Albums To Look Out For In 2024: This Year’s Most Anticipated Releases

Rachel Chinouriri: ‘What A Devastating Turn Of Events’

Hailing from Croydon, South London, alt-pop songwriter Rachel Chinouriri is expected to make a major splash this year with the release of her debut album, What A Devastating Turn Of Events. With the singer describing the collection as “a personal journey of all the hardship and struggles that have ultimately made me the person I am today”, the lead-off single, Never Need Me, showcases Chinouriri’s love of indie-pop as it collides with an intoxicatingly eclectic array of influences. Taking her cues from the instant gratification of Sugababes to the dreamy wistfulness of Daughter, Chinouriri dabbles in a kaleidoscopic palette of sounds that is sure to appeal to this year’s Mercury Music Prize judges’ panel.

Release date: 3 May 2024

What to expect: Never Need Me

Sia: ‘Reasonable Woman’

Cloaked in an air of mystery, Australian pop songwriter Sia has long maintained her mystique by concealing her face behind oversized wigs. After putting her solo recording career on pause following the release of her 2017 Christmas album, Everyday Is Christmas (she co-wrote, directed and wrote the soundtrack for the movie musical Music, in 2021), Sia will return with her tenth album, Reasonable Woman, in the spring. Its very existence makes it one of the albums to look out for in 2024, and the Chandelier hitmaker has even begun doing interviews ahead of the record’s release, shedding light on the reasons behind her prolonged absence. “The truth is that I had just been every now and again writing a song here or there for the last six, seven years,” Sia told Zane Lowe, explaining that she had been struggling through “such a dark time” following her divorce. “And then, finally, it just turned out we had enough songs to make an album, enough good ones.” Reasonable Woman’s lead single, Gimme Love, is an electro-pop apéritif for Sia’s forthcoming sonic feast, offering a tantalizing glimpse into the alt-pop extravaganza that awaits.

Release date: 8 May 2024

What to expect: Gimme Love

Albums To Look Out For In 2024: Rumoured Releases

Whether teased by the artists themselves or hinted at by those closest to them, these new albums are rumoured to be dropping this year…

Cardi B: TBC (Second Studio Album)

With the gap between her Grammy Award-winning debut album, The Invasion Of Privacy, and its follow-up getting ever bigger, it seems increasingly likely that Cardi B will finally release her second album in 2024. Though information is scarce, the Bronx-based rapper has herself acknowledged that the record indeed on its way. “I’m going to be putting it out very soon,” the WAP star said during a radio interview with Ebro In The Morning, in September 2023. “Everything just has to be like perfect from everything because I feel like people are expecting so much.” It’s not been confirmed whether Cardi B’s latest single with Megan Thee Stallion, Bongos, will feature on the new album, but with its dembow rhythm and tropical touches, the track already sits among the best Cardi B songs, and her next full-length release is likely to be just as eclectic and diverse. Few of our albums to look out for in 2024 are as eagerly anticipated as this.

Release date: TBC

What to expect: Bongos

J Balvin And Ed Sheeran: TBC (Collaborative Studio Album)

Celebrated as one of the world’s best-selling Latin artists, the Colombian “Prince Of Reggaeton”, J Balvin, has been hinting that his as-yet-unnamed collaborative album with Ed Sheeran will finally see light of day at some point in 2024. “It came about in an organic, natural way,” Balvin said in an interview with NYLON. “[The record]’s going to be another album that will offer a lot to talk about because it’s like merging two worlds.” Within the past few years, Balvin and Sheeran have dropped the hit singles Forever My Love and Sigue, so it will be fascinating to see how their creative meeting of minds translates to a full-length studio project.

Release date: TBC

What to expect: Sigue

Justice: ‘Hyperdrama’

It’s been seven long years since electro-house DJs Justice released their last album, Woman. In January 2024, however, Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay came out of hiding to post a couple of video teasers revealing that their fourth studio album, Hyperdrama, is on its way. “I can tell you right now, they will have a new album and a new tour in 2024,” Pedro Winter, the founder of Justice’s label, Ed Banger Records, has revealed. With only a short snippet of a song, One Night/All Night, featuring Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker, to go by, the French duo’s shimmering fusion of electro-house and 80s synth-funk grooves looks set to remind club-goers just how much Justice have been missed.

Release date: TBC

What to expect: One Night/All Night

Lil Nas X: ‘LNX2*’

Lil Nas X, a pop-rap trailblazer and prominent advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, has been whipping up a frenzy in anticipation for his upcoming second album. Courting controversy in the music video for single J Christ, in which he is mounted upon a cross in a pose reminiscent of a messianic martyr, the Georgia-born rapper has shown that he’s willing to challenge religious taboos, much like Madonna did with her game-changing hit Like A Prayer. What’s speculated to be called LNX2* is due out at some point in 2024, with Lil Nas X telling Vanity Fair that fans can expect large doses of “happy escapism”. “I’ve made it important for me for this last year or so to make sure I keep my inner child alive, because that’s what keeps me going and creative,” he said. If he’s brandishing colourful songs that will shower his fans in a rainbow-tinted cascade of joyful individuality, the cultural zeitgeist of 2024 could be Lil Nas X’s for the taking.

