Summer may have meant a break from classes, but it certainly did not mean a break from new music.
Some of the biggest names in pop, rap and alternative music returned with albums over the past few months. Olivia Rodrigo fell in and out of love, Drake attempted a comeback with not one but three albums and Charli xcx faced the nearly impossible task of following her 2024 “BRAT” album.
These are six of the biggest releases worth catching up on from summer 2026.
“Daughter From Hell” — Gracie Abrams
Abrams has made a career out of turning intensely personal emotions into soft, melancholic pop songs. On “Daughter From Hell,” her third studio album, she does not abandon that formula, but she does begin to push its boundaries.
Abrams once again worked heavily with producer Aaron Dessner, whose acoustic guitars, piano and understated production have become closely associated with her sound. The result is an album that feels unmistakably like Abrams, particularly on quieter songs, such as “Good Reason” and “The Knife.”
However, some of the record’s best moments come when she steps slightly outside of that familiar territory.
“Look at My Life” gives Abrams’ anxious songwriting a livelier backdrop, while the title track builds into something much bigger and more forceful than her usual whispery indie pop. “Humming,” meanwhile, turns her attention outward as she reflects on the destruction of her childhood neighborhood of Pacific Palisades, which was hit heavily by the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires.
The album suffers when it is not experimenting with deeper themes or newer sounds. Sixteen tracks of restrained production and abstract heartbreak can begin to blend together, and some songs leave the listener searching for the story behind all that emotion. Still, the standout moments from “Daughter From Hell” suggest that Abrams’ music becomes most interesting when she is willing to disrupt the formula that made her famous.
“you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love” — Olivia Rodrigo
Three albums into her career, Olivia Rodrigo has already established herself as one of pop music’s most effective chroniclers of heartbreak. On “you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love,” she gives herself the harder assignment of documenting the act of falling in love.
The album traces the lifespan of a relationship. Its first half is fueled by infatuation, while the second deals with the collapse of that infatuation. Rodrigo sounds ecstatic on songs such as “drop dead” and “stupid song,” but even her happiest moments carry the suspicion that something will eventually go wrong.
That tension reaches its peak on “purple,” one of the album’s strongest tracks, where romance blurs into losing oneself in another person. From there, the record grows increasingly wounded. “the cure,” “begged” and “less” return Rodrigo to heartbreak, but with a sound that is distinct from her previous albums, “SOUR” and “GUTS.”
The biggest change is musical. Rodrigo and longtime producer Dan Nigro largely moved away from the ‘90’s/2000’s pop-punk sound that defined her first two records. Instead, they borrowed from ‘80s new wave, alternative rock and synth-pop sounds. The Cure’s Robert Smith even joins Rodrigo on “what’s wrong with me.”
Rodrigo has always been good at making enormous emotions feel strangely specific and relatable. This time, the music surrounding those emotions has caught up with her writing. “you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love” feels like Rodrigo’s strongest, most complete work rather than the work of a former Disney Channel star trying to prove that she is impressive for her age.
“ICEMAN,” “HABIBTI” and “MAID OF HONOUR” — Drake
One comeback album was not enough for Drake.
On May 15, he released three albums simultaneously: “ICEMAN,” “HABIBTI” and “MAID OF HONOUR.” Together, the projects divide Drake’s musical personality into three familiar pieces — rapper, R&B singer and hitmaker. The result is more than two hours of music and a surprisingly revealing look at an artist trying to determine where he fits after the Kendrick Lamar feud reached its peak in 2024, dramatically changing the conversation surrounding Drake.
“ICEMAN” is the most openly defensive of the three. Drake spends much of the album settling scores, addressing industry grievances and reminding listeners of his success. It is also the weakest piece. The resentment that once made some of his music funny or compelling often sounds exhausting here, particularly as he continues to revisit old battles.
“HABIBTI” fares better by returning to the moody R&B that has always been central to Drake’s appeal. Songs like “I’m Spent” and “Gen 5” allow flashes of insecurity and loneliness to break through his tough exterior. Those moments are welcome, although the album still struggles when Drake retreats into familiar complaints about relationships, fame and the people around him.
