Michael Stipe debuts new single on ‘Colbert’ and confirms solo album will arrive in 2026: “That’s an exclusive”
REM frontman Michael Stipe has confirmed that his long-awaited debut solo album is now in the closing stages and will arrive in 2026.
Stipe, who has been discussing this record for several years, provided the fresh update during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on April 23rd.
“I’m writing the final lyrics for my first-ever solo album, and one of the songs is the sound of a tree hearing itself for the first time,” Stipe shared with Colbert, before acknowledging that it’s a “confusing situation”.
Stipe elaborated on the strange-sounding track, “My friend recorded a tree in my backyard in Georgia and played it back to itself, and so it sounds like Daft Punk, but I’m putting a sea shanty.”
The former REM frontman then delightfully joined forces with Colbert to recite a brief rendition of the famous ‘Drunken Sailor’ sea shanty.
“I did write a very special lyric, because I misheard what I thought was part of the original (‘Drunken Sailor’) song,” he said, before revealing his lyrics, “Tie him to the mast and shave his belly, Tie him to the mast and shave his belly, Duct tape donkey ears, jelly wellies, earl-eye in the morning.”
Stipe then pledged that if the shanty makes its way onto the “tree song”, as he coined it, that “those are the lyrics that are going to go in”.
Later on, during the same interview, Stipe confirmed that he would be taking to the stage to perform his new single, ‘The Rest of Ever’, and shared, “My record is coming out at the end of the year, that’s an exclusive. I’m announcing it now, my first ever solo record, and I’m really pleased about that.”
The rock icon then gifted Colbert with a special T-shirt commemorating the world-exclusive performance of ‘The Rest of Ever’, before adding that he’d actually made 215 T-shirts for the entire cast and crew of The Late Show.
Stipe then, alongside his band, took to the stage to deliver a hypnotisingly rousing rendition of ‘The Rest of Ever’, providing a promising glimpse of what to expect from his upcoming record.
Last month, Stipe explained to The Times precisely why it has taken him so many years to make his first record, stating, “Covid didn’t help, but I’m finishing it. When the band split, I just needed a break.”
Stipe conceded that it had taken longer than he had wanted to complete the record, which he largely puts down to the quality of the work that he produced with REM and wanting this album to be comparable to those records.
He shared, “I took five years but I got pulled back into music. It’s been a struggle. That’s the main thing. I want it to be great, but I’ve got the pressure of having been in REM and it’s a high bar, because I want this to be as good as that, and that’s near impossible.”
Now, it appears the wait is only a few months away from being over…
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