hmv.com previews... 2019's Biggest Albums
Over the next few days, we'll be previewing 50 of the best albums you can expect to hear in 2019. Almost all of them will come out, some inevitably won't, but they are all worth getting excited about.
We finish today with the big hitters...
Dido
Title: Still On My Mind
Release Date: March 8th
Florian Cloud de Bounevialle Armstrong, better known to everyone simply as Dido, has been quiet in recent years.
Having sold 34 million copies of her first two albums, 1999's No Angel and 2003's Life For Rent, she established herself as one of the world's most successful singers.
Her next two LPs, 2008's Safe Trip Home and 2013's Girl Who Got Away, saw her experimenting with new producers and new influences. But, not long after the release of Girl Who Got Away, it all went radio silent. Now though, she's back.
Written and recorded at her home with her brother Rollo, who was part of Faithless, the album sees the singer in a fun-filled mood...
Click here to pre-order the album.
Lana Del Rey
Title: Norman F**king Rockwell
Release Date: Spring
The singer offers up a quick follow-up to her 2017 collection Lust For Life, this time showcasing a lighter, breezier sound.
Written with Jack Antonoff, mainman in Bleachers and key collaborator to Taylor Swift and Lorde, the album sees Del Rey in a playful mood.
That mood is evident on new single 'Mariners Apartment Complex'...
Vampire Weekend
Title: Mitsubishi Macchiato
Release Date: TBC
It's taken the elegant indie troupe six years to craft the follow-up to 2013's Modern Vampires Of The City, but it finally looks set to arrive in 2019.
Produced by long-time collaborator Ariel Rechsthaid, the band have revealed that the album is finished and have premiered a couple of funky new tracks on their summer tour.
Now a three after the departure of guitarist Rostam Batmanglij (though he has stuck around to help out with the album), the band have also expanded into a seven-piece when they are out on the road and look set to return with an expanded, freewheeling sound...
The 1975
Title: Notes On A Conditional Form
Release Date: Summer 2019
The pop-rockers have only just released their third album A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships, but have already been hard at work on the follow-up, which is due out in the summer.
Recorded in Los Angeles, the album has been billed as a "nighttime record" and a very different sound to their current opus.
Expect the first single in February...
Slipknot
Title: TBC
Release Date: Summer 2019
The metal juggernaut debuted storming single 'All Out Life' a few weeks ago and have booked a huge European tour for this summer, which we expect will be to show off their brand new album, the follow-up to 2014's .5: The Gray Chapter.
Frontman Corey Taylor has promised a return to the raw, heaviness of their debut album and its follow-up Iowa, and, judging by 'All Out Life', he wasn't lying...
The Weeknd
Title: Chapter 6
Release Date: TBC
We last heard from Abel Tesfaye in March of this year with his acclaimed My Dear Melancholy EP, but he has promised that we can expect a new album named Chapter 6 in 2019.
Production details and track titles are still under wraps, but the singer did reveal earlier this year that he had recorded a whole new album of upbeat pop that we'll sadly never get to hear.
With upbeat pop out, you'd expect a return to the dark R&B of his earlier days, which is no bad thing...
Ariana Grande
Title: Thank U, Next
Release Date: 8th February
It was only in August of this year that Ariana Grande's fourth full-length effort Sweetener arrived, but we're already getting a follow-up.
Billed as a deeply personal record, the album features a star-studded array of production talent, including Max Martin and Tommy Brown.
Expect a raw, introspective, beautifully produced pop record in the first months of 2019.
Tame Impala
Title: TBC
Release Date: TBC
The Australian psychedelic troupe have taken their time with the follow-up to 2015's Currents, but frontman Kevin Parker has assured fans that it will be with them by the summer of 2019.
So far, we've had a track recorded with rapper THEOPHILUS LONDON, but whether that's a track for him or the band we're not sure yet...
Mark Ronson
Title: Late Night Feelings
Release Date: TBC
Last summer Mark Ronson had a new album out it was 2015 and the LP came off the back of the success of monster hit 'Uptown Funk'.
Now he's back with a new album, which already has one big hit to its name, 'Nothing Breaks Like A Heart', his collaboration with Miley Cyrus.
Aside from the album's title and the Cyrus collaboration, there aren't too many concrete details about the LP. But, after helping Lady Gaga score a Golden Globe nomination and likely Oscar nod for 'Shallow', you might well expect her to return the favour...
Bruce Springsteen
Title: TBC
Release Date: TBC
The last time we had a new album to talk about from The Boss was 2014 with High Hopes, which was a collection of cover songs, out-takes and re-imagined versions of tracks from past albums, EPs and tours.
You have to go back to 2012's Wrecking Ball for the last album of all new material, something that needs to change in 2019.
Having completed his marathon run on Broadway, Springsteen has confirmed there will no tour in 2019 as he focuses on new material.
He has also promised that this album will take him back to his days as a singer-songwriter, which is very exciting indeed...
