The pioneering singer-songwriter returns with her 18th studio album, a politically charged narrative that blends myth and activism, ahead of a world tour.
by Paul Cashmere
Tori Amos has confirmed the release date for her 18th studio album, In Times Of Dragons, scheduled for May 1 via Universal/Fontana. The announcement marks the next chapter in a career that has spanned more than three decades, producing over 12 million album sales and a reputation for fearless storytelling, musical experimentation, and unflinching political commentary.
The album arrives as a new entry in Amos’s long-standing body of work, which has repeatedly placed the personal and the political in direct conversation. She has built a discography that moves from the raw intimacy of Little Earthquakes through the mythic landscapes of Boys For Pele and the conceptual boldness of American Doll Posse, while continuing to evolve her sound and her message. Across that career, Amos has consistently treated the album as a platform for narrative and emotional truth, often addressing sexuality, feminism, religion, and power with a poetic urgency.
In Times Of Dragons is described as a “track collection” that continues this tradition, presenting a cast of characters and a storyline that explores the struggle for freedom against forces of control and suppression. Amos frames the album as a metaphorical account of the fight for democracy, and she does not shy away from direct political language in her description of the record. The album’s central metaphor, as Amos explains, is a battle between democracy and tyranny, a theme she has pursued in various forms throughout her career, most recently in the 2021 album Ocean To Ocean.
Amos has also revealed the album artwork, created using a vintage photographic process. Photographer Kasia Wozniak employed a large-format camera and direct paper positives through the RA-4 process, producing images that were “slowly composed, photographed, and processed” in a ritualistic manner. Wozniak described the collaboration as an intuitive, rhythmic process that aligned her vision with Amos’s, while Amos credited stylist Karen Binns and the wider creative team for bringing the characters and story to life. The resulting artwork is intended to mirror the album’s mythic and political narrative, adding a visual layer to the record’s themes.
The release also follows a string of recent projects that highlight Amos’s enduring versatility. In 2025 she issued The Music Of Tori And The Muses, a companion album to her New York Times bestselling children’s book Tori And The Muses. That release continued her practice of blending literary storytelling with musical composition, and it reaffirmed her position as an artist who moves freely between mediums.
Amos’s history as a child prodigy and classically trained pianist has always informed her approach to songwriting and performance. Born Myra Ellen Amos in North Carolina, she entered the Peabody Institute’s preparatory division at age five, leaving at eleven to pursue popular music. After an early stint with the 1980s pop-rock band Y Kant Tori Read, she emerged as a solo artist with Little Earthquakes in 1992. The album’s confessional intensity and musical restraint helped establish her as a singular voice in alternative rock, and she has remained a figure of influence and innovation ever since.
In addition to her solo work, Amos has produced concept albums, orchestral projects, and classical collaborations, and she has also written memoirs and contributed to stage adaptations. Her artistic output has consistently reflected a willingness to experiment, to shift between genres, and to address social and political issues with clarity and conviction.
In Times Of Dragons will be available on CD and vinyl, with a limited edition ‘Smoke Swirl’ colour vinyl that includes a signed art card. Pre-orders are currently available through the album’s distribution channels, and the release is being positioned as one of the major statements of Amos’s later career.
Alongside the album announcement, Amos confirmed a world tour that begins in the UK and continues through Europe and the United States. The tour will feature touring bassist Jon Evans, drummer Ash Soan, and a trio of backing vocalists, marking the first time Amos has used backing vocalists in a live setting. The UK leg opens in Sheffield on April 8, 2026, and concludes in Lithuania on May 30, with the US dates commencing in West Palm Beach on July 7 and wrapping in Seattle on September 2.
Tour Dates
April 8, 2026, Sheffield, UK
May 30, 2026, Lithuania
July 7, 2026, West Palm Beach, Florida, US
September 2, 2026, Seattle, Washington, US
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