This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at York U chapter.

Music currently relies on surprise release. Artists like Beyoncé, Frank Ocean or Drake will drop a hint that something could be coming at some point, but won’t say what or when or where. Last year saw major releases from Jay-Z, Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, Drake, and many more. Ed Sheeran was inescapable alongside Cardi B. So what will 2018 bring? Some of the releases below are coming for sure, while others we can only hope will eventually drop.

Source: Catherine Michelle

It seemed 2017 would bring a new Selena Gomez album, however, that plan was derailed by a medical emergency. Midway through promoting the second phase of her mature sonic shift with “Bad Liar” and “Fetish,” Gomez had to undergo a kidney transplant and once again put her music on hold. Now recovered, she reemerged with yet another EDM feature, on Marshmello’s “Wolves.” She hinted to fans that the studio is her new home for the foreseeable future, suggesting that an album will follow. We don’t have a date as of yet but hopefully this album will be insightful and meaningful to Gomez as well as her fans.

Source: Kettj Talon

Either Frank Ocean is releasing a new album in 2018, or he’s purposely misleading us. This week on his Tumblr, he posted of a person wearing a hat that says “IF YOU LIKED 2017, YOU’LL LOVE…2018” with the terribly vague caption “new 18-99.” He’d previously hinted that he’s sitting on an already-completed album, just waiting for the moment to strike, as has become his tradition. After dropping two projects back to back in 2016, Frank spent his 2017 further toying with the freewheeling idea of modern music consumption by releasing a handful of excellent loose songs sporadically throughout the year on his Beats 1 radio show.

Source: Caitlin Cronenberg

Before his most recent release with “God’s Plan” earlier this year, Drake made the smart move of taking 2017 lightly. Of course, since Drake is still Drake, taking a year lightly meant releasing an 80-minute collection he called a playlist instead of an album. Now that he’s given the public some time off, there’s only one thing left to do. There will likely be another Drake LP this year, and he may even decide to call it an album instead of a playlist. Will the sorrow (or relief) of departure be paid off with the excitement (or exhaustion) of return? Here’s hoping he brings his best writing to the table.

Photo via: Grayce Leonard

If you can, try to think back to the prehistoric times of December 2017, when Brockhampton claimed that Saturation III would be their final album, only to go back on that with a vague announcement about Team Effort. It’s very good news that they decided that they had more in them, because each of the Saturation albums were better and tighter than the one prior, and 2017 showed us that when they really focused, Brockhampton could make great songs — who knows what 2018 will bring.

Photo via: Antoine Bordeleau

Here’s a quote from Arctic Monkeys bassist Nick O’Malley on whether the band is going to have an album out in 2018: “If it isn’t, we’ve got problems.” Ominous statement aside, the last time the band released an album, they veered toward psychedelia. It remains to be seen if they’ll go further down that rabbit hole, but we support it!

2018 sure does look like it’ll be one of the greats, with so much new music and so many new up-and-coming artists in the mix, we can’t help but be excited about what this year has in store for us!

Sources:

5 of the Most Anticipated Albums of 2018

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