HAIM, Dua Lipa, Willie Nelson, & Sufjan Stevens Among Artists Moving Album Release Dates Amid Pandemic
COVID-19 is impacting the music industry in a lot different ways. Tours are cancelled, which means that the album release dates they were tied to seem up in the air; record stores are, for the most part, physically shuttered, which means that purchases will mostly take place online. In the past few days alone, a number artists have moved their album release dates in response to the pandemic.
HAIM have pushed back the release date their album, Women In Music Pt. III, to an unspecified date this summer. (It was supposed to come out on 4/24.) “Due to everything that is going on with with covid-19 and the changing nature travel policies and quarantines around the world, we’ve decided it in best to postpone the release women in music pt. iii, to later this summer,” they wrote in a statement.
— HAIM (@HAIMtheband) March 23, 2020
The release date Willie Nelson’s 70th studio album, First Rose Of Spring, has been pushed back to 7/3, also from a planned release date 4/24.
And DMA’s new album, The Glow, has been pushed back to 7/10. “Due to everything that’s going on, we have had to postpone its release,” they explained in a tweet. The album was originally set to come out on 4/24 as well.
Dua Lipa and Sufjan Stevens, on the other hand, have pushed their album releases forward: Stevens’ Aporia, a collaborative album with his stepfather Lowell Brams, will hit record store shelves tomorrow (and will be streaming later today) after a planned Friday (3/27) release. “Since things are uncertain for record stores right now,” label Asthmatic Kitty wrote in a statement. “We’ve decided to release Aporia today.”
And Dua Lipa’s sophomore album, Future Nostalgia, which was scheduled to come out on 4/3, will now be out this Friday (3/27). She announced the move in an Instagram live video: “I hope it brings you some happiness, and I hope it makes you smile, and I hope it makes you dance. I hope I make you proud.”
No doubt more album rollouts will be affected during this stressful and unprecedented time.
UPDATE: Unsurprisingly, more news shifting album release dates keeps coming in…
• Jarvis Cocker’s new solo endeavor as JARV IS…, Beyond The Pale, is moving from May to 9/4. After noting the necessity pushing back the album and tour dates in a press release, Cocker also remarked that the group wants to do “virtual performances” during quarantine. He added: “IN THE MEANTIME. You can keep fit whilst cooped-up indoors by dancing to ‘House Music All Night Long’ — suddenly lines such as ‘Saturday Night Cabin Fever in House Nation’ & ‘Goddamn this claustrophobia!’ have taken on a new meaning — but a domestic disco really is quite a pleasant method passing the time. Shall we?” He isn’t wrong — “House Music All Night Long” suddenly does feel a bit prescient.
• Kelly Lee Owens’ sophomore outing, Inner Song, is moving from April to 8/28. “We had lots plans to bring you this album that are now not feasible due to covid-19 and also out solidarity for the thousands record stores closing their doors to protect us,” Owens said in a Facebook post. “I know so much is uncertain right now for all us so let’s try to use this as an opportunity to come together in supporting each other in big & small ways.”
• Hinds’ The Prettiest Curse is moving from 4/3 to 6/5. “we all need music now more than ever, and we were so excited to release our album next month and share it with you!” Hinds said in a statement. “but right now, things are a bit scary in spain and the coronavirus is something that is affecting a lot our loved ones, so for right now we think all our focus should be on staying safe and staying home, not promoting a new album.” The ten-upbeat band also found a positive silver lining: “weve always wanted to release an album in the summer anyways.”
• Lady Gaga has postponed her planned 4/10 release Chromatica, though a new release date has yet to be announced.
• The Pretenders’ Hate For Sale is moving from 5/1 to 7/17.
• Declan McKenna’s Zeros is moving from 5/15 to 8/21.
• The Lemon Twigs’ Songs For The General Public is moving from 5/1 to 8/21.
• Margo Price has pushed back her album That’s How Rumors Get Started from 5/8 to sometime in the summer.