With making music becoming increasingly accessible each year, music, as a whole, becomes better. To experience this for myself, one of my resolutions this year is to discover as many new albums as possible.
Naturally, there are already some key albums that I’m looking out for this year, so let me share my top few.
First of all, February is seeing some major new releases from Gorillaz and Mitski, with albums from both dropping on the 27th. Gorillaz’ most recent release Cracker Island felt a bit lacklustre to me: sure there were some hits but the album holistically felt a bit disjointed. However, the current rollout for The Mountain has revived my interest in the band’s new music. That may be in part due to them leaning into nostalgia (or rather, ‘Nostalgiaz’) with their House of Kong exhibition last summer alongside shows dedicated to each of their most popular releases. Of the singles that have currently been released, Damascus has easily secured itself as a top 20 Gorillaz track for me and the Indian-inspired concept is one I can’t wait to see more of.
Mitski’s newest single Where’s My Phone and the announcement of Nothing’s About to Happen to Me is one that I do not need convincing to be excited for. This most recent single, and its music video’s references to major gothic works by Charlotte Gilman and Shirley Jackson, is a chaotic track from start-to-finish while also having some incredibly hard-hitting lyrics in true Mitski fashion. Furthermore, fans have picked up on the reoccurrence of the album’s title “Nothing’s About to Happen to Me” at the end of many of her popular songs, such as Nobody and First Love/Late Spring. Surely, Mitski’s been leading up to this album with her previous work: such an important detail can’t be a coincidence, further increasing my curiosity and excitement for this new release.
Hemlocke Springs – who saw a lot of popularity on TikTok with her track Girlfriend back in 2022 – is also releasing a new album this year titled The Apple Tree Under the Sea. While not many of her other tracks have reached the same acclaim, I wouldn’t discredit any of them. These newer singles are some incredibly fun, quirky pop songs that don’t get too in-your-face. Of course, that is not all they are: this new album explores her religious upbringing and its associated traumas as Spring ventures on a path to self-acceptance, using this non-intrusive bedroom pop to uncover deeper topics.
Finally, a release I am looking forward to is Sweet Pill’s Still There’s A Glow releasing mid-March. This band has had me hooked since their 2022 album Where the Heart Is, filled with gut-wrenching vocals and explosive instrumentals. This new release promises no less. In conversation with the outlet Kerrang!, vocalist Zayna Youssef describes the record as being about climbing out of a low in life, embodied by the “glow” as a reference to the metaphorical light at the end of the tunnel. The premises for both this album and Hemlocke Springs’ have some similarities, but the difference in both of their established styles/genres will hopefully make for a great counterpoint between how they go about expressing these ideas.
So, amidst everything else, at least 2026 is promising some amazing new music.
