Lady Gaga, Madonna, Nicki Minaj Top 2012′s Most Anticipated Albums

The past 12 months have seen the release of monster albums from Adele, Lady Gaga, Drake, Taylor Swift, Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj.

But the next 12 are promising to bring even more music from several of those artists, plus new albums from Mumford & Sons, Rick Ross, Jay-Z, Linkin Park, Paramore, Madonna, Miley Cyrus, Maroon 5 and Green Day.

It’s a bumper crop of major albums from some of rock, pop and hip-hop’s biggest stars, who are returning from long breaks, hoping to follow up smash debuts or just trying to keep their momentum going.

While release dates are always subject to change, here are some of the most anticipated releases of 2012.

Pop:

Ironically, the status of new albums from the artists whose next moves everyone is most curious about are the ones most in the air. Rihanna tends to deliver a new album every 12 or 13 months, which means that she may have another disc in stores at the end of next year once the just-releasedTalk That Talk has run its course.

On the other hand, Lady Gaga has already begun talking about her follow-up to this year’s Born This Way. Gaga recently told MTV News that she’s already started writing songs and “all the concepts are beginning to flourish and take place.” She didn’t give a potential release date, only promising, “I’ll put it out when it’s done.”

Katy Perry hasn’t publicly spoken about what will come after 2010′s smash Teenage Dream, but it’s possible she could start work on new material in 2012 as well. We know for sure that Justin Bieber is planning to show his more mature side next time around, possibly even incorporating some EDM sounds into the mix.

It’s been confirmed that Madonna hooked up with M.I.A. and Nicki Minaj for the single “Gimme All Your Luvin’ ” from her untitled forthcoming album, which will feature production from Ray of Lightproducer William Orbit.

Other artists who could release fresh material in 2012: No Doubt, Maroon 5, Avril Lavigne, Miley Cyrus, Christina Aguilera, Ke$ha and Nicole Scherzinger.

Hip-Hop:

Two titans of rap are cueing up fresh tracks for early 2012, with Nicki Minaj likely to get out of the gate first with her sophomore album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, due out on Valentine’s Day. The disc will include first single “Roman in Moscow,” which sees the Best New Artist Grammy nominee getting into the character of her alter ego, Roman Zolanski.

After the delay of God Forgives, I Don’t due to a pair of seizures he suffered in October, Rick Ross is expected to come back strong as well. The Bawse has taken his convalescent time to work on a new track with Jay-Z.

Speaking of Jigga, fans may get a new record from him as well, considering he told MTV News he was cooking up fresh tracks way back when he first played us songs from his Kanye West collaborative album, Watch the Throne. In fact, Jay-Z said you might get solo albums from both men as well as the second Throne release.

Other artists that should have albums hitting stores in 2012: Nas, Frank Ocean, Slaughterhouse,Wiz Khalifa, the G.O.O.D. Music compilation, T.I., Big Sean, 50 Cent, Ludacris, Big K.R.I.T.,Meek Mill and potentially two discs from Lil Wayne, I Am Not a Human Being II and Rebirth II.

Rock:

Some of rock’s biggest guns are reloading for 2012, among them Green Day, who debuted some new tracks at a benefit show in August. The title of the follow-up to 2009′s 21st Century Breakdownhasn’t been announced yet, but some of the early songs slated for possible inclusion are “Nuclear Family,” “Carpe Diem” and “Sweet 16.”

U2 have reportedly been cooking up a number of potential new albums, logging sessions with Danger Mouse and working with French producer/DJ David Guetta, RedOne and will.i.am on a disc of dance-oriented tunes.

Prog rock revivalists Muse should also have some new material for us, with bassist Chris Wolstenholme promising in a recent interview that the sound on their sixth album will be “radically different” from 2009′s The Resistance.

We may get something from Linkin Park, who are prepping the follow-up to 2010′s A Thousand Suns, and Mumford & Sons. It’s been two years since the British folk rock revivalists dropped their still strong-selling debut, Sigh No More, and they began giving fans a taste of some new material in the fall when they unveiled the majestic song “Ghosts.”

