The 25 Most Anticipated Albums of Spring 2020

Feature Graphic by Drew Litowitz, photos via Getty Images

No doubt about it: This is a strange time to release new music. Thankfully, some of our favorite artists are moving forward with their albums anyway, comforting (or at least distracting) listeners at a time when they could really use it. Here are 25 albums to look forward to in the upcoming months. (As of March 31, all release dates have been confirmed.)

(All releases featured here are independently selected by our editors. When you buy something through our retail links, however, Pitchfork earns a commission.)

Alanis Morissette: Such Pretty Forks in the Road

Last year, when Alanis Morissette released “Reasons I Drink,” the first single from her forthcoming ninth album, she couldn’t have known where 2020 would take us. Such Pretty Forks in the Road, her follow-up to 2012’s Havoc and Bright Lights, finds the singer-songwriter confronting vices and anxiety over shredding guitars. This year also marks the 25th anniversary of Jagged Little Pill, her iconic, not-at-all-ironic breakthrough album that was recently revived as a Broadway musical. –Stacey Anderson

Preorder: Apple Music

Car Seat Headrest: Making a Door Less Open

The first two Car Seat Headrest LPs on Matador Records were revisions of songwriter Will Toledo’s early Bandcamp releases, which allowed his old songs to take on new life. He channels a similar spirit of revision with his latest record, Making a Door Less Open, which has two takes: one recorded as a traditional rock band, and another built around synthesizers and sequenced sounds (as heard on lead single “Can’t Cool Me Down”). The two were eventually combined for the final album. –Noah Yoo

Preorder: Rough Trade

Dixie Chicks: Gaslighter

Who didn’t get a little thrill from hearing the Dixie Chicks—some of music’s most powerful avatars for vengeance against blundering men—return with a fresh sound on “Gaslighter”? Their first new song in 14 years takes a liar to task for running a good thing into the ground with his broken promises and betrayals. Still, the country trio’s harmonies are a shot of serotonin to weary ears. With Jack Antonoff’s indie-pop production in the mix, the full album should be a must-hear. –Stacey Anderson

Preorder: Apple Music | Rough Trade

Drake

It’s been almost a full two years since Drake dropped a new project—the longest he’s ever gone between albums. But he has shared some loosies since the release of his double album Scorpion: the UK-drill-influenced “War,” a collaboration with Future, a pair of songs that sampled JAY-Z and Eminem. Though details are scant, Drake has said that his next LP will be more “concise” than his last. –Noah Yoo

Empress Of: I’m Your Empress Of

Over two albums as Empress Of, Lorely Rodriguez has veered between springy electronic music and dreamy synthpop, with forthright lyrics in Spanish and English. The L.A. singer and producer has spent the past few years touring with artists like Lizzo and Blood Orange, and she’s now set to return with I’m Your Empress Of. On lead single “Give Me Another Chance,” Rodriguez takes to the club over a throbbing synthline and jittery layered vocals, making for one of her most boldly confident tracks yet. –Eric Torres

Preorder: Apple Music

Fiona Apple: Fetch the Bolt Cutters

It’s been seven years, nine months, and 13 days since Fiona Apple released an album. But who’s counting? The singer-songwriter recently opened up to The New Yorker about her forthcoming fifth album: Its vibe is “raw” and “percussion-heavy.” It draws inspiration from the Brett Kavanaugh hearings, Kate Bush, and the British crime show The Fall. Recording with her band was like “a sculpture being built.” We’re ready for this one! –Stacey Anderson

Hayley Williams: Petals for Armor

Paramore frontwoman Hayley Williams began working on her debut solo album not long after her grandmother suffered an injury that affected her memory. Grieving, Williams wrote some of her most personal songs yet. With her bandmate Taylor York, she made an album’s worth of indie and electro pop that has been released over the course of three EPs, culminating in the full album on May 8. Listen to the five-song Petals for Armor I now. –Noah Yoo

Preorder: Rough Trade

Janet Jackson: Black Diamond

Janet Jackson doesn’t rest. Since releasing Unbreakable in 2015, she’s put out “Made for Now,” a giddy Afropop single with Daddy Yankee; reissued all of her albums on vinyl; toured in celebration of the 30th anniversary of Rhythm Nation 1814; and was finally inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Last month, Jackson announced her 12th album, Black Diamond, with yet another world tour in the works. There are few details around what Jackson has cooked up, but if the superstar guest features and bracingly honest songwriting on Unbreakable are any indication, Black Diamond is sure to be an event. –Eric Torres

Jehnny Beth: To Love Is to Live

The debut solo album from Savages leader Jehnny Beth is shaping up to be as fiery as her post-punk band’s catalog. It includes cameos by the xx’s Romy Madley Croft, IDLES’ Joe Talbot, and actor Cillian Murphy, as well as production from alt-rock legend Flood and Oscar-winning composer and Nine Inch Nails member Atticus Ross. Early single “I’m the Man” was featured in Murphy’s crime drama Peaky Blinders, followed by the release of another brooding track, “Flower.” –Madison Bloom

Preorder: Apple Music | Rough Trade

Jessie Ware: What’s Your Pleasure?

