It wouldn’t be quite right to say that Michael Stipe has taken 15 years to finish his debut solo album.
That is indeed how long it’s been since the breakup of R.E.M., the sensitive yet venturesome alternative-rock band that Stipe led from the college-town wilds of Athens, Ga., to the pinnacle of global pop stardom in the MTV era. But the singer has kept busy with plenty else over the last decade and a half, including publishing several books of photos, producing an album by the electroclash group Fischerspooner and campaigning for Bernie Sanders during Sanders’ two presidential runs.
“I just get distracted by everything,” he told the New York Times in 2023.
Yet now, after years of work in various studios with various collaborators, Stipe is finally in the home stretch on his solo LP, he said this month in a joint video interview alongside one of his producers, Andrew Watt. The singer, who’s 66, even has a release plan in place. (Read more about that below.)
Stipe and Watt’s partnership grew out of a TV theme song, of all things: “I Played the Fool,” which the two wrote and recorded for “Rooster,” the Emmy-nominated HBO dramedy starring Steve Carell as a hacky novelist who lands a writer-in-residence gig at a small liberal-arts college. “Rooster” was created by Bill Lawrence, whose many other shows include “Ted Lasso” and “Scrubs”; Watt — who’s become known as something of a classic-rock whisperer thanks to his work with the likes of Elton John, Paul McCartney and the Rolling Stones — composed the score for the series and is engaged to Lawrence’s daughter Charlotte.
Dressed in a Cramps T-shirt, Watt, 35, Zoomed from his home in Los Angeles not long after he appeared with yet another client, Madonna, at the MTV Video Music Awards, where he portrayed Keith Haring in an all-star performance of Madonna’s song “Danceteria” set in a replica of a busy bathroom at that early-’80s New York club.
“I got the call: ‘Come play guitar,’ ” said the producer. “OK. ‘Actually, you don’t need your guitar.’ OK. ‘Actually, you’re gonna pee in a urinal.’ It was so chaotic, but it was a lot of fun.”
As Watt spoke, Stipe popped up onscreen from his place in Georgia. He wore tinted eyeglasses and a T-shirt with a line drawing of Chateau Marmont and apologized for joining us with “a mouthful of food.”
Michael, you’ve said that Andrew cold-texted you about “Rooster” with an assist from Elton John. Stipe: Elton has never given my number to anyone in 35 years of knowing him, so I thought: I need to pay attention to this.
What gave you the nerve, Andrew? Watt: There was only one voice that could do the theme.
Stipe: Andrew and I had actually met earlier through Elton at a Broadway premiere. We were sat next to each other, which I think was intentional, looking back now. It’s really about vibes, and the vibes were right. I’m also a huge fan of Bill Lawrence — I love “Ted Lasso,” but I really love “Shrinking” and “Scrubs.” So he’s doing this new project with Steve Carell, who I’m also crazy about? OK, I’m gonna put my solo album on hold for this.
On hold again. Stipe: I love being a part of pop culture — I had my day in the sun, and it feels really good to be in the center of that. This was an opportunity for me to come back into it, and I jumped at it.
In 2023, you said you didn’t want any electric guitar on your solo album. “I Played the Fool” is full of electric guitar. Stipe: Let’s be clear that this song is not gonna be on my album.
But I take from that quote that you’d grown unenthused about electric guitar. Stipe: Not unenthused. It’s hard when you’ve spent 32 years of your adult life with Peter Buck — it’s hard to find someone who has that same enthusiasm and love of the instrument. I found that in Andrew, and “I Played the Fool” is a gateway drug to being like, Wow, I can actually do this with someone else who has the same creative impulses I have and who’s not Peter Buck. And, by the way, Peter loves “Rooster” and loves the song.
Andrew, were you channeling Peter Buck on guitar? Stipe: [Laughs.]
Watt: I was just playing what I thought were good chords. The song had to be upbeat because it was gonna be a theme song. Michael and I even joked: Best TV theme song is “Friends,” right? But like other Bill shows, “Rooster” is sad and happy at the same time, so I was trying to write some minor chords that felt like they could have an emotional pull. On the guitar thing: Peter Buck is one of one. He plays in a certain style, and it can’t be emulated. But I think the electric guitar can be used in a lot of different ways — it can be made to sound crazy and mean and f— up.
Accurate to say, Michael, that you wrote the song in the voice of Steve Carell’s character? Stipe: It’s an approximation. I wouldn’t presume — based on the script and seeing the first episode — I wouldn’t presume to get inside the head of that character. But it’s in the territory of someone who’s a writer. Hopefully it’s got that sadness — I’m good at that. And it’s got a bit of humor in it. There’s a really bad pun in the chorus, which was intentional: “Cry me an ocean of one-liners.”
Watt: It was so awesome to watch him writing. You’ve never seen someone throwing pages like Michael — he’s got pages and pages and pages and pages. I don’t know how you keep track of all those pieces of paper.
Stipe: I don’t. It’s like Robert DeNiro in the movie “Brazil” — I get swallowed up by them from time to time.
What does Michael’s voice do to your producer’s brain, Andrew? Watt: His voice moves me in a way that I don’t even know what’s happening. There’s a new song in particular that’s like a slow build of this character unraveling in front of you. To be on the other side of that while he’s doing it is incredible.
Michael, you told Stephen Colbert in April that your album was due at the end of 2026. So? Stipe: So it is. The first song is coming out on New Year’s Eve.
Just under the wire. Stipe: Five seconds into the new year, there will be a new song with a video setting up the album. And the album will be released in May.
