The 10 upcoming 2020 albums you should be hyped for

Mikael Woo

With 2019’s glut of year (and decade) end lists of the best in music finally behind us, it's time at last to turn our attention to the sounds in store for 2020. And what better way to do that than with... another list? Here's a rundown of 10 albums to look forward to over the next few months, with release dates included when known.

Rare by Selena Gomez (Jan.10)

The onetime Disney Channel star has never quite gotten the credit she deserves for her adventurous record-making. Sure, her and DJ Snake's “Taki Taki” was a shameless Latin-pop play complete with a regrettable "fiesta"/"siesta" rhyme. But before that she turned the Talking Heads' “Psycho Killer” into the sinuous “Bad Liar,” while her last album, 2015's Revival, feels now like a precursor to Billie Eilish's whispery ASMR-core. Preceded by a No.1 single in the grandly emotional “Lose You to Love Me,” Gomez's new one promises more ear-grabbing textures, as well as her intimate thoughts on her breakup with the Weeknd and her recent health troubles (including a much-publicised kidney transplant).

Manic by Halsey (Jan.17)

Heed that album title: Along with the country-ish “Finally / Beautiful Stranger” and the chart-topping EDM ballad “Without Me,” the latest from this style-hopping streaming native features far-flung hookups with Alanis Morissette (a clear influence), Dominic Fike and Suga of BTS (with whom she teamed for last year's sprightly K-pop hit “Boy With Luv”).

Father of All… by Green Day (Feb.7)

The pop-punk veterans will play stadiums this summer as part of a rock's-not-dead package that also includes Fall Out Boy and Weezer, called the Hella Mega Tour. Yet what's appealing about the short and snappy songs on Green Day's 13th studio album is that they sound like they were born in a tiny club.

Ozzy Osbourne is readying a record he made with producer Andrew Watt, bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Chad Smith. TNS.

The Slow Rush by Tame Impala (Feb.14)

In the works since well before his headlining performance at Coachella last year, Kevin Parker's fourth full-length as Tame Impala is his most painstakingly detailed yet, with trippy guitar lines and delicate vocal melodies over buoyant grooves that reflect his recent studio work with the likes of Mark Ronson and Kali Uchis. You'd call the result obsessive if it didn't just make you want to dance.

Miss Anthropocene by Grimes (Feb.21)

The Canadian singer and producer has spoken expansively about her oft-delayed follow-up to 2015's Art Angels, most recently saying it's "about a modern demonology or a modern pantheon where every song is about a different way to suffer," as she put it in a published conversation with Lana Del Rey. But even Grimes knows that many listeners will be scrutinising Miss Anthropocene's knotty electronic pop for clues about her unlikely romantic relationship with Tesla's Elon Musk.

Future Nostalgia by Dua Lipa

Last year's Grammy winner for new artist has had disco and house music on her mind, to judge from “Electricity” and “One Kiss” — a pair of excellent collaborations with Silk City and Calvin Harris, respectively — and from “Don't Start Now,” the delightfully rubbery lead single from her sophomore solo disc set for release sometime this year. The throwback sound suits Lipa's throaty vocals, which have grown more soulful since her catchy but faceless 2017 debut.

Ordinary Man by Ozzy Osbourne

The 71-year-old heavy-metal pioneer found himself in the middle of the pop conversation last year when Post Malone recruited him for “Take What You Want,” their pitch-perfect power ballad from Malone's smash Hollywood's Bleeding album. Now, Osbourne is readying a record of his own that he made with Malone's producer Andrew Watt; bassist Duff McKagan of Guns N' Roses and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith are also in the mix.

Rihanna is teasing fans with the prospect of releasing her long-awaited ninth studio album in 2020. TNS.

Young Thug

Hip-hop's boldest dresser — not to mention one of its most distinctive vocal stylists — has several projects reportedly in the pipeline, including an album with the tantalising title Punk and a full-length collaboration he's said to have made with Juice Wrld, who died last month at age 21.

Justin Bieber

With appearances on tracks by a diverse array of acts including Luis Fonsi, DJ Khaled, Ed Sheeran, Gucci Mane, Billie Eilish and Dan & Shay, Bieber hasn't exactly been hard to hear in the half-decade since his last solo record, 2015's Christian-themed Purpose. But this year, he'll be nearly impossible to escape, with a comeback single, “Yummy," released last week, followed by the late-January premiere of a YouTube reality series, a world tour that kicks off in May and an album (as yet unscheduled) that the now-married man says will be "different than the previous albums just because of where I'm at in my life."

Rihanna

The wait for "R9," as fans refer with increasing impatience to Rihanna's upcoming ninth studio album, has become an internet joke — so much so that Rihanna herself got in on it recently with an Instagram post in which the singer (who's been spending her time on acting, her clothing and beauty lines and a lavish coffee-table book) captioned a video of a dancing puppy like so: "update: me listening to R9 by myself and refusing to release it."

Tribune News Service