This is just a collection of albums I’m anticipating for 2021. There doesn’t seem like much to look forward to right now, so hopefully music can provide another year of healing.
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There’s a few albums that I personally am looking forward to, as well as really impact the music industry if they release in 2021. Kendrick Lamar and Frank Ocean’s albums would be the two biggest and most exciting. Each of them was set to headline some of the biggest festivals in the world during 2020, as well as having not released an official album in at least four years by the end of 2021. Frank is always elusive when it comes to new music, but there’s too much chatter around Kendrick’s name for him to not drop in the next twelve months. Beyonce is another one, having not released a solo album since early 2016, but I think she’s doing too many other things to have another one ready this year. There’s of course other extremely popular names I’m excited for, like Kanye or Drake’s album later this month, but I don’t know if either of them have a sway anymore over the industry when it comes to a landmark album.
Someone I think might surprise people with her impact during this next album cycle is Rosalia. Despite her traditional flamenco starting place, she’s become a lot more mainstream over the past couple years by working with the biggest Latin artists in the world like J Balvin and Bad Bunny. She’s also branched over into English pop music as well, including collaborations with Travis Scott and The Weeknd, and upcoming production from Pharrell. She crosses off not only the popularity box, but also critically, as her previous albums have been some of the most acclaimed of the year. It could really launch her into the mainstream properly, just like SZA’s new album might do. SZA, like Rosalia, is already a huge name among younger people, but this next album could really vault her to a level of popularity and critical acclaim very few currently have.
Maybe my personal favorite album that’s confirmed to be coming this year is JID’s next project. Supposedly a concept album and produced by No I.D., there’s this feeling around it that it will be his magnum opus, at least at this point in his career. Earthgang is already teasing a new project, but they always seem to be doing that. Everyone from Griselda put out likely their best albums in 2020, so hopefully this upcoming year will give us their best and most popular projects yet again. Tyler, the Creator has dropped a project every two years, so that means that 2021 is time for his next album. After his last two albums have been my favorites of their particular year, I have no idea how he’ll top it this time.
Hip Hop
Hip hop is primed to have a big year this year. Most of the big names held off of releasing, and have albums seemingly imminent. I already mentioned people like Kendrick and Drake, but J. Cole seems to be teasing music again with his new Instagram post. Besides the upcoming deluxe of his album released last month, Kid Cudi has an animated Netflix series coming this year that follows his upcoming concept album of the same name, Entergalactic. After doing an unbelievable amount of brand deals in 2020, Travis Scott is readying his first project in three years, Utopia. Pusha T gave an update on his album recently, saying that as of now it’s all produced by The Neptunes and Kanye. These are only some of the household names in hip hop dropping, but there’s some great smaller stuff coming too.
Rapsody has released every two years at the latest, which means we should be getting her next lyrical masterpiece sometime in the next twelve months. Freddie Gibbs has dropped something every year since 2017, so hopefully the pattern continues in 2021. The same goes for Denzel Curry, who hasn’t missed a year since 2014. Hip hop’s funny uncle, Danny Brown, has been teasing a sequel to his album XXX, this time XXXX for when he turns 40 this year. Both Vince Staples and Big K.R.I.T. tend to release music fairly frequently, and it’s been a while for each of them. And this is the TDE section now because it feels like everyone on their roster should be ready to drop. But for now, I’ll highlight Isaiah Rashad and Ab-Soul, both of whom haven’t released anything more than one song since 2016.
There are some really hopeful debuts I’m looking forward to from a variety of different artists. Groups AG Club and 99 Neighbors are both releasing their label debut albums, each of which will likely determine their trajectory for the next few years. Baby Keem released a quick two pack late in 2020, but now that he’s got all the eyes and attention on him, 2021 should be the year his first mainstream project arrives. Tierra Whack is poised to be a special artist, but she needs to release a full debut album this year to keep the attention on her. Tkay Maidza has her third installment of her LYWW series coming out, but it’s yet to be seen if it will be another ep or her first album with all the eyes on her. Saba turned most heads in the rap community with his 2018 magnum opus, Care for Me, but he’s yet to follow it up with all the eyes on him. With all these names, and the plenty more underground names I won’t mention, hip hop seems poised to have a dominant year.
R&B
R&B is a bit all over the place at the moment, but there’s artists all over in their career ready for new albums this year. Most of the people aren’t on their way up the ladder, but rather perfecting the sounds they already have. After all the scores Dev Hynes did in late 2019 and 2020, hopefully he gets back to Blood Orange this year. FKA twigs did just release her masterpiece at the end of 2019, but she has stated that she created an entire album during quarantine. Solange is always welcome for a new project, but she might be taking a longer break after two of the best R&B albums of the 2010s. Daniel Caesar has released every two years, and this is likely the year to see if he goes back to his gospel influences or not. After multiple James Blake EPs last year, he said he still wants to release a full length project this year. 6lack is ready for his third album after a quality ep in 2020. Kali Uchis doesn’t seem too likely, but she makes music really fast so who knows if she’ll be back towards the end of 2021. Shelly FKA DRAM has been absent since his amazing 2019 single, so hopefully he comes back with a full album in 2021 for the first time in five years.
