Morrissey announces new album, ‘Make Up Is A Lie’, and shares title track: “This new music is a valid portrait of much more to come in 2026”
Morrissey has returned with his new single, ‘Make Up Is A Lie’, the title track from his new album.
Over the Christmas period, Morrissey previously shared the tracklist for the album, which included the titular ‘Make Up Is A Lie’, as well as other songs including ‘Zoom Zoom The Little Boy’, ‘Lester Bangs’, ‘The Night Pop Dropped’, ‘Kerching Kerching’ and ‘Notre-Dame’.
Now, he’s confirmed his new album, Make Up Is A Lie, will arrive on March 6th, 2026. The announcement comes after Morrissey confirmed in December that he’d finally found a new record label and had signed with Sire Records, a subsidiary of Warner Records.
On the new track, Morrissey delivers the following line in his signature style, “Ten years past in boredom, I made my way to Paris, To stand before her gravestone, I read the words in granite,” before the anthemic chorus kicks in.
In a statement to coincide with the new track, the former Smiths frontman shared on his website, “The wait has sometimes felt like a tragedy, but the release today of ‘Make-up is a Lie’ is like a reunion of lovers. And after several plays it seems to have existed always. We can now place our faith in what is visible.”
He also instructed his fans, “Please sit in your favorite chair in your dark cabin with the lights out – or, get off your head and enjoy some impulsive self-humiliation – as I often do.”
The Mancunian continued, “I hope you consider ‘Make-up is a Lie’ to be worth the attention that you give it. Many of us, here, and in France, Turkey, Poland, The Netherlands, Denmark, Greece, America, England … we have waited because our belief is unchallengeable: let the squawkers squawk.”
His post concluded, “What survives beyond their grasp is love. I insist on being myself in spite of much discouragement, and this new music is a valid portrait of much more to come in 2026. Born, then born, and born again. I am your lover-to-be, MORRISSEY.”
The album was produced by Joe Chiccarelli, who has previously worked with the likes of The Strokes and The Shins, at Studio La Fabrique in Southern France. Intriguingly, Make-Up Is A Lie contains a cover of Roxy Music’s track, ‘Amazona’.
Morrissey has not released a studio album since I Am Not a Dog on a Chain, which arrived via BMG in 2020. Since then, he announced Bonfire of Teenagers; however, he left Capitol Records, and the album has never materialised.
Ahead of the release of Make-Up Is A Lie, Morrissey will perform at London’s O2 Arena on February 28th, which is his only scheduled UK date.
See the full tracklist below.
Morrissey – Make Up Is A Lie tracklist:
- ‘You’re Right, It’s Time’
- ‘Make-Up Is a Lie’
- ‘Notre-Dame’
- ‘Amazona’
- ‘Headache’
- ‘Boulevard’
- ‘Zoom Zoom the Little Boy’
- ‘The Night Pop Dropped’
- ‘Kerching Kerching’
- ‘Lester Bangs’
- ‘Many Icebergs Ago’
- ‘The Monsters of Pig Alley’
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