Getty Image/Merle Cooper
Leaving aside… you know… 2025 should be an exciting year, at least for music.
Kendrick Lamar is performing during the Super Bowl halftime show and going on tour with SZA; Beyoncé might finally (finally!) win Album Of The Year at the Grammys; and Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, and Charli XCX are headlining Primavera Sound, among many other music festivals that have already announced their lineups for the next 12 months. Everyone from Lana Del Rey to Lady Gaga to Bartees Strange to FKA Twigs is also releasing new albums — but there’s plenty of others we want to hear from, too.
Below, you’ll find 15 artists and bands who I’m hoping will release an album in 2025. This isn’t based on any insider knowledge; I’m merely a fan anticipating new music. Two requirements: I only included those whose most recent album came out before January 1, 2023, otherwise it would be too soon. Also, if your next album already has a release date, you’re ineligible (why is why, for instance, Panchiko didn’t make the cut — good band, though!).
It’s 2025, the year of Hot Tub Time Machine 2 (?) and a lot of rad albums.
Harry Styles
With all apologies to the “did harry styles release a new album today” account, he didn’t. He might not for a while, too, following the tragic death of One Direction bandmate Liam Payne. But Styles was spotted with Fred Again.. and Olivia Dean last year, signaling that he might be working on new music. His previous albums came out roughly two-and-a-half years after the one before it, which would signal a December 2025 release for HS4. The album is definitely coming; it’s just a matter of when.
Phoebe Bridgers/Lucy Dacus/Julien Baker
Is this technically breaking my previously established arbitrary rules since Boygenius — the indie supergroup made up of Bridgers, Dacus, and Baker — released The Record in 2023? Maybe. But, counterpoint: maybe not. The trio reached new levels of fame with their Grammy-nominated album (especially Bridgers, who opened for Taylor Swift on The Eras Tour), but none have officially revealed their next move as solo artists yet. It’s likely Baker will put out something first, as she performed a new song with Torres on The Tonight Show; they’re also performing at a number of festivals together this year.
Frank Ocean
I know, I know, wishful thinking. But to quote a band with a far larger output than the elusive Ocean, what would we be without wishful thinking? The future A24 director‘s most recent studio album, Blonde (the fifth greatest album of all time, according to Apple Music), came out in 2016. With the exception of 2018’s visual album Endless and a troubled Coachella headlining set, it’s mostly been crickets since then. Maybe this is the year! Anyway, I look forward to including Ocean in the 2026 edition of this article.
Rosalía
Back in September 2024, Rosalía confirmed that she’s working on her next album. “It’s been a process. I’ve changed a lot, but at the same time, I’m still wrapping my head around the same things,” she told Highsnobiety. “It’s like I still have the same questions and the same desire to answer them. I still have the same love for the past and the same curiosity for the future.”
Motomami was one of the most inventive and critically acclaimed albums of 2022 — I can’t wait to hear what’s next from a true pop visionary.
Pup
Pup is kicking off 2025 with an opening slot on Sum 41’s farewell tour (Canadian punks unite!). Will a new album be next?
“We’ve been writing a lot, doing some recording and stuff,” guitarist Steve Sladkowski told Heavy Consequence. “Hopefully 2025.”
Pup’s last album, The Unraveling Of PupTheBand, was cooked up during the pandemic, and all the challenges that presented. For the next album, the group vowed to use fewer overdubs and “start as a rock band” and have a more “immediate” sound.
Turnstile
Turnstile toured relentlessly behind 2021’s Glow On, the biggest hardcore album of the decade including Grammy nominations and, more importantly, a Taco Bell ad spot. They played over 100 shows in 2022 alone. Do they feel they’ve changed since their mainstream success?
“The only thing that feels different to us is the opportunities and the places where we can exist,” singer Brendan Yates told Norman Brannon for Anti-Matter. “That still kind of blows our minds.”
Turnstile’s next album should be equally mind blowing.
Solange
Solange recently spoke to Vogue Australia about the follow-up to 2019’s blissed out When I Get Home.
