Good news, Bardi Gang: Cardi B’s sophomore album is expected to drop later this year.
The news was confirmed on Thursday, May 16, just days after the Bronx-raised rapper claimed she had scrapped her plans for a 2024 album release. Cardi made the shocking declaration via X this week as she was bombarded with complaints about the long-awaited project, which will mark her first full-length release since 2018’s Invasion of Privacy.
“Anyway NO album this year. I don’t care, I’m relaxing this year,” she wrote. “Dropping these features I already committed to and traveling and enjoying my summer.”
However, Atlantic Records refuses to leave fans hanging, as it joked about taking Cardi’s album and releasing it without her authorization: “Cardi B’s upcoming album is one of the most anticipated this year,” the company wrote on X. “We can’t wait put it out, even if we have to sneak into her studio and take it! 👀”
Atlantic, which signed Cardi back in 2017, was responding to the rapper’s June 2024 cover story for Rolling Stone. The piece touched on a wide range of topics, including the growing frustration over her sophomore album release. Cardi has since deleted the aforementioned tweet, while her rep confirmed that a 2024 project was still in the works.
Cardi told Rolling Stone she was working hard to complete the album, which was still missing a title, key features, and a handful of tracks.
“Being out here is my punishment,” she told the outlet while recording in Los Angeles. “Until I have the album ready, I’m not going home. When I come to L.A., I be like, ‘I’m ready to get shit done.’ Then, eight days in, my mind starts missing home, feeling lonely, and then I be like, ‘Girl …’ I miss my kids.”
But homesickness isn’t the only hurdle Cardi is facing. The Grammy-winning rapper also admits she struggles with indecisiveness.
“I’m a different person every single day,” she said. “When I’m in a good mood and I’m with my friends, [I’m] like, ‘Damn, I want my shit to be played in this club.’ But then I might be mad with my man, so it’s like now I want to do this song. But then I want to do a pop record. I want to do my sing-y shit.”
She continued: “I really want to talk about the life changes that I’ve been dealing with the past six, seven years,” she says of her new music. “But then it’s just like, I feel like people don’t deserve to know because people use my pain against me.”
