The year 2020 saw a number of music artists postpone tours and delay new releases due to the pandemic. For some artists, the lockdown fueled and forced a new wave of creativity, providing ample material for new albums. Here are some of the albums we’re expecting to drop in 2021.
1. Lana Del Rey – Chemtrails Over The Country Club
Lana Del Rey’s seventh studio album is set to be released in the first quarter of 2021. The music video for her upcoming album’s title track, plus an album pre-order will be available on 11th Jan. In a 25-minute teaser, the singer is seen in a number of luxurious outfits, giving a taste of what appears to be a haunting new era.
2. Pusha T – Untitled Album
It’s confirmed Pusha T’s next album is in the works and will be produced by a joint effort of Kanye West and The Neptunes. Pusha T’s last album was Daytona (2018) which dropped in a massive run of G.O.O.D. Music projects.
3. Adele – ADELE
The powerhouse singer was officially back in the studio having spent the latter months of 2020 writing new material with Rick Nowels, who co-wrote Why Do You Love Me on her last album, 25. Former Pearl Jam drummer Matt Chamberlain who let slip about Adele’s top-secret recording session in London gushing about how goddamn incredible she sounded. “I just got to work on some new music for Adele,” he told The Eddie Trunk podcast on SiriusXM this week. “To hear that voice in my headphones was getting me chills…It was just so powerful and emotive. You know her voice, but to be across the room from somebody doing that, it’s just insane. You hear it on the radio and whatever and you go, ‘Yeah, it’s really good,’ but to be in the room with these people and feel that energy, it’s just so heavy.”
Adele’s manager revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic was to blame for recent setbacks.
We’re getting major power-ballad vibes already. This 2021 offering will be six years since her last album.
4. Drake – Certified Lover Boy (January)
The album’s release has been postponed due to the rapper’s knee injury. When Drake first announced Certified Lover Boy, he said the album would arrive over the summer. However, while celebrating his 34th birthday, the rapper revealed that the album would instead be released in January 2021. So far, Drake has shared the project’s lead single Laugh Now Cry Later, which was nominated for a Grammy Award.
5. Doja Cat – Planet HER
Planet HER is the upcoming third studio album by Doja Cat with a planned release date in 2021. Doja confirmed the album title on Twitter by tweeting ‘Planet HER 2021’ twice.
What we know so far:
– The album will have a similar sound to Hot Pink but more cohesive.
– The album will contain funk, house, dancehall, and afrobeat songs.
– She wants to get Grimes on a song called “Roadbug” for the album
In March 2020, Doja Cat was set to embark on the Hot Pink Tour in support of the album, before it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
6. Rihanna – R9 (Speculative)
It’s been five years in the making; what can we expect from R9? According to the Rihanna and leaked snippets of unreleased songs that have found their way online, this project will be very reggae-inspired. And when will we hear said album? To be fair, she’s been teasing it since 2018, occasionally suggesting that the album is complete. Reggae artist Shaggy, Skylar Grey, and Pharrell Williams have all validated her claims of a new album. What’s holding up the album? Rihanna has been busy building her beauty & fashion empire.
7. Kendrick Lamar – Untitled Album
Kendrick Lamar fans have been speculating on his next album since he dropped the Pulitzer Prize-winning DAMN. Before the coronavirus hit, Lamar was preparing to tour the UK and Europe and fans had hoped that it was to promote a new album. And while the tour was disrupted, it looks like the album is on-track to drop soon …ish. Until rumors started circulating about him leaving his label.
As of yet, we have no idea what Kendrick’s fifth studio album will be called. His previous full-length albums include Section.80, Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, To Pimp a Butterfly, and DAMN., which has since been certified triple platinum. Thundercat revealed that he has been working on Kendrick Lamar‘s upcoming album. The musician confirmed the news in a video interview with Japanese fashion brand, Neet Tokyo.
8. Travis Scott – Utopia
Travis Scott’s upcoming project will be his fourth studio album and will be a follow-up to his 2018 mega-hit record Astroworld. Travis Scott has been super busy in 2020 but not with music. Scott was busy collaborating with top global brands like McDonald’s, Nike, Fortnite, and PS5 to rake in the moolah. However, he did drop a few mini music projects and singles like The Scotts, Highest in the Room, Franchise, and The Plan for Christopher Nolan’s latest movie, Tenet, in 2020. The 29-year-old hip-hop star had shared a picture on his official Instagram account in July, he simply captioned the pic as “Utopia”.
9. Migos – Culture III
Quavo has revealed that Migos anticipated album Culture III is finally finished.
The rapper explained that the trio had to delay a lot of things due to COVID-19, Quavo continued, “We want the commotion, we want to move, we want to be outside. We want to drop it and go on tour.
We want to have an album listening and have people in the thang and really hearing the album. Rumours have it that Travis Scott makes two appearances on the album, on tracks Speaking of the Devil and Give No Fxck.
10. Kanye West – DONDA: WITH CHILD
Following on from Kanye’s last album Jesus Is King, Kanye announced via Twitter he had been working on his new 10th studio album, Jesus is King Part II, with rapper-producer Dr. Dre. He later went on to reveal the album went under a name change to God’s Country. It now turns out his new studio album will be titled, DONDA: WITH CHILD, a tribute to his late mother, Donda West, who passed away 13 years ago. The album has gone through several delays and was originally scheduled for release on July 24, 2020.
Donda includes his most recently released single, Wash Us In The Blood, along with In God’s Country featuring Common & Justin Biber, and New Body, a song with Nicki Minaj and Ty Dolla $ign that was meant to feature on his previous album but was cut.
Kanye previously tweeted a track-list made up of 20 songs, but then deleted it.
He then shared a 12-track list for Donda that comes in at 39 minutes long. Aside from music, Kanye has been working on his new YEEZY x Gap 10-year deal and attempted running for the presidency in 2020.
11. Lorde – Untitled Album
It has been approximately 3.5 years (and counting) since Lorde released her critically-acclaimed sophomore album, Melodrama. Lorde shared she’s still carving out what she wants the universe of her album to be, and because of that, she doesn’t know when the record will be complete. But she’s working with American producer Jack Antonoff, who has previously worked with Lorde, Lana Del Rey & Taylor Swift.
Lorde has also shared her upcoming album’s title is inspired by her 2019 trip to Antarctica.
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