With the year already starting well for music, you can expect even more in the coming month.
2024 has seen a plethora of new music releases, from Future and Metro Boomin’s “We Don’t Trust You” to Olivia Rodrigo’s reissue of “Guts.” With big music festivals such as Coachella and Lollapalooza coming up, artists are gearing up for even more releases in the upcoming months.
Here are ten more upcoming releases to keep an eye out for this year. Maybe you’ll end up finding your new favorite album.
1. Charli XCX – Brat
Anticipating a release date of June 7, 2024, the clubs and dance music with which Charli XCX is familiar inspires “Brat”. Such symbolism is evident in the rollout of the oncoming sixth album from pop singer Charli XCX. For instance, XCX hosted a Boiler Room event in a quiet warehouse in New York in February. The ambiance painted the infrastructure with colorful flashing lights, rave-like outfits from attendees and loud, booming music from the speakers. An electropop single titled “Von Dutch”, along with a remix featuring producer A.G. Cook and TikTok star Addison Rae have released as a part of the rollout. A short series of tour dates will also take place in select cities later this year, starting in Barcelona and ending in São Paulo, Brazil.
2. Playboi Carti – Music
Without a doubt, Playboi Carti has recently taken the world of rap and hip-hop by storm. Carti’s upcoming album lacks an official release date, but internet personality DJ Akademiks confirmed a release for this year. Carti himself has teased the year 2024 for a potential album release through various social media posts. With several singles released on different platforms over the past few months, the rapper has experimented with new sounds. Rather than high-pitched vocals over rage beats, Carti favors deep vocals over trap beats, which is evident on “H00dByAir”. “H00dByAir” is the third promotional single released as part of the upcoming album’s rollout. A sixth single, “Ketamine“, released in March, as well as Carti featuring on Camila Cabello’s single, “I Luv It“.
3. Taylor Swift – The Tortured Poets Department
American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift will release her 11th studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” on April 19, 2024. Swift announced the album’s release during the 66th Annual Grammy Awards broadcast after winning an award for Best Pop Vocal Album for “Midnights“, her 10th studio album. The entire tracklist was revealed in February, with only two features on the album: Post Malone and Florence and the Machine. Four physical editions of the upcoming album have also been available to pre-order, each containing a different bonus track. Miniscule information has been provided on how the album will sound and who else has worked on the album aside from the two announced features. The album cover and its different physical edition variants are reminiscent of the aesthetic of music popular during the Tumblr era taking place in the mid-2010s, such as Lana Del Rey’s “Ultraviolence” and Lorde’s “Pure Heroine”.
4. Dua Lipa – Radical Optimism
English-Albanian singer-songwriter Dua Lipa is releasing her third studio album, “Radical Optimism”, on May 3, 2024. Two singles, “Houdini” and “Training Season”, are set to be on the upcoming album, which has 11 tracks in total. Unique from what “Future Nostalgia” has to offer, “Radical Optimism” takes on a psychedelic sound inspired by UK rave culture. English trip-hop collective Massive Attack and Scottish neo-psychedelic band Primal Scream are cited as key influences, according to Lipa. This influence is evident in both “Houdini” and “Training Season,” which contain contributions from Kevin Parker of Tame Impala, a psychedelic pop act known for kaleidoscopic, colorful palettes of groovy sound.
5. Twenty One Pilots – Clancy
Twenty One Pilots, the alternative rock duo reigning from Columbus, Ohio, will release their seventh studio album “Clancy” on May 17, 2024. “Trench”, their fifth studio album, introduced the conceptual story that “Clancy” intends to conclude following its release. A week after a cryptic video referencing the lore was released, the album’s title and release date were revealed. Along came the release of the lead pop-rap single “Overcompensate”, which was accompanied by a music video. “Next Semester”, the second promotional single, was released almost a month later, accompanied by another music video and the announcement of the Clancy World Tour.
6. Kanye West & Ty Dolla Sign – Vultures 2
¥$ is a hip-hop supergroup consisting of influential hip-hop artist Kanye West and R&B singer Ty Dolla $ign. Their first installment of the Vultures trilogy, “Vultures 1”, released on February 10, 2024. “Vultures 2” will release on May 3, 2024. Off course from the sounds and themes surrounding West’s last studio album, “Donda”, “Vultures 1” is more daring and provocative in its lyrical and instrumental content, such as in songs like “Hoodrat” and “Fuk Sumn”. Like the first installment, “Vultures 2” will contain many confirmed features like West’s daughter North West, American rappers Future, Playboi Carti, Kodak Black, as well as Bad Bunny. As with every Kanye West album, listeners can expect feature and tracklist changes to be made last minute, or even delays in the production of the album just as there was for “Vultures 1”.
VULTURES 2 pic.twitter.com/Vh5ZKGw4Qf
— ye (@kanyewest) March 9, 2024
7. Porter Robinson – Upcoming Third Album
American EDM artist Porter Robinson, known for songs such as “Goodbye To A World” and “Shelter”, recently announced that his third album was complete and would release this year. In a YouTube video titled “The Day Porter Robinson Deleted All His Music”, Robinson narrated the history of the future deletion of his entire discography. The video was a prank, and his website‘s (not supported on Chrome) timer revealed the album’s completion when it hit zero. No title or release date has emerged, but a single titled “Cheerleader” released in March. Deviating from his usual calm and atmospheric electronic sound, the single is rather energetic and bubbly. Robinson also utilizes a minuscule amount of vocal effects in comparison to the layers of effects featured in older songs.
8. The Marías – Submarine
The Marías, a Los Angeles-based indie pop band, will release their second studio album, “Submarine” on May 31, 2024. Having collaborated with Latin artists such as Bad Bunny and Tainy, the band incorporates both English and Spanish into their music. The lead single, “Run Your Mouth”, doesn’t stray off too far from the band’s usual sound, but is slightly more poppy and danceable than an average Marías song. Furthermore, The Marías have released the first episode of Submarine Diaries, a docuseries edited and directed by Ian Lipton. It centers on the creation and themes of the upcoming album, such as the dynamics that have changed amongst the band after a series of events that took place in their personal lives.
9. Lana Del Rey – Lasso
Scheduled for a September 2024 release, “Lasso” will be American singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey’s tenth studio album. Departing from Del Rey’s typical alternative pop sound, “Lasso” will delve more into a country sound. The singer has already dipped her toes into the waters of country, recently recording and releasing a cover of “Take Me Home, Country Roads”, originally performed by American country singer John Denver. Del Rey will primarily be working with producer and Bleachers frontman Jack Antonoff, who has worked with her on all of her previous releases starting from “Norman Fucking Rockwell!” (with the exception of “Blue Banisters”), for “Lasso”.
10. SZA – Lana
Originally planned to be the deluxe reissue of “SOS”, “Lana” is the upcoming third album from American R&B musician SZA. Many of the artist’s songs meant for “Lana” leaked throughout the internet, which fans wanted on the album. Later on, SZA would state that these leaked songs would be on the deluxe version of her previous release, “SOS”. “Lana” will be its own entity separate from “SOS”. “Saturn”, released in February, is the lead single to “Lana”, featuring luminous instrumentals and SZA’s iconic falsettos. “Saturn” was first previewed in a commercial for MasterCard, featuring a live performance of the song by SZA.
These are only just some of the many releases that are to come this year. Recent album releases you might want to listen to include Beyoncé‘s “Cowboy Carter”, Adrianne Lenker‘s “Bright Future”, Kali Uchis‘ “Orquídeas” and Schoolboy Q‘s “Blue Lips”. With new music from a breadth of genres, there’s something for everyone.