In addition to Andrew, you’re working with Andy LeMaster? Stipe: Andy and I are working tonight, in fact — it’s why I’m here. Well, it’s my sister’s birthday is why I’m here. But Andy and I are in the studio for three days mixing some of the songs that he and I have worked on together. I think the rest of it should be a little bit of a surprise. But it’s a gallery of thieves [laughs]. I’ve pulled together a really exceptional group of people, and I’m really thrilled with the way it’s going.
Would you say the songs address the state of the world? Stipe: The most interesting exchange happened about a month and a half ago. I was talking to someone about the record over dinner — they haven’t heard a single note of it. It’s someone who knows me very well, and they said, “It’s political?” I said, “No, not at all.” Then I said, “In 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.” But it’s not topical. Music is such a powerful medium, and I’m 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.
Some artists have described — Stipe: Actually, I have to mention — I noticed your T-shirt, Andrew, and I have a Cramps story for you. They were supposed to play in Athens at the Georgia Theatre [in 1979], and the show was canceled because they pulled up in a yellow hearse and got out, and the guy who booked the show was like, “Not gonna happen.” They wound up playing above the local punk rock record store, and I saw the original lineup with Bryan [Gregory], the original guitarist. One of the most extraordinary shows I’ve ever seen.
Watt: Do you remember seeing a Flying V guitar with polka dots?
Stipe: I have photographs. All the members of Pylon were there, and some of the B-52’s were there. Everyone came out.
Watt: Send me the picture when you find it.
Stipe: Something tells me you probably own that guitar.
Watt: I’m not gonna say much more about that here.
While we’re on the subject of shirts, let me ask about yours, Michael. Stipe: Ah yes.
L.A. is a place you like or don’t like? Stipe: We have a love-hate relationship, and we have since the early ’90s. I lived in Santa Monica for a while, then after the earthquake my place was demolished. I lived at the Chateau Marmont for the better part of three years, then I bought an apartment in New York and went back to where I really belong. I love Los Angeles for the opportunities that it provides me. I feel a bit lost there, but I do have a large group of family who call Los Angeles home.
You two have been working at Electric Lady in New York. Andrew, you ever try to get Michael to come to your place in L.A.? Watt: Michael’s come over — we had a great time. I’m from New York, so any chance to be back, I’m ecstatic to be there. The streets speak to me. There was a time on this album where I went out drinking with friends after the studio and came in the next morning with something I wrote when I was extremely hungover — something perfectly dark and cold.
Stipe: I took that and ran with it. He came in with a piece of music, and an hour and a half later, I had a lyric for it that completely surprised me. It came out of nowhere, and that’s a song that’s gonna be on the record. That’s a lock.
Watt: You can do good things when you’re hungover — that’s the lesson here.
Andrew has been described by some of the artists he’s worked with as a producer willing to kick ass. What’s been your experience, Michael, in terms of being pushed? Stipe: I’m a toughie — I’m not easily manipulated or pushed around. And there’s none of that happening. This just feels like two parts that are fitting together beautifully to create something bigger than the both of us. That sounds as hippie-ish as I can possibly get — we’re all at Erewhon now, sipping 16-ounce $35 spirulina drinks. But I need to feel that connection on a very deep level for it happen. I referred to myself in the past as a one-trick pony, that trick being R.E.M. and me knowing that those guys were supporting me with the kind of music they provided me to sing over and to write words to. When I find the people that I’m able to do that with, I hold on. I’m a very loyal participant in that regard.
There was a tweet — Stipe: Was that quotable?
Highly. Stipe: I haven’t done interviews in a while. Sorry, I’m a little off my mark.
A tweet went music-nerd viral a few weeks ago where somebody questioned R.E.M.’s cultural footprint in 2026. How present do you think the music is today? Stipe: There are four people that would be the worst people on Earth to ask, and you’re asking one of them right now. The music and what we did is part of me — it’s in my DNA. What does it mean to people? I have no idea.
Over to you, Andrew. Watt: It’s forever. It’s evergreen. I’m at a party, it plays.
We describe musicians now as having eras. Which of R.E.M.’s eras means the most to you, Andrew? Watt: Feels almost impossible to talk about this with Michael staring right at me. Next!
Michael, Bono told an interviewer that you were together when you learned that Dolly Parton had died. He said you fell to the floor of the van you were riding in. Stipe: I’m from the South — Dolly has meant the world to me for a very, very long time. Bono didn’t reach out to me to say, “I’m gonna tell this story” — it surprised me. But it’s a good story, and it speaks well of an American icon. The moment it happened was for me, of course, extremely shocking and emotional. In fact, we were on our way to Elton’s for dinner. I knew that U2 had worked with Dolly — I’d heard the track already, and we listened to it again, having learned of her death. It’s a stunning, unbelievable, beautiful track.
For someone to come from where she came from and to do what she did with her life in a very short 80 years — it’s an extraordinary accomplishment. And the resonance of that beyond the music — the music is very important, I’m not dismissing it at all — but who she was as a public figure, how she handled herself as an activist and how she welcomed everyone in…
She did this thing — in the South, “catch more flies with honey” is the phrase. She had a way of doing that that was distinctly hers, but it echoes in the women and also the men who raised me. I hear my grandfather’s voice, and I hear every woman of influence in my life from the South in the way that she would say something quite cutting and then say “Anyway…” and move on to the next thing. That “anyway” — that’s the important part. Listen to any interview she did going back to the 1970s and listen for the “anyway.” It’s very powerful, and she used it to great ends. So I bow down to her and her legacy and her memory.
To repay Bono, would you care to spill any of his personal business? Stipe: I could write a book. I could write a couple.
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