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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Wesley Joseph
GLOW
Release Date: February 17th
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What We Know So Far: We have the one-and-only Rosie Lowe to thank for introducing us to Wesley Joseph’s music, as she adamantly sang his praises via her Twitter feed and Foundation.FM radio show back in 2021. Admittedly we were hooked on the British emcee-producer’s distinctive voice and enveloping sound upon hearing the cinematic stunner of a single “Thrilla,” but his dynamic debut project ULTRAMARINE sealed the deal for us.
So we’re thrilled—no pun intended—to continue learning much more about his evolving artistry via the eight songs that comprise his sophomore effort GLOW. And if the melodic “MONSOON” offers any indication, we’re in for another batch of aural treats and lyrical delights courtesy of Mr. Joseph.
Preview:
Lianne La Havas
Title TBD
Release Date: TBD
Photo: Hollie Fernando
What We Know So Far: Two-and-a-half years on from its arrival back in July 2020 and Lianne La Havas’ magical eponymous third album Lianne La Havas remains in regular rotation here at Albumism HQ. And while that project followed its precursor (2015’s Blood) by five years, there are some indications that her loyal listeners may not need to wait nearly that long for the follow-up affair. During the BRIT Awards ceremony back in May 2021, La Havas told NME that she had already begun work on her fourth album, suggesting that the new set of songs may represent a thematic pivot for the singer-songwriter. “All I can say is that it’s very fun at the moment,” she confided. “It’s turning out really cheerful, which I like. I feel like I got all of my angst out on this most recent album, and now it’s time to have a laugh.”
Revisit:
Yazmin Lacey
Voice Notes
Release Date: March 3rd
What We Know So Far: We suspect that once you have the pleasure of hearing “Pieces” and “Bad Company,” the initial offerings from Yazmin Lacey’s forthcoming debut album Voice Notes, you’ll have no choice but to take note of her soothing balm of a voice. After building career momentum on the strength of three lauded EPs (2017’s Black Moon, 2018’s When The Sun Dips 90 Degrees and 2020’s Morning Matters) and securing Gilles Peterson’s ringing endorsement, Lacey is destined to expand her growing fanbase via her Dave Okumu executive-produced inaugural LP.
“There's lots of different flavours in there in terms of different ways I express myself,” she explains in an official statement. “The things that I listen to, music that I love—it’s hard to place it. In some ways I would call it soul because that's where it comes from, my own soul. But I always avoid that; it's all perception.”
Preview:
Låpsley
Cautionary Tales Of Youth
Release Date: January 20th
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Photo: Guy Bolingaro
What We Know So Far: “I’ve never felt more like my true authentic self within my artistry,” Låpsley says of her forthcoming third studio album Cautionary Tales Of Youth. The follow-up to 2020’s Through Water finds the London-based singer-songwriter-instrumentalist pushing her sound into deeper experimental territories and multi-textured arrangements, while refining her signature evocative lyricism and inventive vocal stylings. Four singles have been unveiled thus far and taken together, they signal that her new LP will surely be a veritable feast for the ears.
Preview:
SG Lewis
AudioLust & HigherLove
Release Date: January 27th
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Photo: Lauretta Suter
What We Know So Far: Though SG Lewis released his excellent debut full-length album Times less than a year ago in February 2021, his soulful, melodic arrangements have been firmly stuck in our heads since 2015, when he released Shivers, the first of five successive EPs. And now, in quick succession, Lewis is set to expand his already prolific oeuvre of songs with 15 new compositions featuring an impressive group of collaborators that includes Channel Tres, Charlotte Day Wilson, Lucky Daye, Tove Lo and Ty Dolla $ign.
“The album is clearly split into two worlds,” SG Lewis explains in an official statement. “AudioLust is the darker, lusty, infatuated, short-lived, and ego-driven version of love. The second half represents a much deeper, actualized, and fulfilled version of love. Songs fall on either half of the record. I feel like I exist in the space between DJing and being an artist. The bulk of the album was written across a series of intensive studio residencies in the height of the pandemic, with the help of some incredibly talented friends, and allowed me to explore myself as an artist in a way that I would never have dared before.”
Preview:
Jennifer Lopez
This Is Me… Now
Release Date: TBD
What We Know So Far: Jennifer Lopez’s ninth studio album functions as the thematic sequel to her acclaimed 2002 long player This Is Me… Then, while offering a nod to the art of aging gracefully, something the multimedia star has mastered both personally and professionally. While details about the project are yet to be revealed, Lopez explains that the new batch of songs—which comprise her first studio album since 2014’s A.K.A.—will examine the “emotional, spiritual, and psychological journey she has taken over the past two decades.”
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Katie Melua
Love & Money
Release Date: March 24th
What We Know So Far: “I really think this is quite a magical game and I feel really lucky to still be doing it,” Katie Melua confessed when discussing the process of making records during our interview with her back in 2020, in conjunction with the release of her eighth studio album, appropriately titled Album No. 8. Resisting the temptation to call her forthcoming project Album No. 9, Melua’s ninth LP Love & Money does not have an official release date tied to it just yet, but the lead single “Golden Record” is due out next week and she has announced a European tour that commences April 11th in Warsaw, Poland and concludes May 20th in Manchester, UK.
Preview:
Natalie Merchant
Keep Your Courage
Release Date: April 14th
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Photo: Shervin Lainez
What We Know So Far: This year marks 40 years since 10,000 Maniacs released their debut album Secrets Of The I Ching (1983) and 30 years since Natalie Merchant departed the band to launch her solo recording career in 1993. Alongside these milestones, the singer-songwriter who helped propel the group to more widespread acclaim by the mid-1980s is set to release her ninth studio affair this spring.
“The songs contained within this album were written and recorded during the global pandemic that began in the winter of 2019 and is in its fifth wave as I write, in the autumn of 2022,” Merchant reveals in the album’s liner notes. “It has been, and continues to be, a period of great flux and fear on every level: global, national, communal, familial, personal. But this is not an album about the coronavirus or the chaos it caused. For the most part, this is an album about the human heart.”
Revisit:
Kylie Minogue
Title TBD
Release Date: TBD
What We Know So Far: Remember earlier when we mentioned that Jennifer Lopez is aging gracefully? Well, Kylie Minogue surely knows a thing or two about this phenomenon as well. Her two most recent albums (2018’s Golden and 2020’s DISCO) offer convincing proof that her creative power remains firmly in the ascendant, nearly 36 years after she released her debut single “Locomotion” in the summer of 1987. And most signs point to the Princess of Pop bestowing her sixteenth studio affair upon us soon enough, as the BMG brass have already heard the album and the seeds of their marketing machine are beginning to sprout in anticipation of the album’s arrival.
Revisit:
Janelle Monáe
Title TBD
Release Date: TBD
What We Know So Far: Four years after we named Ms. Monáe’s Dirty Computer (2018) our #1 Album-of-the-Year, she has cleverly divulged that her fourth studio album is indeed in the works. “You will get new music because I now have a clone,” she told NME during a promotional interview for her lead role in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. “That clone does all of my music, and I have another clone for acting. I’m not going to tell you if it’s me or not. They’re in the studio right now!” Clone or no clone, Monáe remains a singular talent and her new album will surely embody her unique artistry in droves.
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