Since Jessie Ware’s last LP, 2017’s understated Glasshouse, the British soul-pop singer has expanded her empire with a podcast, a kidswear line, and a cookbook. She also released the one-off singles “Overtime” and “Adore You,” which hinted at a return to the slinky dance sound that first distinguished her in the early 2010s. With the arrival of last month’s city pop gem “Spotlight,” Ware made it clear that she’s coming directly for the club. Fourth album What’s Your Pleasure? is set to arrive just as summer begins, hopefully to capitalize on the warm-weather frolicking in our future. –Eric Torres

Preorder: Apple Music | Rough Trade

Lana Del Rey

Lana Del Rey has been teasing a spoken-word album (working title: Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass) and a book of poetry for a few months now, the unlikely follow-up projects to her 2019 masterpiece Norman Fucking Rockwell!. Violet will explore themes of lineage—both her country’s and her family’s—and half of its proceeds will benefit Native American organizations. In January, Lana announced she was delaying the album’s release. –Madison Bloom

Lido Pimienta: Miss Colombia

Since making history in 2017 as the first Polaris Prize winner with a Spanish-language album, Colombian-Canadian singer-songwriter Lido Pimienta has kept busy. She’s worked on her visual art career while contributing guest features to several albums, from digital cumbia artists to up-and-coming rappers. For her third LP, Miss Colombia, Pimienta is further exploring her roots through Afro-Latin music, as heard in the cumbia-laced lead single “Eso Que Tu Haces” (“That Thing You Do”). Inspired in part by Steve Harvey’s 2015 Miss Universe blunder, when he mistakenly crowned Miss Colombia, the album appears to be Pimienta’s most personal and striking yet: She uses that cringeworthy moment to reflect on her own experiences of outsider status and anti-blackness. –Eric Torres

Preorder: Apple Music

Liz Phair: Soberish

Soberish will mark Liz Phair’s first studio album since 2010’s Funstyle. Last year, in addition to her best-selling memoir, Phair dropped her first single in almost a decade, “Good Side.” She recorded the shuffling rock track with longtime collaborator Brad Wood, who contributed to Phair’s iconic first three albums: Exile in Guyville, Whip-Smart, and Whitechocolatespaceegg. –Madison Bloom

Moses Sumney: græ

Befitting a singer-songwriter whose work explores the in-between, Moses Sumney’s new double-album, græ, is both here and not here. Sumney released the first half of the 20-song collection back in February, leaving us time to take in sumptuous details like the bittersweet baroque of “Cut Me.” The ecstatically anguished new single “Me in 20 Years” suggests part two of Sumney’s opus could be just as breathtaking. Contrasting his approach for græ with the minimalism of 2017’s Aromanticism, Sumney says, “For this album, the mantra was, If you can, you probably should.” –Marc Hogan

Preorder: Apple Music | Rough Trade

Perfume Genius: Set My Heart on Fire Immediately

It’s been three years since avant-pop musician Mike Hadreas dropped No Shape, his stunning fourth studio album as Perfume Genius. Its perky and dance-heavy follow-up, Set My Heart on Fire Immediately, reunites him with producer Blake Mills and was recorded in Los Angeles with a full band (including Hadreas’ longtime collaborator and boyfriend, Alan Wyffels). The album includes the previously released singles “On the Floor” and “Describe,” both of which arrived with defly choreographed music videos—the latter featuring a riveting dance-fight. –Madison Bloom

Preorder: Apple Music | Rough Trade

Phoebe Bridgers

After breaking through with the lonely Stranger in the Alps in 2017, Phoebe Bridgers quickly directed her energies to new projects. The L.A. singer-songwriter has since honed her craft alongside Conor Oberst in the folk-rock duo Better Oblivion Community Center, as well as Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker in the mesmerizing trio boygenius. Last month, Bridgers finally teased her untitled sophomore LP with “Garden Song,” a tender, haunted folk track that hints at even knottier, more revealing music to come. –Eric Torres

