It’s fair to say 2017 was a year of huge albums, from record-breakers like Ed Sheeran‘s Divide and Taylor Swift‘s reputation to hotly anticipated follow-ups like Kendrick Lamar‘s DAMN and Lorde‘s Melodrama.
2018 is already shaping up to be another great year. And while there’s a lot of crossing of fingers (is that joint Beyoncé/Jay-Z album really about to happen?), and some very wishful thinking (will Missy Elliott finally make a comeback this year?), below are 10 of the albums we know are due… Any. Minute. Now.
Justin Timberlake
The ex-NSYNC frontman surprised fans last week (January 2) with a introductory video to Man of the Woods, his fifth studio album and first since 2013’s two-album effort The 20/20 Experience that will see him collaborate once again with The Neptunes and Timbaland, not to mention Alicia Keys and country star Chris Stapleton. New song “Filthy” quickly followed (January 5), with the full album due February 2.
Jack White
The former White Stripes frontman’s last release was the critically acclaimed Lazaretto in 2014, and he revealed last summer he was working on a follow-up called Boarding House Reach. An odd and somewhat chaotic clip released in December promised “servings and portions” from the new album, and confirmed Jack has lost none of his glorious weirdness.
Childish Gambino
Atlanta‘s Donald Glover‘s recent stint in England while he films Solo, the Star Wars spin-off in which he plays Lando Calrissian, has clearly paid off. He recently let slip that he’s been making more music under his stage moniker, saying “London has been very inspirational.”
Arctic Monkeys
We haven’t heard a peep from the “Do I Wanna Know?” rockers from Sheffield, England since they wrapped a tour three and a half years ago. Bassist Nick O’Malley recently revealed that the band had gone back into the studio in September, saying that their long-awaited sixth studio album would be out in 2018, because “if it isn’t, we’ve got problems.” We’ll say. Pull a finger out, boys.
Sir Paul McCartney
Sir Paul set his fans buzzing when he announced in a pre-Christmas Q&A he was “putting the finishing touches” to a new album due out in 2018. It’ll be his first studio album of new music since 2013’s New, and the seventeenth in a solo career that stretches back to 1970. He’s reportedly worked with super producer Greg Kurstin, who’s twice won the Grammy for Producer of the Year thanks to his work with artists like Sia, Beck and Adele.
Janelle Monáe
In recent years we’ve been captivated by her roles in Moonlight and Hidden Figures, but 2018 is the year Janelle returns to her musical roots. There’s a new single due in February, with a full album expected later in the year to finally follow up 2013’s The Electric Lady.
Grimes
“Venus Fly” was one of the most out-there songs of 2017, but so far an album, Grimes’s first since 2015’s Art Angels, hasn’t materialized. Impatient fans of the multi-talented artist received an early Christmas gift, however, when she replied to one on Twitter, saying “Just played label new music they rly dig it so hopefully smthn soon.” Wooo!
The 1975
Music for Cars will be the Manchester band’s third album, and frontman Matty Healey is clearly feeling the pressure. He told the NME last year it needed to be every bit as good as famous third albums OK Computer by Radiohead or The Queen Is Dead by The Smiths. It looks like it won’t be long until we find out; the band members recently changed their social media accounts to the same white image, just as they did in 2015 to herald last album I Like It When You Sleep.
// White Out // pic.twitter.com/KzfDpL4n7h
— The 1975 Updates (@The1975_Tour) January 3, 2018
Frank Ocean
It may be slightly optimistic to expect a new album from Frank, given the gap between his debut album, Channel Orange, and his next two, 2016’s Endless and Blonde, but we’re going to nonetheless. The R&B genius first teased new music in November, saying he’d finished an album before his all-important 30th birthday, and then followed it up on Tuesday (January 2) with this post on Tumblr.
Lily Allen
Lily‘s comeback album, her first since 2014’s Sheezus, appeared to be closer than we expected after she dropped new track “Trigger Bang” last month. It’s rumored to be called Fourth Wall, and will deal with some of the recent trials and tribulations that have kept her in British tabloids.
Which albums are you looking forward to this year?