The 13 Most Anticipated Albums Of 2018

It’s been four years since Merrill Garbus’s last album as Tune-Yards. That album, Nikki Nack, provided some delightfully reconstructed pop music that we’re still trying to break down. Now, she’s back with the dizzying “ABC 123,” which incorporates synth beats and a pulsing floor beat.

Ah yes, are you ready for Revenant-style Justin Timberlake? Will he wrestle a bear? Will he sleep in a dead beast? One can only hope that his new album, Man of the Woods, is filled with such rugged acts. We’ll know once the first song of the album, "Filthy" (which is what happens in the woods), is released on Friday.

Technically, Will Toledo’s upcoming album as Car Seat Headrest is one of his oldest: Toledo wrote and recorded Twin Fantasy when he was just 17 years old. The album was first released on Bandcamp and has been passed around among Car Seat fans, who lovingly dig through the young artist’s vast catalog. This marks the album’s first official release on Matador.

Having already been named as one of the best songs of 2017 for the epic and beautiful “Night Shift,” Lucy Dacus is positioned for a stunning 2018 with the upcoming Historian. Her stunning 2016 debut defined her as a vivid and personal writer.

In November, Frank Ocean, mysterious as ever, posted on his Tumblr: "WELL I️ MADE THE ALBUM BEFORE 30. I️ JUST AINT PUT THAT BITCH OUT!” Who knows what that could mean coming from an artist as unpredictable as him. But then, he doubled down on that statement in the new year, sharing a cryptic new image on his Tumblr that shows someone wearing a hat that reads “IF YOU LIKED 2017, YOU’LL LOVE 2018.” The caption says, “new 18-99.”

When isn’t the world waiting for a Kanye West album? Two weeks after releasing the frenetic, amorphous The Life of Pablo, West tweeted, “My next album is titled Turbo Grafx 16.” While that name has likely changed about a billion times since then, a handful of tracks leaked in summer 2017, and photos of him in the studio with the likes of Kid Cudi have circulated social media.

While a joint album between royal couple Jay-Z and Beyoncé seems like just a pipe dream, Mr. Knowles confirmed in T Magazine that the two had been working on music together. As Jay-Z said, the two weren’t really planning on releasing an album together: "We were using our art almost like a therapy session. And we started making music together. And then the music she was making at that time was further along. So her album came out as opposed to the joint album that we were working on. Um, we still have a lot of that music. And this is what it became. There was never a point where it was like, ‘I’m making this album.’ I was right there the entire time.”

In the five years since Vampire Weekend’s Modern Vampires in the City, the band’s members have gone in their own directions. Rostam Batmanglij departed the band in 2016, while frontman Ezra Koenig has been lending his writing talents to the likes of Kanye West. In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, however, Koenig provided an update about the new album and assured fans songs are definitely in the works.

Donald Glover is a busy guy. Along with his prolific, Grammy-nominated music career, he’s starring in next year's massive Star Wars spinoff Solo and prepping the second season of his Emmy-winning series Atlanta. Where he’s going to find the time to make a follow-up to Awaken, My Love!, I have no idea, but apparently it’s happening. Last summer, he teased that he’s been working on new music that’s inspired by London. Beyond that, there’s been the long-teased collaboration between Gambino and Chance the Rapper.

It was in a motorcycle magazine of all places that news first slipped out that Arctic Monkeys were working on a new album for 2018. They started recording in September, and bassist Nick O’Malley said that if it isn’t out by the end of 2018, then “we’ve got problems.” That’s some promising urgency for the follow-up to the band’s excellent 2013 album, AM.

In November, Danny Brown told Complex that his follow-up to Atrocity Exhibition is “being produced by one producer, who’s legendary in hip-hop. And it’s gonna be a big deal” Hmmm, very compelling tease there, Brown. While he hasn’t given any updates since then, it’s safe to assume that going on two years after his last release, Brown has something in the works for this year.

Given that he’s already slated to headline Governors Ball, that should be a good indication that something is forthcoming from Jack White. If that’s not enough evidence, in November, White revealed that his new album is “practically done,” and that “It’s a bizarre one.”

After being named New York’s coolest band before their 2016 debut was even released, Sunflower Bean returned in late 2017 with the new song, “I Was a Fool.” The track, their first with signing with Mom + Pop Music, marks a departure from their debut album. They’ve soften and cleaned up their sound, giving it a more relaxed feel, that will hopefully translate to a new record in early 2018.