Rae Sremmurd React to Fan Saying They’re Better Than OutKast
Rae Sremmurd is laughing off a flattering comparison.
On Friday, the Mississippi rap duo—made up of brothers Slim Jxmmi and Swae Lee—responded to a tweet in which they were deemed superior to one of hip-hop’s most legendary acts: “Rae sremmurd are a better duo then [sic] OutKast,” a fan wrote.
Rae Sremmurd’s response? “Y’all gotta chill,” followed by a laughing crying emoji.
Since signing to Mike Will Made-It’s imprint in 2013, Rae Sremmurd has been constantly compared to André 3000 and Big Boi’s OutKast. Jxmmi and Swae addressed the topic during a 2018 interview with NME, shortly after releasing their SR3MM studio album.
“Shout-out to OutKast man, they’re some originals in the game so you can never compare us [with them],” Jxmmi said when pressed about the comparison. “But I think that Rae Sremmurd are doing our own thing, in our own way, in our era of time and music. But OutKast is a great group and we really like them, you know what I’m saying?”
Swae echoed the sentiment: “I think the game is trying to turn us to some OutKast [comparisons], and there’s a lot of hate and hating on us going on because we’re doing our own thing and we’re in our own lane. They tried to turn Rae Sremmurd into OutKast and count us out, so we had to come out [with ‘SR3MM’] and remind them that, ‘Look, we’re here to stay.’”
Rae Sremmurd is now gearing up to release SREMMLIFE4, the long-awaited follow-up to SR3MM.
Swae recently told fans the project would arrive sometime in early 2022: “SREMMLIFE4, yeah we gona drop SREMMLIFE4 [in] January, February,” he said during a livestream. “You know what I’m saying? Right in there. Put your fours up, trust in the Sremm.”
Rae Sremmurd Says New Music Is “Closer Than Ever”
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Rae Sremmurd took the game by storm in January of 2015 with the release of their debut album, SremmLife. The album was the embodiment of wild nights and reckless abandon, filled to the brim with party bangers and speaker shakers produced by Mike WiLL Made-It. Singles such as “No Type,” “No Flex Zone,” Throw Sum Mo" (with Nicki Minaj and Young Thug), and “This Could Be Us” all entered the Top 50 on Billboard’s Hot 100. The larger-than-life debut went platinum, instantaneously skyrocketing Swae Lee and Jxmmi into stardom.
Prince Williams/Wireimage/Getty Images
The duo, both hailing from Mississipi, is locked and loaded for a new release. On January 22nd, Rae Sremmurd posted a clip of their new music. The caption stated “SREMM 4 CLOSER THAN EVER,” signifying that their sights are set on releasing a new album in the near future.
Rae Sremmurd has released a pretty hefty catalog since their debut album took off. Not only has the duo dropped SremmLife 2, a follow-up to the first iteration, they released a structurally different body of work entitled SR3MM. SR3MM functioned as a triple album, with solo projects from Swae Lee and Jxmmi incorporated into its build. The solo pieces were aptly named Swaecation and Jxmtro.
While SremmLife 2 went platinum, following in the footsteps of its predecessor, SR3MM had slightly less commercial success. With a nearly 2 hour long runtime altogether, and no number one Billboard hits like SremmLife 2’s “Black Beatles,” the dip in performance was reasonable. Still, SR3MM performed well, going gold and gaining fans’ interest in the duo’s solo appearances going forward.
Are you looking forward to new Rae Sremmurd music? Tell us how you feel below.
Rolling Loud announces Portugal edition with headliners J. Cole, A$AP Rocky, and Future
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Rolling Loud has become one of the largest, most popular hip-hop festivals in the United States, and this year it will travel across the ocean to Portugal for its first-ever European event. Rolling Loud Portugal will take place July 6–8 2022 in Portimão, Portugal with headliners J. Cole, A$AP Rocky, and Future. Ticket presale begins at the festival’s website on Friday, January 28 at 12 PM GST.
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[Q&A] The Humble Beginnings Of 10k.Caash.
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From Viral Dance Videos To Getting Signed To Def Jam Recordings, The Dallas Rapper Says He’s Not In It For The Fame — He Just Wants To Make Others Happy.
Back in 2018, a popular dance craze started blowing up on social media.
Rappers like Lil Uzi Vert, Drake, Travis Scott and Ski Mask The Slump God had performed The Woah, a bounce-and-lock-type of dance, in live performances and music videos. Also, it was just a cool little dance to do for social media video posts.
Very quickly thousands of people began filmed themselves “hitting” The Woah with their friends, classmates and so on. It kind of became part of Gen Z pop culture, which we know is constantly growing and we love that, actually. It’s the “Dougie” of their generation, if you will. The Woah’s popularity even led to artists releasing songs inspired by the dance for the purpose to be, well, danced to.
If we go back in time to its origins, Lil Uzi was actually one of the first celebrities to adopt The Woah, but who really invented it?