After a rough year, Paramore have finally put the drama behind them and they’re super-psyched to record an album free of tension and inter-band awkwardness. So far, they’ve already unwrapped the bouncy “Renegade” and “Hello Cold World,” which bode well for their fourth full-length studio album.

Other rock acts slated to release new albums: the reunited Soundgarden, Foster the People, Neon Trees, Sleigh Bells, Silversun Pickups, Bruce Springsteen and All-American Rejects.

Which 2012 albums are you most excited about? Which ones did we miss? Let us know in comments below.

Lady Gaga to release new album this year

Lady Gaga’s still riding high with her “Born This Way” album, but she’s looking forward, not backward, at new projects on the horizon.

One of them is a new album in 2012

“I just want to keep going,” Gaga tells The Insider. “I'm not as goal obsessed as I am process obsessed. I just want to keep writing music. I'm looking forward to putting out another album and going on tour.”

Last month, Gaga confirmed that she already has a title in mind for the project, but is keeping it under wraps as she works towards completing the project.

“I've started writing it and I have the name for it, and all the concepts are beginning to flourish and take place,” she told MTV. “I'm excited to put it out, but it's not done yet. So I'll put it out when it's done.”

Among all of the ideas for her next album, Gaga is planning a duet with Elton John for the record.

Lady Gaga Set For A Slow Year According To Psychic

Lady Gaga is set for a slow year according to a New York based psychic, Jesse Bravo.

Bravo gazed into his crystal ball and told MTV, "Lady Gaga for 2012, it's going to be sort of a slower year for her because she has her tour, which means she's not putting out a lot of new material."

This is despite Gaga recently hinting at new material for later this year. 

The mystic does have high hopes for her tour though adding, "But she's also building up this new momentum for running her base for this tour. This tour is going to be really good for her."

Bravo also believes we're set for more outrageous outfits from the fashion icon, claiming he's had visions of two potential items. 

"I don't know which one is going to come first. But I will believe the one that I saw is this outfit, and I can't really describe it, but it's going to have lights embedded in it," he said.

He added, "So it's going to be pretty bizarre. And then I saw another outfit and it's like a body outfit, one that you spray-paint on, and I don't know if it's a stars-and-stripes theme, but I saw that there were stars and stripes in the right areas."

He also predicted children in the 'Poker Face' singer's future saying, "And I know that work is on her mind, but I know that [her spirit guide] Liberace is telling me about a child. And I know that in the back of her mind, she wants one. I think with her, it's about scheduling ... and I would say we're looking somewhere at 2014-2015. That's going to be her time."

Lady Gaga Gushes About Beyonce's Future Motherhood Skills

'My next baby will be my new record,' singer says of her own motherhood plans.

Lady Gaga and Beyoncé are besties, and when the Mother Monster sat down with "The Insider," she gushed about her pal's skills as a soon-to-be mommy.

"Of course she is [going to be a good mom]. That's a tremendous understatement," the singer said. "She's the nicest female I've met in the industry. She's wonderful!"

The two have quite the history together. Gaga and Beyoncé have appeared on two tracks (and in two videos) together for "Telephone" and "Video Phone." And while Beyoncé is nearing motherhood, Gaga admits she wants to wait a bit longer before giving birth to anything — but new music, that is. "Someday. Long, long day from now!" she said. "My next baby will be my new record."

When MTV News caught up with Gaga last month, she opened up about her plans to release the follow-up to Born This Way. "I've started writing it and I have the name for it and all the concepts are beginning to flourish and take place," she told MTV News.

But much like Beyoncé and her baby, a due date for the Mother Monster's next album is still to be determined. "I'm excited to put it out, but it's not done yet. So I'll put it out when it's done."

Meanwhile, one psychic who spoke to MTV News helped us try to nail down just when we should expect Jayoncé's baby. "I feel that Beyoncé's 2012 is going to be very, very exciting," Jesse Bravo told MTV News. "I get the date of January 8 to January 14 of her giving birth to her first son."