“Honestly, I never stop making music,” she said. “I’ve never stopped, and I’ll probably dedicate myself to it full time [in 2025]. Over the past five years, I’ve focused on creating works that I hope will inspire and occupy a space-time far beyond my own existence. I’m preparing spiritually, physically, artistically, and mentally for my future self at 60 or 70.”
That includes learning how to play the tuba.
Playboi Carti
Unlike everyone else on this list, Playboi Carti’s next album has a title: I Am Music. What it doesn’t have, however, is a release date. The “All Red” rapper performed five new songs at Rolling Loud, signaling that the album should be out sooner rather than later. You can hear it for yourself here.
Fiona Apple
To be honest, a part of me doesn’t want a new Fiona Apple album. Fetch The Bolt Cutters is staggering, and if she decides she’d rather focus on court-watching than making music, she’s earned the right. But then I listen to “Rack Of His” and come to my senses: if/when Fiona Apple wants to record a new album, there’s no reason to think she doesn’t have another 10 out of 10 masterpiece in her. It could be a few years, however. The wait between When The Pawn… and Extraordinary Machine was six years. Then seven years for The Idler Wheel… followed by another eight years for Fetch The Bolt Cutters. Look forward to album No. 6 in 2029!
Doechii
Doechii’s breakout 2024 included a glowing endorsement from SZA and a riveting performance on The Late Show. She also released Alligator Bites Never Heal, which is technically a mixtape, not an album. When asked about the distinction, Doechii explained to Variety, “I woke up one day and told my label, ‘I’m just going to make a mixtape.’”
Fair enough! But now she’s in album mode: “All I can think about is this album, so I’m just looking forward to making more hits, making more music and achieving more of my goals. That’s it.”
Big Thief
Big Thief played a bunch of new songs while touring in 2024, including “Grandmother” and “Incomprehensible,” both of which need an official studio recording. Do the lyrics to the former track signal where the band (which parted ways with original bassist Max Oleartchik for “interpersonal reasons”) is heading next: “Gonna turn it all into rock and roll”? Also, if you haven’t listened to “Not” lately, do yourself a favor. Big Thief, what a band!
Cardi B
There’s a lot riding on Cardi B’s sophomore album. Her debut, Invasion Of Privacy, wasn’t just big; it was a record-breaking smash with two singles, “Bodak Yellow” and “I Like It,” that reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100. But following multiple false starts on her follow-up, it’s make-or-break time for Cardi. She’s already explained why it didn’t come out in 2024; now that the calendar has flipped, LP2 is “coming really, really soon.”
Japanese Breakfast
After releasing 2021’s best indie album and a The New York Times best-selling memoir, Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner moved to South Korea to live the life of a “humble Korean student,” as she told The Korea Times. Zauner is gearing up for a new album, though, one that will be more guitar-focused than Jubilee.
“This new album [has] a lot more guitar, and it’s much more melancholic,” she explained to GQ Korea. “I returned to a more somber theme. I think it’s a bit more mature… I always want to create something different from the previous one.”
Joanna Newsom
Joanna Newsom made a rare music festival appearance in 2024, performing at Utah’s Kilby Block Party in her first concert since opening for Fleet Foxes a year prior. She also played a residency at Hollywood Forever’s Masonic Lodge. Does that mean a new album is on the way? Newsom hasn’t said, but she did play a bunch of new songs at her 2024 shows. Maybe it will debut on Bandcamp (it sure won’t be Spotify).
Tame Impala
To coincide with the release of 2020’s The Slow Rush, Kevin Parker reviewed every Tame Impala album with Uproxx’s Steven Hyden.
“I want to continue the progression of being more fearless and bold. I want to make more music,” he said. “One thing I know for sure is that I won’t take five years next time.”
Guess what? It’s been five years.
It’s not that Parker hasn’t been busy. He’s worked with Dua Lipa, Justice, and Gorillaz. He also contributed songs to both the Barbie (!) and Minions: The Rise Of Gru (!!) soundtracks. But it sounds like a new album is coming.
“It’s not finished yet, but I think it’ll be there soon,” he told The Guardian. “I’m loving how excited I am by it — for me, with Tame Impala, if I’m not feeling inspired, there’s no f*cking point in doing it.”