If you ask Oak Cliff rapper 10k.Caash, his answer is simple.
“I did,” he says. “That’s a very easy question.”
As a teen, 10k.Caash, whose real name is Treyvon Britt, started making dance videos on social media platforms like Triller and Dubsmash with the dance crew Rollie Bros, which was comprised of D Smooth and their friends. However, 10k.Caash had become one of the stand-out dancers of the group — earning them views on social media for his dances.
10k.Caash just likes to dance. In fact, he was so hungry for it that he would go out and network with artists so he could dance to their unreleased tracks. Then Lil Uzi reached out.
Now, 10k.Caash is chilling with rappers and releasing his own music that’s not like anything we have in Dallas. After signing with Def Jam in 2019, he released his debut album The Creator, which perfectly describes his childish, comedic personality. It’s the stuff his fans get rowdy to. He went on tour with his friend Lil Uzi while still in high school. Befriended Rico Nasty. Found mentorship in rapper G.U.N. Yet, it’s not about the fame nor the luxuries. He simply wants to make people smile. How? By making music that reminds him of his favorite things, but this year the 20-year-old wants to grow up a little bit.
His newly released album 10K — his seventh album — is a more “matured” take on 10k.Caash, which just means it’ll only get crazier from here.
We caught up with the icon about his come-up and the next phase of his life. (He’s a really cool dude, by the way.)
I like to start these things by asking my subjects the same question even though I know the answer. I ask them this way because I think it’s fun. So, let me ask you, “who the fuck are you and who the fuck do you think you are?!”
I’m 10k.Caash. Who the fuck do I think I am? I think I am 10k.Caash [laughs]. Man, who am I? I would say I’m probably the most energetic. I probably smoke more than anybody. I’m just a great person to be around. I’m never mad. I always have a smile on my face no matter the situation. I’m just never a down person, like nothing ever really gets me down.
When it comes to your music, is your ultimate goal to make people happy?
Yes. When I was young, I used to be sad a lot. It would be to a point where I wouldn’t talk to nobody. I would eat myself into depression and stuff like that. Around middle school and high school, I started dancing with people. It just made me happy. I never really thought I could just be that happy at that time of my life. In all honesty, I would say it would come from just me, like — not going too much into detail — me growing up in the places where I would stay. I was the only child. I really stayed with my grandparents for half of my life. My grandparents are really really old, so I had to help them out a lot. My grandpa barely could walk and I had to help him. When it comes to like life stuff in general, I don’t take life for granted at all. At some point, somebody always can do worse than what you’re doing so there’s no reason to be down. You’re not in the worst situation that you possibly can be. Someone always has a worse.
What was it like growing up in Dallas for you?
I grew up in Oak Cliff. There’s not too much to say. It’s just Oak Cliff, you know, it’s gritty out there. You got to always watch your back. You got to watch who your friends are and that was also the hard part about everything. When I blew up, I wanted to do it by myself without anyone’s help. When it came to Dallas, I really didn’t want anybody over my success. Like how people touch other artists and have them over their success and, like, hold that above their head. I didn’t want anybody to do that for me. So, I took it upon myself to go and meet people and talk to people. I was steady blowing peoples’ DMs like, “You got any unreleased songs? Can I dance to them?” and this and that. Before I knew it, I was in my bathroom in Oak Cliff dancing to unreleased Juice WRLD songs.
Was dancing always a part of your life or was it something you were interested in as you got older?
I used to dance when I was very little. I used to dance to Yung Nation all the time. My uncles and cousins used to dance all the time. Dancing really is in the family. My grandpa used to breakdance back in his days, so I guess it’s kind of in my blood [laughs]. In middle school, nobody really made fun of for dancing because I was getting views. I was in middle school with almost 80,000 followers. I kind of always been going viral, so it really wasn’t anything new to me. Ugly Guy had a song called “I Beat My Meat” and we danced to it. It went viral because of my part and they had us on WorldStar and everything. It actually took Ugly God to a different level, so that kind of stamped us to where we can almost dance to anybody’s stuff and not get copyrighted. It was kind of great being the only people to actually do that stuff and have permission to do it.
So if you’re best known for your dances, how exactly did you get into rapping?
Lil Uzi Vert is actually the reason why I got into rap. He says, “You dance so you automatically like the beats, why not rap?” So, I met with Beat by Jeff and we made the beat in about three minutes and I made the rap in about four minutes. My very first song blew up. My first song was “Dip Swagg Dip.”
It sounds like you’ve always had a spotlight on you. Your fame is nothing new to you. Would you say you’re a pretty humble person or do you know you’re the shit?
I’m actually a very, very humble person. For the simple fact that my mom used to take me to concerts all the time. We used to always be backstage with all the rappers. I met half the rappers when I was young. I grew up to actually get to know them. It was actually kind of different growing up and seeing people who started back then and now them seeing me and it’s like, “Wow, they actually look up to the stuff that I do.” It’s actually shocking to me, but also the reason for me to always be humble.
