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!
Note: As an Amazon affiliate partner, Albumism earns commissions from qualifying purchases.
Róisín Murphy
Title TBD
Release Date: TBD
Photo: Nicole Nodland
What We Know So Far: “It’s mind-blowingly, world-changingly the best record ever,” Róisín Murphy has proclaimed in reference to her forthcoming sixth studio album, the follow-up to the masterful Róisín Machine, our #1 Album-of-the-Year in 2020. And while this bold statement would illicit accusations of hyperbole and hubris if it derived from most artists’ mouths, based on her sterling track record to date, we think there’s a fairly decent chance that Ms. Murphy’s claims might actually be validated upon the record’s arrival. Last month, Murphy announced that “it’s time to bring the Róisín Machine era to a close,” and we can’t wait for the next exciting era to begin soon.
Revisit:
Dave Okumu & The 7 Generations
I Came From Love
Release Date: April 14th
Pre-Order
Photo: Nicolas Premier
What We Know So Far: A modern-day musical visionary, The Invisible founder Dave Okumu’s irrepressible creative spirit as a composer, producer, singer, and guitarist has illuminated some of the finest records to emerge in recent years. Each of Jessie Ware’s four studio albums to date, Róisín Murphy’s Overpowered (2007), 4Hero’s Play With The Changes (2007), Rosie Lowe’s Control (2016) and YU (2019), and Loyle Carner’s hugo (2022), just to name a few.
But arguably Okumu’s most powerful artistic statement is destined to arrive in the form of I Came From Love, his kaleidoscopic second album and the follow-up to his debut solo album KNOPPERZ (2021). “The narrative of this record emerged in tandem with the origin of its musical journey, through a rumination on survival, ancestry and heritage,” Okumu explains in an official statement. “The account of the young west African girl who was transported to South Carolina in 1756 and sold to the slave owner Elias Ball and the subsequent unearthing and presentation of her story to her descendants became an emblematic framework for these songs, opening doors to many aspects of the diasporic experience. The music stands in loving defiance of any forces that would seek to disconnect us from our collective history. As I consciously stand before my ancestors through the medium of this sound world, I proclaim that ‘You survived so I might live.’”
Preview:
Orbital
Optical Delusion
Release Date: February 17th
Pre-Order
What We Know So Far: This past summer, brothers Phil and Paul Hartnoll released 30 Something, a collection of re-recordings of their most beloved singles alongside new remixes, all compiled to celebrate their prolific 30+ year recording career. And now the dance music legends are set to launch their next chapter with the release of Optical Delusion, their tenth studio effort and follow-up to 2018’s Monsters Exist. Guest collaborators featured on the album include Dina Ipavic, Penelope Isles, The Mediaeval Baebes, Anna B Savage, and Sleaford Mods on the lead single “Dirty Rat.”
Preview:
Robyn
Title TBD
Release Date: TBD
Photo: Mark Peckmezian
What We Know So Far: "There are many exciting things to come," Robyn shared in an official statement earlier last year. "And even if it is taking a little longer, I can't wait to reunite with you as soon as my new album is ready." Considering how inspired her most recent album (2018’s Honey) was, we’re happy to wait as long as it takes for another dose of dynamic pop from the accomplished Swedish singer-songwriter-producer.
And it seems that she is also very comfortable with taking her time to get the music right. "I always reference Robyn," Sam Smith explained during an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe this past November. "I think Robyn's amazing. Robyn just takes her time. And she said that to me once. I don't know if she'd ever remember, but she met me when I was 20 years old and I was sitting in Germany in a canteen…and she came and sat down next to me and she just said to me, ‘Take your time.’ And then she left. It was an angel coming and just giving me some really beautiful advice. But I remember at the time being like, ‘I'm not going to take my time. I haven't got the time. I need to bring out music.’ And I've only just realised what she meant. So wise, so wise."
