The Biggest New Music Releases Expected In 2021

By JC Villamere. 22 Dec 2020 2:22 PM

Welcome to the end of 2020! You can’t wait to see what’s under the tree. You wonder when your day will come to receive the vaccine. And maybe you have inauguration day marked on your calendar. All these combined have created historic levels of anticipation. December 2020 is peak worldwide anticipation. We’ve never looked forward so hard. Your eyes are exhausted by all the forward looking. Rest them and give your ears a turn. They’ll be buzzing with excitement over the big new albums we’re expecting in 2021. In fact, your ears may well refuse to shut until these albums come out. Here’s what to expect when you’re expecting new music.

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Brantley Gutierrez

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Atlantic Records

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RCA Records

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Adele
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If any other singer had the nerve to show up to host “SNL” when they don’t have a new album out and they’re not even the musical guest, we would have been, like, nope. But with Adele, we let it slide because she’s so charming and her talent is so enormous and because that “Bachelor” skit was hilarious (among others). But don’t try it twice, Adele. Next time you’re on “SNL”, you better have dropped the highly anticipated album that we were highly anticipating you would drop before that October 24 hosting gig. We haven’t had a record from you since the record-breaking success of ’25’ in 2015 and you’ve been teasing this new one forever (or for the duration of 2020, which has felt like forever). Although the album is expected to drop soon, a date has yet to be set.
Foo Fighters
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This one’s on the books! Unlike Adele, these beloved American rockers have set an official release date for their new album, ‘Medicine at Midnight’, and that official release date is February 5. We’re going to hold them to it. We love official release dates. This is the group's 10th album and there’s a 30-min YouTube doc to accompany it. “Times Like Those” is online now and it covers the band’s first 25 years.
Drake
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On a recent Instagram Live with his dad Dennis, Drake described his new record as “music to evolve to.” We can't wait, because Drake's expression here reflects our enthusiasm for 2020, a year we can't wait to evolve out of. Certified Lover Boy will be his sixth album since his seminal 2010 debut, Thank Me Later. The exact release date has not been announced, but it’s set for a release in January 2021.
Cardi B
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"WAP" was one of the biggest hits of 2020 and it's just a tease of the level of badassery we can expect on the superstar rapper's follow-up to her
smash 2018 debut, 'Invasion of Privacy'. In June, she told fans on Twitter, ""It's comin' ... Its going to hit too!!!" A release date has yet to be set, but if it doesn't come in 2021 we're going to explode.
Lana Del Rey
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“Lana is simply one of the best songwriters in the country,” Bruce Springsteen said recently on his E Street Band SiriusXM station. “She just creates a world of her own and invites you in … a big favourite of mine,” the Boss continued. Not only that: she creates fab album titles, like the one for her new record, Chemtrails Over The Country Club. It was expected to drop on September 5 but has been pushed back to a March 2021 release with the exact date yet to be announced. We all remember her dramatically titled 2012 debut Born to Die, and her most recent outing, 2019’s Norman F**king Rockwell!
Lorde
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The New Zealand alt-pop queen revealed on Insta that she has been in the studio since last spring. A November email to fans spoke of a project that she is “very excited to start showing” us soon. A release date has yet to be set for the followup to 2017’s Melodrama. We are still awaiting details but a new Lorde release appears imminent.
Sia
Atlantic Records
It’s out in February! It’s confirmed! It’s the soundtrack to ‘Music’, a film she co-wrote and directed! It stars Kate Hudson, Leslie Odom Jr. and Maddie Ziegler! We are excited but we’ll quit with the exclamation points now. Music – Songs From and Inspired By the Motion Picture will include the previously released singles “Together” and “Courage to Change”, plus her new single, “Hey Boy”. It’s coming out in February 2021 but no date has yet been specified.
Zayn
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In September, he released “Better”, the first single from his upcoming record. “Co-written by Zayn 'Better' is the first track from his forthcoming album, which is set to be his most personal project to date,” according to a statement from his record label RCA. “With total creative reign on his third album, Zayn is making the music he has always wanted to.” His 2016 single “Pillowtalk” hit No. 1 in 68 countries, so there’s a lot of pressure on his new release. But it’s nothing like the pressure of being a new dad, so we’re sure Zayn can handle it. So, it’s semi-official. His record label says his album is “forthcoming” but a release date hasn’t been set in stone. This will be his third solo disc since leaving One Direction, following 2018's Icarus Falls
Ruth B.
RCA Records
She just ran a 10-song virtual set on Minecraft so you know this Edmonton Vine phenom came to play. The “Lost Boy” hitmaker is expected to release a new record in 2021. Her July single “If I Have a Son” was inspired by the death of George Floyd. “I always say with this song, as much it was a reaction to the murder of George Floyd and whatnot, I think those feelings are something I’ve struggled with for a long time, issues my friends and I have talked about forever.” She attended Edmonton’s Black Lives Matter rally in June. Proceeds from “If I Have A Son” will go to various charities. “All I wanted to do is kind of help out and get people to understand and if it doing that, it’s doing its job,” she said in a statement. This sounds like a record worth waiting for.
Bebe Rexha
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We can’t wait for this pop/country crossover star to release the followup to 2018’s Expectations, which included the No. 1 smash hit “Meant to Be” with Florida Georgia Line. In October, the New York native released the new single, “Baby, I’m Jealous” featuring Doja Cat. It’s the first single from her next album, which is set for a spring 2021 release.
Kelly Clarkson
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Between her high-profile divorce and her hit daytime talk show, this versatile superwoman has found time to record new material. “This next record … this will probably be the most personal one I’ve ever released,” she said during an autumn interview with Willie Geist on “Today”. “The whole record is basically every emotion you experience from the beginning of a relationship to the end of what it is now. And it’s been very therapeutic for me. It’s very honest.” Expect a followup to her 2017 release, Meaning of Life, at some point in 2021.
Not Rihanna.
Canadian Press
Nope. No Way. Not going to happen. In 2019, we hoped for the release of R9. In 2020, we prayed for the release of R9. In 2021, we're saying no. We're shaking our heads. There's no way we'll hear new RiRi this year. Because, listen: Maybe we've been jinxing the release date by expecting it. Maybe if we stop expecting it, it will drop right away, when we least expect it. She’s busy with her billion-dollar Fenty line of fashion and cosmetics. Let’s take the pressure of expectations off her lovely shoulders. We’ll put this one on our list of albums we expect in 2022. And if R9 does happen to drop in 2021, we’ll still add a new record from her to our 2022 wishlist. Don’t wish for anything this year, though. No new Rihanna in 2021. Don’t jinx it. C’mon.

The Biggest New Music Releases Expected In 2021

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