Stocking Stuffers: The Best Albums Coming Out This Month

Screw filling your stockings with gel pens and fuzzy socks, and surprise a special someone with one of these new albums. Trust me, they’ll have no complaints.

1. Cole – 2014 Forest Hills Drive

Since releasing his last critically acclaimed album Born Sinner last summer, J. Cole has had a pretty quiet year. However, Cole released a quick video trailer revealing the name of his album (aptly named after his childhood home), stating that he will be releasing this album with no singles, which is almost unheard of if you want to sell a lot of albums. But J. Cole believes in himself and his fans, so this should definitely be a solid rap album to close out the year.

2. Nicki Minaj – The Pinkprint

Nicki has been EVERYWHERE this past year from releasing remixes to hosting awards shows to breaking the 24-hour streaming record on Vevo (the “Anaconda” video still keeps me up at night). Her new album The Pinkprint has been a long time coming for her fans since her last full-length debut in 2012. But with singles like “Pills and Potions,” “Anaconda,” and “Only” dominating the charts all year, Nicki is poised to close out the year with a bang.

3. Charli XCX – Sucker

Charli XCX (my future wife) has had a huge year after her monster success in the U.S. and in the U.K.. Her single “Boom Clap” from The Fault in Our Stars soundtrack dominated the Billboard charts for most of the summer and became the anthem for young teenage love everywhere. And right after that, she came out with “Break the Rules,” a song about giving the middle finger to basically any form of authority. Charli XCX is a unique pop star whose album surely won’t disappoint.

4. Mary J. Blige – The London Sessions

What happens when you send an R&B veteran to the U.K. for a month to collaborate with some of London’s brightest young stars? You get The London Sessions. It’s no secret that the most successful artists are currently coming from other countries (Sam Smith, Iggy Azalea, One Direction, and Adele to name a few), and there’s a reason for that. MJB has been around for a long time, and eventually people get to a point in their careers where they want to experiment with different and refreshing sounds. Collaborating with popular British acts such as Disclosure, Sam Smith, Emeli Sande, and Naughty Boy, The London Sessions is poised to deliver a refreshing sound from Mary as well as showcase some of U.K.’s finest. This is a great stocking stuffer for fans of any of these artists.

5. Lil Wayne – Tha Carter V

Rumored to be his last solo album ever (yeah right…), Lil Wayne is set to release his 11th full-length album this month. After multiple setbacks and unfulfilled promises, fans are clamoring for this project. Although a lot of people have lost faith in Wayne *raises hand* (one can only make so many metaphors about vaginas), he promised fans this album is about growth and maturity, along with some of the best rapping he’s done in his career. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.