It's New Music Tuesday!

So far, 2021 has been a great year for new music and we’re only in May! With lockdown easing and gigs and festivals looking more realistic for summer 2021 and beyond, it’s time to get excited again! 

From new album releases to the BRIT Awards, here is a new music update for you all!

At the start of the year we talked about new music releases we can expect in 2021 and so far, they have not disappointed us!

April 30th and May 7th have been stand out release dates for us so far with new albums from Royal Blood, DJ Khaled, Rag ‘N’ Bone Man and even Aly and AJ! (Who remembers the potential breakup song?)

Coldplay also released their new single called ‘Higher Power’ on the 7th May. and will be performing it for the first time tonight at the BRIT Awards!

April 30th -  DJ Khaled - KHALED KHALED

We all know that DJ Khaled is known for his high profile collaborations, and here he is with yet another album full of star studded collabs. The likes of Justin Timberlake, Justin Bieber, Drake and Post Malone feature on his latest album and we are so here for it! We hate picking favourites but if we had to choose one, it would have to be ‘JUST BE’ feat the one and only JT! 

April 30th - Royal Blood - Typhoons 

Royal Blood have recently released their third album Typhoons, which hears the duo take their rock sound to the dancefloor with the help of Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme. We’re always so excited to hear new music from Royal Blood and this album is a masterpiece!

May 7th - Aly & AJ - A Touch of the Beat Gets You Up on Your Feet Gets You Out and Then Into the Sun

And the award for the longest album title in history goes to…. 

When we heard that Aly & AJ were bringing out a new album, our inner fangirl squealed because Potential BreakUp Song was OUR jam growing up!

May 7th - Rag ‘N’ Bone Man - Life By Misadventure 

Prior to the album release, when we heard the single ‘All You Ever Wanted’ we thought that Rag ‘n’ Bone Man had decided to go down a new route of releasing a rock album. Well, we were wrong. The big man with the soft core is back!

Rag ‘N’ Bone Man is set to perform his latest single ‘Anywhere Away From Here’ from his new album at the BRITS tonight with P!nk and the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust Choir.

Talking of the BRIT Awards…From nominees to performances, here is what you can expect from the star studded night.

Our favourite comedian, Jack Whitehall will be hosting once again and we can’t wait to see what celebrities he ends up sitting next to this year (socially distance of course!). 

With a lot of awards to be won, the one we look forward to the most is the Album of the Year. This category is always fierce with talent, and this year is no different! The nominees for this year are:

Arlo Parks - 'Collapsed in Sunbeams'

Celeste - 'Not Your Muse'

Dua Lipa - 'Future Nostalgia'

J Hus - 'Big Conspiracy'

Jessie Ware - 'What's Your Pleasure?'

Who do you think will win? 

Taylor Swift is set to receive the Global Icon Award and we couldn’t think of anyone better to receive this award. Taylor will be the first female artist to be presented the BRITs Global Icon Award, in recognition of her impact on music across the globe.

Who’s performing at the BRITs 2021 you ask?

The Weeknd, Coldplay, Olivia Rodrigo, Rag ‘N’ Bone Man, Arlo Parks, Dua Lipa, Griff, and Headie One are on the lineup of performers for tonight. We’re most excited for Dua Lipa and Olivia Rodrigo!

The big question is, will there be a live audience there tonight? And the answer is, YES!

The BRIT Awards 2021 will welcome a live audience of 4,000 people at the O2 arena in London. The live show will be a part of the Government’s scientific Events Research Programme, using enhanced testing approaches to examine how events can take place without the need for social distancing. 2500 tickets will be gifted to frontline workers too!

The awards show will be the first live music show at The O2 in over a year and will most definitely be playing an important role in paving the way for the return of live music in the UK.

You can watch the BRIT Awards tonight at 8pm BST | 3pm EDT | 12pm PDT on ITV, ITV Hub and YouTube.com/BRITs.

And the fun doesn’t stop there! Here are some more albums that are set to be released over the next few months!

May 21st - Olivia Rodrigo - Sour 

Unless you’ve been living underneath a rock for the first four months of the year, chances are you’ve heard Olivia Rodrigo’s track 'Drivers License'. The track is currently at 722 million Spotify streams since it was first released back in January! After the success of her debut single, the High School Musical: The Series star is set to release her debut album titled ‘Sour’ on May 21st and we’re so excited! We are definitely responsible for at least a couple hundred of those Spotify streams! 

Olivia will also be making her UK TV debut tonight at the BRIT Awards performing ‘Drivers License’.

May 21st - Twenty One Pilots - Scaled and Icy

Only 10 days to go until we’re graced with another album from Twenty One Pilots! ‘Scaled and Icy’ will be the duo's sixth studio album and reportedly touches on themes of “anxiety, loneliness, boredom and doubt”. Ahead of the album’s release, Twenty One Pilots have already dropped the awesome lead single called ‘Shy Away’.

June 1st - Lana Del Ray - Blue Banisters

Following March’s ‘Chemtrails Over The Country Club’, Lana has recently announced in an Instagram post that she will release a new album in July. ‘Blue Banisters’ is set to be released on July 4th - Independence Day in the US. This will be her eight studio album. 

July 30th - Billie Eilish - Happier Than Ever 

Our favourite green haired girl or should we say BLONDE now! Has once again, spoilt us with announcing the release date for her brand new album. “Happier Than Ever” is set for release on July 30th and in a post on Instagram, Billie has said that this album is her favourite thing that she has ever created. Billie has recently released the first taster from the new album with her brand new single ‘Your Power’ - which is awesome!

Avril Lavigne - The Canadian singer-songwriter is set to release her seventh studio album this year after posting on Instagram that its lead single will be released in the summer. Date TBC.

Blink-182 - Who else is craving some new music from Blink-182? We certainly are! At the start of the year, Travis Barker confirmed on Instagram that the band will release a new album in 2021. When? We’re not sure! But we’re hoping that Kourtney Kardashian gets a mention in some of the songs!

Which album are you most looking forward to listening to?

Let us know in the comments below!