There are still some people that have important releases this year in R&B. H.E.R. has released multiple EP compilations and has been nominated for more than a dozen Grammys, but has yet to release her debut album. Hopefully it finally comes to the surface this year. Jorja Smith could be poised for a breakout year, as her popularity has risen and she continues to work with big names in music. Mereba, Choker, Deb Never, Maria Isabel, and RMR now have larger audiences and are ready to release with the attention. The combination of tenured, already loved artists with the up and comers ready to prove themselves will hopefully end up with a good amount of great projects this year.
Pop/Rock
Pop has started to release some really good projects the last couple years, so hopefully it’ll continue into this year. Billie Eilish is set to release her second album, and this will for sure be one of the biggest albums this year, if not the biggest. There’s no telling what exactly her sound will be, but she’s got the world at her fingertips right now. Adele and Bruno Mars haven't released since 2015 and 2016 respectively, and this seems like the year for both to resurface with new music, Adele especially. Lorde is another one who hasn’t released since 2017, but fans are craving for her next release. Twenty One Pilots is another group that won’t have released for over three years by the end of 2021, and they don’t usually take very long between albums.
Hyperpop likely is going to have a few entertaining projects too. Already iconic duo 100 gecs will likely be back again towards the end of 2021 with another helping of their mind-melting sound. Smaller artists like Alice Longyu Gao and Grandma are likely to give their first hyperpop sounding projects this year, as well as any number of up and coming artists that I don’t know of yet. While these small artists can provide some entertaining diversions to pop music, the state of pop this year will likely revolve around a few albums by the world’s biggest stars.
I’m also throwing rock in here at the end, since there’s not really too much I can think of that makes me curious this year. Mumford & Sons is the big artist, as they’ve released an album every three years since they debuted in 2009, and that would make 2021 the year for a new project. Although, I wouldn’t be surprised if COVID messed up their rhythm. Jack White also hasn’t released an album since 2018, but he doesn’t seem to follow anyone’s schedule. Poppy has claimed to be almost done with her next album, even though she released almost 20 songs all throughout last year. Australian disco-inspired group Parcels likely need to release something in order to stay relevant.
Jazz
Jazz is always a category that seems to get overlooked when looking at current music. It’s definitely something that I don’t pay attention to as much as I probably should, but there’s still enough people that are likely releasing soon. Kamasi Washington has released official albums in 2015 and 2018, so 2021 fits the pattern of Kamasi’s next 3 hour long jazz epic. After 8 projects this year, Terrace Martin is bound to release something next year, and hopefully it’s his next official studio album Drones. Terrace has also been mentioning for years about legend Herbie Hancock’s next album, so there’s a small chance that materializes this year. Ezra Collective would also be a nice surprise to this upcoming year. As for whoever else I’m not thinking of, anyone out of London or the UK in general is someone to keep an eye out for.
Indie/alternative
Indie and alternative music isn’t what I’m normally a fan of, but there’s still a few in here that I’m really excited for this year! Jensen McRae is likely gearing up to release her debut album later this year, and has also said that she has new music coming out later this month. KennyHoopla has already said that he plans on releasing his debut album after his stellar EP last year, although his newest social media post indicates he might be taking a break. SAULT released multiple fantastic albums in both 2019 and 2020, so I’m hopeful they’ll have new music sometime next year to keep up the pace. Besides those three, this is a genre that I normally come across people as they’re releasing albums. For example, Arlo Parks and Julien Baker have upcoming albums this month and next month respectively that I’m curious about. Hopefully there will be more that I’m not thinking of, but there’s definitely some great stuff to look forward to in this genre during 2020.
Electronic
Electronic music is another one that’s really hit or miss depending on only a few people. The one artist that’s for sure releasing sooner rather than later is the wonky, future bass artist Iglooghost. His style of glitchy, beautiful, but energetic electronic music is super unique and easily distinguishable. His newest single is his most cinematic yet, and would be a perfect first track of an album. Even though Flume released a mixtape in early 2019, it’s been 5 years since his last official album, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he drops a new album this year. SOPHIE is another pioneer in experimental electronic music, but she’s so reclusive that there’s no telling when she’s releasing a new project.
Long Shot/Wild Guesses
And of course, it’s no fun doing one of these without mentioning the wild guesses that have no evidence of happening, but would be amazing if they did. I would love any return from neo soul legends like D’angelo and Erykah Badu, or the iconic hip hop group The Roots; neither of the three have released anything since 2015. Janelle Monae is one of my favorite artists, but she does so many acting gigs, advocating, and more that I have no idea when she’ll actually get back around to music. I can’t not mention Rihanna, who’s basically become a running joke for her never releasing an album. British songwriter extraordinaire Sampha has an incredible voice and talent, but has also been in hiding these past few years since his gorgeous 2017 debut, Process. Childish Gambino might’ve released an album last year, but now that COVID made filming tv shows impossible for most of the year, he could’ve been using it to stay busy. But I’ll also bet that three kids is enough to stay busy even without trying to have a career on top of that.
These are just some of the albums that I’m anticipating this year, and please let me know any that you think I missed during this process. It was just a fun little project during this down time to help escape the endless void. 2021 seems to be gearing up to have some big names drop some music, so hopefully music will help us get through another year that likely isn’t going to be too much better than 2020.
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