Formed in 1981 by Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal, the new album has drawn the band from Bath into a highly contentious conversation around artificial intelligence. Whether unintentional or not, they have touched a nerve among their fans in the same way the Apple Crush! Ad did earlier this year. The reason is entirely due to the cover art being generated by AI. It has polarised their fans who consider the band’s choice of artist, Vitalie Burcovschi otherwise known as @surrealistly, to be in bad taste. They argue his AI generated work has replaced pure human creativity. The artist specialises in AI content.

On their Instagram, Tears For Fears attempted to justify their decision by saying:

The cover for our new album, Songs For A Nervous Planet, was envisioned in collaboration with artist Vitalie Burcovschi, also known as @surrealistly.

The Songs For A Nervous Planet album artwork is a mixed media digital collage, with AI being just one of the many tools used in the creative process. We wanted vibrant artwork that evoked a sense of sci-fi, futuristic themes, and an escape from what is known. The sunflowers are a joyful nod to classic Tears For Fears imagery, while the juxtaposition of the astronaut is a link to our upcoming song, Astronaut, and a sense of alienation and not belonging. We have been fans of Surrealistly’s work for a long time and knew he would be the perfect artist to bring our vision to life.

“Collaborating with the band to bring their vision to life has been an incredible experience. Balancing surrealism with the emotional depth of their music was a challenge I fully embraced, and I believe the final artwork captures the powerful essence of their story.” – Surrealistly

(Unfortunately, if you read the comments, it has seemingly only inflamed the situation.)

Songs For A Nervous Planet tracklist:

1. Say Goodbye To Mum And Dad
2. The Girl That I Call Home
3. Emily Said
4. Astronaut
5. No Small Thing
6. The Tipping Point
7. Everybody Wants To Rule The World
8. Secret World
9. Sowing The Seeds Of Love
10. Long, Long, Long Time
11. Break The Man
12. My Demons
13. Rivers of Mercy
14. Mad World
15. Suffer The Children
16. Woman In Chains
17. Bad Man’s Song
18. Pale Shelter
19. Break It Down Again
20. Head Over Heels
21. Change
22. Shout

The album will also be accompanied by a film, titled Tears For Fears Live (A Tipping Point Film). It will be in cinemas on Thursday 24th and Saturday 26th October 2024. To find a cinema showing near you, head over to: tearsforfearsfilm.com.

“No Small Thing” is the second single that the group has unveiled from the forthcoming record, with the first being the album’s titular track, released on the 7^th of October. You can read more about the title track here, and it can be found on all streaming services.

Tears for Fears revealed in a recent interview with NME that personal struggle and trauma was a large inspiration for the record, with bassist/vocalist Curt Smith saying: “It’s been a bunch of years with a lot of turmoil – personally as well as politically – which has given us a lot to write about” referring to the political turmoil surrounding Black Lives Matter in 2020, Donald Trump’s presidency in the United States, and the unfortunate illness and death of bandmate Roland Orzabal’s wife, Caroline.

Smith opened up further about the subject, saying: “It’s incredibly emotional when you’re writing about someone you’ve known for that long. It’s not like an acquaintance or someone you’ve known for a few fears – this was Caroline. This was someone I knew since I was 13 years old; and Roland the same…you’re left thinking about your own mortality and what you can do to allow that to not happen to you. It’s a difficult thing to get over.”

Whilst both carrying an undeniable melancholy in their tonality, “The Tipping Point” and “No Small Thing” are sonically quite different from one another. The title track of the record is a dark pop tune that features ghostly, atmospheric background synths and buzzing electronics that are pulled along by a driving beat, evoking a brooding angst that is perhaps comparable to indie pop titans The National. “No Small Thing” strips things back instrumentally, ditching the electronics for wistful acoustic guitar, a harmonica and a reverberating acoustic drum kit.

To re-iterate, both “The Tipping Point” and “No Small Thing” are available on all streaming services, and you can pre-order the album at this link.

