The Best Songs Released in April 2026

Dare I say that we are in the middle of one of the BEST years for new music in some time? There are so many more highly anticipated albums coming out this year and I’m still backlogged with everything else I need to listen to. An amazing problem to have!

Noteworthy album & EP releases:
Middle Child, Amma
Between Us, Arkells
Ambiguous Desire, Arlo Parks
Good, Like It Should Be, BER
SABLE, fABLE, Bon Iver
Chasing Crowns, The Cab
Dandelion, Ella Langley
Evening Star, Emma Harner
The Weight of the Woods, Dermot Kennedy
wHIMSY, Destin Conrad
Dorian Electra, Dorian Electra
Every Woman, Fiona Lee
SOMETHING WORTH WAITING FOR, Friko
Singing, Gia Margaret
Cruel World, Holly Humberstone
The Nightlife, Honey Dijon
Therapy & Yoga, Jessia
Superbloom, Jessie Ware
CTRL ESCAPE, John Summit
Kehlani, Kehlani
A Matter of Time: The Final Hour, Laufey
Survive – EP, Lewis Capaldi
DIRT ON MY HANDS, lilyisthatyou
Maybe Not Tonight, Lime Garden
Reverie, Lolo Zouaï
Joy Next Door, The Maine
IS IT FUN OR IS IT OVER?, Mercer Henderson
Toy With Me, Meghan Trainor
Romanticize The Dive, Metric
Under My Umbrella, Miss Grit
Miss Michigan, Momo Boyd
Big Blue Moon, The Moss
There is Magic In This Room, Nicole Han
The Great Divide, Noah Kahan
Bloom, Not For Radio
Porcelain, Peach PRC
Blue Angel Sparkling Silver 2, Quiet Light
Something is a shell., Sofia Isella
Distracted, Thundercat
HALO, Tiffany Day
COME CLOSER, TOMORA
Fidelity, Yaya Bey
KONNAKOL, Zayn
The Boutique, Zinadelphia

In chronological order:

“Bottom of Your Boots” – Ella Langley
Release date – April 10

I’ll be honest, I’ve only really started keeping up with contemporary country music recently, and a big part of that is probably Kacey Musgraves. Through that, Ella Langley’s name kept coming up enough that I had to pay attention. Her album Dandelion just dropped a few weeks ago, and I ended up loving the whole thing. But “Bottom of Your Boots” was the track that really stuck with me. It’s sharp, smoky, and has that kind of no-nonsense attitude that makes a country song hit even harder. She has this way of balancing vulnerability with a little bit of bite, which makes the storytelling feel real instead of polished to death.

“Bottom of Your Boots” has quickly become one of the standout songs from the project and one of her most talked-about tracks for good reason. It’s classic country songwriting with a modern edge, built around heartbreak, pride, and knowing exactly when to walk away. There’s grit in her voice that makes every line land, and the song feels like something you’d blast while driving at night, convincing yourself you’re definitely over it. If Ella Langley wasn’t already on your radar, this song is a very good place to start.

“Madwoman” – Laufey
Release date – April 10

I was already excited for Laufey’s “Madwoman” before I even pressed play because the music video cast alone sold me: Hudson Williams, Megan Skiendiel of KATSEYE, Lola Tung, and Olympic gold medalist Alysa Liu. I was locked in immediately. But beyond that, “Madwoman” is just classic Laufey, the exact kind of song people love her for. She has this incredible way of making jazz-inspired pop feel timeless and modern at the same time, like she’s single-handedly bringing jazz standards back for a new generation.

The song sits beautifully in the world of her new era, dramatic, romantic, and just a little bit unhinged in the best way. Her writing always feels so cinematic, and “Madwoman” leans all the way into that with lyrics full of obsession, heartbreak, and sharp self-awareness. It’s elegant but still cutting, the kind of song that makes you want to dramatically stare out of a window while it plays. It’s already become one of the standout tracks from A Matter of Time: The Final Hour, and for good reason. It feels like one of those songs that reminds you exactly why so many people fell in love with Laufey’s music in the first place. – Jesse

“KGB” – Adéla
Release date – April 17

Though she was eliminated early, Adéla was one of the clear standouts on Netflix’s Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE, the show that famously helped launch global girl group KATSEYE. It feels like the second she left the show, she got right to work building her solo career, and now she’s opening for Demi Lovato on tour. Adéla falls into that “sleazy pop girl” category, and I mean that as the highest compliment possible, somewhere in the world of Kesha, Slayyyter, and even Addison Rae (they’re both amazing dancers). It’s sexy, confident, a little chaotic, and built for performance.