Wait, you used to go to concerts with your mom? Was she a huge fan of that kind of stuff?
Yeah, I have pictures of me and Geezy, me and Yo Gotti. Rae Sremmurd. I used to always be at concerts. I used to leave school to go to concerts with my mom. My mom still goes to concert, like she’s would call me and be like, “there’s a concert coming. Can you give the floor seats?” I be like, “Yeah, I got you” [laughs]. She definitely loves shows, she just loves music.
Would you say that part of your music career was inspired by your mom?
Yes. The type of music that I listen to, I really would not know if it weren’t for my mom and my grandparents. My grandparents used to listen to Little Richard a lot. They used to listen to a lot of old school. Honestly, the old school music … there’s just something different about how the bass hits, the guitars, all the instruments that play. It made my music. I wanted my music to have some type of feel like that. When they were making music back in the ‘60s/’70s, it was for people always sad and depressed about a situation they were going through. Music will make people happy. No matter what the situation was, any time you turn the radio on, there’s dancing going on, happiness, all happiness everywhere. Even when it came to the Soul Train era, every time a black person would turn on the TV and see Soul Train they would get happy and dance along with the people. It shows that dancing is a way to make people happy. No matter who the person is. If you dance, you’re going to be happy.
Your music, obviously, is a little different than what most rappers are doing in Dallas. You’re inspired by sounds from video games and cartoon, and just quirky sounds in general. It sums up your personality pretty well. How do you incorporate your personality into your own unique sound?
Any type of game that I like and I hear a sound in the game that I like, I’m definitely going to chop the sounds. I did it with Fortnite, I did it with Call of Duty, Zelda. Cartoon shows, I did it with Johnny Bravo. I’ve done it with almost everything – Spongebob – almost anything that reminded me of my childhood.
Why go that direction?
Because nobody does. Like, we’re all different, you know? And at the end of the day, we’re all humans, but we all have different personalities. And why would I want to copy another person’s personality when I have my own?
Right. Just like dance, gaming and cartoons make us happy and distract us from life’s hardships, which is really what mostly inspires you. However, do you have any musical influences? Anyone you admire?
Actually … no [laughs]. Yeah, no. I actually listen to artist that’s in Dallas right now. I do really do that, but when it comes to having an inspiration, I don’t really have any.
How’s your writing process like?
I actually do not write. I freestyle everything. I honestly just have fun. The whole purpose of my music is to have fun.
I can see that just based on your debut album The Creator, how is this new album you just released different?
This new one is to show that I’m maturing. I’m only 20 – so I’m maturing. I want to make dance music but I want my niche to be more mature now. This is still kind of the same, but I was aiming towards more of a mosh pit. I want to get more crowd interactions for my next couple shows. This one I just dropped, it was something to give out for the new year and have a new sound.
Catch 10k.Caash at So What?! Music Festival in Choctaw Stadium May 2022.
Why Cordae Is Already Looking Beyond His New Album
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Editor’s Note: This piece has been updated to reflect release dates and album titles announced after publishing.
While it may feel like there’s not much to look forward to during yet another wave of COVID-19, music fans around the world are eagerly waiting to load their playlists with new releases as 2022 gets underway.
And there’s certainly plenty to look forward to: Along with The Weeknd, who released his fifth studio album, Dawn FM, on Jan. 7, superstars like Machine Gun Kelly, Camila Cabello, Dolly Parton, Guns N’ Roses, and Rosalía have all announced or teased albums coming this year.
The pandemic may have slowed things down, but there’s no stopping artists in 2022. Keep an eye out for these 30 albums from ENHYPEN, Mitski, Saweetie, Bastille, and many more.
The Weeknd, Dawn FM
Release date: Jan. 7
Only a year removed from his incendiary Super Bowl Halftime Show performance, the crowned pop prince of Canada returns with the semi-surprise Dawn FM, a hotly anticipated follow-up to his record-breaking 2020 release, After Hours (you know, the one with “Blinding Lights” and “Save Your Tears” on it).
As The Weeknd’s album teasers promised, Dawn FM delivered sinister synthesizers, a vocal appearance from Jim Carrey, and old-man makeup that’s arguably only slightly less distressing than his wax-faced After Hours persona.Max Martin is back (on lead single “Take My Breath”), and other guests include Tyler, the Creator and Oneohtrix Point Never.
As for what the three-time GRAMMY winner wants his listeners to take away from his latest work? “Picture the album being like the listener is dead,” The Weeknd told Billboard. Capisce? — Brennan Carley
ENHYPEN, DIMENSION : ANSWER
Release date: January 10
Seven-piece boy group ENHYPEN may still be relatively new to the K-pop scene (the band formed in 2020 on the Korean survival competition show “I-Land”), but they’re already making moves to put themselves in the ranks of BTS and EXO. Their latest release, DIMENSION : ANSWER, marks the group’s first studio repackage album, expanding on their 2021 debut set, DIMENSION : DILEMMA.
