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Michael Stipe continues to preview long-awaited solo album with thought provoking new song ‘Hum Desiderata’
The former R.E.M. frontman’s latest offering is a spoken word track based on Max Ehrmann’s poem ‘Desiderata’
Michael Stipe has shared another new track from his forthcoming new solo album – check it out below.
- READ MORE: NME meets R.E.M.: “We needed swagger – to be loud and raw”
Entitled ‘Hum Desiderata’, the former R.E.M. frontman’s latest offering is a spoken word song based on Max Ehrmann’s poem Desiderata. The thought provoking track features additional vocals from artist Elizabeth Hatmaker. You can listen to it on the online sound exhibition platform Joyfully Waiting here.
It comes after Stipe spoke about his long-awaited solo album and performed a new track ‘The Rest Of Ever’ during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in April.
At the time the legendary singer said he had been working on his first full solo album for several years and he said it has taken “longer than I wanted”, but added that he is now adding the finishing touches to the record, and has said it should be out in 2026.
“One of the songs is the sound of a tree hearing itself for the first time,” he said at the time. “It’s this confusing situation. 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 [in the song].”
Before that he also joined forces with Andrew Watt, Josh Klinghoffer and Travis Barker to share the new theme song for the show Rooster and later performed it on Jimmy Kimmel Live!.
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Previous Stipe solo releases included the 2019 single ‘Your Capricious Soul’ and ‘Drive To The Ocean’ the following year. He also released ‘No Time For Love Like Now’ with Aaron Dessner’s Big Red Machine in 2020.
Elsewhere, he recently teamed up with Brandi Carlile for a cover of Elvis Presley’s ‘Suspicious Minds’ at the 2026 Gansett Games.
Queens Of The Stone Age frontman Josh Homme also took to the stage for a rendition of Tom Petty’s ‘Running Down A Dream’, and Charlotte Lawrence covered Blondie’s ‘Heart Of Glass’.
The event is hosted by billionaire crypto investor Mike Novogratz each year. Taking place in Amagansett, New York, the annual party has gained more traction over recent years due to the huge names who come together to perform there.
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Michael Stipe has shared another new track from his forthcoming new solo album – check it out below.
- READ MORE: NME meets R.E.M.: “We needed swagger – to be loud and raw”
Entitled ‘Hum Desiderata’, the former R.E.M. frontman’s latest offering is a spoken word song based on Max Ehrmann’s poem Desiderata. The thought provoking track features additional vocals from artist Elizabeth Hatmaker. You can listen to it on the online sound exhibition platform Joyfully Waiting here.
It comes after Stipe spoke about his long-awaited solo album and performed a new track ‘The Rest Of Ever’ during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in April.
At the time the legendary singer said he had been working on his first full solo album for several years and he said it has taken “longer than I wanted”, but added that he is now adding the finishing touches to the record, and has said it should be out in 2026.
“One of the songs is the sound of a tree hearing itself for the first time,” he said at the time. “It’s this confusing situation. 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 [in the song].”
Before that he also joined forces with Andrew Watt, Josh Klinghoffer and Travis Barker to share the new theme song for the show Rooster and later performed it on Jimmy Kimmel Live!.
Recommended
Previous Stipe solo releases included the 2019 single ‘Your Capricious Soul’ and ‘Drive To The Ocean’ the following year. He also released ‘No Time For Love Like Now’ with Aaron Dessner’s Big Red Machine in 2020.
Elsewhere, he recently teamed up with Brandi Carlile for a cover of Elvis Presley’s ‘Suspicious Minds’ at the 2026 Gansett Games.
Queens Of The Stone Age frontman Josh Homme also took to the stage for a rendition of Tom Petty’s ‘Running Down A Dream’, and Charlotte Lawrence covered Blondie’s ‘Heart Of Glass’.
The event is hosted by billionaire crypto investor Mike Novogratz each year. Taking place in Amagansett, New York, the annual party has gained more traction over recent years due to the huge names who come together to perform there.
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