History DevelopmentHell / Music

* Music/LimpBizkit's ''Unquestionable Truth Part 2'' was delayed then scrapped and ''Gold Cobra'' was recorded instead; now Part 2 has been resurrected with plans to release it as an EP.

* Lauryn Hill's second studio album has been reported to be in some state of development since shortly after her first, ''The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill'', won the Grammy for Album of the Year in 1999. Hill didn't release a new studio single until 2010, and has released a new song or two every few years since then, but hasn't announced a new album.

* Leslie Carter (Nick and Aaron's sister) released her first single, "Like, Wow," in 2000, with its parent album of the same name slated to release later that year. The single even appeared on the ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'' soundtrack. Unfortunately, Creator/DreamWorksRecords folded shortly after and the complete album never saw a proper release. Not helping matters was Carter saying that she never wanted to record an album and her mother forced her to, as well as her later untimely death from a drug overdose in 2012.

** By extension, anything related to Music/XJapan or Music/YoshikiHayashi is often subject to this. X Japan's reunion album was first teased in 2008... and has a currently projected date of March 2017. Maybe.
* Music/LimpBizkit's ''Unquestionable Truth Part 2'' was delayed then scrapped and ''Gold Cobra'' was recorded instead, now Part 2 has been resurrected with plans to release it as an EP.

* Sarah Mclachlan had ''two'' hiatuses that were over 6 years long, ''back-to-back'', though they were justified since she was starting a family and then having a long divorce with her husband/band drummer that caused her creativity to crash.

* The music industry is notorious when it comes to shelving or stalling albums by female pop artists. [[UnfortunateImplications Unfortunately]], female pop artists have the least creative control. Usually they have to fight over artistic direction and their own [[HotterAndSexier public image and style]], thus sending their albums to development hell territory.
** This is especially true for female Pop, R&B, and Rap artists, Adina Howard being among the most known examples. Her '97-'98 ''Fantasy Island'' record was shelved because she wanted to do more than just sexually explicit songs. It was eventually bootlegged and released to the streets. Funnily, the album was still rather overtly sexual, leading people to wonder just how much sexier her label wanted the album to be.
** Female rap group Da 5 Footaz ''Lifetime'' album never saw the light of day either, despite press kits being available. Their album was suppose to have been released as far back as '''[='96=]'''. It has since been released underground via bootleg.

** As of [[http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.25705/title.dj-premier-producing-nas-post-def-jam-album October 2013]], Premier claims that project is still on, but they are waiting until after Nas releases his ''Life Is Good'' follow-up, which will complete his contract with Def Jam.

* [=LaToya=] Jackson's ''Startin' Over'' began its production on November 2001, has had some singles released, but has no date for hitting shelves yet.

* TearsForFears announced they were working on a new album in 2013 and after numerous delays and rerecordings, stated it was complete, titled "The Tipping Point" and would come out on Warner Bros in 2017...shortly after which they resigned with Universal Records who got the rights to release the new album, but insisted the group release a new Greatest Hits collection featuring two of the new songs as a way to drum up publicity for it. "The Tipping Point" is still unreleased as of late 2018, and when it will come out is anyone's guess, the group was planning a tour to tie in with it, but postponed this until 2019 due to Orzabal being unwell.

* Sky Ferreira had been signed to Capitol Records since 2008, and hadn't released an album until 2013. Keep in mind that her debut set had been delayed at least three times; its original release date was January 2011, with additional planned releases in 2012 and 2013 that proved to be nonstarters. While she ''had'' released two [=EPs=] and a couple of singles over the five year period, nothing she had put out prior to the release of her debut album had made much of an impact, and she basically coasted on blog hype and random modeling gigs to keep her name out there.

* Josh Thompson's second album, ''Change'', was to have been issued in 2011 on Creator/ColumbiaRecords. However, he was quickly dropped due to the lead single underperforming. He then moved to Show Dog-Universal Music to release one more album. When that one failed too, he stopped recording, but an independent label got the rights to ''Change'' and issued it in 2017.

** However, in December 2013, it appeared she may be reentering the music industry ([[GenreShift albeit for making Electronic Dance Music instead of the pop sound she's done in the past]].

* [=LeAnn=] Rimes' cover album ''Lady & Gentlemen''. First announced in 2009; first single (a cover of John Anderson's "Swingin'") stalled at the bottom of the charts. The announced release date came and went. [=LeAnn=] tweeted that the album would see release later in 2010 with a bonus re-recording of her debut single "Blue". A non-cover single ("Crazy Women") dropped in 2011 but fell out of the 40 in the blink of an eye. Finally in mid-2011, ''another'' new single ("Give", also not a cover) cracked the charts and the album was finally released in 2011. Likely, the label thought Rimes' relationship and later marriage to the already-married Eddie Cibrian which made them ''US Weekly'' regulars would poison any attempt to release the record, as many of her existing fans and collaborators bailed from her out of disgust with her behavior.

* Montgomery Gentry had this happen at the end of their tenure with Creator/ColumbiaRecords in the late 2000s. They were supposed to do an album called ''Freedom'', whose lead-off single was "Oughta Be More Songs About That". After the single failed, the label decided instead to release an EP, whose lead single was "While You're Still Young". But after ''that'' failed, the EP was shelved and they left the label.