DIMENSION : ANSWER will feature three new tracks,: “Polaroid Love,” “Outro : Day 2,” and lead single “Blessed-Cursed.” Fans got a first taste of the three B-sides thanks to an album preview the group released on Jan. 4, which teased a wide array of sounds: punchy pop-sprinkled production on “Polaroid Love,” sultry R&B vocals with “Outro : Day 2,” and guitar-heavy rock on “Blessed-Cursed.” With such vast musical prowess, DIMENSION : ANSWER may just be the group’s ticket to K-pop superstardom. — Taylor Weatherby
Read More: 5 Rising Korean Artists To Know Now: STAYC, ENHYPEN, ITZY, TOMORROW X TOGETHER & ATEEZ
Cordae, From a Bird’s Eye View
Release date: Jan. 14
Cordae set the bar high with his GRAMMY-nominated debut album The Lost Boy and emerged as one of the most exciting new talents of 2019, making his return to the game with his hotly anticipated second album.
The Maryland-raised rapper held fans over with his Just Until… EP last April before launching into his album rollout with the braggadocious hit, “Super” and a collaboration with Lil Wayne, “Sinister.” The 24-year-old wordsmith — known for his reflective, carefully-crafted raps — said From a Bird’s Eye View was inspired by “a life-changing trip to Africa, enduring the loss of a friend gone too soon and evolving as an artist and a man.”
The album will also mark Cordae’s first full-length effort since the official disbanding of his YBN collective in 2020. — Victoria Moorwood
Animal Collective, Time Skiffs
Release date: Feb. 4
Followers of experimental pop adventurers Animal Collective have waited six years for a new album following 2016’s Painting With. At last, the four-piece will release Time Skiffs, an album full of otherworldly harmonies and mind-opening melodies.
Animal Collective has released two singles from the LP so far: the gently psychedelic “Prester John” and the equally trippy “Walker.” The latter is a tribute to Scott Walker, the prolific singer-songwriter who died in 2019. Its beautifully intricate music video, directed by band member Dave Portner and his sister Abby, brings the Time Skiffs album cover to life in vivid detail. — Jack Tregoning
Avril Lavigne, Love Sux
Release date: Feb 25
Like everything Y2K, pop-punk is making a comeback. And nearly 20 years since the release of her seminal pop-punk debut Let Go, Avril Lavigne brings back her pop-punk princess persona in all its glory — combat boots and all. In early November, the “Sk8r Boi” singer shared her the angsty anthem “Bite Me,” first new single in over two years, featuring Travis Barker.
With the new music, Lavigne also shared she had signed to the drummer extraordinaire’s label DTA Records. Her seventh studio album is set to be the artist’s first LP since her more traditional pop LP Head Above Water in 2019. — I.K.
Bonobo, Fragments
Release date: Jan. 14
Like everyone else around the world, electronic shapeshifter Simon Green had a very unusual past two years. The British musician and DJ, better known as Bonobo, found himself grounded in his adopted home of Los Angeles, itching for new inspiration to get through the pandemic. His wanderings took him from a tent in the Californian desert to a new appreciation for modular synths back home in lockdown, all with a nervous eye on the precarious state of the world.
This activity fed into a flood of music which we’ll soon hear on Bonobo’s seventh studio album, Fragments, out on Ninja Tune. Fragments features guests including Jamila Woods, Joji and Kadhja Bonet, while channeling influences from UK bass, Detroit techno and global music through Bonobo’s widescreen lens. The producer is already up for two Best Dance/Electronic Recording awards at this year’s GRAMMYs, for “Heartbreak,” his collaboration with Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, and “Loom,” with Ólafur Arnalds. Bonobo begins a tour of the US in February, giving fans a few precious weeks to soak up the album before its live debut. — J.T.
Earl Sweatshirt, SICK
Release date: Jan. 14
With a decade-plus of acclaimed projects such as 2018’s Some Rap Songs, Earl Sweatshirt is both an underground hero and a critic’s darling. He hasn’t achieved the same level of mainstream success as former Odd Future colleagues Tyler, the Creator and Syd – which is fine with him.
Judging from SICK’s lead track “2010,” where he pays homage to his mother in cryptic terms, the 10-track album promises to be another collection of stylized verses, dusty beats and autobiographical confessions (albeit rendered in a clearer voice than his previous album, 2019’s lo-fi affair Feet of Clay). As its title suggests, SICK was inspired by the pandemic. “My whole thing is grading things on the truth, you know what I mean? However expansive or detailed the truth is,” he told Rolling Stone. — Mosi Reeves
iann dior, On To Better Things
Release date: January 21
After blasting onto the scene with his 24kgoldn team-up (and runaway smash) “Mood” in 2020, iann dior hasn’t slowed down, releasing an EP and countless other collabs. On To Better Things marks dior’s first full-length album since 2019, serving up 15 tracks that will help the rapper truly come into his own.
