March Madness is going out with a bang — at least in the world of music, with a jam-packed week of surprises, album announcements, anniversaries, and more.
The end of March is stacked to the brim with new albums, including Will Smith's first full-length in two decades, Based on a True Story; Lucy Dacus' fourth solo outing, Forever Is a Feeling; Jessie Reyez's double LP PAID IN MEMORIES and Yukimi of Little Dragon's debut solo studio set For You.
Plus, Niall Horan marks the five-year anniversary of his sophomore solo album, Heartbreak Weather, with a deluxe re-release; NAV delivers his long-gestating OMW 2 Rexdale; and Alison Krauss reunites with Union Station for Arcadia, her first album with the band in 14 years.
And that doesn't even begin to cover the new songs. Ari Lennox celebrates her birthday with by starting her "Soft Girl Era"; Feid and Ty Dolla $ign join forces for "DALLAX"; Kesha and T-Pain deliver some nostalgia by teaming up for "YIPPEE-KI-YAY"; and Linkin Park kick off their deluxe album with "Up From The Bottom."
Below, press play on 11 other new releases worth diving into, from deluxe albums by Ariana Grande and Playboi Carti to a surprise anniversary celebration from Dua Lipa and Troye Sivan, TOMORROW X TOGETHER member BEOMGYU's debut solo single and more.
Ariana Grande continues her eternal sunshine era with the release of eternal sunshine deluxe: brighter days ahead. The Wicked star — who's added 'Oscar nominee' to her resume since releasing the original album — has gifted her loyal fans with six bonus tracks to add to the concept album's themes of memory, heartbreak and moving on.
The new additions kick off with an extended take on fan-loved opener "intro (end of the world)" before Ari enters her own personal "twilight zone," finds healing in the arms of a new love on "warm," delivers a sexually charged invitation with "dandelion," and reclaims her selfhood on "past life." However, she saves the most affecting balladry for last in the form of "Hampstead," combining truly savage lyricism aimed at her ex ("I think to be so dumb must be nice") with a clear-eyed perspective that takes back the meaning behind her sublime Positions-era ballad "pov" ("I'd rather be seen and alive than dying by your point of view").
The release of brighter days ahead also arrives with an accompanying short film of the same name. Making her directorial debut alongside Christian Breslauer, the cinematic short finds Grande stepping back into the role of Peaches, the character fans first met in "we can't be friends (wait for your love)" to revisit her happiest memories — including home video footage featuring her mother and beloved Nonna, as well as a fabulous a cappella rendition of eternal sunshine's title track, a Frankenstein-inspired video treatment for "Hampstead" and more.
Read More: 5 Takeaways From Ariana Grande's 'Eternal Sunshine'
To celebrate the five-year anniversary of her GRAMMY-winning sophomore album Future Nostalgia, Dua Lipa tapped Troye Sivan to help deliver a surprise duet version of the era's second single, "Physical."
The English-Albanian superstar retains the kinetic intensity of the original single on the first verse and chorus before tossing the mic to Sivan. The Australian pop phenom adds a new, erotic verse to the track, singing, "We're verging on the edge of spiritual/ You're deeper than you thought, it's a miracle/ Don't you agree? Can you even believe?/ Baby, I come alive in the moonlight/ If you ask me to f—, I might/ Are you gon' get a taste of the moment?/ Stay up to the early morning/ My final fantasy."
For his part, Sivan was ecstatic to join the Radical Optimism songstress on the reworking, writing on social media, "I've loved this song since the day it came out, and Dua since the day i heard Be The One for the first time…happy 5 years future nostalgia!! Love to you dula."
Less than two weeks after releasing his third album, MUSIC, Playboi Carti took a much-deserved victory lap by dropping a surprise deluxe edition of the LP on March 25.
The new version adds four tracks to the 30-track chart-topper, which has already earned Carti his second No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 — as well as the biggest sales week for a rap album in 2025, and the biggest streaming week for any album since Taylor Swift released The Tortured Poets Department in April 2024.
Bonus tracks on Carti's sprawling opus include "DIFFERENT DAY," previous YouTube exclusives "2024" and Travis Scott collab "BACKR00MS," and closer "FOMDJ," which also came with a home video-inspired visualizer treatment.
TOMORROW X TOGETHER member BEOMGYU makes his first bid for solo stardom with "Panic," a guitar-driven single that effortlessly melds the pop-rock of the 2000s with the idol's native K-pop.
In the dreamy music video accompanying the track, BEOMGYU floats on a messily made-up mattress as his room slowly fills with water. Elsewhere, the pressure inherent in the song's title closes in on the boy band member, whether he's racing through increasingly narrow hallways or struggling to find the right words to communicate the internal crush of his emotions. Ultimately, though, the lone English lyrics in the song's chorus seem to confirm that the K-pop singer ultimately ends up on the right path: "This is my answer."
Kali Uchis is taking the ups and downs of romance in stride on "Sunshine & Rain…," the soulful first single off her upcoming fifth album, SINCERELY, which arrives May 9 via Capitol Records.
