{"id":425740,"date":"2026-01-22T11:38:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T11:38:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/425740\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T11:38:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T11:38:07","slug":"will-olivia-rodrigo-and-phoebe-bridgers-drop-lp3-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/425740\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Olivia Rodrigo and Phoebe Bridgers Drop LP3 This Year?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tEarlier this month, right at the start of the new year, Olivia Rodrigo<\/a> posted photos of her sunny holiday vacation. The sixth slide<\/a> depicted a golf cart with a book resting on the seat, which had the words \u201cthe album\u201d written across it. This sent her fans, a.k.a. Livies, into a frenzy<\/a>, as they desperately tried to decipher what Rodrigo\u2019s next album will be called. In keeping with her previous releases, they predicted a four-letter title. Maybe Cart? Or Book? How about Tire?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tFor now, though, fans are sticking to \u201cOR3,\u201d signifying her highly-anticipated third record. And she\u2019s not the only songwriter with similar rumors swirling as the year gets underway. We\u2019ve also seen lots of speculation around Phoebe Bridgers<\/a> (\u201cPB3\u201d), Gracie Abrams<\/a> (\u201cGA3\u201d), and Snail Mail<\/a> (\u201cSM3\u201d). Any news on Bridgers and Abrams has yet to be confirmed, while Snail Mail\u2019s Lindsey Jordan announced her first LP in five years, Ricochet<\/a>, yesterday. Regardless of who releases what when, 2026 sure seems to be shaping up as a year in which several notable artists release their third albums \u2014 a huge moment in their careers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s often said that artists have a lifetime to work on their debut, and a couple of years tops to finish the follow-up,\u00a0which also has the added pressure of making it at least as good as the first one. That goes double for album three: If your second album feels underwhelming in any way (or worse, gets tagged with the dreaded \u201csophomore slump\u201d cliche), there\u2019s even more riding on the third.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI knew that I wanted my third album to be the most drama and the strongest foot forward \u2014 every muscle flexing and using all the tools that you have in the toolbox,\u201d Japanese Breakfast\u2019s Michelle Zauner told me<\/a> in 2021, upon releasing the excellent Jubilee<\/a>. \u201cBecause by the third record, you should really know who you are and what you want to be doing as an artist. And I really wanted to go all out for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOther third albums that famously involved the most drama: Radiohead\u2019s OK Computer, Bruce Springsteen\u2019s Born to Run, U2\u2019s War, PJ Harvey\u2019s To Bring You My Love, The Smith\u2019s The Queen Is Dead, The Clash\u2019s London Calling, Bj\u00f6rk\u2019s Homogenic, and Metallica\u2019s Master of Puppets. These artists all found themselves at a crossroads, where they could level up or level down, and decide whether their story was one of unfulfilled hype or a career artist. In every case, they proved they had staying power.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\n\tWhen Billie Eilish was gearing up to release her third album, 2024\u2019s Hit Me Hard and Soft<\/a>, her brother and collaborator, Finneas, discussed revisiting the themes of her now-classic 2019 debut, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?<\/a> \u201cWhat\u2019s the thing that no one is as good at as Billie is?\u201d he said. \u201cThis album was an exploration of what we do best.\u201d It worked: The Hit Me Hard and Soft highlight \u201cBirds of a Feather\u201d recently became the most-streamed solo song by a female artist on Spotify.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tMany artists set out to do something similar around album three: Know what makes you unique, and double down on it. This is something Bridgers, Abrams, and Rodrigo already excel at. Rodrigo faced immense pressure while making her second album (2023\u2019s Guts<\/a>) after breaking through with her massive 2021 debut, Sour<\/a>. \u201cThe beginning was really hard,\u201d she told me.<\/a> \u201cI felt like I couldn\u2019t write a song without thinking about what other people were going to think of it. There were definitely days where I found myself sitting at the piano, excited to write a song, and then cried.\u201d But instead of reinventing her sound, she leaned into it, amping up her pop sensibilities while dialing up the guitar. With Guts, she became a rock star<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\n\tBridgers had a similar trajectory, releasing the now-beloved 2017 debut Stranger in the Alps, with gems like the biting \u201cMotion Sickness\u201d and the heart-wrenching \u201cFuneral\u201d receiving recognition from veteran songwriters. As John Mayer tweeted at the time, \u201cThis is the arrival of a giant.\u201d Three years later, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, that giant dropped the genius Punisher<\/a>, now regarded as one of the best albums<\/a> of the 21st century so far. It skyrocketed Bridgers (and her boygenius bandmates<\/a>) into superstardom, and fans have been waiting patiently for a proper solo follow-up ever since.<\/p>\n

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\n\tAs for Abrams, she followed up her fantastic 2023 debut, Good Riddance<\/a>, just a year later, with the even bigger The Secret of Us<\/a>. \u201cNow that the album cycle is over, the next album isn\u2019t made, I don\u2019t know what I want to say yet,\u201d she told Rolling Stone last fall, in conversation<\/a> with Cyndi Lauper. \u201cIt\u2019s actually having something to say, not just making noise for the sake of making noise.\u201d Her fans are eager to see the release of \u201cGA3,\u201d but Abrams has a point. You can\u2019t force your third album, a make-or-break moment in your career. Before your record has the most drama, you need to live it.<\/p>\n