Sir Mick Jagger has revealed the music he loves to listen to as he teases a new collaboration by The Rolling Stones and Lady Gaga.
The legendary English rock band that formed in 1962 and now consisting of Jagger, Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards touched down at the Hackney Empire in east London on Wednesday (September 6) to officially launch their new album, Hackney Diamonds.
The new LP will feature 12 brand new tracks and marks the band's first album of original music in 18 years, since 2005's A Bigger Bang.
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Since the album's release almost two decades ago, a lot has changed for the band, including the loss of drummer Charlie Watts, who was part of the band from 1963 until his death in 2021. There have also been seismic shifts in the music industry, like the era of digital downloads to streaming.
In an exclusive interview following the global live-streamed announcement of the new album and the release of its first single 'Angry', Jagger - who is one of music's most renowned stars and an undisputed dance icon - shared his thoughts on the change in music.
The 80-year-old musician said inspiring so many generations of all ages makes him feel ‘amazing'.
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“When I was young, I didn’t really like my parents’ music and I can’t imagine what my grandparents’ music was like so it’s amazing that can happen.”
“I listen to multi-generational music - I go back and listen to music from the 1930s that I like, like jazz from that period, but I also listen to what’s coming out now and what music that was going on when I was growing up. I like listening to music from a very wide range of generations."
Referencing the digital MP3 boom and the shift to streaming on services like Spotify and Apple Music, the band’s frontman said: “It was very difficult say 40 years ago, that was a very expensive occupation to be able to do that. And now it’s much easier to go and listen because you’ve got this library of millions and millions of songs and you can just go back and say, 'I'll listen to something from 1920 or something that came out last week' just on my phone - and it’s just so easy. Whereas before, you had to go to a shop and order it!”
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Lady Gaga will be featured on the song 'Sweet Sounds of Heaven' - which is said to have a Gospel vibe - after the band invited her to record with them while they were both working in the studio separately.
“We’ve done shows with her before and we were doing this song that I wrote on the piano, this kind of gospel-y song and she was in the next door studio and she said, ‘Can I come down?' and she came down and she joined in and we sung together and we went in the next day and tidied up a few things up.”
We'll all be streaming when it drops!
Hackney Diamonds will be released October 20th. The first single 'Angry' is out now.
Gregory Robinson