The Pop Corporation

R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe has been relatively quiet since he and his band decided to knock it on the head.

Instead of a (lucrative) reunion, Stipe is planning to release his debut solo album soon.

He told The Sunday Times newspaper, who we assume you don’t have a subscription for: “I’m working on a solo album. But it’s taken longer than I wanted.”

“Covid didn’t help, but I’m finishing it. When the band split, I just needed a break. I took five years but I got pulled back into music. It’s been a struggle.

“That’s the main thing. I want it to be great, but I’ve got the pressure of having been in R.E.M., and it’s a high bar, because I want this to be as good as that, and that’s near impossible.”

“So it’s fucking exciting but also terrifying, and I’m doing the music for the first time too, and I think I’m good at it but not great.”

“But I love my voice. I don’t like my speaking voice but I love my singing voice, and so I want to immerse myself back into offering music to the world.”

At this juncture, we feel the need to break up the text we’ve cut and pasted, because we’ve done zero work here.

Anyway.

He continued: “There is always hope in my writing. I am an optimist, ultimately – even if it’s a realisation in one’s last breath that they blew it. At least they are aware they blew it. To move through a life not recognising one’s mistakes or regrets is pretty sad.”

We’ll have a listen and we hope it’s sounding good.