Charge up your AirPods and clear some space on your playlists, because this spring is proving to be an unusually fertile time for new music.
Everyone from Beyoncé and Taylor Swift to Pearl Jam and New Kids on the Block are dropping albums, with many artists launching corresponding tours as well. Kacey Musgraves, for example, released Deeper Well in March and is set to hit the road in April.
“This time, I was, like, OK, I’m older now. I’m a little bit wiser. I live in the heart of the woods. My feet are firmly planted in who I am,’” Musgraves told NPR of her new album in March. “I just feel really grounded, and I wanted the instruments to reflect that. There’s nothing more grounded sounding to me than, like, a good old fingerpicked acoustic guitar or, like, a hint of a banjo here or there or, like, just a touch of pedal steel guitar.”
Keep scrolling for a guide to the many artists releasing new albums this year:
Reigning Queens
Ariana Grande, Eternal Sunshine
Following a lengthy break to film Wicked, Grande is channeling the tumult of the past year into Eternal Sunshine. The album is full of bops, hinting that Grande doesn’t care much about what critics have to say about her divorce and subsequent romance with Ethan Slater. As she sings on “Yes, And?”: “Your business is yours and mine is mine.” (Out now)
Kacey Musgraves, Deeper Well
After playing around with pop sounds, the girl from Golden is getting back in touch with her folk and country roots. On the title track, Musgraves sings about how her life changed course when she turned 27. Nearly a decade later, she’s reflecting on all developments over the mellow, acoustic sounds that made her one of Nashville’s biggest stars. (Out now)
Maggie Rogers, Don’t Forget Me
Rogers is known for crafting highly personal songs full of searing lyrics, but for her third album, she decided to experiment with writing from others’ points of view. On Don’t Forget Me, she sings from the perspective of a fictional young woman who’s road-tripping while processing the end of a relationship. (April 12)
Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department
Swifties spent much of the winter theorizing that their heroine would announce Reputation (Taylor’s Version) early this year, but she did them one better and revealed an entirely new album. Swift hasn’t shared any music from TTPD yet, but she’s already teased multiple special editions — and fans are convinced the rollout contains plenty of Easter eggs referencing her ex Joe Alwyn. (April 19)
St. Vincent, All Born Screaming
It’s always been impossible to predict what St. Vincent will do next, and that remains true with All Born Screaming, her first self-produced album. On top of tapping Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl and Welsh musician Cate Le Bon for contributions, Annie Clark — who describes the LP’s sound as “post-plague pop” — incorporates vintage analog synths and tons of guitars on her latest opus. (April 26)
Sia, Reasonable Woman
Sia returns with her first solo album in eight years, which includes collabs with Kylie Minogue, Chaka Khan and more. Expect radio-friendly earworms and, if that list of featured artists is any indication, the perfect soundtrack for a night on the dance floor. (May 3)
Dua Lipa, Radical Optimism
Hot off the success of her Barbie soundtrack banger, “Dance the Night,” Lipa is gearing up to dominate the summer again for the second year in a row with her third album, Radical Optimism. She’s said that her new tunes were inspired by psychedelia, trip-hop and Britpop — and “the idea of going through chaos gracefully.” (May 3)
Rock Out
Bleachers, Bleachers
Jack Antonoff is the busiest man in music, somehow finding time to produce records for friends like Swift and Lana Del Rey while also making an album with his own band. The group’s self-titled LP is as New Jersey as they’ve ever sounded, channeling the state’s No. 1 native son, Bruce Springsteen, on tracks like “Me Before You.” (Out now)
Kim Gordon, The Collective
The former Sonic Youth bassist is still one of the coolest people on the planet, perhaps even more so now that she’s struck out on her own. Her second album as a solo artist finds the music icon dabbling in everything from trap and industrial to the experimental noise rock she honed with her former band. (Out now)
Gossip, Real Power
It’s been far too long — 12 years! — since Gossip blessed the world with a new album. Thankfully, Beth Ditto and Co. reconvened after the pandemic with superproducer Rick Rubin, and the result is a scorching, dance-punk party anchored by the frontwoman’s inimitable vocals. (Out now)
Vampire Weekend, Only God Was Above Us
Many of the bands who found success during the indie rock boom of the early 2010s have faded into the background, but Vampire Weekend is still kicking — and still at the top of their game. Frontman Ezra Koenig and his colleagues have reconvened for another round of slickly produced, lyrically dense tunes that will remind fans why they were once kings of the Pitchfork-approved world. (April 5)
The Black Keys, Ohio Players
The garage rock duo gets as bluesy as ever on their 12th studio album, which includes a cover of William Bell’s 1968 soul classic, “I Forgot to Be Your Lover.” The band cowrote lead single “Beautiful People (Stay High)” with genre-blending master Beck, whose fingerprints are all over the brassy, infectious track. (April 5)
Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Fu##in’ Up
The astonishingly prolific Young is at it again with his longtime band Crazy Horse on their latest offering. The nine-track album reimagines songs from 1990’s Ragged Glory, complete with new titles and arrangements. “We made this for the Horse lovers,” Young said when announcing the release. (April 26)
’90s Night
Justin Timberlake, Everything I Thought It Was