The Best Lady Gaga Outfits Of 2011

There could be no Best of 2011 here at MTV Style without Lady Gaga. (Claws UP!) A true chameleon and total renegade style-slaya of the highest order, Mother Monster makes our jobs so much easier every time she steps onto the stage or street. Every moment of Gaga's life is a style moment, as you little monsters know, and Mama loves to turn it UP and OUT from head-to-soul-to-toe with every single ensemble. This year alone we've witnessed everything from pantlessness and icicle eyebrows to an Armani zombie and futuristic Paco Rabanne fashion parade. It was tough to choose just ten looks (wooo-eeee we were stuck in the deliberation chamber forEVS trying to lock this bizness down), but we've narrowed down Gaga's best style moments of the year. We think you'll agree that even though practically every outfit is Best Of-worthy, that these beauties have something extra special.

FIRST LADY OF VINTAGE VERSACE

Lady Gaga in Taiwan for Lady Gaga Day.
Photo: Getty Images

It's no secret that Lady Gaga loves Versace. Earlier this year, she told a German TV program that she was having a love affair with the brand and had been given access to rarely seen pieces from the archives thanks to Donatella Versace. She rocked out several multi-print, hyper-color ensembles throughout the year, but the all-over Versace outfit she wore to celebrate Lady Gaga Day in Taiwan was truly something else. A lovably garish mix of tomato red, loud leopard print, gold buttons, and old skool bell bottom swing pants accessorized with a matching leopard bag, sky high spiked platforms, and a hat that featured a twisted braid of her dual colored hair, this hodgepodge Versace fantasy number was a CRAY-tastic masterpiece.

POST-APOCALYPTIC WHITE SWAN

Lady Gaga wearing Alexander McQueen at the 2011 Bambi Awards.
Photo: Getty Images

Gaga channeled late Alexander McQueen muse Isabella Blow at the 2011 Bambi Awards in Germany. Her McQueen gown transformed her into an elegant swan trapped in a golden acid rain shower as the top half was an intricate array of shimmering doodads that covered her entire head and bodice before giving way to unctuous layers of white ruffled frill. It was a beautiful off-kilter look that had us all gasping for its high-fashion audacity. When paired with that expression and golden fawn, Gaga looks vulnerable and also totally FIERCE.

  CRUELLA CATWALKER

Lady Gaga in Paris on March 2.
Photo: Getty Images

Oh, Gagalicious, you can get away with anything can't you? Look at this see-through cat suit right here. Gaga doesn't care; she'll strut her bare bazooms where and when she pleases with a glass of champers in hand, thank you very much. This shot came after Gaga's appearance on her style guru, Nicola Formichetti's catwalk as he made his design debut for Mugler during Paris Fashion Week's fall 2011 collections. We love the heavily-rimmed eye with a fanciful touch below, red lips, and her gigantic blonde ponytails from the show piled high into buns. Looks like Mama M kept on her nudie panties from the show and topped off this whole Parisian sensuality bomb of an outfit with some thigh-high boots and leath-ah jacket used as an accessory. Bravo, Lady, BRAVO.

PACO RABANNE ALIEN WARRIOR PRINCESS

Lady Gaga wearing Paco Rabanne and displaying her multiple awards at the 2011 MTV EMA.
Photo: Getty Images

Gaga has the power to singlehandedly make a designer's career happen. Or, in the case ofPaco Rabanne, resurrect it. Even though the namesake designer of the line stepped down some years ago, the luxury brand has a new designer at the helm and showed a well-received collection in Paris. But you didn't really hear the name of the house making headlines until Gaga chose to showcase not one, not two, but FIVE Paco Rabanne outfits at the 2011 EMA thereby ushering the house back into the fash-vernacular seemingly overnight. The very next day, everyone wanted to know more about this 40-year-old brand (we even took it upon ourselves to give you a crash course on all things Rabanne). Gaga wore a new version of a vintage Rabanne fish-tail gown from the 1960s and did so with alien green eyes, matching lipstick, and a three-tiered side pony. This gown made our Best Of list not just for its well-heeled nod to the past, but for its otherworldly Barbarella-esque audacity.

