THE start of a new year usually involves myriad musical projects being released in the first quarter as artists look to start proceedings on a high and use the rest of the year to tour and promote their music.
We’ve compiled a quick list of five projects you might want to keep a lookout for at the start of 2022. See below for more:
FKA twigs – Capri Sun
English experimental pop star FKA twigs’ new mixtape Capri Sun is due out on January the 14th via Young Recordings/Atlantic, with the lead single Tears In The Club featuring The Weeknd coming out in December.
The genre-bending artist posted on Twitter asking her followers, “are u ready for capri sun takeover??”, and has had critics guessing what her next move would be since her last release in 2019 with Magdalene.
Release date: January 14th
Khruangbin and Leon Bridges – Texas Moon
Psychedelic funk aficionados Khruangbin and fellow Texan Leon Bridges have their Texas Moon project set for release in February via Dead Oceans in partnership with Columbia Records and Night Time Stories Ltd. It’s a follow-up to their hugely successful Texas Sun EP from 2020, with the ensemble releasing B-Side in December as the EP’s lead single.
Khruangbin bassist and vocalist Laura Lee said: “It’s like a short story, and it leaves room to continue having these stories together. It’s not Khruangbin, it’s not Leon, it’s this world we created together.”
Release date: February 18th
Charlie XCX – Crash
English singer/songwriter Charli XCX has been steadily establishing herself for almost a decade now, but really burst onto the international scene with her last two projects – Charli in 2019 and How I’m Feeling Now in 2020, both receiving widespread critical acclaim.
Her fifth studio album Crash is due out in March and has had a lot of hype around it following the release of two new singles Good Ones and New Shapes. 2022 looks set to be a busy year for the singer from Cambridge as she also has a huge UK, Europe and North America tour scheduled.
Release date: March 18th
Alt-J – The Dream
Ahead of the release of their fourth studio album The Dream, English indie rock band Alt-J released their new track Get Better in December, which they performed at the Fender Artist Showroom in London and can be seen below.
The band also released another single from upcoming album The Dream called U&ME, which according to guitarist and vocalist Tom Newman is about “having a good time, togetherness, and the feeling in life that nothing could be any better than it is right now.”
Release date: February 11th
Avril Lavigne – ???
Punk rocker Avril Lavigne’s last album came out in 2019 but she is set to return in 2022 with her as-of-yet untitled seventh album – music to the ears of millennials who grew up on Let Go and Under My Skin.
Speaking in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the Canadian singer/songwriter said: “It’s fast. It’s fun. It’s just pure rock & roll from front to back. There’s a lot of reflecting upon different relationships that I have gone through and where I’m at, and even though there’s songs about past love experiences that didn’t work out, I’m in such a good place in my life that it’s still just fun and feisty and light.” Watch the lead single Bite Me below.
Release date: “At the top” of 2022