Release date: TBC

What to expect: J Christ

Meghan Thee Stallion: TBC (Third Studio Album)

Recently signing a major-label distribution deal, Texan rapper Megan Thee Stallion’s third studio album promises to bring her fiercely independent breed of hardcore hip-hop from the Dirty South to the heart of the pop mainstream. “I’m excited for this era because I get to do everything that I want to do whenever I want to do it,” Megan said during an Instagram Live. Last year’s single Cobra boasted a grimy fusion of chugging rap-rock guitar and trap beats that saw Megan shed her skin by recounting her struggles with depression, rattling off rhymes like a venomous Caspian. More recently, Hiss saw her coiling around reptilian vibes as if protecting a forbidden fruit, suggesting that this upcoming album could be Megan Thee Stallion’s most captivating offering yet.

Release date: TBC

What to expect: Cobra

Miguel: ‘VISCERA’

With his hit 2011 single Sure Thing rocketing back up the US Hot 100 after going viral on TikTok in 2023, R&B singer Miguel is getting ready to seize the moment with his fifth studio album, VISCERA. Due to be released sometime in 2024, the album has been teased by Give It To Me, a sultry electro-R&B ballad with stabs of synth-rock guitar, containing more than a touch of The Weeknd-inspired darkness. “This is a beautiful, violent, joyous, album and moment in life,” Miguel said in an interview with Man About Town. “It gives audiences a chance to get closer to me and me to get closer to them.”

Release date: TBC

What to expect: Give It To Me

In Case You Missed Them…

These albums are already out, but if you’re still playing catch-up, here’s what to expect…

Green Day: ‘Saviors’

Keeping the rebellious spirit of rock’n’roll alive and well, Green Day’s new album, Saviors, will be the pop-punk godfathers’ 14th studio outing, and is definitely one of the most highly anticipated albums to look out for in 2024. “It’s raw and emotional. Funny and disturbing,” the band said as they revealed the album’s release date. “It’s a laugh at the pain, weep in the happiness kind of record.” Expected to cover a broad range topics such as the twin threats of climate change and the alt-right, the perils of the opiate epidemic in North America, and social media’s role in stoking the culture wars, Saviors seems set to show that Green Day have lost none of their political bite.

Release date: 19 January 2024

What to expect: The American Dream Is Killing Me

The Smile: ‘Wall Of Eyes’

Comprised of Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, of Radiohead fame, and former Sons Of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner, art-rock trio The Smile are releasing their second album in late January 2024. Unlike their Nigel Godrich-produced debut, A Light For Attracting Attention, Wall Of Eyes will be produced by Sam Petts-Davies (Johnny Marr, Roger Waters, Red Hot Chili Peppers) and features strings from the London Contemporary Orchestra. Supported by a music video directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson, Wall Of Eyes’s title track is an eerie acoustic ballad that comes across like a postmodern amalgam of bossa nova and psych-folk. With Radiohead increasingly unlikely to release new music any time soon, all eyes will be on The Smile for the foreseeable future.

Release date: 26 January 2024

What to expect: Wall Of Eyes

Declan McKenna: ‘What Happened To The Beach?’

Promising a joyful crop of energetic indie-pop songs for his third studio album, What Happened To The Beach?, Declan McKenna’s quirky songwriting talents have grown in leaps and bounds in recent years. “I wanted to open up and not worry about things so much,” McKenna has said. “I was putting a lot of pressure on myself in the past when I just needed to drop the intensity a bit and have some fun.” Hearing McKenna toy around with trumpet-toting psychedelia akin to Tame Impala on his new album’s lead single, Sympathy, is like basking in rays of pure sunshine. If the rest is as summery as this, What Happened To The Beach? will be worth dipping your toes into.

Release date: 9 February 2024

What to expect: Sympathy

IDLES: ‘Tangk’

Co-produced with Nigel Godrich (Radiohead, Beck, The Smile) and hip-hop beatmaker Kenny Beats, IDLES’ fifth album, Tangk, will be released in February 2024. “I needed love. So I made it,” frontman Joe Talbot said when announcing the album. “I gave love out to the world and it feels like magic. This is our album of gratitude and power. All love songs. All is love.” Blessed with Talbot’s rage-filled screams and guitarist Mark Bowen’s punky thrashing, Tangk’s lead single, Dancer, is a reliably abrasive blast of choreographed chaos, with backing vocals provided by LCD Soundsystem members James Murphy and Nancy Whang. There’s a fine line between love and anger, it seems, and we’re sure these post-punk agitators will walk that tightrope with more passion and conviction than ever.

Release date: 16 February 2024

What to expect: Dancer

Hurray For The Riff Raff: ‘The Past Is Still Alive’

The Americana-inspired indie-rock group Hurray For The Riff Raff are set to return with their ninth studio album, The Past Is Still Alive, in late February. Giving fans the lowdown on why it sits among the albums to look out for in 2024, singer-songwriter Alynda Segarra explained that much of the new material processes the trauma of losing his father, with the band’s lead single, Alibi, disentangling the knots of grief and bereavement. “The Past Is Still Alive is an album grappling with time, memory, love and loss,” Segarra said in a press release. “A reckoning with time and memory.”

