6 albums you need to hear this week

In the age of streaming, it’s never been easier to listen to new music — but with over 60,000 new songs added to Spotify every day, it’s also never been harder to know what to put on. Every week, the team at Rolling Stone UK will run down some of the best new releases that have been added to streaming services.

This week, we’ve highlighted records by Sam Smith, Jorja Smith, Brandon Flowers, Antony Szmierek, Mystery Jets and Westside Cowboy.

Sam Smith – Hazel Eyes

New album Hazel Eyes sees Sam Smith make their creative world smaller and more comfortable, while their personal life went through a revelation. “I feel I have deepened myself as an artist through the making of it, through being a producer on the record, to walking alongside this record from the start to the finish and pushing myself at every single turn,” Smith says, adding that “this record and this music is incredibly romantic.” Tracking the story of a new love with the help of close collaborators including Feist, Shahzad Ismaily and The National collaborator Rob Moose, it’s Smith’s most deep and layered work yet.

Listen on: Spotify | ‎Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music

Jorja Smith – What Are the Odds.

Though Jorja Smith’s career began with well-meaning and not entirely inaccurate comparisons to Amy Winehouse, she has always been best when letting loose and prioritising fun and energy in her music. That’s exactly what she shoots for on What Are the Odds., Smith’s best album yet. Working exclusively with producer P2J (Stormzy, Beyoncé, Burna Boy), it sees her dip into UKG, funky, house, 2-step and more with gleeful abandon. “I don’t want to skank to a ballad,” she says of the album, stopping short of disowning her older material but certainly embracing a new beginning. The phrase “what are the odds” would usually come with a question mark. Here, it’s deliberately left off, instead reading as a statement and a declaration of complete freedom. Read our full review of What Are the Odds. here.

Listen on: Spotify | ‎Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music

Brandon Flowers – Thrasher

The latest solo effort from the Killers frontman arrives alongside interviews where he says he’s considered quitting music. “I’m really going through it right now: How much longer do I want to do this, what does it mean, why am I doing it anyway?” he said. With existential thoughts on the brain at the moment, Thrasher sees Flowers get misty-eyed as he documents his teenage years in Utah. Musically, though, it shows there’s still plenty of fire in his belly, as does the album’s cover, which sees him throwing punches with a determined expression.

Listen on: Spotify | ‎Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music

Antony Szmierek – Decoding Birdsong

“I can be quite disarmingly sincere,” Antony Szmierek recently told Rolling Stone UK. “I’m always trying to be human and overbearingly honest.” This need to strive for human connection drives the spirit of his excellent album which, like the heron on its artwork, sees him flying high. Diverse and exciting collabs with artists like Ellur, Los Bitchos and Pretty Girl are found within, while there is a sense that Szmierek’s joyous spoken word Mancunian brogue is the perfect tonic for our turbulent times.

Listen on: Spotify | ‎Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music

Mystery Jets – A Hole To See The Sky Through

Art fans and indeed Yoko Oko fans will immediately recognise that the seventh album from Mystery Jets takes its name and artwork from the Japanese polymath’s legendary artwork of the same name.

“It just felt like a very powerful way to encourage you to change your perspective on the world by simply changing the frame you’re viewing life through and it felt in keeping with the times we’re living through,” singer Blaine Harrison told RS UK earlier this year. “It was an aperture to change the way see you the world and brought in a sense of positivity, whereas I feel like phones do the opposite in a way. They present a very fake version and a curated version of the world.”

In turn, the album itself is one of the band’s most eclectic efforts yet, veeringly wildly between moments of all-out rock, as seen on the title track, baggier moments and even incredibly emotional tributes to lost friends. They remain one of Britain’s most consistently exciting bands.

Listen on: Spotify | ‎Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music

Westside Cowboy – It Goes On

Put simply, It Goes On marks one of the most thrilling records to have been released by a British band in 2026. Kick Stones (The Boys)’ is a wondrous wall of noise, ‘Worried Age’ is a thunderous racket, while ‘Big Wheels’ is a gorgeous existential ponderer packed with blissful rhythms. It’s the same on the country flecked ‘Take My Leaving As I Love You’, which sees them leaning into balladry with genuinely stunning results. This record cements their place as one of Britain’s most thrilling bands. Read our full review here.

Listen on: Spotify | ‎Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music