Michael Stipe, solo album by the end of 2026

A few days ago I was talking about a new song by Michael Stipe: the soundtrack to an HBO series, “Rooster”, recorded with Andrew Watt. This is an extemporaneous production compared to the songs that the ex-REM frontman has published in recent years and which, in his intentions, should have led to a solo album. Sooner or later and more later than before: because the last time he talked about it years ago (in 2021 at Rockol, then again in 2023), giving it the home stretch.

Could 2026, 15 years after the band’s dissolution, be the right time?
The singer himself talks about it in an interview with the Times, declaring that it will be ready by the end of the year

I’m working on a solo album, and it’s taking longer than expected. Covid didn’t help but I’m finishing it. When the band broke up, I just needed a break. I took five years, but then I got sucked into music. It was a struggle. This is the main thing.
I want it to be great, but I have the pressure of having been in REM and the bar is high, because I want it to be as good as that, and it’s almost impossible. So it’s fucking exciting but also terrifying, and I’m also composing music for the first time, and I think I’m good, but not great. But I love my voice. I don’t like my voice when I talk, but I love when I sing, and I can’t wait to get back to offering music to the world.

According to the interview, Stipe still has eight songs to finish, mostly lyrics.

Before “I Played the fool”, Stipe had not released songs since the summer of 2023, when “Give me a hand” was released, recorded for Earth Percent, an organization founded by Brian Eno to support environmental initiatives. Stipe’s first solo return was in 2019, when he released “Your capricious soul”, his first official single as a soloist, which was followed a few months later, in early 2022, with “Drive to the ocean”. During the lockdown he then published “No time for love like now”, recorded with Aaron Dessner of the National and translated and reinterpreted by Zucchero with the title “Love now!”. “Future, if future”, released in 2022 or instead featured the collaboration of Brian Eno. In 2021 he recorded a cover of “Sunday morning” by the Velvet Underground.

In the interview Stipe once again denied the possibility of a band reunion – even if every now and then he returns to the stage to sing their songs

“No. We are just very good friends who somehow survived this 31-year madness that usually divides people.