22 Albums We’re Excited For In 2024

As sure as the high-heeled woman stepping into the New Year, the music industry is already full steam ahead with new releases. While 2023 was an exceptional year for music, 2024 just might be even bigger, with the long-awaited return of several A-list pop stars and the release of career-defining projects for some of NYLON’s favorite cult musicians (and yes, we’ve already heard some of them in advance). Below, find 20 of our most-anticipated records of 2024 from Ariana Grande to Sleater-Kinney, which also doubles as a hopeful predictions list.

Adrianne Lenker

Adrianne Lenker’s next solo record is arriving in 2024 and was announced with the arrival of “ruined,” a hallowed piano ballad that’s quite big and romantic for the Big Thief frontwoman. There’s no release date or album title yet — the only info we have is that she created some of the record with Philip Weinrobe, who worked on 2020’s songs and instrumentals — but we expect it’ll be out before April, when she’s set to tour Europe.

Release date: TBA

Allie X

The anticipation for Toronto-based indie pop artist Allie X’s new record is so high it’s already been leaked in full twice. The singer’s first full-length since 2020’s acclaimed Cape God, Girl With No Face marks an abrupt shift in style as it mines the hedonism of the ‘80s à la its dark and thumping lead single “Black Eye.” Pop heads who missed the leaks will have to wait until the end of February for its arrival.

Release date: Feb. 23, 2024

Ariana Grande

Goodbye Broadway Ari, hello pop star Ari. The “positions” singer is back in music mode after a brief stint away filming the Wicked musical movie (and getting into a ton of tabloid shenanigans along the way). Her latest dispatches on social media show her cozied up in the studio with right-hand man Max Martin and cutting her own vocals, which means an album is on the horizon. The only thing that’s left is bracing ourselves for new horny songs written about SpongeBob.

Release date: TBA

Brittany Howard

Alabama Shakes frontwoman Brittany Howard will release her sophomore solo record, What Now, on Feb. 9, 2024. Its exuberant title track, out now, already promises another spectacular rock epic, one that, given her award show history, will surely be on the Grammy ballots next year.

Release date: Feb. 9, 2024

Cardi B

The road to Cardi B’s sophomore record has been...rocky, to say the least. She’s been teasing its arrival since 2021, released a slew of singles with nothing to follow them up, and claimed that there is no album at all, but it seems the most recent report is that something indeed in on the way, per a December Instagram livestream. We’ll trust you one more time, Cardi!

Release date: TBA

Charli XCX

In 2023, Charli XCX got engaged and finished a record — “But it’s not out so next year that’ll be out,” said the pop star in a December red carpet interview. The record in question is presumably her highly anticipated next album, known as XCX 6 to her fans, and first project not to be released on her former label Atlantic. She’s described the music as “the closest album to Pop 2 in it’s ethos,” so we’re obviously already foaming at the mouth.

Release date: TBA

Dua Lipa

Dua Lipa’s “Houdini” arrived in 2023 like a disco-laced sledgehammer sealed with a promise: that her next era was finally on the way. The “Future Nostalgia” singer’s next album still lacks a release date and title but we have a feeling it’ll be here sooner than you think.

Release date: TBA

Gwen Stefani

When Gwen Stefani released her pop punk love song “True Babe” in June 2023 it was with the reveal that she was working on a new album. Though nothing more concrete has surfaced in the months that’s followed, she’s recently said she’s “obsessed” with the new music she’s making, which makes us hopeful something will be dropping in 2024.

Release date: TBA

ITZY

K-pop girl group ITZY releases their third studio album, Born To Be, on Jan. 8, 2024. Each of the five members — Yeji, Lia, Ryujin, Chaeryeong, and Yuna — will have solo songs on the record, a first for the group, bookended by five bombastic group songs including the title track and “Mr. Vampire.”

Release date: Jan. 8, 2024

Jennifer Lopez

Over two decades into her career, Jennifer Lopez will release her ninth studio album, This Is Me...Now, on Feb. 16, 2024. Her first full-length release in over a decade (as a sequal to her previous album, This is Me…Then), the record is said to contain “R&B, contemporary pop sounds and hip-hop beats.” It’ll also come with an Amazon MGM Studios short film, directed by Dave Meyers.

Release date: Feb. 16, 2024

Kacy Hill

Former face of American Apparel and alt-pop music maker Kacy Hill is readying her fourth studio album, slated for release sometime next year. She’s already dropped two exquisite singles, “No One” and “Frog Rinse,” suggesting that its sound will be a major departure from her last records, Is It Selfish If We Talk About Me Again, and Simple, Sweet, and Smiling.