Tears For Fears will also be embarking on a world tour in 2022, which will entail sixteen UK shows. You can read more about their world tour here, and tickets can be found at this link.

The duo consisting of Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith have shared details about 16 dates UK Tour on top of the rest of the world dates. The shows will start in May 2022 in North America before heading over to the UK in July. The UK gigs will kick off 1st July in Shropshire and end on the 26th July in Exeter. The band will be supported by Essex singer Alison Moyet, and in the US by the Garbage.

THE TIPPING POINT WORLD TOUR 2022: TICKETS ON SALE NOV 19.

UK FANS: Purchase the new special edition pink vinyl pressing by 9PM GMT on Nov 16th to receive a pre-sale code.

See you on the road!https://t.co/ImoFme4YKa pic.twitter.com/oIZeX9vWjg

— Tears for Fears (@tearsforfears) November 12, 2021

Tears For fears live shows comes as a promo of their seventh studio album that is out on 25th February. “Before everything went so right with this album, everything first had to go wrong, it took years, but something happens when we put our heads together, We’ve got this balance, this push-me-pull-you thing – and it works really well.” Smith then added: “If that balance doesn’t work on a Tears For Fears album, the whole thing just doesn’t work. To put it in simple terms, a Tears For Fears record and what people perceive to be the sound of Tears For Fears – is the stuff we can both agree on” the band explained in an interview.

“We couldn’t be more excited to start playing concerts again. We’ve missed seeing our friends on the road around the world and the energy of performing live” said Smith about the upcoming tour. “The Tipping Point has been a long time in the making and we are looking forward to playing our favourites from the new album as well as our classics from throughout the years,” added Orzabal.

UK fans who pre-order The Tipping Point album will be eligible for an exclusive ticket for the gigs, two days before the general sale (19th November). From Friday the 16th November fans can also order a limited edition pink vinyl version of a new upcoming album. 

See the full list of Tears For Fears UK Shows below:

1/07 – Telford QEII Arena- Shropshire
2/07 – Longleat House – Wiltshire
5/07 – Waddesdon Manor – Buckinghamshire
7/07 – Utilita Arena – Newcastle Upon Tyne
8/07 – Floors Castle – Scotland
9/07 – Lytham Festival – Lytham St Annes
12/07 –The Incora County Ground Derby – Derbyshire
14/07 – Leeds Millennium Square – Yorkshire
15/07 – Warwick Castle – Warwickshire
16/07 – Scarborough Open Air Theatre – North Yorkshire
19/07 – Chewton Glen – Hampshire
20/07 – The Spitfire Ground – Kent
22/07 – The 1st Central County Ground – Sussex
23/07 – Cardiff Castle – Wales
24/07 – Hatfield House – Hertfordshire
26/07 – Powderham Castle – Devon

photo credit: Kalyn Oyer 

Today the group has announced the news of their long-awaited seventh album, which is set to arrive on February 25, 2022, via Concord Records. The announcement comes along with the release of the project’s title track and its accompanying official video which you can watch below.

Orzabal explained to BBC radio 2 the reasoning behind Tears For Fears’ decision to return “Before everything went so right with this album, everything first had to go wrong, it took years, but something happens when we put our heads together, We’ve got this balance, this push-me-pull-you thing – and it works really well.” Smith then added: “If that balance doesn’t work on a Tears For Fears album, the whole thing just doesn’t work. To put it in simple terms, a Tears For Fears record and what people perceive to be the sound of Tears For Fears – is the stuff we can both agree on.”

For their new release, the band teamed up with their longtime collaborator Charlton Pettus as well as producers and songwriters Sacha Skarbek and Florian Reutter due to a switch in management.

Orzabel then continued “Suddenly, for the first time in a long time, we felt like we had someone in our corner who understood what we were trying to do, We felt like we had somebody on our side. It was the first time in a long time that we decided – we have to do this.” 