Like the Lil Uzi Vert-assisted “V12” and the racing single “Let You,” On To Better Things will see dior further explore his capabilities as a rapper while also tapping into his alt-pop/rock sensibilities. Judging by his previous releases, dior won’t be afraid to get raw and real on his latest project as he opens up about love, relationships and loyalty. There may be glimmers of hope on the album, though, as dior captioned a post teasing the album, “life is better now.” — T.W.
Dive Deep: 9 Revolutionary Rap Albums To Know: From Kendrick Lamar, Black Star, EarthGang & More
Combo Chimbita, IRÉ
Release date: Jan. 28
The melding of cumbia beats and psychedelic vibes was embraced during the ’70s by many pioneering outfits in Peru and Colombia. Since the release of their 2017 debut, New York quartet Combo Chimbita has built on that foundation, amping up the mystical tinge of its material through the soulful chanting of extraordinary vocalist Carolina Oliveros.
Always ready to speak up on social and political issues, Chimbita uses cumbia as a starting point, adding swashes of funk and soul, Afro guitar lines and atmospheric samples. The band’s new album expands its palette, enhancing lead single “Oya” with a video shot at the ruins of Puerto Rico’s abandoned Intercontinental Hotel. A tour with the awesomeLido Pimienta will follow soon. — Ernesto Lechner
Aaliyah, Unstoppable
Release date: January 2022
Anticipation surrounding Aaliyah’s fourth album has been building since 2012, when Blackground Records released “Don’t Think They Know,” which paired the late singer’s vocals with Chris Brown, and a Drake collaboration, “Enough Said.” The long-awaited arrival of her back catalog to streaming last fall added fresh fuel for a project that has been controversial, with some diehard fans questioning whether it honors Aaliyah’s legacy.
Unstoppable includes guests like Snoop Dogg, Future and Ne-Yo. The first single, a woozy ballad titled “Poison,” features The Weeknd as well as lyrics originally written by the late Static Major. “Some of the people Aaliyah liked are on the album. She loved Snoop Dogg,” Blackground CEO and Aaliyah’s uncle Jomo Hankerson told Billboard. “Everything I do at Blackground is always with her in my heart and my mind.” — M.R.
Read More: For The Record: How Aaliyah Redefined Her Sound And Herself On One In A Million
Bastille, Give Me the Future
Release date: Feb. 4
If the pandemic had even a glimmer of a bright side, it comes courtesy of musicians like Bastille pivoting and positioning their art to address the present, as Give Me the Future promises to do.
Bandleader Dan Smith had already begun work on the English pop-rock group’s fourth album before COVID-19 threw a wrench in his plans, but the pandemic made the album’s probing themes seem that much more prescient. Glistening songs like “Thelma + Louise” and the vocoded “Distorted Light Beam” dig more deeply into Bastille’s exploration of escapism when the troubles of the world are thundering outside our windows, all with the help of new collaborators Rami Yacoub and One Republic’s Ryan Tedder. We promise it’s way more fun than it sounds. — B.C.
Mitski, Laurel Hell
Release date: Feb. 4
Mitski almost pressed pause on her music career which, according to a Rolling Stone interview, was “shaving away my soul little by little.” After a final performance, “I would quit and find another life.” Fortunately, though, Mitski has stuck with it.
Three years since the release of her fifth studio album Be the Cowboy, the indie singer-songwriter is set to share her forthcoming project Laurel Hell. While the majority of the LP was penned in 2018, it wasn’t mixed until 2021, making it the longest the singer has spent on one of her records. What listeners can expect is a transformative set of songs that pair Mitski’s signature vulnerability with uptempo dance beats and, ultimately, catharsis. — Ilana Kaplan
Guns N’ Roses, Hard Skool EP
Release date: Feb. 25
In 2021, 36 years after the band first formed in the hard rock hotbed of Los Angeles, Guns N’ Roses returned with two new singles. This productive streak was remarkable enough in itself given the group’s notoriously haphazard release schedule. The singles “ABSUЯD” and “Hard Skool” are doubly remarkable, though, because they usher in a new EP that brings beloved members Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan together again after 28 years.
Reinterpreted from the band’s Chinese Democracy sessions, “ABSUЯD” features a raw, punk-tinged sound that surprised some fans before rewarding repeat listens. “Hard Skool,” meanwhile, harkens back to the classic sound that Guns N’ Roses perfected in the late 1980s. The Hard Skool EP will feature the two 2021 singles alongside live renditions of GNR favorites “Don’t Cry” and “You’re Crazy.” To mark this new era, the band is touring arenas throughout 2022, reuniting Axl, Slash and Duff as a powerhouse onstage trio. — J.T.
