Morrissey Releases Lead Single After Five Years

Morrissey, the former frontman of The Smiths, has released the lead single from his upcoming 14th solo studio album, titled MakeUp Is A Lie, marking his return to new music after more than five years. The track, which shares the album's name, arrived on Friday, ahead of the full record's release on March 6 through Sire Records, a Warner Records imprint.

The album represents a fresh start for the 66-year-old singer, whose full name is Steven Morrissey. Produced by Joe Chiccarelli and co-written with keyboardist Camila Grey, it was recorded at Studio La Fabrique in the Saint-Rémy-de-Provence region of southern France. Additional contributors include musicians such as Carmen Vandenberg, Juan Galeano, Brendan Buckley, Jesse Tobias, Alain Whyte, and Gustavo Manzur. The 12-track project features a cover of Roxy Music's 1973 song "Amazona," along with originals like "You're Right, It's Time," "Notre-Dame," "Headache," "Boulevard," "Zoom Zoom the Little Boy," "The Night Pop Dropped," "Kerching Kerching," "Lester Bangs," "Many Icebergs Ago," and "The Monsters of Pig Alley."

In lyrics from the title track, Morrissey sings of a journey to Paris, where he encounters a woman shouting the...