13 massive albums set for release in 2018, from Arctic Monkeys to Craig David and Nicki Minaj

Some of the biggest artists in the world are preparing to release new music

Nicki Minaj's follow-up to ‘The Pinkprint’, due this year, will be ‘a classic hip-hop album’, she says (Getty)

2017 saw the release of some huge albums, from record-breakers like Ed Sheeran’s Divide, Taylor Swift’s reputation and Rag’N’Bone Man’s Human; anticipated albums from Kendrick Lamar, Lana Del Rey, Stormzy and Jay Z, to the solo releases from One Direction members Harry Styles and Niall Horan.

Don’t believe us? Check out The Independent’s favourite records of the year here, where we picked out albums by artists including Loyle Carner, Lorde, Rapsody, SZA, Syd and J Hus.

Before that, though, why not get excited about all that’s to come in 2018. We’re anticipating brilliant new releases from some of the biggest artists on the planet, from Jack White to Arctic Monkeys, Nicki Minaj to Bastille and Craig David.

Check out the list below for the most likely, biggest releases of 2018:

Craig David

Craig David performs on the Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival, 24 June 2017 (AFP/Getty Images)

Craig David’s comeback in 2016 was one of the best and most-deserved in UK chart history. Following My Intuition scored No1 in the UK albums chart and saw David come back as one of the most in-demand artists around.

So far he’s released two singles off upcoming album The Time Is Now: “Heartline” and “I Know You” ft Bastille; the record also features standout collaborations with artists including Goldlink, AJ Tracey, JP Cooper and Kaytranada. We can confidently say that, having heard the record, it’s even better than the last.

Read our interview with Craig on his amazing 2017 plus details on the new album here.

Jack White

The former White Stripes frontman’s new album is “bizarre” – and that’s according to him. Jack White’s last release was the critically acclaimed Lazaretto in 2014 and he revealed he was working on the follow-up this summer, joking it would be “good gardening music or roofing music or, you know, back-alley stabbing music”. Sounds promising. Billboard reports that it will be released during the first half of 2018.

Charli XCX

Charli XCX performing on the John Peel Stage at the Glastonbury Festival, at Worthy Farm in Somerset (PA)

She’s been keeping fans satisfied with mixtapes featuring an incredible range of guest features, but Charli XCX is finally set to release her third album, the follow-up to 2014’s Sucker, in 2018.

Muse

The British rock band’s eight album should arrive in the second half of 2018, if recent reports are anything to go by. Frontman Matt Bellamy told Radio X after releasing the single “Dig Down” earlier this year: “Even though the overall album will be a long wait, some of the songs are going ot be available way ahead of that.”

Arctic Monkeys

Arctic Monkeys - Nick O'Malley, Jamie Cook, Alex Turner, and Matt Helders (Rex)

Bassist Nick O’Malley let slip to motorcycling magazine For The Ride that the band had started recording their first album since 2013’s AM, and said it should be set for release in 2018. “If it isn’t,” he said, “we’ve got problems”.

According to a dedicated fan account posted on a Spanish blog, we could hear a new single from the album as early as January.

Nicki Minaj

Nicki Minaj's brother, Jelani Maraj, recently married his longtime girlfriend (stock image)

While there are no confirmed tracks on this work in progress, the New York rapper has promised that her follow-up to The Pinkprint will be “a classic hip-hop album” and her “best body of work”.

In an interview with Dazed in September this year, Minaj added that it would bring about an era “a billion times more epic than anything ‘Anaconda’ could have delivered”. “I think this era will definitely be the most memorable and impactful of my career yet.”

Camila Cabello

The former Fifth Harmony singer’s debut solo album is set for release on 12 January. Following on from a successful year which saw her release the massive hit “Havana” and appear on the soundtrack for Will Smith’s upcoming Netflix film Bright, she’s continuing to expand on her career as a solo artist.

Speaking about the record this year she said: “I feel like it’s important for me as a new artist, and especially people hearing ‘Havana’ and more people kind of knowing who I am, I think that it’s really important that the message is like, super consistent’.”

Interpol

(Rex)

Following a year where they honoured the 15th anniversary of their debut album Turn On The Bright Lights, Interpol will return in 2018 with their sixth studio album. It will reportedly be released next year via Matador Records – the group have been working on new material in their native New York.

Fall Out Boy

Fall Out Boy’s new record is due out on 19 January and is titled MANIA. Expect the Britney Spears-referencing “Young and Menace” along with the track “Champion”; the band say they’re sewing “multiple eras” of both their own band and their influences together, “in a way that is completely new to us through the production and writing process”.

The 1975

The 1975 singer Matt Healy's appeal to his teenage fans has been unfairly dismissed by many critics (Rex Features)

Music For Cars is the blissfully short-titled follow-up to The 1975’s Mercury Prize-nominated record I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It. It will apparently include a song called “Jesus Christ 2005 God Bless America”, if frontman Matt Healy‘s Instagram is anything to go by.

“Our first three albums are the story of a person; it’s always kind of been my story,” he explained earlier this year. “It spanned adolescence to maturity, success and trying to mediate the two, and the third one is where we are now. I haven’t really decided the statement of where we are now yet. It’s sort of difficult to understand the present.”

Manic Street Preachers

Manic Street Preachers' James Dean Bradfield performs at the Royal Albert Hall (Rex)

The Welsh rockers are planning to release their album Resistance Is Futile on 6 April. A statement published along with the album’s announcement said: “The main themes of Resistance Is Futile are memory and loss; forgotten history, confused reality and art as a hiding place and inspiration. It’s obsessively melodic – in many ways referencing both the naive energy of Generation Terrorists and the orchestral sweep of Everything Must Go.

Bastille

Following their huge 2016 album Wild World, Bastille announced they were working on their third record and would release it early in 2018.

“We wanted to do something that feels a bit different, wanted to take it on a step from our last record and acknowledge that since we released that album the world seems an even more bizarre and tempestuous place,” frontman Dan Smith told NME, referring to it as an “apocalyptic party record”.

Vampire Weekend

Their last album Modern Vampires of the City dropped in 2013, and Ezra Koenig says the follow-up is “80 per cent done”.

The band’s fourth studio record will mark the band’s first without founder member Rostam Batmanglij. Earlier this year Koenig provided an update where he said 2017 would be spent “recording, trying to finish ASAP” and revealed the working title is Mitsubishi Macchiato.

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