Release date: 23 February 2024

What to expect: Alibi

Liam Gallagher And John Squire: ‘Liam Gallagher John Squire’

Surprising fans with the swirling psych-rock single Just Another Rainbow, released in January 2022, Liam Gallagher put all the online rumours to rest by confirming that he had teamed up with John Squire for a collaborative full-length album. “We demoed eight of them in John’s studio and then John [has] done another two songs and we recorded them for the first time,” Gallagher said. “[I] sang them for the first time out in America in LA.” With the former Oasis frontman describing the results “the best record since [The Beatles’] Revolver”, Liam Gallagher John Squire has set out to hypnotise listeners into a psychedelic haze.

Release date: 1 March 2024

What to expect: Just Another Rainbow

Everything Everything: ‘Mountainhead’

It’s always fascinating to unpick the creative eccentricities of progressive-pop mavericks Everything Everything, whose previous album, 2022’s Raw Data Feel, utilised AI to satirically expose the dehumanising effects of technology – with surrealistic results. This time around, the band are releasing a fully fledged concept album, Mountainhead, which explores the social disunity wrought by capitalist forces. “It’s got a fairly simple concept; it’s about a fictional world wherein all of society is consumed with the building of a giant mountain,” singer Jonathan Higgs said in an interview with DORK magazine. “The only problem is they have to dig a big hole in order to build it, and they have to live in the hole.” With their strong track record of oddball intelligence and often hilarious lyrics, you can always rely on Everything Everything to unearth some indie-pop bangers, particularly if Mountainhead’s lead single, Cold Reactor, is anything to go by.

Release date: 1 March 2024

What to expect: Cold Reactor

Ariana Grande: ‘Eternal Sunshine’

2010’s most-streamed female artist on Spotify, Ariana Grande, is finally ready to reclaim her crown as pop’s saviour, with her first album in four years, Eternal Sunshine, due to be released on 8 March 2024. With Swedish super-producer Max Martin at the helm, we’re fully expecting it to be a blissfully sugar-coated affair full of punchy dance-pop floor-fillers and contemporary R&B-flavoured ballads. Giving Grande’s fans a taste of what to expect, the album’s lead single, Yes, And?, instantly topped the US Hot 100 and peaked at No.2 in the UK, its dance-pop braggadocio setting expectations for Eternal Sunshine about as high as they could be.

Release date: 8 March 2024

What to expect: Yes, And?

The Libertines: ‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’

The Albion sails on course! It’s been eight long years since the quintessentially English indie-rockers The Libertines last released some new material, so their fourth studio album, All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade, is primed to spark a 2000s rock revival. Recorded with producer Dimitri Tikovoï (Ghost, Placebo, Charli XCX) in a basement recording studio at the band’s hotel, The Albion Rooms, in Margate, Kent, it’s clear from the album’s lead single, Run Run Run, that songwriters Pete Doherty and Carl Barât are in fine fettle. “Our first record was born out of panic, and disbelief that we were actually allowed to be in a studio; the second was born of total strife and misery; the third was born of complexity,” Barât said during the announcement. “This one feels like we were all actually in the same place, at the same speed, and we really connected.”

Release date: 8 March 2024

What to expect: Run Run Run

The Black Keys: ‘Ohio Players’

Getting by with a little help from their friends, The Black Keys seem to have had a great deal of fun making their 12th studio album, Ohio Players. For their most collaborative project yet, the garage-rock duo teamed up with 90s alt-rock legend Beck, Oasis songwriter Noel Gallagher and psych-rap visionary Dan “The Automator” Nakamura for a guest-packed musical journey. “We’d never worked harder to make a record,” Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach said in a press statement. “It’s never taken us this long to make an album. We took our time and did it right.” Due to be released on 5 April 2023, this cameo-filled fusion of gritty blues-rock and disarmingly psychedelic twists has found The Black Keys in a flow state of creativity, as evidenced by the album’s groove-heavy lead single, Beautiful People (Stay High).

Release date: 5 April 2024

What to expect: Beautiful People (Stay High)

English Teacher: ‘This Could Be Texas’

Hotly tipped for big things in 2024, Leeds-based post-punk group English Teacher have announced that their much-anticipated debut album, This Could Be Texas, will be released on 12 April 2024. Having been helmed by every indie hipster’s favourite producer, Dan Carey (Black Midi, Fontaines D.C., Wet Leg), the album will see singer Lily Fontaine lyrically upping the ante on songs such as Albert Road, which reflects upon the problems of being mixed-race in post-Brexit Britain. “I want this album to feel like you’ve gone to space,” Fontaine said, “and it turns out it’s almost identical to Doncaster. It’s about in-betweens, it’s about home, and it’s about Desire Paths.” Following the group’s incendiary performance of last year’s single, The World’s Biggest Paving Slab, on BBC TV show Later… With Jools Holland, all eyes will be on English Teacher on this year’s festival circuit.

Release date: 12 April 2024

What to expect: The World’s Biggest Paving Slab

Original article: 29 December 2023

Updated: 8 March 2024