Smith further explained: “When you’ve known each other as long as we have, and have worked together as long as we have, there’s a bond there that becomes familial. So, it’s different from a friendship. And it’s different from a marriage. It’s literally like that’s your brother. It’s the kind of bond that you can’t really break. It can fall apart at times. You separate for periods, which I also think is healthy, really. But in the end, we always seem to find each other again.”

The album comes in either the standard 10-track version which will be available on streaming services, CD, black vinyl LP and limited indie green vinyl. Whereas the retail deluxe CD features one bonus song and the Target (USA) and Japanese editions will have two bonus songs but only the SDE deluxe CD offers all three bonus songs. Additionally, the SDE deluxe CD  also includes a 32-page booklet (the standard has 24 pages) which exclusively features a new interview with Roland and Curt by SDE editor Paul Sinclair.

You can view the album artwork below as well as pre-order/pre-save the new album here.

Tears For Fears The Tipping Point Tracklist:

On Instagram, Everything is Music commented – “Starting May 28, discover personalized stories and archive content from the people and places that make up the musical fabric of these cities.” The tour, both of Bristol and Bath, is free and includes more than 250 locations between the cities. Each location offers content which users of the app can experience at that location.

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A post shared by Everything is Music_Platform (@everythingismusic.io)

The website offers which gives access to in-depth information on the Bristol and Bath music scene is being described as “a location-based digital museum project taking you on a musical journey through Bristol and Bath” Users can also access the musical history of whichever city they’re in, including information about historical venues.

In conversation with the BBC, Ben from Crack Magazine, stated that “people can walk around the cities and unlock amazing stories; it takes the idea of a museum out of four walls”. This tour, as stated on Instagram, is achieved by “250+ pins” which roam from Bath to Bristol “all with amazing content attached to them”.

Amongst the list of musical talents from Bristol and Bath that the app celebrates are Portishead, Tears For Fears, Gabrielle Aplin and IDLES. It has been made apparent that Portishead can even be seen revealing their memories from recording Dummy – their first album. The recording took place in Bristol.

You can find out more about Everything is Music here.

Among the line-up are Fontaines D.C., with a slow, melancholic cover of The Beach Boys’ ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’. The Beach Boys sometimes have that effect where in completely the right mood they’re perfect – otherwise they’re kind of sickening. Not this cover. The last four lines, which tend to just fade into outro in the original, are haunting. You can catch a clip of it here:

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We recorded a version of “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” by The Beach Boys for @deezer “Inversions”. Listen exclusively on Deezer.

A post shared by Fontaines D.C. (@fontainesband) on Oct 6, 2020 at 2:48am PDT

This is what they had to say about it: “Covering a Beach Boys song has always been a scary thing considering the genius arrangements, their playing, their harmonies, everything about it … So ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’ we saw this kind of naive perspective towards love and marriage in the lyrics, and we were quite curious to see what would happen when you contrasted that approach with a darker musical palette. So we kind of slowed down the tempo and created a draggier tune for those lyrics to sit on top of.” 

A cover is an art form, there’s no doubt about that, and it’s always struck me as a great way to really get to know a band. What Fontaines D.C. say above, for example, shows just how much they understand their industry, and their craft. Perhaps Deezer picked the line-up for InVersions for exactly this reason.

InVersions also presents Arlo Parks’ first song in French: ‘Ta Reine’ by Angèle. Parks explains why this is so special: “I picked ‘Ta Reine’ by Angèle because I find her voice completely mesmerising and soft, and I feel like the topic the song discusses is very important. I’ve always wanted to sing in French since my mum is French and I’m generally just enthralled by this song and her delivery. I hope I can do it justice.” 

Really there is nothing to distinguish one moment from another – all of these covers are spectacular. For me, other honourable mentions go towards Alfie Templeman’s ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’, which retains the feel of the original while simultaneously softening everything. It perfectly suits the style that Templeman is really making his own.