Take a Look Back: Guns N’ Roses’ ‘Appetite For Destruction’ | For The Record
Charli XCX, CRASH
Release date: March 18
Pop polymorph Charli XCX has been promising fans her sellout era for months now (“tip for new artists: sell your soul for money and fame,” she tweeted last July), ushered in with last summer’s “Good Ones” and buoyed into the holidays with “New Shapes,” a powerhouse team-up with Caroline Polachek and Christine and the Queens.
CRASH is the fifth and final album she owes Atlantic Records — a benchmark not lost on fans or Charli herself. For it, Charli promises edge-of-your-seat appearances from Rina Sawayama, frequent collaborator A. G. Cook, and frequent Weeknd cohort Oneohtrix Point Never. Come for the bloody album artwork, stay for the cheeky, self-aware pop concoctions contained within. — B.C.
Dolly Parton, Run, Rose, Run
Release date: March 2022
The beloved, multi-GRAMMY Award-winning singer-songwriter Dolly Parton has built a career as a trailblazer, so it stands to reason that her next musical effort would carry on that grand tradition. Run, Rose, Run is an album of original tunes taking its energetic moniker from a companion novel that Parton co-authored with the acclaimed writer James Patterson.
According to Parton, the accompanying album consists of “all new songs written based on the characters and situations in the book” and centers on a tale about a girl who treks to Nashville to pursue her dreams. Adds Patterson, “the mind-blowing thing about this project is that reading the novel is enhanced by listening to the album and vice versa.” Both projects are dropping in tandem. It’s a unique undertaking that celebrates a smoldering passion for music; but if you’ve been following the legend’s career, would you expect anything less? — Rob LeDonne
Maren Morris, Humble Quest
Release date: March 25
GRAMMY-winning singer Maren Morris has conquered modern country music with her soulful solo material and even forayed into pop (just mentioning “The Middle” will glue its sticky chorus to your every waking moment for the next week). So whatever magic Morris might make with her highly anticipated third album, Humble Quest, is cause enough for celebration.
Morris kicked off her next LP with “Circles Around This Town,” an expansive, freewheeling single that blends the echoing production of her 2016 debut HERO and super-personal lyrics of 2019’s GIRL. The album will be Morris’ first since the untimely 2019 passing of her longtime creative partner busbee, but her partnership with pop hitmaker Greg Kurstin (who produced “Circles Around This Town” as well as four GIRL tracks) hints that this next project is going to be a timeless trip and an emotional walloping. — B.C.
Thomas Rhett, Where We Started / Country Again: Side B
Release date: April 1 / Fall 2022
Though country music has always been the core of what Thomas Rhett has done since his debut album (2013’s It Goes Like This), the star’s 2021 set, Country Again: Side A, was more traditional than his past projects. Clearly his roots (along with the unexpected pandemic-induced downtime) sparked a bout of inspiration, as Rhett announced in November that he’ll be releasing Side B as well as another LP, titled Where We Started, in 2022.
Surprisingly, Side B won’t be coming first. But it will create one cohesive Country Again narrative once it arrives, as Rhett promised in an interview with Rolling Stone last year — though he did hint that Side B will feature production that’s “a smidge more experimental” than Side A. His latest single, the wistful “Slow Down Summer” hints that Where We Started will also bring back more of the pop-leaning production he’s incorporated in his previous albums.
Still, that doesn’t mean he’ll lose sight of the country boy that has been unleashed: In writing all of this music, Rhett told his producers (per Rolling Stone), “This is the direction I’m headed in, and I think I’m gonna be here for a long time.” — T.W.
Read More: Saddle Up With The Best Country Song Nominations | 2022 GRAMMYs
Jack White, Fear of the Dawn / Entering Heaven Alive
Release date: April 8 / July 22
Epic ambition fuels the very essence of rock ’n’ roll and Jack White has embodied the genre’s weakness for glamour, dissonance and excess since his days with The White Stripes. The reckless propulsion of “Over and Over and Over” — off 2018’s Boarding House Reach — proved that he has kept the bravado in his songwriting very much alive.
2022 will find the multi-GRAMMY Award winning singer/guitarist releasing two full-length albums: Fear of the Dawn, led by the wonderfully bombastic single “Taking Me Back,” will also include a collaboration with rapper Q-Tip. No details are available on July’s Entering Heaven Alive, but the appearance of two albums in the same year is the kind of grandiloquent gesture that rock is in need of more than ever before. — E.L.
Swedish House Mafia, Paradise Again
Release date: TBA, ships April 15
When GRAMMY-nominated Swedish House Mafia announced they were getting back together (and this time for good), fans were cautiously optimistic. The trio of DJ-producers — Steve Angello, Sebastian Ingrosso and Axwell — promised a host of new music to mark their return, and so far they’ve kept to their word. The comeback began with the dark, guest-free “It Gets Better,” which deviated from the big-room EDM sound championed by the Swedes up to their split in 2013.
