\n<\/p>\n
Michael Stipe<\/a> wasn\u2019t kidding when he told<\/a> the New York Times Magazine<\/em> in 2023 he was \u201cin no rush\u201d to release his long-awaited first solo album. Four years after its initially teased premiere date, the former R.E.M. singer-songwriter has finally revealed when it\u2019s coming in an interview with the<\/em> LA Times<\/em><\/a>: the first single arrives New Year\u2019s Eve of this year, with the as-yet-untitled LP debuting in May 2027. Also, per Stipe, \u201cfive seconds into the new year, there will be a new song with a video setting up the album.\u201d Earlier this year, Stipe debuted<\/a> a song from the project called \u201cThe Rest of Ever\u201d on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert<\/em>.<\/p>\n Stipe is working with resident rock-icon whisperer Andrew Watt on the album, along with Andy LeMaster and \u201ca gallery of thieves,\u201d he told the Times<\/em>. \u201cAndy and I are in the studio for three days mixing some of the songs that he and I have worked on together,\u201d he said. \u201cI think the rest of it should be a little bit of a surprise.\u201d Stipe also added some vague details about the album\u2019s politics (or lack thereof). \u201cI was talking to someone about the record over dinner\u2014they haven\u2019t heard a single note of it\u2026and they said, \u2018It\u2019s political?\u2019 I said, \u2018No, not at all,\u2019\u201d Stipe recalled. \u201cThen I said, \u2018In fact, just by dint of it being me and my place in pop culture and my reputation as an activist and the kind of songs that I wrote in the past with my former band, it is deeply, deeply political.\u2019 But it\u2019s not topical. Music is such a powerful medium, and I\u2019m responding to instinct over anything else right now in terms of what I feel like I need from music and what I feel like I can offer.\u201d<\/p>\n