As we close the door on 2022 and open a new one for 2023, we’re already giddy with anticipation for all of the wonderful new albums that are set—or rumored—to emerge during the twelve months that lie ahead.
Below, we’ve identified the 30 albums we’re most excited to lay our ears upon in 2023, based on the information available to date, which is admittedly scarce for select titles. As the respective album details and as-yet-to-be-announced release dates emerge, we’ll provide additional coverage, streams and reviews.
Oh, and while we’ve included the long-pending albums by The Cure, Janet Jackson and Sade in our previous years’ new music previews, we’ve opted to remove them from this year’s roundup, so that we avoid over-promising and under-delivering…once again. If any of these three eagerly awaited long players should happen to (finally) surface in 2023, it’ll simply be icing on the cake, so to speak. Fingers crossed.
In the meantime, explore the list and be sure to let us know which forthcoming albums are on your wishlist for the year ahead!
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Bat For Lashes
The Dream Of Delphi
Release Date: TBD
Photo: Eliot Lee Hazel
What We Know So Far: The arrival of Bat For Lashes’ sixth studio affair—the follow-up to 2019’s Lost Girls—appears imminent, as the London-bred, Los Angeles-based Natasha Khan confirmed via Instagram this past summer. “Just recorded the final song for this new album and I’m FEELING THE JOY,” Khan declared. “The Dream Of Delphi written over the last 2 years is almost ready.”
Revisit:
Beyoncé
Title TBD
Release Date: TBD
Photo: Carlijn Jacobs
What We Know So Far: Arguably the most universally acclaimed long player of 2022, Beyoncé’s ambitiously conceived and expertly executed seventh studio album Renaissance is simply—and rather remarkably—the first installment of a planned trilogy of albums. “This three-act project was recorded over three years during the pandemic,” the artist explains via her official website. “A time to be still, but also a time I found to be the most creative. Creating this album allowed me a place to dream and to find escape during a scary time for the world. It allowed me to feel free and adventurous in a time when little else was moving. My intention was to create a safe place, a place without judgment. A place to be free of perfectionism and overthinking. A place to scream, release, feel freedom. It was a beautiful journey of exploration.”
Though not yet confirmed by Beyoncé herself, rumor has it that the second act will be an acoustic-driven album and the third offering will take the form of a collaborative project with her partner Jay-Z.
Revisit:
Mariah Carey
Title TBD
Release Date: TBD
Photo: Sarah McColgan
What We Know So Far: Although four years and two months have passed since the mighty Ms. Carey unveiled her most recent studio album (2018’s Caution), the singer-songwriter extraordinaire continues to demonstrate her penchant for staying top of mind with her fans in the periods between album releases without oversaturating her market. Most recently, Carey released her Rarities (2020) collection, her memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey (2020) and a special expanded 25th anniversary edition of her classic 1997 LP Butterfly, and of course her reemergence during the holiday season has become a treasured annual tradition.
But when will her much-anticipated sixteenth studio album see the light of day? Soon-ish, it would seem, among various projects currently in development. “It’s about three or four different things,” Carey recently shared during an interview with Rolling Stone. “One is a project that I’m almost finished with that I was doing some background vocal tweaks on. One is [new] songs that could be for the scripted series [by Lee Daniels] or a documentary. And then there’s a themed album. It’s something that people have been asking me to do for years, but it’s not done in the traditional sense. It’s not done yet, but I’m really excited about it. I’m working [on that album] with some very eclectic, newer artists, as well as some legendary folks.”
Revisit:
Lana Del Rey
Did You Know That There's A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd
Release Date: March 24th
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Photo: Neil Krug
What We Know So Far: Deactivating her public social media accounts seems to have further fueled Lana Del Rey’s already impressive work ethic, as she is set to deliver her ninth studio album in thirteen years this March. “It all begun for fun, playing on lazy Sunday afternoons that turned into tunes [with] big orchestras and simple melodies that matched each moment we were in,” Del Rey shared via a letter posted to her private Instagram account last month. “The music is for fun and for you and for me and not always free unless you’re streaming ha – but spirited with the best of intentions,” she continued, whetting her devoted fanbase’s collective appetite for the project that features production by the likes of Jack Antonoff and Zach Dawes along with collaborations with Jon Batiste and Father John Misty, among others.
