MOST ANTICIPATED

SEP.

John Legend, Legend (9/9) On a double album with quite the impressive guest list, one side will explore physical desires, via exuberant R&B and funk, and a more introspective second side will center healing, romance, and love.

Ozzy Osbourne, Patient Number 9 (9/9) His 13th solo album is all stars: a core band of Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith, Metallica’s Robert Trujillo, and Zakk Wylde plus contributions from Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready, Guns N’ Roses’ Duff McKagan, Jane’s Addiction’s Chris Chaney, and the late Taylor Hawkins of Foo Fighters.

Björk, Fossora (9/16) The visionary artist’s first new album in five years, and tenth overall, travels from the fantastical-fungi world of 2017’s Utopia back to her home of Iceland, where it was written and recorded, and features appearances from her son and daughter.

Blackpink, Born Pink (9/16) The biggest girl group in the world returns with a fulllength project, their first since the 2020 debut and growing solo careers that have solidified Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa as international pop-culture “It” girls (Jennie is even in HBO’s The Idol). Lead single “Pink Venom” packs quite a punch.

Little Big Town, Mr. Sun (9/16) Separated for the first time in 20 years owing to the pandemic, the country-pop band self-produced this follow-up to 2020’s Nightfall; it’s a reunion they’ve described as “intentionally an emotional record.”

Rina Sawayama, Hold the Girl (9/16) An exercise in “reparenting” her inner child, the Japanese British alt-pop star’s sophomore album leans into both selfreflection and joy on singles like “This Hell,” a subversive queer country-pop track, and “Catch Me in the Air,” a 2000s-inspired ballad about Sawayama’s relationship with her mother.

Marcus Mumford, (self-titled) (9/16) The Mumford & Sons front man is at his most personal in his solo debut, unpacking the sexual abuse he experienced at age 6 in songs like “Cannibal” and “Grace.” The Blake Mills–produced album features Phoebe Bridgers, Clairo, Brandi Carlile, and Monica Martin.

Noah Cyrus, The Hardest Part (9/16) The youngest Cyrus’s first album, arriving six years since her solo debut single, features country-inflected pop singles “Ready to Go” and “I Burned LA Down”—which uses the dread of wildfires as a metaphor for a festering breakup— and “Mr. Percocet,” a message to a lover who is “only mine till your high is gone.”

Willow, (9/23) Lately I Feel Everything is only just over a year old, yet the singersongwriter already has her fifth album ready to go; its singles dig even deeper into punk-pop while also dabbling in metalcore and dance-rock.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Cool It Down (9/30) After nine years, the early-aughts indierock stalwarts fronted by Karen O return with a new album named after the 1970 Velvet Underground song. The follow-up to 2013’s Mosquito boasts the single “Spitting Off the Edge of the World,” featuring Perfume Genius and produced by TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek.

OCT.

Charlie Puth, Charlie (10/7) After months documenting his writing and production processes on TikTok, Puth will unveil the finished songs on his self-titled third album. The follow-up to 2018’s Voicenotes includes the singles “Light Switch,” “That’s Hilarious,” and “Left and Right,” featuring Jung Kook of BTS.

The 1975, Being Funny in a Foreign Language (10/14) Even for a group this stylistically varied, the folk turn of “Part of the Band,” which introduces the Brits’ fifth album, is a curveball: Co-produced by Jack Antonoff, it includes background vocals from Michelle Zauner, plucked string orchestration, and flashes of woodwind; “Happiness,” another Antonoff collaboration, though, is faithful to their signature synth-pop.

Tove Lo, Dirt Femme (10/14) The Swedish alt-pop artist has said that her fifth album, containing the explosive “No One Dies From Love,” is themed around her femininity and how it has helped and hurt her. Its synth ballad “True Romance” is inspired by the 1993 Tony Scott film.

Carly Rae Jepsen, The Loneliest Time (10/21) The Canadian singer-songwriter’s sixth album was developed over a period of isolation and grief as she witnessed the passing of her close maternal grandmother. Its first single, “Western Wind,” a folk-pop ballad produced by Rostam, yearns for the calmer days of the past, while “Beach House” offers a more playful take on what loneliness does to you (dating apps …).

Tegan and Sara, Crybaby (10/21) Tegan and Sara have stayed in touch with the Zeitgeist for two decades. Now, the Canadian pop duo are simultaneously releasing their tenth album—previewed with two off-kilter, joyfully twee songs— and a TV series based on their 2019 memoir.

Meghan Trainor, Takin’ It Back (10/21) Eight years after “All About That Bass,” the pop artist is, indeed, taking it back to doo-wop on her fourth studio album, led by the tender soul single “Bad for Me.”

Babyface, Girls’ Night Out (10/29) Just as he famously did for his Waiting to Exhale soundtrack in 1995, the legendary hitmaker has recruited today’s leading women in R&B for his ninth solo album: Ella Mai, Kehlani, Ari Lennox, Queen Naija, Doechii, and more.