2016 is shaping up to be a great year for music lovers. Guns N’ Roses have reunited, N.W.A. are being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and a slew of highly anticipated albums are set to drop over the next couple of months.
We’ve put together our list of the upcoming albums we’re most excited to hear. All release dates and titles are subject to change without notice, especially if your name is Kanye West – Ye’s upcoming album Waves went by Swish two weeks ago, and by So Help Me God a few months before that.
Wiz Khalifa – Khalifa
Expected: February 5, 2016
Why we’re stoked: Khalifa enjoyed the biggest hit of his career last year when “See You Again” from Furious 7 spent 12 weeks atop Billboard’s Hot 100 and earned the rapper a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song. Khalifa, Wiz’s sixth studio album, features collaborations with Ty Dolla $ign and Travis Scott who appears on the album’s first single. While promoting the record, Khalifa stopped by an L.A. radio station and performed a freestyle rap over the instrumental track of Adele’s “Hello” but sadly, the updated version (called “Hella Os”) will not appear on the finished disc.
Eric Prydz – Opus
Expected: February 5, 2016
Why we’re stoked: EDM hitmaker Eric Prydz has been in the game for ten years but has only released one full-length studio album so far. Opus, the followup to 2012’s wildly successful Eric Prydz Presents Pryda, is an incredibly ambitious outing for the London superstar – the double-length set clocks in at over two hours and features vocals by Rob Swire and The Cut. Prydz’s played a set at Vancouver’s Celebrities nightclub in January and had little trouble whipping his fans into a frenzy with tracks from Opus.
Elton John – Wonderful Crazy Night
Expected: February 5, 2016
Why we’re stoked: The bitch is back! After a three year hiatus, Elton John returns with Wonderful Crazy Night, his 33rd studio album. T-Bone Burnett, who produced John’s 2013 disc The Diving Board, is back at the helm and lyricist Bernie Taupin contributed songs (Taupin and John will celebrate 50 years together as a songwriting team next year). Elton calls Wonderful Crazy Night “an up record” and finished the album in just 17 days, roughly the same timeframe used to complete 1973’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.
Kanye West – Waves
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uu8YkQ-5I5M
Expected: February 11, 2016
Why we’re stoked: It’s been three long years since West last tickled our fancies with his dark, brooding Yeezus – in fact, that gap between albums is the longest Kanye has had since releasing The College Dropout way back in 2004. No one is more excited for Waves than West himself, who last month tweeted that he was “so happy to be finished with the best album of all time.” Kanye will debut Waves, which features collaborations with Kendrick Lamar and Andre 3000 of Outkast fame, at a screening event at Madison Square Garden on February 11 that will stream live to theaters in over 20 countries.
Simple Plan – Taking One For The Team
Expected: February 19, 2016
Why we’re excited: Montreal’s Simple Plan are back with their first full-length LP in five years, and the guys are getting by with a little help from their friends. Lead single “I Don’t Wanna Go To Bed” features a rap from Nelly while R. City trades vocals on “Singing In The Rain” with lead singer Pierre Bouvier. Simple Plan will tour Europe for two months to promote the record, but no word as to when the boys will perform in Canada.
The 1975 – I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it
Expected: February 26, 2016
Why we’re stoked: British alt-rockers The 1975 took the world by storm three years ago with their self-titled debut album. The 1975 was a hit with critics and the exposure led to gigs as openers for big-time acts like Muse and the Rolling Stones. Their upcoming sophomore album has already spawned three singles including “Love Me” which cracked the top 20 of Billboard’s Alternative music chart.
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – This Unruly Mess I’ve Made
Expected: February 26, 2016
Why we’re stoked: The hip hop duo’s last album, The Heist, was a massive success – it spawned two number one songs and took home the coveted Best Rap Album Grammy in 2014. “Downtown”, the first single from the new record, features rhymes by rap legends Melle Mel & Kool Moe Dee and peaked at number 12 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. Follow up “White Privilege II” has ignited a firestorm of controversy – Macklemore & Lewis called out singers Miley Cyrus and Iggy Azalea for their shameless use of cultural appropriation.
Weezer – Weezer (White Album)
Expected: April 1, 2016
Why we’re stoked: California dreamers Weezer release their fourth self-titled album on April 1, following the success of 1994’s Weezer (Blue Album), 2001’s Weezer (Green Album), and 2008’s platinum-selling Weezer (Red Album). Frontman Rivers Cuomo calls the new disc a “beach album” and credits the Beach Boys for having influenced the disc’s musical style. Weezer, who played a scorching hot set at last year’s Pemberton Music Festival, are co-headlining a 2016 tour to promote the album with fellow hipsters Panic! At The Disco.
PJ Harvey – The Hope Six Demolition Project
Expected: April 15, 2016
Why we’re stoked: English singer-songwriter PJ Harvey is back with The Hope Six Demolition Project, her first album of new material in nearly five years. Harvey recorded some of the album in front of a live audience and had a recording studio built inside London’s famed Somerset House to capture the experience. The video for “The Wheel”, the project’s first single, chronicles Harvey’s recent trip to Kosovo where a few tracks from the album were completed.
Drake – Views From The Six
Expected: TBD
Why we’re stoked: The album we’re most looking forward to right now doesn’t even have an official release date. Drake just debuted “Summer Sixteen”, the first single from his hotly anticipated Views From The Six album and the track immediately shot to the top of the iTunes sales chart. In 2015, the rapper served up the song of the summer (“Hotline Bling”), dropped two hugely successful mixtapes (If You’re Reading This, It’s Too Late and What A Time To Be Alive, both of which topped Billboard’s Album chart) and effectively ended Meek Mill’s career in a three-minute song.
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