From there, the trio delivered “Lifetime,” featuring Ty Dolla $ign and 070 Shake, and “Moth to a Flame,” featuring The Weeknd, which became their first major hit of the new era. This flurry of activity sets the stage for Swedish House Mafia’s first full album, Paradise Again. As Ingrosso told NME, the album will combine their trademark “Scandinavian melodies with dark production and hard sounds.” Starting July 2022, the DJs embark on their first tour in a decade, playing 44 dates throughout the US, UK and Europe. — J.T.
Jason Aldean, Georgia
Release date: April 22
Jumping on country music’s 2021 double album trend, Jason Aldean issued Macon, the first half of his own two-disc set, Macon, Georgia, in November. The title is an homage to his hometown, which he refers to as a “melting pot” that shaped his music, according to Country Now. Yet, the 30-song project expands on Aldean’s signature country-rock sound without steering too far away from what fans have grown to love, as evidenced with both Macon and Georgia’s crooning lead single, “Whiskey Me Away.”
Like its predecessor, Georgia will include 10 new songs and five live recordings of his biggest hits, essentially creating Aldean’s first-ever live album.With the aptly titled track “Rock and Roll Cowboy” to boot, Georgia helps make Macon, Georgia a career highlight for Aldean. — T.W.
Machine Gun Kelly, Born with Horns
Release date: TBD
The upcoming sixth studio album from enigmatic rocker Machine Gun Kelly, ominously titled Born with Horns, was rumored to drop on New Year’s Eve 2021, but it seems Kelly had a change of heart tweeting “See you in 2022.” While the release date continues to be murky, there is some solid information about the highly anticipated fresh slate of music from the multi-hyphenate rockstar.
For one, the album is produced by fellow rock luminary Travis Barker and includes the decidedly dark single “Papercuts.” “It feels more guitar-heavy for sure, lyrically it definitely goes deeper, but I never like to do anything the same,” Kelly said of Born with Horns in an interview with Sunday TODAY, noting it’ll also mark a personal evolution. “I’m not scared anymore, there’s nothing holding me back from being my true self — and my true self can’t be silenced, can’t be restrained.” — R.L.
Watch Now: Up Close & Personal: Machine Gun Kelly On Working With Travis Barker & Influencing The Next Decade Of Music
Camila Cabello, Familia
Release date: TBD
There’s perhaps never been a better advertisement for an album than Camila Cabello’s edition of NPR’s Tiny Desk. Released last fall, the session begins with three old songs and ends with two Familia cuts strong enough to bowl you over. In just 20 minutes, the former Fifth Harmony singer genuflects at the altar of pop’s past while steering its ship into the future.
“Don’t Go Yet” brims with the promise of comfort as it opens with a warm flamenco guitar. “La Buena Vida” is a Mariachi-based explosion of emotion and evocation, anchored by Cabello’s arresting vocals. Whereas her prior albums sought to cement the 24-year-old amidst her contemporaries, the uber-personal Familia seems likely to propel her into a whole new pedigree of artistry. — B.C.
Rosalía, MOTOMAMI
Release date: TBD
In 2018, Rosalía’s cinematic El Mal Querer signified a before-and-after for the music of Spain and Latin America. A visionary blend of flamenco, hip-hop and confessional torch song, the album introduced her to the world as an intellectual, musicologist and pop diva wrapped up into one slick sonic package. Subsequent singles (2019’s “Haute Couture” was a gorgeous slice of electro-pop) demonstrated that Rosalía’s path to global domination relies on a voracious curiosity for disparate styles and high-profile collaborators such as Billie Eilish and Bad Bunny.
Titled MOTOMAMI, Rosalía’s much anticipated release includes “LA FAMA,” a deliciously distorted bachata duet with The Weeknd. We can only imagine what other wonders Rosalía’s remarkable imagination has dreamed up for this, her first full-length album since becoming a cultural icon. — E.L.
Saweetie, Pretty Bitch Music
Release date: TBD
Saweetie is set to finally release her debut album, Pretty Bitch Music, this year. After first announcing the project in 2020, the Bay Area native’s star power has exploded, reaching new heights last year with major endorsements, her first GRAMMY nominations and a “Saturday Night Live” debut. Pretty Bitch Music was initially slated to arrive in 2021, but Saweetie postponed the effort for some additional fine-tuning.
“I’m just living with it to ensure it’s perfect,” she told Hollywood Life in August. “I’m really challenging myself and I just want to ensure that I put out a body of work that [will] symbolize art.”
Pretty Bitch Music is expected to include Saweetie’s 2x Platinum-certified collaboration with Doja Cat, “Best Friend” and her single “Tap In” with production by Timbaland, Lil Jon and Murda Beatz, among other heavy-hitters. — V.M.
Kid Cudi, Entergalactic
Release date: TBD
Three years after it was announced, Kid Cudi’s animated music adventure for Netflix is set to arrive this summer, as the rapper declared during his set at Rolling Loud California in December. “I got some tasty surprises,” he told fans before offering a snippet of unreleased music that may be on the soundtrack.