Rina Sawayama: SAWAYAMA

Rina Sawayama’s moment has arrived. The British-Japanese singer’s debut album, SAWAYAMA, runs the gamut from nü-metal to electropop and nearly everything in between. She explores her own complicated family history while also commenting on topics like climate change and toxic masculinity. “Making the album so dramatic helped satirize the whole thing and make it feel a little bit lighter, in a weird way,” she recently told Pitchfork. “It’s kinda like drag, where you’re making so much light and humor out of something that is so painful.” –Noah Yoo

Preorder: Apple Music

Run the Jewels: RTJ4

After much teasing, the long-awaited fourth album from Killer Mike and El-P finally arrives this year. The aggressive lead single “The Yankee and the Brave” was released on Instagram as a gift to fans stuck at home, and “Ooh LA LA,” featuring Greg Nice and DJ Premier, hit streaming services soon after. This time around, the rap duo recorded in some iconic locations, including Electric Lady Studios in New York and Rick Rubin’s idyllic Shangri-La in Malibu. But that’s not to say they’re getting hoity-toity on us: Just like its predecessors, RTJ4 will be available as a free download on the RTJ website. –Noah Yoo

Shabazz Palaces: The Don of Diamond Dreams

Shabazz Palaces’ astral-minded exploits continue on The Don of Diamond Dreams, the alternative hip-hop group’s fifth LP and their first since the dystopian companion albums known as Quazarz. Vocalist and producer Ishmael Butler takes a Funkadelic-inspired approach to futurism: His abstract rhymes are processed through eerie Auto-Tune even as the percussion grounds the sound back to earth. –Eric Torres

Preorder: Apple Music | Rough Trade

The 1975: Notes on a Conditional Form

The 1975’s long-teased double album, Notes on a Conditional Form, promises to be full of surprises. The follow-up to 2018’s A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships was initially slated for a February 2020 release before being pushed to April, then again to May. Frontman Matty Healy has said that Notes will reference British dance music and hip-hop, but if the first single—the bratty rock anthem “People”—is any indication, the new album will be just as wide-spanning as their last. –Noah Yoo

Preorder: Apple Music

The Killers: Imploding the Mirage

From the looks of it, Imploding the Mirage will be a raucous time. For their sixth album, the Killers recruited producers Shawn Everett (Alabama Shakes, Kacey Musgraves) and Foxygen’s Jonathan Rado, and also brought on a litany of talented musicians for cameos: Weyes Blood, the War on Drugs’ Adam Granduciel, k.d. lang, Blake Mills, and more. The first single, “Caution,” is a fun, psychedelic rocker featuring Lindsay Buckingham. –Noah Yoo

Thundercat: It Is What It Is

It Is What It Is, Thundercat’s follow-up to his 2017 LP Drunk, features an enviable guest list: Childish Gambino, Kamasi Washington, Lil B, and Ty Dolla $ign all drop by, and Steve Lacy serves as producer. The record features the previously released “Black Qualls” and “Dragonball Durag,” two tracks that keep Thundercat’s yacht-rock revival campaign alive and well. –Madison Bloom

Preorder: Apple Music | Rough Trade

Tierra Whack

In 2018, Philadelphia’s rapper Tierra Whack became a star overnight with the release of her debut, Whack World. Clocking in at around 15 minutes, the audiovisual album grabbed new fans with sharp, rapid-fire bars and a colorful vision. Following a string of loosies in 2019, Whack has been spending time in the studio working on a follow-up; those songs suggested her zany energy is more than intact, and some even clocked in over (gasp) three minutes. –Noah Yoo

Woods: Strange to Explain

Strange to Explain marks Jeremy Earl and Jarvis Taveniere’s 12th studio album as the folk-rock band Woods, and their first since 2017’s Love Is Love. The new record includes the peppy lead single “Where Do You Go When You Dream?” which was paired with an ominous animated video. Strange to Explain is also the band’s first work since they collaborated with David Berman on his final album as Purple Mountains. –Madison Bloom

Preorder: Apple Music | Rough Trade

Yves Tumor: Heaven to a Tortured Mind

Experimental singer and multi-instrumentalist Yves Tumor will soon release his third album, Heaven to a Tortured Mind. The follow-up to 2018’s Safe in the Hands of Love was written and composed by Tumor and co-produced with Justin Raisen. The album features “Kerosene,” a five-minute stunner with blazing guitar solos and backing vocals from Diana Gordon, and lead single “Gospel for a New Century,” which arrived with a sinister, Isamaya Ffrench-directed video. –Madison Bloom

Preorder: Apple Music | Rough Trade