We’ve already been gifted with so much good music this year”seriously, if you still haven’t checked out Lorde’s Melodrama, Drake’s More Life or Haim’s Want You Back, it’s about time you do”and hard as it is to believe, newer albums from some of the most hyped artists are indeed on their way. In an era where surprise album drops are the currency of cool, it’s hard to anticipate exactly which artist is going to drop which new album and when, but thankfully, there’s enough buzz in the music biz to give us a pretty good shot at predicting new music from the ones we truly love. So herewith, the six artists we think will be staging a major takeover of your playlist this fall.
Nicki Minaj’s as yet undisclosed fourth album is likely to drop soon”well, soonish, at least. Nicki’s been teasing us for a while, finally releasing No Frauds with Drake and Lil’ Wayne this summer after claiming she’s been working on this new material as far back as October 2016, but she’s still keeping mum on the actual release date or even title of her new album. The rumblings on internet message boards and hip hop forums claim to watch for Nicki sometime around October and early November, but until she makes a conclusive statement herself, keep your eyes on Ms. Onika all the same, lest she drops a surprise mixtape at midnight a la Drake’s More Life.
Camila Cabello’s popularity has only skyrocketed since she departed from Fifth Harmony sometime last December (for those not in the know, she’s the girl on the radio who’s always telling you there’s no Crying in the Club). While she hasn’t displayed Beyoncé©-level vocal chops or Rihanna-level attitude in her music yet, her hotly anticipated The Hurting. The Healing. The Loving. is all set to take over the radio from now until her official album drop date of September 22. Until then, enjoy the just-released teaser tracks “Havana” featuring Young Thug and produced by Pharrell, and the club banger “OMG” with Migos rapper Quavo.
At this point in the game, whether or not you personally care for Kanye West’s music is irrelevant: at some point soon, he’s going to release his latest work-in-progress, Turbo Grafx 16, and it’s absolutely going to take over both the entertainment news cycle and the radio for at least a solid month. Supposedly this album was supposed to drop last summer, which means that Yeezy might be behind the clock on this one, but ‘Ye always sticks to his own timetable, so there’s no need to worry that it’s on the way. (Knowing the way seasonal music works, however, it seems likely that Turbo Grafx 16 will emerge either well before the holiday season hits, or soon after to avoid competing with holiday tunes.)
Tinashe has been laying low since 2016’s Nightride made her the official princess of road-trip-R&B, but that’s because she’s been working hard on her upcoming album Joyride. The album’s release date keeps being pushed back due to delayed production processes”the original September release has supposedly been pushed back to a November 3 launch”but if all stays on track, the signs point to the album assuredly being released before the year is up.
After more than a decade’s worth of a hiatus since 2005’s The Cookbook (WAY too long in our books), Missy Elliott hit the ground running earlier this year thanks to her characteristically hypnotic I’m Better (and its equally trippy video), leaving many of us thrilled about the possibility of a new album. If plans for a drop are indeed being worked on”(and all signs point to yes, what with her recent headliner stint at the FYF Festival in L.A. and plans for an upcoming documentary)”Missy’s been very good at keeping mum lately, but if our wishful thinking has anything to do with it, we’ll be grooving to another Missy banger before the snow falls this winter.
It’s been three years since T-Swift gave us 1989, and given all this Swift v. Perry drama of late, it seems unlikely that this consummate songwriter won’t share at least a confessional single or two before the year is up. Frequent collaborators like Ed Sheeran have hinted that Swift’s been keeping her head down and close to the recording studio for most of this year, which means that the songstress should be pretty close to a release by the time the leaves change colour”the perfect time to listen to any Taylor Swift album, period. Update: After a social media blackout and a few days of cryptic snake images posted to Twitter and Instagram, we can finally confirm that Swift’s album “Reputation” will be released on November 10. The first single will be released tomorrow night (August 24) and we can’t wait to see the evolution of this always fascinating artist and whether she’s going to own that “bad bitch” reputation some have alluded to.
This post was updated on August 23, 2017.
