Robert Smith shares regret over The Cure’s ‘4:13 Dream’: “It was nowhere near what I wanted it to be”
The Cure frontman Robert Smith has shared his regrets about the band’s 2008 album, 4:13 Dream, which dampened his attitude towards the music industry.
Smith made the comments about the album during his first-ever podcast appearance on Sidetracked with Annie and Nick, available on BBC Sounds. The episode, set for release on December 19th, covers a wide array of topics with The Cure vocalist, including his public showdown with Ticketmaster in 2023 and his thoughts on Chappell Roan’s recent comments regarding unacceptable fan behaviour.
Last month, The Cure returned with their chart-topping new album, Songs of a Lost World, marking their first release since 4:13 Dream, which Smith has never been proud of as a complete body of work. He explained to the two hosts: “If I’m really honest I was trying to make an album in 2008 which was a double album and it was really odd, it had all kinds of stuff on it, instrumental stuff.”
Despite Smith’s desire for 4:13 Dream to be an expansive double album, he says he “was pressured into reducing it all down into a single album, that was too long and it didn’t work. And I have never felt happy about it. I bristle a little bit about it, ’cause at some point, before I fall over, I’m determined… there are 13 songs from those sessions that never got released.”
The Cure frontman then elaborated on his original vision for 4:13 Dream, adding, “It was a double album and the whole idea of 4:13 Dream, was that it was like a fever dream and as it turned out, it wasn’t. It was nowhere near what I wanted it to be.”
Due to the experience, Smith was reluctant to make another album in a hurry, stating, “And I learnt a lesson, and maybe that’s why we didn’t make another album for such a long time! I was so sickened by the process of like whereby we were commodified, and it really did upset me a lot.”
As a result, with Songs of a Lost World, Smith took his time to ensure the record was the album that he wanted to make, rather than listening to the demands of record label executives.
Elsewhere in the conversation, Smith said that after he publicly demanded Ticketmaster sell a portion of tickets to their North American tour in 2023 for $25, the singer was saddened that more artists didn’t come forward to support his actions. Although Ticketmaster eventually agreed to his request, much to Smith’s frustration, they implemented booking fees which cost fans more than the tickets themselves.
He shared: “I was slightly upset [though] because very, very few artists actually stood up and said this is right. Live Nation and Ticketmaster and other organisations that are pretty much monopolistic, wield a lot of power and artists are scared to speak out. I’m at the tail end of what I’m doing, so I really don’t care.”
The Cure singer revealed that “lower down on the scale, a lot of people got in touch and said like, it’s so nice to hear you saying something. But why is no one else saying anything?” He agreed with this sentiment, saying that “many other artists who are in a much better position than I am to actually speak out” but have remained silent.
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