“MAID OF HONOUR” is easily the most energetic of the three. Drake jumps between club sounds with the desperation of someone determined to soundtrack another summer. Not every experiment lands, but tracks such as “Cheetah Print” remind listeners that Drake is considerably more entertaining when he is willing to make fun, party music rather than when he is busy trying to prove a point.
Three albums may be an excessive way to make a comeback, but excess has always been part of Drake’s style. The trilogy does not completely restore the dominance he once enjoyed. It does, however, prove that there are still flashes of the artist who became impossible to ignore in the first place.
“Music, Fashion, Film” — Charli xcx
Following “BRAT” was always going to be an impossible assignment. Since releasing the viral breakthrough record in 2024, Charli’s only work has been “Wuthering Heights,” an original album for the Emerald Fennell film in February. Instead of trying to manufacture another cultural phenomenon, Charli xcx mostly refuses the assignment altogether.
“Music, Fashion, Film” trades the pounding electronic sound of “BRAT” for guitars, rock influence and an intentionally rougher approach. Working again with producers A.G. Cook and Finn Keane, Charli pulls from alternative rock while keeping the glitches, distorted vocals and unique production choices that have defined much of her career.
At only 11 songs and around 30 minutes, the album feels intentionally unfinished at times. “Yeah” barely needs lyrics to accomplish what it wants, while songs such as “2007” and “I’m Afraid” are built around fragments of sounds and ideas. It is notably less polished than “BRAT,” but that looseness is also part of its appeal.
More interestingly, the artist continues examining what it actually means to be Charli xcx. Songs such as “Camera” blur the line between the person and the pop star, while “SS26” places celebrity, art and the outside world beside each other with an unexpectedly bleak edge.
After “BRAT” turned Charli xcx into a cultural phenomenon far beyond her already devoted fan base, “Music, Fashion, Film” could have been commercially designed to capitalize on that success. Instead, it sounds like an artist enjoying the creative freedom that success bought her.
“Chuck Timely & The Hourglass” — Role Model
Role Model found his breakout hit with “Sally, When the Wine Runs Out.” On his newest album “Chuck Timely & The Hourglass,” Role Model dives even further into the retro country and folk influences that helped make the song successful.
This time, however, he brings an alter ego.
Role Model introduces Chuck Timely as a fictional, time-traveling musician whose world is filled with dive bars, last calls, failed romances and plenty of alcohol. The concept gives the album its throwback aesthetic, with piano, country-rock and yacht-rock influences replacing much of the bedroom pop that defined Role Model’s earlier, pre-viral career.
Sometimes the costume fits perfectly. “High Hopes 3000” is an easygoing country singalong, while “Service Receipt” lets Role Model lean into the self-deprecating humor and romantic failure that suit him well. “The Wedding” also shows how much more detailed his songwriting has become, imagining the possibility of lasting commitment rather than another relationship disappearing after last call.
At other points, the retro concept feels more like a costume than an identity. Role Model is at his best when the character fades into the background and his own personality takes over.
Still, “Chuck Timely & The Hourglass” is another step forward for an artist whose sound has changed considerably in only a few years.
“petal” — Ariana Grande
Grande has spent much of the past few years inhabiting someone else’s world. After two “Wicked” films, two massive press tours and an eventual return to touring her own music, “petal” feels notably smaller.
Grande’s eighth studio album is soft, restrained and frequently dreamlike. Rather than building songs around the enormous vocal performances that once defined hits such as “Dangerous Woman” and “God Is a Woman,” she spends much of “petal” singing in the lighter, higher register that has become increasingly prominent in her recent work.
That restraint gives the album an intimate quality. Produced primarily with longtime collaborator Ilya Salmanzadeh, with Max Martin appearing on several tracks, “petal” often sounds less interested in creating another massive pop moment than in establishing a mood. Grande’s voice floats through subdued production, making the album feel private even when its subject matter returns to familiar themes of love, loss and self-protection.
The approach is not always equally effective. Grande’s voice remains one of pop music’s most recognizable instruments, but the album sometimes feels so delicate that individual songs disappear into its overall atmosphere. Where her strongest records balance vulnerability with undeniable hooks that create pop anthems, “petal” favors beauty and simplicity over urgent hitmaking.
After years of enormous projects and relentless public attention, “petal” does not sound like an artist trying to remind everyone how big a star she is; instead, it sounds like one figuring out how much of herself she actually wants to reveal after so much publicity.
