Top new albums and music releases to expect in 2020

New decade, new year, new music! Music-lovers have a lot to look forward to this year. We’ve picked out just a few of our favourites from the huge list of new albums and music releases expected in 2020.

Bombay Bicycle Club
Everything Else Has Gone Wrong

Release date: 17th January

Everything Else Has Gone Wrong will be the first new album from the indie rock quartet in six years! After winning an opening slot at the 2006 V Festival, Bombay Bicycle Club went on to release two EPs, four albums and toured the world. 2014’s So Long, See You Tomorrow is arguably the band’s best and most successful album to date and was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize. The band went on hiatus in 2016 before announcing in January 2019 that they were back to perform some concerts later in the year to mark the 10th anniversary of their debut album, I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose—with the possibility of new music on the way.

Their first single from the new album, Eat, Sleep, Wake (Nothing But You), with its trembly guitar sound overlaid by a haunting but catchy melody, proves why Bombay Bicycle Club is a refreshing addition to the somewhat stale British indie scene, and shows us why they should never have gone away.

The band have also announced a UK and American tour, preceded by a series of intimate album release shows around the UK.

Halsey

Manic

Release date: 17th January

Grammy Award-nominated and multi-Platinum artist Halsey’s third album follows the chart-topping Hopeless Fountain Kingdom. In an interview with Rolling Stone, she revealed that the record is a mic of ‘hip-hop, rock, country, f***king everything—because it’s so manic’. With guest appearances from Suga of BTS, Dominic Fike and Alanic Morisette, Manic is sure to be one varied album—and there will be a whopping 16 tracks to take in.

Halsey revealed the tracklist of Manic on Instagram last December, and went on live shortly afterwards to talk about it and answer questions from fans.

Having already released five singles from the new album, Halsey released the sixth single, You Should Be Sad, alongside a music video one week ahead of the album’s release date.

You’ll be able to hear her distinctive voice live on the Manic World Tour from March.

Green Day

Father Of All Motherf***ers

Release date: 7th February

Rock legends Green Day are back with their thirteenth album! The band was formed way back in 1986 by Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt, with Tré Cool joining them in 1990. Since then, they’ve won five Grammy Awards, are Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees and one of the world’s best-selling bands of all time. Their 1994 breakout album Dookie is widely credited with popularising and reviving mainstream interest in punk rock.

According to lead singer Billie: ‘The lyrics are like a party and lifestyle of not giving a f**k.’ Their motto? ‘Nothing says f**k you like a unicorn’. You can catch them on the Hella Mega Tour presented by Harley-Davidson with Fall Out Boy and Weezer coming to the UK in June 2020.

The 1975

Notes On a Conditional Form

Release date: 21st February

The 1975’s 2013 self-titled debut album includes the hits Chocolate and Settle Down and reached number one in the UK charts. After their second album in 2016 also reached number one in the UK and the US, the band went on hiatus when Matty attended rehab. 2018’s A Brief Enquiry Into Online Relationships also reached number one when they returned.

Their fourth album will be their longest to date at 22 tracks long, and the singles released so far include the intro song The 1975, which features a monologue from environmental activist Greta Thunberg, angst anthem People that reminds listeners to ‘wake up!’, and Frail State of Mind which deals with Healy’s mental health struggles. The fourth song, Me & You Together Song, will premiere on BBC Radio 1 on 16th January.

The four-piece have also announced a tour arriving in the UK in February.

BTS

Map of the Soul: 7

Release date: 21st February

One of the most eagerly-awaited new music releases of 2020, international K-pop superstars BTS will be releasing a full-length album in February as part of their Map of the Soul series of albums, which are based on the theories of psychiatrist Carl Jung.

Their comeback schedule was released last week to much excitement from expectant fans. The post revealed that there will be two comeback trailers for the album—titled Shadow and Ego—and the Interlude: Shadow music video, a solo track from fiery rapper Suga, was released shortly after—gaining over 10 million views on YouTube in just nine hours.

The seven-piece group, consisting of vocalists Jin, Jimin, V and Jungkook and rappers RM, SUGA and J-Hope, made their debut in 2013. Their rise to international fame over the last few years has seen them go on to do a worldwide sold-out stadium tour and performances on TV and awards shows worldwide—where they have managed to bag a number of trophies, as they tell us in hip-hop diss track Mic Drop from 2017’s Love Yourself: Her EP.

It’s also been confirmed that BTS will tour again from April.

Grimes

Miss Anthropocene

Release date: 21st February

The fifth album from Canadian electronic artist Grimes (real name Claire Boucher) will take on a darker, gothic style in contrast to the poppy beats we heard from 2015’s Art Angels—and will be her last record with label 4AD.

On an Instagram post, Boucher revealed that the the new album will be a concept album “about the anthropomorphic Goddess of climate change” because “maybe it’ll be a bit easier to look at if it can exist as a character and not just abstract doom”.

The first single from the album, We Appreciate Power, has an industrial, goth-pop feel and seems like a big departure from anything we’ve heard from the artist before. The second release, Violence, a collaboration with i_o, still seems quite dark but with an R&B vibe. We can’t wait to see what the rest of the album has in store.

Dua Lipa

Future Nostalgia

Release date: early 2020, TBA

The much-anticipated second album from singer Dua Lipa is due to be released in early 2020, following on from her 2017 self-titled debut album which featured a number of hit singles that gained popularity worldwide—such as her unforgettable best-selling single New Rules.

Don’t Start Now, the lead single from the upcoming album, is thought to be a reflection of what the new disco-pop release will bring, and is a great follow-up to the popular disco-led tracks Electricity and One Kiss—with Dua Lipa telling Metro.co.uk that “it felt like the natural progression”.

If you’re hoping to see Dua Lipa live in concert, there will be a supporting European tour beginning on 26th April in Madrid.

Which new albums or music releases are you looking forward to in 2020?