After ’NSync reunited for a song from last year’s Trolls Band Together, fans demanded more — and Timberlake was ready to deliver with his first album in six years. The LP includes “Paradise,” another collab with his former bandmates, as well as the gospel-inflected “Sanctified” and the mid-tempo R&B jam “Drown,” which recalls some of his earliest solo hits. (Out now)
Sheryl Crow, Evolution
Crow previously said her 2019 album, Threads, would be her last because she thought “there was no point to it,” but thankfully, she’s changed her mind. One of the most underrated artists in rock continues to prove why she’s a force to be reckoned with on Evolution, which delves further into the rootsy, bluesy sound Crow has been perfecting over the past 30 years. (March 29)
98 Degrees, Full Circle
The nostalgia wave continues with a new album from the group, who have reunited for their first non-holiday album in more than a decade. Full Circle includes a mix of new tunes and rerecorded classics from their past — all with a hefty helping of those four-part harmonies they do so well. (April 5)
Pearl Jam, Dark Matter
The craze for all things ’90s isn’t just for Friends and claw clips — it’s also for grunge. Alt-rock pioneers Pearl Jam recorded their latest album in just three weeks, and frontman Eddie Vedder’s voice is as dynamic as ever, serving as the perfect accompaniment to the band’s blistering drums and guitars. (April 19)
New Kids on the Block, Still Kids
Need more boy bands in your life? Enter New Kids on the Block and their brand-new LP. “Donnie [Wahlberg] and I pretty much cowrote the whole album,” Joey McIntyre told Us exclusively. “We’ve been lucky, the five of us, to never grow up in some ways. And a lot of people look to us to go back to that happy place, and we give permission to them to just have fun.” (May 17)
Lenny Kravitz, Blue Electric Light
Don’t forget the king of oversize scarves and leather pants makes music, too! If lead single “TK421” is any indication, the new LP — recorded at Kravitz’s studio in the Bahamas — will mine funk and glam rock for inspiration. Think: Prince, Chic and David Bowie’s early ’80s work with Nile Rodgers. (May 24)
Deeper Cuts
Adrienne Lenker, Bright Future
Lenker’s band, Big Thief, is coming off two years of touring, but she still found time to write and record another solo album’s worth of material. Bright Future is a gorgeous, pared-down effort that allows Lenker’s crisp voice to shine through even brighter than it does on her work with the group. (Out now)
Waxahatchee, Tigers Blood
For her sixth album, frontwoman Katie Crutchfield collaborated with guitarist MJ Lenderman on an irresistible set of songs that blend Americana, rock and folk, all the while centering Crutchfield’s fathomless vocals. (Out now)
Girl in Red, I’m Doing It Again Baby!
Girl in Red (real name: Marie Ulven Ringheim) is known for low-key indie pop, but she’s turning it up a notch on her sophomore effort. Take the album’s title track, which is a downright dance number that somehow incorporates bird calls and banjo. (April 12)
Shannon and the Clams, The Moon Is in the Wrong Place
The quartet started working on their new album following the 2022 death of frontwoman Shannon Shaw’s fiancé just weeks before their wedding. Amid the pain, they turned tragedy into inspiration, as evidenced by the buoyant anthem “Bean Fields” about pushing forward in the face of despair. (May 10)
Yola, My Way
While the U.K. native has spent the past several years exploring country, blues and soul, her new EP finds the genre-bend- ing artist bringing in elements of electronica, R&B and synthpop to create a sound that’s distinctly and uniquely Yola. (May 24)
La Luz, News of the Universe
Led by vocalist and guitarist Shana Cleveland, La Luz has always been a band in tune with the metaphysical. That’s even more true on News of the Universe, which Cleveland wrote after receiving a breast cancer diagnosis not long after giving birth to her son. The group’s psychedelic surf-rock sound is brought back down to Earth by Cleveland’s unwavering belief in love. (May 24)
Maya Hawke, Chaos Angel
The Stranger Things actress is also an accomplished musician, having released two albums since 2020. On her third, she uses ’90s folk-pop as her guidepost, sounding like a dead ringer for Aimee Mann on “Missing Out” and proving that she’s far more than the average nepo baby. (May 31)
Gone Country
Beyoncé, Cowboy Carter
Bey kicked off her next act with singles “Texas Hold ’Em” and “16 Carriages,” which feature banjoist Rhiannon Giddens and pedal steel player Robert Randolph, respectively. It seems like the icon is on a mission to highlight Black artists’ influence on country music, as she did with house music on Renaissance. (March 29)
Zayn, Room Under the Stairs
Fans have long suspected that Zayn was working on a country album, and it turns out they were kind of right. The first single from his fourth LP, Room Under the Stairs, has a decidedly folksy feel, with countrified harmonies and twangy guitar that marks a big departure from the R&B sound of his previous releases. (May 17)
Lana Del Rey, Lasso
Earlier this year, Del Rey confirmed she plans to get in touch with her Southern side on her 10th studio album, Lasso. She’s been working with Antonoff on the LP, recording in Tennessee, Mississippi and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama, which has played host to iconic musicians like Willie Nelson. (September)
Post Malone, TBD
Malone’s been talking about making a country album for a while, and there have been several hints it could materialize this year: He participated in a Joe Diffie tribute at the 2023 CMA Awards, sang an acoustic version of “America the Beautiful” at the Super Bowl and shared a snippet of a collab with Luke Combs. (TBD)