Likewise, Orla Gartland’s ‘Nothing Compares to You’ is ambitious – intriguingly, her powerful voice seems to be set against a Radiohead-inspired, subtly electronic take on the melody. When the music falls away for the final refrain, Gartland shows nothing but pure talent.

Robyn we frikin love u @robynkonichiwa & this gem of a song so we made our own version of dancing on my own for @deezer listen here : https://t.co/esJwBHkW6b pic.twitter.com/rh80Xt84P4

— Dream Wife (@DreamWifeMusic) October 6, 2020

But, for me, Dream Wife’s ‘Dancing On My Own’ steals the show. It has all the chills of the first time you heard it. It absolutely puts a spotlight on why we all unexpectedly fell in love with Robyn in 2010. This is not because it’s a carbon copy, though; Dream Wife retain all of the best of Robyn’s original, while giving it a spin of their own. If you listen closely, you catch an endearing whisper of “in a galaxy far far far away” just before the bridge.

InVersions could not be more exciting as a music project, but it also feels like a positive force in these bleak times for the music industry. Nigel Harding, who is Deezer’s VP of Global Artist Marketing, explained the thinking behind InVersions. “We all know the music community has been hit hard by the pandemic, especially Indie artists who rely on live gigs. During this tough time, we wanted to do our part and offer support to Indie and Alternative artists with our new Inversions album … I’d love for music fans from all over the world to discover some new favourites on our InVersions album.”

You can stream it here.

It’ll be the band’s only UK Festival date in 2017, and it promises to be a special one. The band have announced that in addition to their hit-filled back catalogue, they’ll also be playing new material at the gig. The new material is the outcome of many months working in Las Vegas, San Diego, LA and Joshua Tree with producer Jacknife Lee, best known for his work with U2. The band have been recording their fifth album which has been a long time in the making; frontman Brandon Flowers spoke to NME about the process of making the album and what it might actually sound like, ‘There are moments that feel heavier than anything we’ve ever done, not that we’re the heaviest band in the world, but they have a finesse because of our experience. There’s also really beautiful things. Lyrically, it’s really close to home. There’s one called ‘Rut’ and we were all kind of excited about what was happening with that. Another is called ‘Run For Cover’ and that comes from ‘Day & Age’. so it’s eight-years-old. It started with Stuart Price and it still sort of has his stamp on it – but we’re funnelling it back through the band eight years later with a different producer. I never got the lyrics right and I think I’m gonna get it right this time. ‘Run For Cover’ looks like it’s got a good shot [of being on the album]. There’s one called ‘Tyson Vs Douglas’. I don’t know why but I think about it all the time and I finally tried to tackle it in a song, what it meant to have this hero of mine get torn down, and then everything that happened after that.’

They’ll be taking to the stage on Saturday 8^th July and if you’re excited about the top of the bill, don’t sleep on the rest of the line-up which will include Elbow, Tears For Fears and White Lies. It will be the first time in 12 years Tears For Fears, whom The Killers have previously credited as a key influence, have played on a UK stage. Meanwhile, Elbow will release their seventh album, ‘Little Fictions’, on the 3^rd February, and have also announced an extensive UK Touring schedule, which will include seven shows held in forests – the Manchester band can now add a park to that list. London punk trio White Lies also have plans to pack their bags and hit the road; they will cross the Atlantic at the start of February to play a series of dates in Canada, the US and Mexico before heading back to start their UK Tour towards the end of the month.

The Killers are the sixth headline act announced for the festival, and join Justin Bieber, Phil Collins, Green Day, Kings of Leon and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers.

Tickets for this instalment of the festival are available on pre-sale now and will go on general sale at 9am on Friday 27^th January. To grab them, go here. The full line-up for Saturday 8^th July at British Summer Time Festival will be:

The Killers

Elbow

Tears For Fears

White Lies