Kings Of Leon have announced details of a new album titled ‘Can We Please Have Fun’. Check out the lead single ‘Mustang’ below.
READ MORE: The NME Big Read – Kings Of Leon: “We’re happy and we love each other”
Announced today (February 22), the upcoming LP will mark the band’s ninth full-length studio album, and comes as the follow-up to 2021’s ‘When You See Yourself’.
Set for release on May 10, the album is set to see the members cutting themselves loose of expectations, experimenting with their sound and, as the title suggests, having some fun. Recorded at Dark Horse Studio, ‘Can We Please Have Fun’ was produced with new collaborator Kid Harpoon, and sees Caleb Followill and co. return to their gritty origins, while all the while pushing their sound into new territory.
“It was the most enjoyable record I’ve ever been a part of,” Caleb said, while bandmate Nathan Followill agreed, adding: “It’s like we allowed ourselves to be musically vulnerable… I love it when a rock band is not embarrassed to admit that every song doesn’t have to be on 11.”
As shared in a press release, the sound of the forthcoming album sees Kings Of Leon “unified in vision and purpose, freed from stress, and basking in an atmosphere of positivity”, and today they have shared the first taster of the LP in the form of lead single ‘Mustang’.
The band first teased news of the new single during their first live show of 2024 in Mexico last month, hinting to fans that new material was on the horizon.
Later, Kings Of Leon shared a brief instrumental snippet of the song in question on social media and confirmed that the song would be arriving today at 5pm GMT.
Check it out above.
As for the album, the songs were written during the process of them transitioning between labels, and without the members experiencing the pressure to share new material. Due to this, the band explain, the finished result sees them tackle a range of emotions throughout, rather than hone in on just a heavy sound.
“We had no label pressure or anything like that,” Jared Followill explained. “It was like we were playing with house money. It gave us the freedom to try to do something great without having to think about anything else except for the music.”
“We were able to curate it to exactly what we wanted it to be,” Nathan agreed. “That was a big positive for us.”
Check out the album artwork for ‘Can We Please Have Fun’ below, as well as the tracklist. You can pre-order/pre-save it here.
Kings Of Leon ‘Can We Please Have Fun’ album artwork. CREDIT: Press
The ‘Can We Please Have Fun’ tracklist is:
1. ‘Ballerina Radio’
2. ‘Rainbow Ball’
3. ‘Nowhere To Run’
4. ‘Mustang’
5. ‘Actual Daydream’
6. ‘Split Screen’
7. ‘Don’t Stop The Bleeding’
8. ‘Nothing To Do’
9. ‘Television’
10. ‘Hesitation Generation’
11. ‘Ease Me On’
12. ‘Seen’
As well as sharing the new single and announcing news of the upcoming LP, today Kings Of Leon have also been confirmed as the latest headliners set to perform at BST Hyde Park.
The Followills will take to the stage on June 30, and join other headliners for the London series including Kylie Minogue, who will perform on July 13, Shania Twain (July 7), Stray Kids (July 14) and Andrea Bocelli (July 5). Visit here for tickets.
In other Kings Of Leon news, their last studio album,‘When You See Yourself’, was given a glowing four-star review from NME. “We’ll be seeing the Kings for a long time to come – and if every next album is like this one, that’s a cause for celebration,” it read.
More recently, they were announced as the headliners for the F1 British Grand Prix opening concert back in November, which is scheduled to take place at Silverstone on July 4. They’ll also make an appearance at Lollapalooza Brazil next month.
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