New Lorde, Ed Sheeran, Bruce Springsteen and more albums coming in 2017

By Cameron Adams, News Corp Australia Network

news.com.au·

13 Jan, 2017 03:30 AM7 mins to read

Singer Lorde is set to be releasing a new album this year. Photo / AP

Ready for some new music? You’re in luck as some musical superstars are ready to unleash albums in 2017. Here’s a rundown

LORDE

This is the year. Lorde's playing Coachella and the Governor's Ball which means her follow up to 2013's excellent Pure Heroine must be ready to drop. Last August, Lorde said they were in production mode noting "I've worked like a dog for a year making this thing great for you guys." She was last heard on Disclosure's Magnets.

PINK

With soundtrack single Just Like Fire becoming a hit last year, fans thought Pink was ready to unleash her seventh studio album in time for Christmas 2016. She had something else gestating - her second child, born on Boxing Day. Pink has been working on music (she's handed one of her new songs to Celine Dion and recorded a duet with US country star Kenny Chesney) but you'd expect it in the second half of the year.

ED SHEERAN

It's titled ÷ or Divide and Ed's dropped two very different songs - the lusted-up Shape Of You and the nostalgic Springsteen-esque Castle On the Hill. The man knows what he's doing now, expect more classic-sounding songs, but will there be any collaborations or duets?

THE KILLERS

Brandon Flowers gave Robbie Williams a song called Mixed Signals the Killers wrote for their next album. If they're prepared to give away a song that good, that bodes well for what will be their fifth album. Hitmaker Ryan Tedder is linked to the project and said last year "It sounds 100 per cent like them and nothing like me." The competitive Flowers will be gunning for a massive hit after mixed signals for the last Killers album Battle Born and his 2015 second solo album The Desired Effect.

COLDPLAY

Chris Martin revealed there's a new EP called Kaleidoscope in the can, comprising leftover ideas from the sessions for A Head Full Of Dreams.

KELLY CLARKSON

Clarkson had an up and down relationship with Sony, the label she signed to after winning American Idol. She felt she was being pushed down a pop route at times. Now signed to Atlantic Records, she's working on a vintage soul record for a June release. "I love all my stuff that I've done but this is the record that has been in me since junior high," Clarkson said.

VANESSA AMOROSI

Similar situation. In 2012 Melbourne singer Vanessa Amorosi left record label Universal after a handful of singles failed to connect like This Is Who I Am, Shine, Perfect and Absolutely Everybody had. Amorosi's voice has always been suited to a sound more Janis Joplin than Britney Spears-style pop. After years living in LA she's made a R & B/soul album with Eurythmics' guru Dave Stewart that is said to be more concerned with art than chart.

GEORGE MICHAEL

Sadly, this has become anticipated for tragic reasons. George was about to release a 25th anniversary edition of his 1990 album Listen Without Prejudice last November (timing was never his forte) when it got pulled so he could finish a documentary about the era, where he sued his record label, refused to be in videos or on album covers and fell in love. It was planned for release in March, stay tuned to see if that date stays fixed and if there's any word on whether the notorious perfectionist had put plans in place for his unreleased material.

PRINCE

Another man with vaults bursting with material, but Prince's back-catalogue is in legal limbo. He had reportedly signed off on a belated anniversary release of 1984's classic Purple Rain soundtrack. Whether the double album will include any of the heavily-bootlegged songs he recorded, then dumped, for the project remains to be seen. There's also live and rehearsal footage from the era fans are hoping might be included.

U2

OK things didn't go quite as planned with 2014's Songs Of Innocence, or the free Apple album. The Irish band have been working on songs from the Innocence sessions for the follow up which is reportedly called Songs Of Experience. They've apparently been working on over 50 songs, although The Edge has compared it to Zooropa, with Bono saying the lyrics have more clarity than (1983 album) War. In a Christmas message to fans Bono also said the band will mark the 30th anniversary of The Joshua Tree with some "very special shows" - it was reissued for its 20th anniversary with bonus material. Their last tour bypassed Australia, so watch this space.

RYAN ADAMS

His new album Prisoner is his 16th and those who've heard it say it taps into the one thing he won't talk about in interviews - his divorce from Mandy Moore - with raw pain and emotion. "It broke my soul in a zillion pieces writing this," Adams said. "This record mattered more to me than any record before it and my life depended on making it. I would have died inside if I hadn't. It's a map for anybody who got lost like I get lost. It's hope for anybody who's forgotten what that is. It saved my life."

THE XX

Out this Friday, the UK band's third album I See You is said to be more uplifting than previous releases. Sampling Hall and Oates in the single On Hold was a major clue this could be closer to Jamie xx's solo material. Another track, Say Something Loving, has alarmed some fans worried it'll be too pop. Not long to wait now.

KASEY CHAMBERS

Her double album Dragonfly is out on January 20. One disc was produced by Paul Kelly, the other by her brother Nash, which Chambers says was the perfect way to push her as well as let her sit in her comfort zone. Guests include Ed Sheeran, Keith Urban, Foy Vance, Vika and Linda Bull, Harry Hookey and Foy Vance.

KINGSWOOD

The Melbourne band recorded their second album After Hours, Close to Dawn in Nashville, releasing the Triple J hit single Creepin' late last year. The album, out March 3, is said to mix rock, garage soul, R & B grooves and space-age experimentation.

DEPECHE MODE

35 years into their career, Depeche Mode remain a stadium act pretty much everywhere except Australia. The electronic band's 14th album Spirit was produced by James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Foals, Florence and the Machine) which should add some new influences to the mix.

DRAKE

No confirmation, but Drake released three new songs last year (including Fake Love) on his 30th birthday last year and says he's got more tunes ready to go.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

It never stops. After his memoir, a best of and a tour which hits Australia shortly, the Boss is releasing a solo album which is apparently not acoustic, but close to Jimmy Webb and Glen Campbell. The album has been recorded for over a year, so could surface whenever he feels like it.

BLONDIE

Debbie Harry and co have got a new album where they've outsourced - there's songs by Sia, Johnny Marr, Charli XCX and Dave Stewart and indie producer John Congleton.

TAYLOR SWIFT

Until last year Taylor Swift regularly had a two year gap between albums, which is a long time to be on the album/tour treadmill. She took time off to decompress after 2014's 1989, but is back in the charts with a collaboration with Zayn Malik. Swift is the Queen of surprise, it could be her turn to do a Beyonce and drop an album with no notice. The big question is does she continue down the pop route, return to her country origins or go back to the sweet spot between both genres she fashioned with Red?

ALSO COMING

Liam Gallagher, Katy Perry, London Grammar, Sam Smith, Tinashe, Beck, Chic, Gorillaz, TLC, Phoenix, LCD Soundsystem, Christina Aguilera, St Vincent, The Shins, Fergie, Elbow, The Stone Roses, William Singe, Laura Marling, Take That, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Nelly Furtado, Avril Lavigne, John Mayer, Judas Priest, Mastodon, Fleetwood Mac, Harry Styles, Pharrell, Sampha, Peking Duk.