CATCH THESE ALBUMS IN 2020
Don’t count 2020 out just yet, there’s plenty more music coming before the new year
As we prepare to step into the fourth and final quarter of 2020, there are plenty of big album releases to look forward to before the year is done. Say goodbye to sizzling summer hits and say hello to autumn and winter’s most promising upcoming releases. Here are nine albums to look forward to before the year is over...
MARIAH CAREY — THE RARITIES (OCTOBER 2)
The pop diva’s eighth compilation album The Rarities is part of her #MC30 campaign, celebrating the 30th anniversary of her self-titled debut album
Mariah Carey (1990). The double-disc album will feature previously unreleased material as well as her Tokyo Dome live performance from her Daydream World Tour in 1996.
AVA MAX — HEAVEN & HELL (SEPTEMBER 18)
Though Ava Max’s debut single Sweet but Psycho received some criticism for its depiction of mental health, it managed to go to No 1 in 22 countries, including the UK, and peaked at No 10 on the US Billboard 100. Now the breakout pop star is ready to release her debut album Heaven &
Hell, which features a couple of songs co-written by Charlie Puth ( So Am I and Tattoo).
ALICIA KEYS — ALICIA (SEPTEMBER 18)
Keys said working on the album, her seventh to date, was the “best therapy I ever had.” It features R’n’B star Miguel on the single Show Me Love, hitmaker Khalid on the single So Done, and Ed Sheeran as a co-writer on the single Underdog. Originally set to release in March, the album was postponed due to the pandemic.
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN — LETTER TO YOU (OCTOBER 23)
It’s the big two-oh for Bruce Springsteen: iLetter to You marks the New Jersey rock star’s 20th studio album. Springsteen and the E Street Band recorded the album live in studio with no overdubs. Three of the tracks had originally been written before Springsteen’s 1973 debut album Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ. These are IfIwasa Priest, Janey Needs a Shooter and Song for Orphans.
MELANIE C — MELANIE C (OCTOBER 2)
The former Spice Girl has decided to turn her eighth studio album into her first self-titled release. “I’m making a pop-dance record and I’m a mature artist, so I have to accept that some radio stations are not going to be playing me anymore. That’s something to overcome. But I want people to enjoy this album, I want people to dance to it, I want people to be empowered by it. And when coronavirus has done one, I want to get out there and perform it live,” Mel C told BBC Music in August.
MACHINE GUN KELLY — TICKETS TO MY DOWNFALL (SEPTEMBER 25)
MGK’s fifth album leans more heavily into his pop punk influences, rather than rap. Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker produces the album (and features on drums), which will be released by Bad Boy and Interscope.
Tickets to My Downfall comes after 2019’s Hotel Diablo, where MGK ends with the track I Think
I’m Okay, a collaboration with English rocker Yungblud and Barker. Other collaborations to expect include The Used’s Bert McCracken and another Yungblud feature.
LANY — MAMA’S BOY (OCTOBER 2)
LANY’s follow-up to their 2018 album, Malibu Nights, is Mama’s
Boy, an exploration of their geographical roots. “We’re all from the middle of nowhere,” Paul Klein told Buro247. “Of course, there’s going to be a typical love song, something I believe we do really well, but there are also songs that are broader. For example, there’s a song in the album about what it’s going to look like when our parents pass on. So, I’m just really excited because we’ve had this collection of songs for months now that we want to put out.”
BLACKPINK — THE ALBUM (OCTOBER 2)
Blackpink have already been making waves in the K-Pop world and beyond with their EPs, but The Album is their debut studio album. Two singles have already launched, How
You Like That and Ice Cream with Selena Gomez (which was co-written by Ariana Grande). The album is highly in demand, reaching more than 800,000 pre-orders in only six days.