Not long after we shared our picks for 2024's most anticipated albums (on an episode that posted in January), two big announcements blew it all up: Beyoncé's act ii, due out March 29, and Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department, scheduled for April 19.
Now we're back with our spring preview, and while we'll have plenty more on both those albums later, on this week's show we share our picks for some of the other amazing releases on the way, from Vampire Weekend's Only God Was Above Us and Yaya Bey's Ten Fold to METZ's Up On Gravity Hill, a solo release from Portishead's Beth Gibbons, Waxahatchee's Tiger's Blood and more.
Raina Douris, host of WXPN's World Cafe, joins NPR Music editor Sheldon Pearce and host Robin Hilton to talk about Spring 2024's super-stacked release schedule. We dive in even deeper over here, where we run down Taylor, Bey and 50 other albums due out before June 20.
Featured artists, albums and songs
- Reyna Tropical — "Conexión Ancestral" from Malegría, out March 29
- Yaya Bey — "Chasing the Bus" from Ten Fold, out May 10
- Metz — "Entwined (Street Light Buzz)" from Up On Gravity Hill, out April 12
- Vampire Weekend — "Gen X Cops" from Only God Was Above Us, out April 5
- Shabaka — "End of Innocence" from Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace, out April 12
- Beth Gibbons — "Floating on a Moment" from Lives Outgrown, out May 17
- Waxahatchee — "365" from Tigers Blood, out March 22
- Amen Dunes — "Boys" from Death Jokes, out May 10
- girl in red — "Doing It Again" from I'm Doing It Again Baby! out April 12