Over heavenly, lo-fi production, the four-time GRAMMY nominee vows to keep putting her heart on the line as she sings, "I've always been a hopeless romantic/ No matter how many times it went and did me damage/ Least I'm not scared to live, I'll never understand them." It's advice Uchis clearly thinks everyone would benefit from, as she later proclaims, "When was it that you lost your common sense?/ The world needs an epiphany" before the song's second chorus.
Read More: Kali Uchis Essentials: 9 Songs That Flaunt Her Soulful Magnetism
Seven long years since the release of 2018's sprawling Delta, Mumford & Sons have finally returned with RUSHMERE, their triumphant fifth studio album.
At just 34 minutes across 10 songs, the group's first release as a trio is a taut, streamlined collection anchored by frontman Marcus Mumford's husky howl. He wails, laments and rhapsodizes over the band's distinctive folk-rock on rollicking standouts like lead single "Rushmere," "Caroline," "Monochrome," and the LP's lone collaboration, "Blood on the Page," which features as assist from GRAMMY-winning folk singer Madison Cunningham.
Maren Morris continues the rollout for her just-announced fourth album, DREAMSICLE, with new single "Carry Me Through."
The country star's latest studio set — and follow-up to 2022's GRAMMY-nominated Humble Quest — won't arrive in full until May 9. But on the vulnerable piano ballad, Morris proves she's stronger and more resilient than ever as she searches for a light in the darkness.
"Yeah, I know tomorrow's gon' come/ Preachin' to a choir of one/ It's taken me a while, I'll get there soon," she sings on the anthemic chorus. "Yeah, I've got friends around/ Plenty of hands held out/ But I'm still the one who has to choose/ To carry me through," she sings on the determined chorus.
Just 18 months after releasing his 2023 debut, Ru the World, Ruger comes roaring back with his sophomore studio album, BlownBoy Ru.
The new project finds the pink-haired Nigerian star expanding the sound that made him famous by weaving Afrobeats and dancehall with the likes of R&B, pop and even tinges of fújì, a subgenre of Yoruba music that dates back to the 1960s in Nigeria. Ruger also recruited a number of guests to join him across BlownBoy Ru's 13-song track list — from Tiwa Savage (previously released lead single "Toma Toma") and Lagos-born rapper Zlatan (early highlight "Giveaway") to Jamaican dancehall artists like Kranium ("Dudu") and Valiant ("Wish You Well") and West London's Haile ("Runaway").
Read More: 10 Afrobeats Songs Turning 10 In 2025: Wizkid's "Ojuelegba," Olamide's "Bobo" & More
Mixing banda flair with traditional country storytelling, Cody Johnson and Carin León capture a lovestruck feeling on bilingual ballad "She Hurts Like Tequila" that's understandable in any language.
According to Johnson, he first discovered Leon's music at a local Mexican restaurant in his hometown of Huntsville, Texas — which ultimately led to the pair writing the crossover collaboration together in Las Vegas. "It was really cool for me to watch how it wasn't a true translation," Johnson dished of lyrically bridging the language barrier in a video posted to his YouTube channel upon the song's release. With a co-sign from Leon, he went on to explain that, instead, the duet was more of an "adaptation, so that everything melodically flows."
Coco Jones continues to amp up the excitement for her upcoming debut, Why Not More?, by dropping a fourth taste of the album with the newly released single "You."
Following in the footsteps of "Here We Go (Uh Oh)," "Most Beautiful Design" with London on da Track and Future, and "Taste," the slow jam puts the "ICU" singer's classic R&B stylings front and center as she revels in a life-changing love, singing, "You like my drink in the Sahara/ You showed me things I never saw and/ You know what, you real life/ Gave me my heart and then taught me to love again."
Jones will celebrate the April 25 arrival of Why Not More? by taking part in the 2025 GRAMMY U Conference, presented by Mastercard with participating sponsor Sony Pro Audio. The R&B star will serve as a keynote speaker during the two-day program, which will take place at Racket NYC in New York City.
Watch: Coco Jones Reveals Details About Her Upcoming Debut Album | 2025 GRAMMYs Red Carpet Interview
It's been just 10 months since Wallows unveiled their third full-length, Model, and the band is already back with More.
Preceded by singles "Your New Favorite Song" and "Coffin Change," the seven-song EP from Dylan Minnette, Braeden Lemasters and Cole Preston adds idiosyncratic flourishes to the trio's signature alt-rock sound — whether drenched in '80s-inspired synths on opener "Not Alone," jolted by saxophone in the opening moments of lead single "Your New Favorite Song," or driven by an unrelenting, militaristic drum pattern on "Hide It Away."
The latter also gets an accompanying music video, which showcases the band performing the track in a glass-walled office lobby and an empty, wood-paneled construction site as Minnette insists, "It's for good, if you notice I hide from myself/ Know it's better for my health, asking questions doesn't help/ 'Cause I'm fine."