* Leslie Carter (Nick and Aaron's sister) released her first single, "Like, Wow," in 2000, with the album slated to release later that year. The single even appeared on the ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'' soundtrack. Unfortunately, Creator/DreamWorksRecords folded shortly after and the complete album never saw a proper release.

* Anthony Rapp released a single solo album, ''Look Around'', in 2000. After that, he claimed he was giving up solo work in favor of promoting his alternative/indie rock band Albinokid, and has promised they'll release an album since 2005. Several track listings have appeared on his MySpace, and he's mentioned songs he plans to include at the band's live performances, but the album hasn't appeared four years later. In fact, from lack of information on the band, it seems that they broke up.

* [[{{Garbage}} Shirley Manson's]] solo album. She eventually completed one, but her label denied to release it for not being commercial enough. She admits that said album even had a funeral for it.

* Music/FaithHill has been trying to mount a comeback album since 2011, but so far, only two singles have been released: a cover of Music/OneRepublic's "Come Home" in 2011, and "American Heart" a year later. Both flopped, and the comeback went on hiatus. However, she had a Top 5 hit in 2014 backing her husband, Music/TimMcGraw, on "Meanwhile Back at Mama's". In 2017, she and Tim signed a joint deal with Creator/AristaRecords Nashville.

* Music/AndrewWK Is becoming a bit notorious for doing everything but his music. He's been doing self-help article's with The Village Voice, Starred as the host of Destroy Build Destroy, Host's a talk show for TheBlaze Radio Network, and still no album! His last original album (besides his Jazz record 55 Cadillac) was Close Calls with Brick Walls in 2006. The last full-length project he's done as a cover album about Anime/MobileSuitGundam in 2009. The Last music he's made period was 2011's The "Party All Goddamn Night" EP. He said at a [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic brony convention]] that he plans to release a album called Raucous in 2013. Still waiting....

* Indie band [[HavalinaRailCo Havalina]] announced their sixth album, ''Pacific'', in 2004. The recording got delayed because the bassist wanted to add the percussion of a library cart being hit, and it took months for him to arrange to record this (the library wouldn't let him borrow the cart). Then the bassist left, and Matt Wignall found a new bassist, renamed the band to Matt Death & The New Intellectuals, rerecorded two songs, and tweaked the track list of the album (renamed to ''Death on the Pacific''). Matt Wignall has said that the album is finished, and that he plans to release it as a free download. That was back in 2008...

* Music/HunterHayes has had a terrible time following up his first album. After his second album ''Storyline'' bombed, he released a new lead single called "21", which was supposed to lead off a third album. Its poor performance caused the song to be put on a digital-only EP titled ''The 21 Project''. A new single called "Yesterday's Song" dropped in October 2016, but as of March 2017, it ''still'' failed to reach Top 40 on the ''Billboard'' country charts.

* CountryMusic singer Josh Turner's sixth studio album has been on hold due to poor single performance. Original lead single "Lay Low" petered out at #25 in late 2014-early 2015. After that, he switched producers from Frank Rogers (who had been his producer since his debut single in 2002) to Kenny Greenberg and launched "Hometown Girl" in May 2016, only to see it struggle too. Regardless, the album, ''Deep South'', was finally given a release date of March 10, 2017.

* Music/TobyKeith's eighteenth album, ''35 MPH Town'', was repeatedly delayed due to its singles underperforming on the charts. Lead single "Drunk Americans" both debuted and peaked at #27, while the followups didn't hit the Top 40. His next album has also been stalled due to lead single "A Few More Cowboys" bombing.

** Frontman Chester Bennington's solo group Dead by Sunrise released one album back in 2009, much like Mike, he has expressed interest in doing more solo work but for the time being is focusing all of his energy into Linkin Park.

* Dr. Dre's third solo album, ''Detox''. It was in talks for most of the aughties, having been since 2000. The album had two well-received promo singles in 2011; the second, "I Need a Doctor", hit the top 5 and was nominated for a Grammy. Dre finally scrapped the project in 2015 in favor of a new set of songs for the ''Film/StraightOuttaCompton'' movie.

* Jamie O'Neal had a hard time following up her first album, ''Shiver''. "Every Little Thing" was supposed to be on an album titled ''On My Way to You'', slated for a 2003 release but it flopped and she left Mercury Records in favor of Creator/CapitolRecords. The change of label got three hits off ''Brave'' between 2004 and 2006, but "God Don't Make Mistakes" went nowhere, as did two singles released in 2008-09 on a small indie label. She finally returned in 2014 with a covers album.

* Enfold Darkness saw an eight-year gap between ''Our Cursed Rapture'' and ''Adversary Omnipotent'' that can be chalked up to, among other things, [[RevolvingDoorBand an inability to keep a steady lineup]], [[ScrewedByTheNetwork label issues after Sumerian abruptly dropped them]], Greg Vance and his girlfriend both having their cars totaled within weeks of one another (and Greg's girlfriend coming out far worse than he did), and, just as they were about to ''finally'' get the damn thing recorded, [[FaithHeelTurn Matt Brown converting to Islam and leaving the band]], necessitating ''another'' member search. The fact that the album was announced and put up for preorder basically right after the mastering process was concluded can be chalked up to people being sick enough of delays to basically eliminate the need for promotion.