5 New Albums To Check Out On September 26

Every Friday is album release day, and music fans have had this Friday circled on their calendar for months. This week’s new albums feature big names like Doja Cat, Mariah Carey, Robert Plant, and more. Here is a look at this week’s releases and five you should definitely check out.

Doja Cat — Vie (Kemosabe/RCA)

Doja Cat returns Friday with her fifth studio album, Vie. The “Queen of Pop-Rap” steers back more to her pop side on this 80s-inspired offering that touches on themes of love, sex, and romance. The first single, “Jealous Type,” came out in August and peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot Dance/Pop chart and #28 on the Billboard Hot 100. The Grammy-winning singer has changed the album cover multiple times. She finally settled on the one above, saying on her Instagram account that “falling in love is putting trust in the hands of yourself and others.”

Mariah Carey — Here For It All (Gamma)

For 56-year-old pop diva Mariah Carey, Here For It All will be her 16th studio album. Carey worked on the new album with L.A. Reid and Anderson .Paak. She is releasing it through her own media company, Gamma, and on her own label, Mariah. The 11-song silky pop album will have different covers depending on whether the album is ordered direct-to-consumer or purchased through another outlet. Here For It All features guest appearances by .Paak, Kehlani, Jamaican singer Shenseea, and gospel group the Clark Sisters.

Robert Plant — Saving Grace (Nonesuch)

Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant returns with a new collective of musicians for his 12th solo studio album. The new album’s title references the group of musicians with whom the legendary singer has been collaborating for the past six years. The collective was dubbed Saving Grace, and now the material they recorded through the pandemic and the years after bears the same name. The 10-track release combines folk, blues, and rock, featuring reinterpretations of music by artists such as Moby Grape, Memphis Minnie, and Low, among others.

Amanda Shires — Nobody’s Girl (ATO)

Country/Americana singer, songwriter, and fiddle player Amanda Shires‘ story is not a traditional one. Shires started playing shows with bands in her teens. She married fellow musician Jason Isbell and recorded a Grammy-winning album with him. Now, after her decade-long marriage to Isbell has ended, she is releasing an album about the heartbreak, loss, self-discovery, recovery, and empowerment that came from that divorce. Nobody’s Girl runs a gamut of emotions and musical styles that will leave listeners spent but satisfied.

Zara Larsson — Midnight Sun (Epic Records)

In northern Sweden, there is a period from late May to mid-July where the sun does not set at all. Swedish pop singer Zara Larsson wanted her new album to reflect that feeling of a summer night that never ends. Midnight Sun almost was the album that never ended. She wrote, scrapped, and rewrote the album multiple times over an eight-year period to get the album she wanted. The same was true of the title track. Larsson hopes that the finished product, her most personal album to date, is finally able to achieve the massive success in America that her previous albums have had in her homeland.

Other September 26 Releases

If those five albums don’t suit your musical tastes, here are some other new albums due out on Friday.

• Ani Glass — Phantasmagoria (Ani Glass)
• Bright Eyes: Kids Table [Dead Oceans]
• Cameron Whitcomb — The Hard Way (Atlantic)
• Cate Le Bon — Michelangelo Dying (Mexican Summer)
• Geese — Getting Killed (Partisan Records)
• Good Neighbours — Blue Sky Mentality (Polydor)
• Grumpy — Piebald EP (Bayonet Records)
• Jeff Tweedy — Twilight Override (dBpm Records)
• Joy Crookes — Juniper (Sony)
• Kali Uchis, Sincerely: P.S. deluxe album (Capitol Records)
• Kathryn Williams — Mystery Park (One Little Independent Records)
• Lady A — On This Winter’s Night (Volume 2) (Big Machine Label Group)
• Lady Wray — Cover Girl (Big Crown Records)
• Marcus King Band — Darling Blue (Spinefarm)
• Neko Case — Neon Grey Midnight Green (Anti)
• Night Tapes — portals//polarities (Nettwerk)
• Olivia Dean — The Art of Loving (Capitol UK)
• Purity Ring — Purity Ring (The Fellowship)
• Rainbow Kitten Surprise — Bones (Atlantic)
• Rochelle Jordan — Through The Wall (Empire)
• Sloan — Based on the Best Seller (Yep Roc)
• The Starting Line — Eternal Youth (Lineage Recordings)
• Whiskey Meyers — Whomp Whack Thunder (Wiggy Thump Records)
• White Reaper — Only Slightly Empty (Blue Grape Music)
• Whitesnake — Forevermore: Revisited, Remixed, and Remastered Deluxe Box Set (Rhino Entertainment)
• Ye — Bully (YZY)