Revisit:
Sam Smith
Gloria
Release Date: January 27th
Pre-Order
Photo: Michael Bailey Gates
What We Know So Far: It seems like only yesterday that we discovered the many charms of one Sam Smith upon hearing their vocal magic on Disclosure’s insta-banger “Latch.” But ten years have now passed seemingly in the blink of an eye and Smith is readying the release of their fourth studio album Gloria, preceded by official singles “Love Me More” and “Unholy” featuring Kim Petras.
“I am the brand,” the confident Smith recently told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, in discussing their team questioning how to position his new music. “And I, just like my gender, really, I’m everything. I can be anything. I can sing anything I want to. And I want to lean into that with my genres.”
Preview:
Solange
Title TBD
Release Date: TBD
What We Know So Far: With her older sister dominating our musical conscience for the past six months on the strength of her ambitiously orchestrated Renaissance project, Solange has quietly been in the studio working on her forthcoming fifth album, which follows 2019’s When I Get Home. That album followed 2016’s A Seat At The Table by two-and-a-half years, so while the new LP’s release date remains a mystery, it’s reasonable to anticipate that it will make landfall before year’s end.
In the meantime, the Brooklyn Academy of Music has tapped Solange to curate its 2023 Spring Music Series. “We’re excited to work with Solange and her Saint Heron collective for this incredible music series of genre-crossing artists presented in unprecedented ways,” BAM’s artistic director David Binder told Billboard. “Her experimental, global, and authentic approach consistently pushes the boundary of what performance can be and charts new pathways for audiences to connect. We can’t wait to see how this transpires on our stages.”
Revisit:
The Roots
Title TBD
Release Date: TBD
What We Know So Far: Amidst Questlove winning an Academy Award, Black Thought releasing an acclaimed collaborative album with Danger Mouse, and the band enlivening The Tonight Show stage each evening, the Legendary Roots Crew appear to be close to unveiling their long-awaited twelfth studio affair, their first since 2014’s …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin. “I will say that we’re halfway done with this record,” Questlove disclosed to VIBE in October. “I promise that by February or March [of 2023], we will have wrapped this album up, finally. So that’s my plan. That’s the only music project I’m working on.”
Revisit:
Shania Twain
Queen Of Me
Release Date: February 3rd
Pre-Order
What We Know So Far: In November, Shania Twain commemorated the 25th and 20th anniversaries of her classic, many-times-platinum albums Come On Over (1997) and Up! (2002), respectively. And while nostalgia for that era of her storied career remains strong decades later, Twain is now focused on reintroducing her musical identity by way of her upcoming sixth studio affair Queen Of Me, her first project for Republic Records. The album will be accompanied by an extensive tour of North America and the UK, which kicks off April 28th in Spokane WA and concludes November 14th in Vancouver. “At the heart of it, Queen Of Me is a very celebratory album,” she explains via Twitter. “I can't wait for you to hear it!”
Preview:
Jessie Ware
Title TBD
Release Date: TBD
Photo: Jack Grange
What We Know So Far: Though we still can’t get Jessie Ware’s wonderful 2020 album What’s Your Pleasure? out of our minds nearly three years after its release, we are all ears for what she has in store for the new year ahead. Her Interscope representatives have confirmed that she has been working on her fifth studio LP and the euphoric “Free Yourself”—released this past July—is a harbinger of her new songs to come.
“’Free Yourself’ is the beginning of a new era for me,” Ware confides in an official statement. “I’m so excited for people to have this song for the end of their summer; to dance, to feel no inhibitions & to feel joyful because that’s how I’ve been feeling recently being able to tour again and being able to sing again. Enjoy yourself, Free Yourself!”
Preview:
Yo La Tengo
This Stupid World
Release Date: February 10th
Pre-Order
What We Know So Far: Longtime purveyors of the sweetest guitar-drenched melodies you’re likely to ever hear, Yo La Tengo return next month with their seventeenth studio album This Stupid World. The record is billed as “a spellbinding set of reflective songs that resist the ticking clock,” according to an official Matador Records press release. “This music is not so much timeless as time-defiant.” As has consistently been the case across the Hoboken, NJ based trio’s nearly 40-year career, this new helping of songs will assuredly offer listeners plenty of fodder to stimulate their minds and invigorate their hearts.
Preview: