10/14/2026
Repost from L.A. Times Entertainment
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Michael Stipe and Andrew 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.
After years of work in various studios with various collaborators, Michael Stipe is finally in the home stretch on his solo LP, his first since the breakup of R.E.M. 15 years ago. WATT is among the producers.
“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.’”
Read more about the pair’s collaborations, Stipe’s reflections on R.E.M.’s legacy and when the album will be released at the link in L.A. Times Entertainment’s bio.
📷 Ebru Yıldız / For The Times
