2016 was a whopping year for music. We got releases that we'd waited on for years and years and had major returns for some of the biggest names in the game. If all the releases listed below eventuate, then 2017 will match it.
Charli XCX - TBA
Charli XCX is getting ready to release her third album which is tentitavely due for release in May. She released first single After The Afterparty last year and has been slowly leaking details about the record. We know it's been produced by Stargate and SOPHIE and it's an album for you to "get fucked up to". Count us in, it sounds like a riot. Side note: she's also expected to release a mixtape before the album drops.
Anderson .Paak - TBA
.Paak is the most relentless artist in the game. He was responsible for two of last year's best releases Malibu and his Knxwledge collab Yes Lawd! and now he's announced another album. It hasn't got a release date or a name yet but he's confirmed it's coming and there's also been news circulating that he's working with Flying Lotus and Chance The Rapper. Guess he's gonna release another classic this year.
Gorillaz - TBA
Gorillaz have been teasing us endlessly with a new release, their first since 2010's The Fall. Each of the cartoon characters have released their own moving comic books plus made playlists and delivered cryptic interviews. It all seems to be leading to one thing: an album. Damon Albarn said that it should be ready "fairly soon" last July while De La Soul and Snoop Doog have reportedly recorded for it. Here's who we'd like to see featured.
Kanye West - Turbo Grafx 16
Yeezy said he was going to release three albums last year and while that didn’t happen, his next record still stands to be called Turbo Grafx 16. When he was hospitalised late last year with temporary psychosis it was reported that he was attempting to record music from the hospital so expect his next release to be a pretty dark affair. As always, it’s hard to predict Kanye’s next move so this may or may not come this year.
My next album is titled "Turbo Grafx 16" as of now…
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 27, 2016
Nicki Minaj - TBA
It's been three years since Pink Friday and while Minaj has let very little slip about her fourth record, surely it has to come out this year?! Right? RIGHT?
Drake - More Life
Drake was meant to release his new "playlist" More Life in December last year just after he dropped a trio of new songs including Fake Love but it never happened. Instead, he's told us to expect it this year and while we're not exactly sure what a "playlist" means, you can count on more Drizzy material this year. The releases just don't stop coming from him following the release of his fourth record VIEWS. Let's hope we don't all get Drake fatigue.
Laura Marling - Semper Femina
Laura Marling is one of the most consistent artists in the game. She's released five equally strong records and never keeps up waiting too long in between drinks. Semper Femina is her sixth, due for release on 10th March. Early singles Soothing and Wild Fire suggest she's going back to the sweeping folk of Once I Was An Eagle after the rock tinges of Short Movie but we'll have to wait and see.
Big Sean - I Decided
Big Sean has slowly built himself up to be one of the most popular rappers in the world. His last record Dark Sky Paradise made him a critic favourite as well as a public fave and now it seems he's on a roll. His fourth LP I Decided is due 3rd February and it's been preceded by two very good single Bounce Back and Moves. Eminem, Jhene Aiko, The Dream and Metro Boomin are all slated to feature on the record.
Fleet Foxes - TBA
Fleet Foxes are back and it's only been six years. Frontman Robin Pecknold says the album is "allllmost done" and will be 55 minutes-ish, strecthing over 11 tracks. Folk-soul songs is what we're told to expect and that's all we really know at this point.
Sampha - Process
Sampha's debut album has been years coming. The soul singer has worked with SBTRKT, Drake and Kanye and while he released an excellent EP Dual in 2013 he is yet to give us a long player. Now we know it's because he moved back home to care for his late Mother which is beautifully expressed in his latest track (No One Knows Me) Like The Piano. Every thing off the album so far has been A+ and it's highly unlikely that the whole album will be anything but magnificent when it arrives 3rd February.
Grizzly Bear - TBA
It's been a very long time since we last had a Grizzly Bear album, five years infact since their excellent Shields LP. But, they're expected to make a return in 2017 with a new album. In October they tweeted to tell us that the reccord was 90% done and that was the last update we were going to hear. So, I guess we'll just have to wait until it's announced.
Lorde - TBA
Lorde, the NZ teen who broke onto the scene with her mammoth hit Royals is all grown up now. It's been four years since her debut Pure Heroine and she's been living in the US hanging out with the likes of Taylor Swift and HAIM. She's also been working on a record which will presumably be released this year if her reappearance on festival lineups is anything to go by. On her 20th Birthday, she shared an update on the album writing, "I just need to keep working a while longer to make it as good as it can be." She further said that it will be released "soon".
HAIM - TBA
HAIM popped up on festival lineups last year playing a few new songs Nothing's Wrong and Give Me Just A Little Of Your Love but the year came and went and the album never came. Presumably, they're going to drop it on us sometime this year and everything will be ok again.
Arcade Fire - TBA
Arcade Fire have never made a bad album so the pressure is on for LP5, expected to be released this year. The drummer Jeremy Gara said last week that all of the songs were written. They're just mixing and deciding on what songs will make the final cut and then it will be with us. Expect the album to drop this year.
LCD Soundsystem - TBA
LCD Soundsystem headlined most major festivals last year but they never played any new music. Then, they cancelled a number of dates at the end of last year to keep working on the record and just this week James Murphy shared an update saying that they're, "still working on it," but that it will be "done soon." That's good enough for us.