Brittany Howard - What Now

Alabama Shakes singer-songwriter returns with her first solo studio LP since 2019

Brittany Howard has announced her second solo album, What Now, and released the music video for its title track.

There's a double meaning to the title of What Now, Howard says.

"With the world we're living in now, it feels like we're all just trying to hang onto our souls," says the Nashville-based musician and frontwoman for four-time Grammy Award-winning Alabama Shakes. "Everything seems to be getting more extreme and everyone keeps wondering, ‘What now? What's next?' By the same coin, the only constant on this record is you never know what's going to happen next..."

The title track is "maybe the truest and bluest of all the songs," Howard said in a statement. "It's never my design to hurt anyone's feelings, but I needed to say what was on my mind without editing myself. I like how it's a song that makes you want to dance, but at the same time the lyrics are brutal."

Howard recorded What Now at the Sound Emporium and historic RCA Studio B in her hometown of Nashville. The album will be released via Island Records. The new album will be the Alabama Shakes singer-songwriter's first solo effort since 2019's Jaime. Howard won Best Rock Song at the 2021 Grammy Awards for Jaime's "Stay High."