How does a rock band that scored monumental hit singles within the pre-streaming period strategy the method of choosing a single in 2024? For Kings of Leon, the reply is: they don’t.
“We don’t know what we’re doing,” bassist Jared Followill declares, then lets out amusing, when talking to Billboard in regards to the trendy hit-making course of. The Tennessee quartet has been steadily releasing albums each three to 5 years since bursting into the mainstream within the late 2000s with crossover smashes “Use Any person” and “Intercourse on Hearth,” each from 2008’s Solely By the Evening; the previous track received the Grammy for file of the 12 months in 2010, whereas the latter’s official U.S. streams prime 650 million, in keeping with Luminate.
These hits helped balloon Kings of Leon’s listenership throughout a really completely different iteration of the music business; 15 years later, Followill admits that he and his bandmates (brothers Caleb and Nathan Followill, plus cousin Matthew Followill) wouldn’t even know try to duplicate that crossover success of these songs.
For brand spanking new album Can We Please Have Enjoyable, out tomorrow (Could 10), the band went with the shaggy rocker “Mustang” because the lead single as a result of their group’s suggestion, and the track has reached No. 3 on Grownup Various Airplay and climbs to No. 5 on Various Airplay. However Followill says that they might have simply gone with the mid-tempo sway of “Precise Daydream,” or the spry sing-along “Nowhere to Run,” if that had been the suggestions they acquired.
“Our solely rule is to not have any songs on the album that we’d be embarrassed in the event that they have been a single — so we attempt to make the album nice, as a result of we don’t know something in regards to the enterprise aspect of issues or algorithms or which track will do properly,” he explains. “Now, it looks as if you simply want an awesome 15-second piece of a track to make it large on TikTok — gradual it down, reverb it, make it large. However we don’t know what works anymore, and I don’t assume anyone is aware of … You simply need to play ball a little bit bit, and hope that you simply’re with the suitable individuals who know what they’re doing.”
Kings of Leon surrounded themselves with a brand new forged of characters for his or her ninth studio album: after working with Markus Dravs on their final two full-lengths, the quartet tapped Child Harpoon final 12 months to helm the follow-up to 2021’s When You See Your self. Child Harpoon was in the course of a red-hot streak when Kings of Leon got here calling, after co-producing smashes like Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” and Harry Kinds’ “As It Was”; actually, a suggestion from Kinds helped steer the band towards the veteran pop-rock producer, after that they had began the writing course of for the album on the prime of 2023.
“We’re buddies with Harry, and he had labored with [Kid Harpoon] a ton and had nice success,” Followill says. “We met him and it was simply the suitable vibe. He’s nearly childlike within the studio — so joyful, attempting something, no negativity. He’s not judgmental in any respect, so it was identical to having a buddy in there.”
In the meantime, Can We Please Have Enjoyable is Kings of Leon’s first album with new label dwelling Capitol Information, after spending practically the primary 20 years of their profession on RCA’s roster. The band performed the brand new album for potential labels at Child Harpoon’s L.A. dwelling final 12 months, and it was the pitch by Tom March, lately named Capitol Music Group’s chairman and CEO, that they discovered most interesting. “He simply appeared on board, and acquired in actually shortly,” Followill says. “We’re very hands-on, which may be bizarre for a brand new label who’s excited to carry their very own stuff to the desk. But it surely’s been excellent — they’ve been tremendous supportive, and it’s been an awesome relationship to date.”
Kings of Leon will head out on the highway in August for a 26-city North American tour, and shall be releasing visible elements for each track on Can We Please Have Enjoyable alongside the way in which. Greater than something, nevertheless, Followill hopes that listeners can establish the brand new album as a development for the band — a looser, extra playful entry of their catalog, at a second when Kings of Leon might have caught to a tried-and-true method.
“We’re not fully reinventing ourselves, however that is positively a refresh,” Followill says. “It was a gradual factor, however we’ve advanced and adjusted ourselves. We’ve put loads of effort into letting folks know that we’re nonetheless right here, and we’re not phoning it in 20 years down the highway, simply attempting to squeeze a couple of {dollars} out on the finish. We’re nonetheless attempting.”
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