The 23 most anticipated albums of 2023

Having recently taken a look back at our favourite albums of 2022, we’re now turning our attention to the future. Here, we’ve compiled Dazed’s guide to 2023’s most anticipated albums.

We’ve focused on albums that have either been given an official release date already, or which have been heavily hinted at by the artists themselves in interviews and on social media. And yes, admittedly we have included one or two albums here that are somewhat speculative, but – and hear us out here – we’ve tried to justify exactly why we think that album is coming in 2023, rather than just indulging in idle wish fulfilment.

Unfortunately, we’ve had to discount Rihanna from this list. Sure, she’s playing the Super Bowl half-time show in February, and sure, that usually coincides with some sort of new release, but she has literally said that this should not be taken as an indication that R9 is coming: “Super Bowl is one thing. New music is another thing. Do you hear that, fans?” Sorry!

We’ve presented this list in alphabetical order, and provided titles, release dates, and rough ETAs where we can.

100 GECS

What’s it called?: 10,000 gecs

When’s it out?: March 17

What do we know?: 100 gecs’ second studio album has been a long time coming. 10,000 gecs was first announced all the way back in July 2021, but was subject to delays for reasons that remain unknown. However, the hyperpop duo recently revealed that the album would get its official release in March this year, and even shared a stopgap EP, Snake Eyes, to tide fans over during the wait. Expect 10,000 gecs to feature previously released singles “MeMeMe” and “Doritos & Fritos”, as well as some of the new songs they’ve been performing on tour like “757” and “I Got My Tooth Removed”.

A$AP ROCKY

What’s it called?: Don’t Be Dumb

When’s it out?: TBA

What do we know?: A$AP Rocky’s fourth studio album should land soon, with the rapper revealing that it was complete during an Amazon Music concert last month: “Album finished. Don’t Be Dumb. Let’s go.” During the show he played a handful of new songs including “Same Problems”, a tribute to some of hip-hop’s recently deceased icons. The album will apparently feature producer Metro Boomin’s fingerprints all over it, as Rocky recently said that their collaboration has been so tight that the album might as well “be just called Flacko Boomin”.

BEYONCÉ

What’s it called?: Act II, we guess?

When’s it out?: TBA, hopefully this year

What do we know?: Given the intense secrecy surrounding just about everything Beyoncé does, there’s no guarantee that her next full-length will land in 2023, but there are good reasons to believe it’s coming. After all, in the liner notes to last year’s Act I: Renaissance, she revealed that her seventh studio album was in fact the first part of a trilogy, and New York Times reporter Kyle Buchanan has since said that Act II and III are likely to be an acoustic album and a joint album with Jay-Z respectively (something that chimes with a previous report that Beyoncé had recorded some country songs as part of the project). Even if a new album doesn’t arrive in 2023, Beyoncé will still be busy, with a Renaissance world tour seemingly on the cards.

CARDI B

What’s it called?: TBA

When’s it out?: TBA

What do we know?: Cardi B has promised that the follow-up to her 2018 debut Invasion of Privacy will arrive this year, though she seems to be facing a lot of pressure with it. “I have no choice, I have to put it out,” the rapper said in a recent interview with The Breakfast Club. Cardi revealed in the same interview that she only has “a couple of songs that are, like, definite” for the project, and admitted that it’s still “missing something”. She conceded: “I don’t know. I don’t know what's going on with me. I need to just make up my mind and put it out.”

CAROLINE POLACHEK

What’s it called?: Desire, I Want to Turn Into You

When’s it out?: February 14

What do we know?: It’s fitting that an album called Desire, I Want to Turn Into You should arrive on Valentine’s Day. Caroline Polachek has spent the past two years steadily releasing singles from the new record, three of which (“Bunny is a Rider”, “Billions”, and “Welcome to My Island”) saw the trailblazing pop musician team up once again with producer Danny L Harle, continuing a longstanding collaboration between the two artists that previously yielded her fantastic 2019 album Pang. Polachek also worked with producer Sega Bodega on this year’s “Sunset” single, which expanded her sonic palette in a way that made us intrigued to hear what sort of directions she’ll pursue on the new record.

DEATH GRIPS 

What’s it called?: TBA

When’s it out?: TBA

What do we know?: Last year Death Grips announced that they would be going on the road across North America from May, marking their first live dates since before the pandemic. They’ve also been sharing clips of new music on their socials – again, their first since 2018’s Year of the Snitch album and 2019’s half-hour Gmail and the Restraining Orders mix. With all this in mind, it would be a surprise if Death Grips didn’t release some sort of new project this year, whatever form that ends up taking.