Release date: TBA

Kali Uchis

Kali Uchis’ first Spanish-language album, Orquídeas (Spanish for “orchids”), drops Jan. 12, 2024. The record, whose initial singles prove it’ll be another collection of sensual and mystic songs, is set to showcase Latin American ingenuity with features from Peso Pluma, Rauw Alejandro, El Alfa, and more.

Release date: Jan. 12, 2024

Kelela

Kelela had a big 2023. She returned with her spectacular club album Raven after five years of silence, but she’s not done yet: in 2024, she’s releasing its remix record, RAVE:N, The Remixes, slated for arrival on Feb. 9. Its songs will be reworked by a crew of stellar DJs from rising dance stars BAMBII and Karen Nyame to scene leaders Yaeji and Shygirl — and the first tastes we’ve received already suggest it’ll be a staple on the dancefloor.

Release date: Feb. 9, 2024

Kllo

Melbourne-based cousins Chloe Kaul and Simon Lam made one of NYLON’s favorite albums of 2020. They recently returned with a new track, “Affection,” which reminded us how much we’ve missed their serene club music — and reminded them how much they’ve “missed making music.” Does this mean a new album is on the way? Our fingers are crossed.

Release date: TBA

Madi Diaz

Since her stint as a member of Harry Styles’ touring band, Madi Diaz has experienced a blossoming solo career as one of indie rock’s most searing lyricists and vocalists. Her upcoming album, Weird Faith, is out Feb. 9, and will likely turn her into the “if you know you know” rock darling that she deserves to be.

Release date: Feb. 9, 2024

Mannequin Pussy

We’re calling it now: one of the best indie rock records of 2024 will belong to Philly punk band Mannequin Pussy. Their upcoming record I Got Heaven drops March 1, 2024, but the three singles they’ve already released are forces of nature (and divine feminine rage) in themselves, and deserve your attention — whether they’ve got a bigger project attached to them or not.

Release date: March 1, 2024

Megan Thee Stallion

Megan Thee Stallion’s “Cobra” was a test of what she could do without a record label backing her up, and the answer is, well, anything. After a tumultuous few years (battling Tory Lanez and her former record label), Meg is finally a free agent and working on new music as an independent artist. Hopefully, we’ll be hearing some of that music next year.

Release date: TBA

Nelly Furtado

As Gen Z was rediscovering the brilliance of Nelly Furtado’s “Loose” in 2023, the 45-year-old musician was quietly preparing her comeback. In September, she dropped “Keep Going Up,” a massive track with Timbaland and Justin Timberlake, and appeared on the cover of Vogue talking about a new album coming “soon.” We’re taking that to mean 2024, hopefully?

Release date: TBA

NMIXX

K-pop girl group NMIXX had one of the wackiest debuts of 2022 and the six-piece has only held onto that momentum with a slew of high-energy and eclectic loosies like “Love Me Like This” and “Dice.” Now they’re readying a sophomore EP titled, confusingly, the formula for iron oxide, Fe3O4, which drops Jan. 15, 2024.

Release date: Jan. 15, 2024

serpentwithfeet

New York City-based experimental artist serpentwithfeet is set to release his third studio album, Grip, on Feb. 16, 2024. Like his past records it’s all about honoring Black love, specifically through touch, and heart-coursing, offbeat soul music.

Release date: Feb. 16, 2024

Sleater-Kinney

Sleater-Kinney’s forthcoming record Little Rope is tinged with grief. In the fall of 2022, Carrie Brownstein received a phone call from Corin Tucker telling her that her mother and step father hand been killed in a car accident while on vacation in Italy. What followed was a period of tragedy and brokenness that shaped the creation of Little Rope and the two singles already out: “Hell” and “Say It Like You Mean It.”

Release date: Jan. 19, 2024

VCHA

VCHA, the first American girl group trained by the K-pop method, will make its official debut on Jan. 26, 2024 with an as-of-yet untitled single. Its members, Lexi, Camila, Kendall, Savanna, KG, and Kaylee, were the winners of the online competition program America2Korea, hosted by JYP Entertainment and Republic Records. After dropping off a few initial Kidz Bop-ish songs in late 2023, they’re now ready to make their real entrance — hopefully with more than just one song.

Release date: Jan. 26, 2024