JO CALDERONE

Lady Gaga as Jo Calderone at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards.
Photo: Getty Images

Oh, Jo Calderone, you insouciant, chain-smoking, garbled, crotch-grabbing grubtasticness of a manly man, ohhh how we loved ye this year at theVMA's! Besides carrying off a total style metamorphosis that included a short greasy wig with sideburns and makeup that darkened her brows and upper lip, Lady Gaga kicked out a Brooks Brothers suit and messy white v-neck tee with the kind of confidence that only befits overly confident man-folk of the type in which she wished to portray. It's a little scary, this transformation, because it's TOTALLY BELIEVABLE. Did we mention Gaga stayed in her Ralph Macchio, we mean Jo Calderone, persona the entire night?

ANTEBELLUM CHANEL DEBUTANTE

Lady Gaga wearing Chanel Haute Couture at the opening of Gaga's Workshop at Barney's New York.
Photo: Getty Images

So, as the tally now stands, Gaga's worn everything from McQueen and Versace to Paco Rabanne and menswear. What else does that leave us? Oh, yes, CHANEL. For theopening of Gaga's Workshop at Barney's in New York, Our Lady wore not just any Chanel, she wore antebellum haute couture Chanel complete with a voluminous white coat with massive crinoline underneath, black fingerless gloves, a mini Chanel purse with black and white flowers, and a towering ribbon headpiece with a white flower in the middle. We couldn't actually see if she was wearing interlocking C contact lenses (though that would have been rad), but everything about this look screamed Chanel while also screaming ladylike awesomness.

ACID WASH JEAN QUEEN

Lady Gaga signs autographs in a still from the book 'LADY GAGA X TERRY RICHARDSON'
Photo: Terry Richardson/'LADY GAGA X TERRY RICHARDSON'

It was a big year for Lady Gaga overall, and one of the highlights was the mammoth coffee table book, LADY GAGA X TERRY RICHARDSON, which featured 350 photographs shot by Terry Richardson over the course of a year in her life. Apparently, he took over 100,000 photos of her (don't know HOW he narrowed them down) and the result is a peek into moments in Gaga's life that we've never seen. When flipping through this book (which we've done a million times already), it was hard to choose which one represented the best from the insane selection of choices. But this particular one really stood out to us. For one, she's wearing head-to-toe denim, which is unusual. Also, this isn't any jean-on-jean pairing, it's a panoply of ACID WASH. With a not-so-subtle tip o' the hat to the '80s, ripped knees, and black metal groupie booties, we LOVE this look for Our Lady. It takes us back to what we imagine she looked like prowling around the Lower East Side, her blonde peroxide bob, red lips, and Ray Bans commanding attention from the corner of Stanton and Ludlow. Also, her expression in this pic, as she's trying to sign autographs, looks as if she still in disbelief that peeps are this hungry for her, and we like that sense of playful humility.

MOTHER HAIR MONSTER

Lady Gaga wearing a hair outfit in London.
Photo: Getty Images

What's this? Ohhhh, just a giant walking MERKIN out on the streets of London-town. This tip-to-toe hair outfit was such a fashion moment that we had to include it in our Most Outrageous Outfits of 2011 round-up, too. Look at this thing. It's hair GAHHH-LORE. What's that, a hair sombrero? You bettah believe it. Then, there's this merkin dress with flowing brunette tendrils that look like they had the best blow-out ever before being trimmed then attached to this V-shaped wonder. Throw in some green mermaid hair, ubiquitous Ray Bans, black Loubous, and a picture of the Bride of Frankenstein held at thigh-level just BECAUSE, and you have the makings of ZOMG fashion mastery.

'VOGUE'-ER

Lady Gaga on the March 2011 cover of 'Vogue'.
Photo: Mario Testino/Courtesy of 'Vogue'

Oh, HAI. We DIE a million TIMES for this unbelievably beautiful cover. The whole severe pink bob on mint green background with fuchsia cover lines and a hella drapey Greek goddess Haider Ackermann gown has us crying mega magazine aficionado tears at the sheer brizilliance of the March 2011 issue of Vogue featuring Our Lady of GaGAH. It doesn't get any better than this, people! Look at these peroxide brows and wine-stained lips that are bringing this POWER (because this is the "Power Issue") to life even though the arms look purposefully airbrushed to more sinewy proportions, we don’t care because this is GAGA and this is GAGA ON THE COVER VOGUE.