DEPECHE MODE

What’s it called?: Memento Mori

When’s it out?: March

What do we know?: Depeche Mode’s 15th studio album is called Memento Mori – the Latin phrase used as a reminder of the inevitability of death. The band had agreed upon the name prior to the sudden death of keyboardist Andy ‘Fletch’ Fletcher last year; as the synth-pop group’s Martin Gore later said, they wanted to keep it: “We decided to continue as we’re sure this is what he would have wanted, and that has really given the project an extra level of meaning.”

DUA LIPA

What’s it called?: TBA, but she has confirmed that the album “has a name” already

When’s it out?: TBA

What do we know?: Back in 2021, Warner Music president Joe Kentish said that Dua Lipa was “already talking about album No. 3 when we barely had No. 2 done”. Ms. Peep herself has confirmed that she’s well underway with the record, having told Variety that it was halfway finished and “starting to sound cohesive”, adding that she would continue writing during “the early months” of 2023. As for its sound? Expect a new direction to 2020’s Future Nostalgia. “It’s still pop but it’s different sonically, and there’s more of a lyrical theme. If I told you the title, everything would make sense,” she said.

FEVER RAY

What’s it called?: Radical Romantics

When’s it out?: March 10

What do we know?: Five years on from the release of Plunge, Fever Ray returns with Radical Romantics. Karin Dreijer began working on their third album in Stockholm in 2019, exploring themes of love and intimacy, as on the album’s lead single “Carbon Dioxide”. Radical Romantics is notable for featuring co-production, co-writing, and performances from brother Olof Dreijer – the first time the two have worked together since The Knife’s Shaking the Habitual eight years ago – who appears alongside Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Portuguese DJ and producer Nídia, experimental artist Vessel, Peder Mannerfelt and Pär Grindvik’s dance project Aasthma, and Swedish musician Johannes Berglund.

FRANK OCEAN

What’s it called?: TBA

When’s it out?: 🤷‍♀️

What do we know?: Back in 2019 it did feel as if something new from Frank Ocean was imminent. That year, the singer told W that he was drawing inspiration from electronic music (“Detroit, Chicago, techno, house, French electronic”), and he was later announced as one of Coachella’s 2020 headliners. Of course, the festival was eventually cancelled due to Covid, and new music never arrived. Now this is pure speculation on our part, but given how rarely Ocean puts out music, it seems possible that he’d want to wait until he had major shows lined up before releasing anything – and with Coachella co-founder Paul Tollett confirming that the singer would still be headlining the festival in April 2023, it’s not implausible that he might put out something closer to the date. Right?

GORILLAZ

What’s it called?: Cracker Island

When’s it out?: February 24

What do we know?: Gorillaz have been trailing their eighth album for some time now, having teased collaborations with Tame Impala, Bad Bunny, Beck, Stevie Nicks, and more. Now its release date has been officially announced as February 24, with the album sharing a name with last summer’s Thundercat-featuring lead single “Cracker Island”. Where the virtual band’s previous project Song Machine took more of an episodic release schedule, Gorillaz co-creator Jamie Hewlett has described Cracker Island as following an epic narrative-heavy structure that goes beyond the album itself.

GRIMES

What’s it called?: Book 1

When’s it out?: January, possibly

What do we know?: Back in September Grimes revealed on Twitter that her new album Book 1 was done, and that she was in the process of mixing the record and deciding on its “format/tracklist”. 20 songs have been recorded, and Grimes has openly toyed with the idea of splitting them into separate Book 1 and Book 2 records. Singles “Player of Games” and “Shinigami Eyes” are likely to appear, as well as previously teased songs like “The Infinite Assassin”. There’s also the question of “Sci-Fi”, her mooted yet so far unreleased collaboration with The Weeknd.

KELELA

What’s it called?: Raven

When’s it out?: February 10

What do we know?: Kelela takes her time with new music, but she is finally ready with the follow-up to 2017’s Take Me Apart. The singer said in a press release that Raven began from the feelings of isolation and alienation that she felt being “a Black femme in dance music, despite its Black origins”, and that the album is an affirmation of that perspective. Raven’s personnel credits the likes of Shygirl, Junglepussy, Kaytranada, AceMo, Fauzia, Bambii, and LSDXOXO as some of Kelela’s collaborators on the record.

LANA DEL REY

What’s it called?: Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd

When’s it out?: March 10

What do we know?: Lana Del Rey has said her ninth studio album will be “very wordy”, and that during recording she practised “meditative automatic singing”, whereby she’d record whatever came to mind as a voice note on her phone and send it to producer Drew Erickson to add orchestration. The album is set to feature collaborations with Jon Batiste, Father John Misty, Tommy Genesis, and SYML, as well as production from LDR regular Jack Antonoff, among others. As for its extremely long title? That’s likely a reference to the Jergins Tunnel in Long Beach, California, which once connected the city’s Downtown area to its beach. 

