Even though 2020 just started, it’s already shaping up to be a memorable year in music. A lot of artists that have taken musical hibernations or a hiatus from anything other than a single are coming back—and this year it looks like they mean business. Some of them have left us hungry for almost five years, maybe now we can have little a album, as a treat.
From the mysterious Frank Ocean to the unpredictable Grimes, check out our list below of artists we want to drop an album ASAP.
Noname
It’s been a while since we’ve been gifted one of Noname’s melodic honey-dipped albums, but it looks like we’ll finally be eating in 2020. She teased her upcoming album Factory Baby last May in an Instagram post that’s since been deleted, and on New Year’s Day, the rapper tweeted a baby photo of herself letting us know that it’ll be dropping this year.
factory baby 2020 pic.twitter.com/Md7UBRQAGX
— Noname (@noname) January 1, 2020
Last year she put out “Song 31 (feat. Phoelix),” “Song 32,” and joined forces with Saba and Smino to create the long-awaited rap trio Ghetto Sage. Outside of music, Noname has been working on her monthly book club which focuses on forming a community where readers can easily access, check out and chat about books written by authors of colour.
this what factory baby sound like… pic.twitter.com/BZfMN8GQ3f
— Noname (@noname) January 1, 2020
There’s no date set for Factory Baby but Noname did leave us with a tweet to decipher what the album will sound like. Whatever it means, we are definitely down.
Grimes
Grimes is one of the wildest people in the music scene. He, and that completely fits her brand. From her escapades with Azealia Banks, to her workout routine that includes sword training and a deprivation tank, to her relationship with Elon Musk (and their baby?, she’s always able to get people talking. The much anticipated follow up to 2015’s Art Angels was supposed to come out in 2018. Over the past year she’s been releasing singles to promote her upcoming album Miss Anthropocene, the most recent being “My Name is Dark” in November.
The singer has been pretty open with information about the new record, sharing the album art and track list along with her “So Heavy I Fell Through The Earth” single in November. She even commented on her Instagram post saying that it is “Way done.” Miss Anthropocene is already available for pre-order, will feature 10 tracks and drops on February 21.
Frank Ocean
Of course everyone’s favourite elusive musician is on this list. Frank Ocean is notorious for doing his own thing and keeping the public in speculation stasis, but the star has been keeping busy since his last album release, Blonde, back in 2016. He’s put out singles every now and then, the most recent ones being “DHL” and “In My Room;” two bops that premiered on his blonded RADIO. He’s been staying active all over the music scene, but we still have to ask: where’s that next album?
Luckily, it looks like the Frank renaissance is coming. Last month Variety reported that Ocean signed a deal with Warner Chappell Music publishing, a music company that has been on a roll recently signing 2019 breakout stars Summer Walker and Lizzo. He’s also headlining Coachella, so it would be perfect timing for him to have a new set of music ready for that.
In an interview with W, Ocean revealed some of his influences for the next album are “Detroit, Chicago, techno, house, French electronic.” We’re no music scientists, but it already sounds like this will go dummy hard.
Rihanna
We recommend that Rihanna fans get an umbrella-ella-ella-eh-eh-eh for their tears because RiRi knows we want an album, but she won’t release it until she’s absolutely ready. She’s definitely been having a blast trolling fans about R9, the follow-up to 2016’s Anti, in a pretty funny way on Instagram.
Maybe it was because of the false promise of Rihanna saying she’d release the album before the end of 2019, or maybe it was the possibility that the album is complete yet out of their access, but there was something about that post that ignited a fire within her fans. Rihanna is a busy woman, but it’s great that she still found the time out of her day to tug on her fans’ heartstrings like a cruel jokester.
Rihanna told Vogue that the album is “reggae-inspired or reggae-infused,” which is a refreshing direction that will take her back to her Barbadian roots.
Playboi Carti
Playboi Carti’s infectious lyrical stylings and effortless deliveries are unmatched, and in 2020 we’re craving more of those sweet baby voice adlibs. He spent a lot of last year featuring on notable tunes, like Tyler the Creator’s “Earfquake” and the viral unreleased Young Nudy track “Pissy Pamper.” It’s undeniable that he helped make some high quality music last year, but fans are fiending for his perpetually upcoming Whole Lotta Red. People have been waiting patiently for the album from the time it was originally announced back in August 2018, and since then, they’ve endured over a year of the rapper’s frustratingly vague half-promises and hints along with a sea of leaked tracks.
Last July, Playboi Carti went onstage and said “I’m tryna drop that shit in the next 60 days.” Today, 179 days later, the people are still waiting.
WLR is one of the most anticipated albums in hip hop right now, and it’s been leaking more than an unfinished basement. In an interview with The Fader back in June, Carti said he’s made about 50 songs for the album. While he hasn’t officially released any of them, the public has heard a sizeable amount of them due to rampant leaks.
In a recent interview with Culture Kings, Carti confirmed that WLR would drop in 2020, but can we really trust that sweet baby voice again? Who knows, all we can do now is put Die Lit on repeat and pray.