MINT GREEN FAIRY

Lady Gaga out and about in London.
Photo: Getty Images

Last but not least we come to the bookish mint green fairy look that Mother Monster sported on the streets of London earlier this fall. If you've seen her "Marry the Night" video then you're already well aware that "mint will be very big in fashion next spring" as Gaga decreed in a voiceover while she was being wheeled along the ornate corridors of some sort of insane asylum/medical clinic by nurses wearing "next season Calvin Klein." Gaga hinted at this trend with her faint mint green hair piled high in a subdued unicorn bun as well as mint green, wrapped-ankle platforms. The whole look is so much more feminine than we're used to seeing, and we especially like the pastel glitter green on her cheeks, the white baroqueMoo Piyasombatkul glasses, white lace ice skater dress, and pale pink fur stole. If this is the shape of things to come for 2012, we'll hold her to her mint green word. Thus, we encourage all little monsters to start scouring stores for this mint loveliness NOW.

Lady Gaga's 'epically weird' 'Marry the Night' video: 5 talking points

Mother Monster's latest music video may be her strangest yet: An autobiographical tale of naked dancing, psychiatric wards, and cereal-facilitated meltdowns

"I'm going to be a star," Lady Gaga says tearfully in her enigmatic, 14-minute "Marry the Night" music video. "You know why? Because I have nothing left to lose." The pop superstar claims that the brazen autobiographical saga recounts her struggle to achieve fame after Def Jam Records dropped her early in her career. Along the way, viewers are treated to scenes of Gaga writhing naked in a bathtub, a "Black Swan-style ballerina breakdown," an "instant classic" shot of her smearing Cheerios on her chest, and a lengthy introductory monologue set in a high-fashion psychiatric ward. (Watch the video below.) Here are five talking points that have emerged as critics process the lengthy clip, which Gaga directed herself:

1. It tracks Gaga's story... albeit bizarrely

"Marry the Night" is "more of an autobiographical mini-documentary than anything else," says Kathryn Kattalia at the New York Daily News, an epic re-imagining of her "darkest days." It certainly resembles Gaga's story, says Nicole James at MTV, only, characteristically, "reality is skewed and volleyed about enough times to make you question which dimension you're living in." Self-absorption aside, Gaga's "dedicating 'Marry the Night' to anyone who's ever tried to live their dream and failed."

SEE MORE: A Chinese choir's bizarrely 'brilliant' Lady Gaga cover

2. She borrows heavily from iconic pop culture

There are touches of Fame, Black Swan, and The Bell Jar in the video,says Jocelyn Vena at MTV. The psychiatric ward into which she's wheeled during the opening scene references Girl Interrupted, says Gina Serpe atE! Online. A street dancing scene, says James, evokes an iconic Pat Benatar music video. In the end, though, it's all signature Gaga, says Chris Coplan at Consequence of Sound: "Fashion, unrelenting sex appeal, innocence, [and] creative expression."

3. It really is "epically weird"

This will "certainly leave fans talking, if not scratching their heads," says Liz Raftery at People. Gaga "doesn't understand the meaning of less is more," says The Prophet Blog. It's almost an affront to fans that she forces them to "wade through eight minutes of terrible acting, cringeworthy voiceovers, and a laughably self-indulgent script" before the song even begins. Sure, the psychotic Cheerios moment and naked dancing are truly bizarro, says Amanda Dobbins at New York. But this is Lady Gaga. The video "is just as nuts as you would hope it to be!"

4. But the actual music video part is pretty great

Once the seemingly endless intro is through, "we're treated to a ferocious performance piece that'd make Janet Jackson proud," says The Prophet Blog. Gaga's "mile-a-minute" dancing, sexy intercuts of "nude bathtub thrashing," and nods to her struggle to get signed by Interscope Records are brilliantly done.

5. It's all one big ego trip

At 14 minutes, this music video is either self-indulgent, insane, or both,says Katey Rich at Cinema Blend. As a self-directed tribute to her own struggle for fame, the whole thing seems "a little navel-gazing." But it's hard to resist the clip's "striking images" — if Gaga is frustratingly fascinated by herself, "we're all fascinated, too." Let's get real, says Marc Hogan at Spin. "It hard to tell where Gaga is winking at us and where's she's simply fallen into a foxhole of unrestrained ego."