began writing her sixth album in the winter of 2019, following her father’s release from prison after nearly a decade. Working again alongside producer Jack Antonoff, St. Vincent channels a ’70s sound as made evident in lead single “Pay Your Way in Pain.” The album’s promotional posters declare: “So sit back, light up, and by all means, have that bourbon waiting, because… DADDY’S HOME.” –Quinn Moreland
Taylor Swift: Fearless (Taylor’s Version)
In 2019, after her former label Big Machine sold the master rights of her catalog to Scooter Braun, Taylor Swift announced plans to re-record her first six albums. The first of these new records will be Fearless (Taylor’s Version), now expanded to 26 songs, including six unreleased tracks. One previously unheard track, “You All Over Me (From the Vault),” is produced by Aaron Dessner and features background vocals from Maren Morris. –Quinn Moreland
Tony Allen: There Is No End
Tony Allen, the drum luminary and Afrobeat architect, died at age 79 last year—but the beat goes on. There Is No End, timed for release on the anniversary of his death, was crafted by Allen alongside composer Vincent Taurelle and percussionist Vincent Taeger. The album features vocal turns from contemporary artists like Sampa the Great, the Koreatown Oddity, Danny Brown, ZelooperZ, and Skepta. –Noah Yoo
Topaz Jones: Don’t Go Tellin’ Your Momma
New Jersey rapper Topaz Jones’ next album will be packaged with a short film written and directed by Jones alongside creative duo rubberband. Both will be called Don’t Go Tellin’ Your Momma, his first album since 2016’s Arcade. In February, Jones released the first single, “Herringbone.” –Alphonse Pierre
Wolf Alice: Blue Weekend
Wolf Alice’s second record, 2017’s Visions of a Life, debuted at No. 2 on the UK charts and won the 2018 Mercury Prize. The British quartet will follow that up with Blue Weekend, out in June via Dirty Hit and RCA. It was recorded alongside producer Markus Dravs (Arcade Fire, Björk) and led by the Kurt Vonnegut-inspired single “The Last Man on Earth.” “This album is for other people,” lead singer Ellie Rowsell said in a statement. She said she hopes the tracks “make people feel listened to if they are going through something.” –Quinn Moreland
Yaya Bey: The Things I Can’t Take With Me EP
Last summer, singer-songwriter Yaya Bey released Madison Tapes, a simmering and introspective R&B project interwoven with spoken word samples. As she preps a follow-up, the Brooklyn artist is teeing up The Things I Can’t Take With Me, a six-song EP that includes the laid-back single “fxck it then.” “[The album] is going to be about the journey home to self,” Bey said in a statement. “But on the way, there’s all this shit I gotta let go of, just the things I can’t take with me.” –Eric Torres
Preorder: Bandcamp
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