“KGB” fully leans into that energy. Written and produced with Blake Slatkin and Dylan Brady of 100 gecs, the track is sharp, bold, and instantly memorable. Adéla taps into her Slovak roots with lines like “Just a little European girl was plotting on my rise,” making it clear she knows exactly who she is and how hard she worked to get here. And the hook, “I’m like a spy, I studied this shit, call me the KGB, bitch,” is just undeniably iconic. The music video takes it even further, opening with her in bright pink hair and a red tutu doing ballet in pointe shoes before everything spirals into full pop-star chaos. There’s choreography, hostage-taking, killer styling, and so much attitude. Every red, white, and black look makes her hair pop even more, and the confidence she carries through the whole thing is impossible to ignore. – Jesse

“drop dead” – Olivia Rodrigo
Release date – April 17

Over the past several months, there have been a few songs that have been inescapable from my brain. I’m talking like, stuck in my head when I fall asleep and immediately start playing the moment I wake up. The first of those few songs is “WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!” by Raye, followed by “CRANK” by Slayyyter, and most recently, “drop dead,” the lead single from Olivia Rodrigo’s third studio album You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love, which drops on June 12.

I initially felt like this track was a bit less powerful of a lead single when you compare it to “Driver’s License” and “Vampire,” two beasts in and of themselves, but the more I listen, the more that I’m completely sold. The melody of the song feels so nostalgic to me, reminiscent of songs from the ’90s that I grew up listening to on the old CD player in my childhood living room, my family throwing impromptu dance parties.

“One night I was bored in bed and stalked you on the internet” is such a perfectly brazen hook, it’s truly wild it took this long for someone to write it. Not going to say that all roads lead to Taylor Swift, but there’s something so inherently Swiftian with the way this line is constructed, it’s hard for me to ignore. But the song was actually co-written by Rodrigo’s frequent collaborators Daniel Nigro and Amy Allen, and their continued partnership shows off what Olivia Rodrigo does best: balance hopeless romanticism with futile cynicism. – Kristin

“SHE DID IT AGAIN” – Tyla ft. Zara Larsson
Release date – April 17

Is it a recession indicator that music that sounds like the 2000s is back? Because the way that “SHE DID IT AGAIN” by Tyla and Zara Larsson itches a scratch in my brain that only MTV playing music videos at the sleepover in the middle of the night can manage to do, and I am very much here for it.

Whether it was destined to play out like this all along or the viral dolphin meme singlehandedly changed Zara Larsson’s career, it’s been fun see both her and Tyla find success in America as artists born outside of the United States. “SHE DID IT AGAIN” serves as the second single ahead of Tyla’s upcoming album, A*POP, which drops on July 24. This collaboration makes total sense: both artists can dance, release music under the same label, and both have songs about water. But all joking aside, it’s a collaboration that feels like this generation’s Beyoncé and Shakira: not replicable of course, but still exciting in the same ways. – Kristin

“Kingmaker” – Maisie Peters
Release date – April 21

There’s something so relevant in popular culture right now that I’ve been picking up on in the media I’ve been consuming: and that’s the story of women championing their significant others in a way that’s unfair, undeserved, and eventually destructive. This was the main thesis of Belle Burdens’ memoir “Strangers,” and a theme in Caro Claire Burke’s debut, satirical novel, “Yesteryear,” which I’m currently reading.

“Kingmaker,” Maisie Peters’ newest single featuring Julia Michaels, is another example. Co-written by Peters, Michaels, and Chloe Kraemer (Paramore, The Japanese House, Paris Paloma, etc.), “Kingmaker” exposes the insecurities of a former partner, taking a look back at all of the ways Peters deified him when he didn’t deserve it. Speaking on the inspiration of the songwriting process with Michaels via Rolling Stone, Peters mentions that “we have both had the experience of achieving success and witnessing the impact that has on the romantic relationships in our lives – on the egos of the men who say they want a strong woman, until it ‘makes them bitter.'” Maisie Peters’ new album Florescence drops on May 22. – Kristin

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