J. Cole Shares Release Date and Cover Art for New Album 'The Off-Season'

Fans have been anticipating something new from J. Cole for quite some time now. On Tuesday, Cole came through with an announcement on his next album.

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​​​​​​J. Cole is giving fans plenty to look forward to in 2021.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Dreamville Records co-founder announced that his new album The Off-Season—which he noted was indeed “years in the making”—will be out May 14.

Fittingly, Cole’s long-awaited announcement was preceded mere minutes earlier with a playful “Is this thing on” tweet that promptly kicked off the hype:

Back in December, Cole laid out his plans for “The Fall Off Era” by seemingly teasing a three-part rollout strategy beginning with The Off-Season. Next up, at least according to Cole’s Instagrammed notebook page at the time, is It’s a Boy and—finally—The Fall Off.

When dropping his two-track Lewis Street EP in July of last year, Cole told fans the included songs—“The Climb Back” and “Lion King on Ice”—marked the “first two songs from The Fall Off.” And in a piece he penned for Players’ Tribune that was released ahead of the EP, Cole said the “fire that was once dying out” had returned.

“On my career bucket list, there remain a few more items to check off before I give myself permission to enter whatever the next chapter of my life may be,” Cole said at the time.

Late last month, Dreamville’s own Bas hit Instagram to further tease The Off-Season by suggesting that Cole would be dropping the project in a matter of weeks. The post was later removed, though it’s now been proven to be accurate.

Cole’s most recent full-length solo studio release was 2018’s KOD, which debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart and has since been certified platinum by the RIAA.

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