OLIVIA RODRIGO

What’s it called?: Rodrigo has decided on a name already, but we don’t know it yet

When’s it out?: TBA

What do we know?: In a recent message to her top fans on Spotify Wrapped, Olivia Rodrigo confirmed that new music was on its way this year: “I’m so excited for next year and all of the new things and new music that 2023 will bring,” she said. What the album’s sound will be is up in the air, though the pop star has joked that “hopefully I won’t be so sad on the next record”. More seriously, she told People that wrapping her Disney+ documentary driving home 2 u felt like closing a chapter on her SOUR era, so expect a different approach this time around.

ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER 

What’s it called?: TBA

When’s it out?: TBA

What do we know?: We don’t know much about the new Oneohtrix Point Never album, only that it’s coming this year. Daniel Lopatin revealed as much in December, succinctly tweeting “opn lp #10 2023”, and he’s already announced to be performing a new live show at a few summer festivals, including London’s Wide Awake. The new album follows 2020’s lockdown record Magic Oneohtrix Point Never, and will be the experimental electronic musician’s first since he executive produced The Weeknd’s Dawn FM album and served as the musical director of the R&B star’s Super Bowl half-time show.

PARAMORE

What’s it called?: This is Why

When’s it out?: February 10

What do we know?: Paramore’s fifth studio album This is Why arrives nearly six years after their last record After Laughter, and three years on from Hayley Williams’ solo long-player Petals for Armor. Williams has been dropping hints about the new album in her BBC Sounds podcast series Everything is Emo, revealing that they started discussing the album in 2020 and that they were drawn to older indie rock bands like Bloc Party while recording it. The album will feature two previously released singles, title track “This is Why” and “The News”.

PJ HARVEY

What’s it called?: TBA

When’s it out?: Summer, TBA

What do we know?: While promoting her narrative poem Orlam last April, PJ Harvey told Rolling Stone that she has recorded a new album – her first since 2016’s The Hope Six Demolition Project. She cited soundtrack composers like Jonny Greenwood, Mica Levi, Hildur Guðnadóttir, and Ryuichi Sakamoto as influences, as well as Tirzah and Anna von Hausswolff, and even gave a rough estimation of when it would be released – sometime this summer. “It took a long time to write to get right, but at last I feel very happy with it,” Harvey said of her new music.

RYUICHI SAKAMOTO 

What’s it called?: 12

When’s it out?: January 17

What do we know?: Ryuichi Sakamoto’s new album 12 is due for release in just a matter of weeks. It’s the legendary Japanese musician’s first non-soundtrack studio album since the acclaimed Async in 2017. It was recorded between 2021 and 2022, with the track titles reflecting the dates that they were composed – Sakamoto said in a press release that this diaristic approach emerged out of the nature of the album’s recording process, made while staying in temporary housing as he underwent an operation during his cancer treatment.

SKY FERREIRA

What’s it called?: Masochism

When’s it out?: TBA

What do we know?: Sky Ferreira’s second studio album has been subject to constant delays, and if it does release in 2023 it will have effectively been a decade since its predecessor Night Time, My Time came out. Ferreira has been critical of the way her record label has managed the album, with the musician telling Dazed last year that they “literally blocked me from being able to work”. Masochism will reportedly feature production from Ariel Rechtshaid, Justin Raisen, Mike Dean, and Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie, and if the rest of the album is anything like lead single “Don’t Forget”, then it will be very, very good indeed. Fingers crossed we’ll finally be able to hear it this year.

SLOWTHAI

What’s it called?: UGLY

When’s it out?: TBA

What do we know?: In November, Slowthai revealed that his third album UGLY was complete. The title UGLY is likely an acronym – the UK rapper’s Instagram bio currently links to ugottaloveyourself.co.uk. Its dark and sludgy first single “I Know Nothing” was co-produced by Dan Carey, who has recently worked on records by the likes Fontaines D.C. and Wet Leg, suggesting that UGLY might have a rockier sound than much of Slowthai’s previous work.

TEMS

What’s it called?: TBA

When’s it out?: TBA

What do we know?: It’s not often that an artist can claim to have released multiple viral singles, worked with WizKid, Future, Beyoncé, and Drake, and covered Bob Marley for the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack, all before even releasing their debut album, but that’s why there’s so much anticipation surrounding Temilade Openiyi’s debut. Although Tems had previously suggested that she would put out her debut in 2022, the Nigerian star recently told a fan on Twitter not to fret about a delay, and that it would be out in 2023 instead.

TRAVIS SCOTT

What’s it called?: Utopia

When’s it out?: TBA

What do we know?: Travis Scott has largely kept out of the public eye since the November 2021 Astroworld Festival tragedy, which resulted in 10 people being killed and hundreds injured in a crowd crush. However, the rapper and producer has slowly been returning to the live stage, with shows at London’s O2 Arena, a Las Vegas residency, and more recently headline slots at three Primavera Sound festivals across South America. It would seem that his fourth album Utopia, which he first started teasing back in 2020, is still on the cards.