Earlier this month, right at the start of the new year, Olivia Rodrigo posted photos of her sunny holiday vacation. The sixth slide depicted a golf cart with a book resting on the seat, which had the words “the album” written across it. This sent her fans, a.k.a. Livies, into a frenzy, as they desperately tried to decipher what Rodrigo’s next album will be called. In keeping with her previous releases, they predicted a four-letter title. Maybe Cart? Or Book? How about Tire?
For now, though, fans are sticking to “OR3,” signifying her highly-anticipated third record. And she’s not the only songwriter with similar rumors swirling as the year gets underway. We’ve also seen lots of speculation around Phoebe Bridgers (“PB3”), Gracie Abrams (“GA3”), and Snail Mail (“SM3”). Any news on Bridgers and Abrams has yet to be confirmed, while Snail Mail’s Lindsey Jordan announced her first LP in five years, Ricochet, 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 — a huge moment in their careers.
It’s often said that artists have a lifetime to work on their debut, and a couple of years tops to finish the follow-up, which 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 “sophomore slump” cliche), there’s even more riding on the third.
“I knew that I wanted my third album to be the most drama and the strongest foot forward — every muscle flexing and using all the tools that you have in the toolbox,” Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner told me in 2021, upon releasing the excellent Jubilee. “Because 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.”
Other third albums that famously involved the most drama: Radiohead’s OK Computer, Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run, U2’s War, PJ Harvey’s To Bring You My Love, The Smith’s The Queen Is Dead, The Clash’s London Calling, Björk’s Homogenic, and Metallica’s 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.
When Billie Eilish was gearing up to release her third album, 2024’s Hit Me Hard and Soft, her brother and collaborator, Finneas, discussed revisiting the themes of her now-classic 2019 debut, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? “What’s the thing that no one is as good at as Billie is?” he said. “This album was an exploration of what we do best.” It worked: The Hit Me Hard and Soft highlight “Birds of a Feather” recently became the most-streamed solo song by a female artist on Spotify.
Many 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’s Guts) after breaking through with her massive 2021 debut, Sour. “The beginning was really hard,” she told me. “I felt like I couldn’t 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.” 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.
Bridgers had a similar trajectory, releasing the now-beloved 2017 debut Stranger in the Alps, with gems like the biting “Motion Sickness” and the heart-wrenching “Funeral” receiving recognition from veteran songwriters. As John Mayer tweeted at the time, “This is the arrival of a giant.” Three years later, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, that giant dropped the genius Punisher, now regarded as one of the best albums of the 21st century so far. It skyrocketed Bridgers (and her boygenius bandmates) into superstardom, and fans have been waiting patiently for a proper solo follow-up ever since.
As for Abrams, she followed up her fantastic 2023 debut, Good Riddance, just a year later, with the even bigger The Secret of Us. “Now that the album cycle is over, the next album isn’t made, I don’t know what I want to say yet,” she told Rolling Stone last fall, in conversation with Cyndi Lauper. “It’s actually having something to say, not just making noise for the sake of making noise.” Her fans are eager to see the release of “GA3,” but Abrams has a point. You can’t force your third album, a make-or-break moment in your career. Before your record has the most drama, you need to live it.