Not much else is known about the project, which takes its title from a song on Cudi’s 2009 debut Man on the Moon: The End of Day, and which co-creator Kenya Barris referred to as “the most ambitious thing” in a 2019 interview with Complex.
Entergalactic might not be where Kid Cudi stops in 2022, either: Amid his Rolling Loud teases, he said, “I want to drop another album before [Entergalactic]… I really am excited about all this new s***, this new music to give to you guys. So that’s why I’m teasing this s*** now, ‘cause it’s comin’ out soon.” — M.R.
Beach House, Once Twice Melody
Release date: throughout 2022
Nearly four years since the release of their seventh studio album aptly titled 7, Beach House is slowly unveiling their latest record Once Twice Melody. But instead of dropping all 18 tracks at once, the dreamy indie duo has been giving fans a taste of their new sound in four chapters.
Once Twice Melody is a significant shift as it’s the first album produced in full by the band. Beach House also thought about its structure completely differently than they had in the past. “It didn’t just feel like a regular, like another album of ours, it felt like a larger, newer kind of way of looking at our music,” singer Victoria Legrand told Apple Music. Instead, they view it as “cinematic” and “literary.” What fans can expect, they say, is “a lot of love” and “a sacredness of nature.” — I.K.
Kendrick Lamar, TBA
Release date: TBD
One of our most celebrated artists of his generation may make his triumphant return this year. Although it’s been nearly five years since Kendrick Lamar released his GRAMMY- and Pulitzer Prize-winning album DAMN, Lamar has remained busy. In 2018, Lamar curated the Black Panther soundtrack and he’s also made guest appearances on tracks by artists as varied as Nipsey Hussle, Anderson .Paak, U2 and his cousin, Baby Keem.
But Lamar has been mostly mum about his own music, save for an August blog post titled “nu thoughts.” “Love, loss, and grief have disturbed my comfort zone, but the glimmers of God speak through my music and family,” he wrote, adding that his next album will be his last with Top Dawg Entertainment. It’s the sort of thoughtful, precise announcement (and perhaps a hint to his album’s content) that fans have come to expect from the notoriously private rapper. Lamar will thankfully make an appearance at this year’s Super Bowl in February. — Britt Julious
Read More: Black Sounds Beautiful: How Kendrick Lamar Became A Rap Icon
Cardi B, TBA
Release date: TBD
Despite the slow-burning success of her single “Bodak Yellow,” few could have predicted the popularity of Cardi B’sdebut album, Invasion of Privacy. A critical and commercial success, “Invasion of Privacy” won Best Rap Album at the 61st Grammy Awards, making Cardi the first woman to win in the category. That’s why anticipation for her sophomore record is so high.
Cardi’s brand of hip-hop is provocative and fun, and her two singles (possibly from the record) seem to confirm that same mood is still present in her music. In 2020, she dropped “WAP,” a cultural reset of a collaboration with Megan Thee Stallion, and in 2021, she released “Up,” which later inspired a viral TikTok dance challenge. As with many artists, the COVID-19 pandemic has delayed the release of Cardi’s new album. But late last year on Instagram Live, Cardi said she has “lots of jobs now” and one of them is to “put out this album next year.” Hopefully fans won’t have to wait too long. — B.J.
Koffee, TBA
Release date: TBD
If Koffee’s latest single is any indication, the youngest GRAMMY Award winner for Best Reggae Album is planning a glorious homecoming in 2022. Sung with a wide smile you can nearly hear, “West Indies” is a dancehall love letter to the islands and an upbeat promise for what the singer has in store on her first full-length.
“I want to speak of a solution and of a way that we can come together and get along, even when things are going wrong,” Koffee told Rolling Stone.
Although the pandemic halted her album recording and nixed her first Coachella performance, Koffee defies the dour attitude of much of the past two years. On “West Indies,” Koffee assures that she’s partying and having the time of her life — her as-yet-untitled album will likely soundtrack yours while you do the same. — Jessica Lipsky
Read More: The Women Essential To Reggae And Dancehall
Girl Ultra, TBA
Release date: TBD
Few musical experiences are as uplifting as listening to a singer/songwriter’s follow-up to a brilliant debut, where they enhance the scope of their craft with new influences and sounds. Nuevos Aires, Girl Ultra’s first full-length album, was just that – a breath of fresh air for Latin R&B, anchored on the purity of her voice and collaborations with Ximena Sariñana and Cuco (for the languid hit “DameLove.”)
Following that 2019 release, the artist also known as Mariana de Miguel returns with a new EP. Lead single “Amores de Droga” evokes the sophistication of Everything But The Girl, combining smoldering vocalizing with cool electro grooves. A study in contrasts, it finds the Mexico City chanteuse reaching a pinnacle of inspiration. — E.L.
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