\n<\/p>\n
\n\tMike Mills<\/a> wants to smell like Ariana Grande<\/a>, the R.E.M.<\/a> bassist admits on \u201cMy Cologne,\u201d the first single from his recently-formed supergroup Howl Owl Howl.<\/a> Alongside Hootie and the Blowfish\u2019s Darius Rucker<\/a> and the Black Crowes\u2019 Steve Gorman<\/a>, Mills poked fun at the pop star\u2019s beauty and fragrance brand R.E.M., which shares a name with her Sweetener<\/a> <\/em>deep cut \u201cR.E.M.\u201d \u2014 but also with his band<\/a> and, maybe most famously, the sleep cycle.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cAriana Grande put out a record not long ago, and her first single was called \u2018R.E.M.,\u2019 [Note: it was actually \u201cNo Tears Left to Cry,\u201d but we\u2019ll let it slide this time]<\/em>. It\u2019s the dream stage of sleep, that\u2019s where we got it. It\u2019s universal. That\u2019s fine,\u201d Mills said in an Instagram<\/a> video about the single. \u201cAnd she put out a line of perfume called R.E.M. I said, well, okay, that\u2019s okay. And one of the containers for her perfume was a cassette, I mean, literally a cassette, and it said R.E.M. on it. And then I said, OK, that\u2019s going over the line. I gotta say something about that.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tMills clarified that he isn\u2019t actually upset, but didn\u2019t want to pass up the opportunity to lean into the joke. \u201cI thought it was just funny,\u201d he said. \u201cSo we made a wrote a song called \u2018My Cologne.\u2019 The chorus line is, \u2018I want to smell like Ariana Grande, and I think she wants you to smell like me.\u2019 It\u2019s all in good fun, and I hope she likes it.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tHowl Owl Howl was officially announced last month, but have only just started to release music. \u201cHowl Owl Howl was born from friendship and the pure joy of collaboration, and is now powered by the world-class instincts of true originals, who are far from done making noise,\u201d the band\u2019s streaming bio reads. \u201cInfusing roots rock with an open-minded afternative flair, the band\u2019s first batch of music was 30 years in the making, matching a fluid, feel-oriented rhythm section to the barrel-chested vocal rasp of an iconic frontman.\u201d<\/p>\n