Preview:
Depeche Mode
Memento Mori
Release Date: March 17th (Tentative)
Photo: Anton Corbijn
What We Know So Far: A few months after the passing of Depeche Mode co-founder and multi-instrumentalist Andy Fletcher in May of last year, his longtime bandmates Dave Gahan and Martin Gore revealed that the recent Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees’ fifteenth studio album is set to surface in early 2023. “We started work on this project early in the pandemic, and its themes were directly inspired by that time,” Gore explains to Live Nation. “After Fletch's passing, we decided to continue as we're sure this is what he would have wanted, and that has really given the project an extra level of meaning.” Memento Mori follows 2017’s Spirit and will be accompanied by a world tour that kicks off March 23rd in Sacramento, CA and concludes August 11th in Oslo, Norway.
Revisit:
Everything But The Girl
Fuse
Release Date: April 21st
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Photo: Edward Bishop
What We Know So Far: Twenty-three years after what had ostensibly been their final studio affair crafted together (1999’s Temperamental), the beloved wife-husband duo of Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt have decided to place their respective solo careers on hold for a bit to reignite the musical flames of Everything But The Girl. The first taste of the new album should arrive soon, as Watt teased via Twitter on New Year’s Eve, stating “Raise a glass. New single, January. Album, spring. So ready. Happy New Year!”
Update 1/10/23: Said new single has arrived this morning in the form of “Nothing Left To Lose” and the duo have confirmed the album title Fuse and April 21st release date.
Preview:
Gorillaz
Cracker Island
Release Date: February 24th
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What We Know So Far: Though Gorillaz could very well have gone the way of an ephemeral, one-off novelty act when it emerged to widespread acclaim in early 2001, the group has endured and continued to expand its legion of devotees two decades on. The project’s staying power is a grand testament to the never-wavering musical imagination and collaborative synergy shared by co-founders Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, who are set to bless the world with their eighth studio album next month.
Four tracks have already been released from the album, including the titular “Cracker Island” with Thundercat and “New Gold” featuring Tame Impala and The Pharcyde’s Bootie Brown. Additional guests slated to appear on Cracker Island include Bad Bunny, Beck, Stevie Nicks and Adeleye Omotayo, among others.
Preview:
Ellie Goulding
Higher Than Heaven
Release Date: March 24th
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Photo: Madison Phipps
What We Know So Far: Preceded by two sublime singles in the form of “Easy Lover” (featuring Big Sean) and “Let It Die,” the decorated UK electropop star will deliver her fifth studio album in March. The eleven-track LP will be accompanied by an expanded deluxe edition that features five bonus tracks, including “All By Myself,” her recent collaborative single with Alok and Sigala. “[Higher Than Heaven is] about being passionately in love,” she explains in an official statement. “But it’s a hyper form of love, almost like a drug induced feeling. It feels almost artificial and there’s the potential for a crash.”
Preview:
PJ Harvey
Title TBD
Release Date: Summer
Photo: Steve Gullick
What We Know So Far: Nearly seven years have passed since PJ Harvey released her ninth studio album The Hope Six Demolition Project (2016), but she has remained plenty busy, reissuing her discography on vinyl, delivering “Demos” versions of eight of her studio albums in rapid succession beginning in July 2020, composing two TV series scores (2019’s The Virtues and 2022’s Bad Sisters), and publishing the narrative poem Orlam this past August. And now, it appears that the extended wait for her next studio LP is nearly over, as she revealed to Rolling Stone in June. “I’m very pleased with [the new album],” she explains. “It took a long time to write to get right, but at last I feel very happy with it.”
Revisit:
Hooverphonic
Title TBD
Release Date: TBD
Photo: Nictures
What We Know So Far: With 2021’s Hidden Stories, the Belgian duo of Alex Callier and Raymond Geerts rekindled their musical partnership with vocalist Geike Arnaert, who had taken an extended hiatus from Hooverphonic following 2007’s The President of the LSD Golf Club. And now the trio plans to extend their reunion in the form of their forthcoming twelfth studio album, which is preceded by the sterling symphonica of lead single “Mysterious.” “The new upcoming Hooverphonic album will contain loads of danceable material with more than one nod to the nineties; and that makes sense, because Hooverphonic is inextricably linked to that decade,” the group explain via their Facebook page.
“'Mysterious' is the first single of our upcoming album. An album that’s heavily inspired by the electronic music of the nineties,” they add. “A time when it all started for Hooverphonic. Now, 27 years later, we had the urge to experiment again with influences such as William Orbit, Madonna, Nas, Todd Terry, Massive Attack, and Moloko...and let's not forget: our own albums of said era. Some say 'Mysterious' is 'Battersea 2.0'. Sometimes a track doesn’t need more than strings, a beat, and the enchanting vocals of Geike. The lyrics are dark and poetic yet hopeful. They tell a story about being afraid and, at the same time, being intrigued about what’s coming.”
Preview: