When not busy bashing his former Smiths bandmates, making controversial statements about immigration and terrorism and canceling or postponing some 200 shows in the past decade-plus, Morrissey has found time to complete his first album in nearly six years, Make-Up Is a Lie. It will be released Feb. 27 through Sire, to which the Smiths were signed in the U.S. during their short 1980s lifespan and for which Morrissey recorded as a solo artist between 1988-95.
The title track from the upcoming project is out now and was co-written by keyboardist Camila Gray, while the album was produced by Joe Chiccarelli and recorded in the south of France. The songs “Notre-Dame” and “The Night Pop Dropped” have previously been debuted live, and a cover of Roxy Music’s “Amazona” pays off Morrissey’s longtime devotion to the Bryan Ferry-led band.
Morrissey is backed on Make-Up Is a Lie by musicians Jesse Tobias, Carmen Vandenberg, Juan Galeano, Alain Whyte, Gustavo Manzur and Brendan Buckley. The album is the follow-up to 2020’s I Am Not a Dog on a Chain, which failed to chart on the Billboard 200 but reached No. 3 in the U.K.
The artist famously recorded an album afterwards dubbed Bonfire of Teenagers with a team led by producer Andrew Watt, but despite signing with Capitol for its release, the project has never seen the light of day. One likely reason? Its title track doesn’t mince words about the deadly 2017 bombing outside an Ariana Grande concert in Morrissey’s Manchester, U.K., hometown, calling out the celebrity “morons” who sang Oasis’ “Don’t Look Back in Anger” at a subsequent charity event. The attack was carried out by an Islamist extremist, and the repeated lyric “go easy on the killer” has been seen as a dig at those unwilling to demand answers about what motivates these violent incidents.
Morrissey has been typically cagy about why the album remains unreleased and why guest vocalist Miley Cyrus demanded her part be removed from the song “I Am Veronica,” but in early 2023, he wrote a lengthy post on his web site claiming it had nothing to do with his political views. “The connection between the music industry and Cancel Vultures is that they both agree that their main job is to stop singers and bands from saying anything important,” he said. “Respecting equal freedom for those that you control … is not freedom. Music as art has now been destroyed because it expands public opinion, and thus, with the current top 100 downloads, no bubbles can ever rise.”
After having already scrapped two concerts in California earlier this month, Morrissey says he’ll be back on stage Saturday (Jan. 10) in San Antonio, Texas. A European tour is scheduled to start Feb. 13 in Aarhus, Denmark, while a Feb. 28 show at London’s O2 Arena will be his first at the 20,000-capacity venue since November 2014.
Here is the track list for Make-Up Is a Lie:
“You’re Right, It’s Time”
“Make-Up Is a Lie”
“Notre-Dame”
“Amazona”
“Headache”
“Boulevard”
“Zoom Zoom the Little Boy”
“The Night Pop Dropped”
“Kerching Kerching”
“Lester Bangs”
“Many Icebergs Ago”
“The Monsters of Pig Alley”
Here are Morrissey’s tour dates:
Jan 10 San Antonio, TX – Boeing Center at Tech Port
Jan 13 Oklahoma City, OK – The Criterion
Jan 15 St. Louis, MO – The Factory
Jan 17 Atlanta, GA – The Fox Theatre
Jan 20 St. Petersburg, FL – Duke Energy Center for the Arts / Mahaffey Theater
Jan 22 Hollywood, FL – Hard Rock Live
Jan 25 La Romana, Dominican Republic – Altos de Chavón
Feb 13 Aarhus – Scandinavian Congress Center
Feb 15 Hamburg – Sporthalle Hamburg
Feb 17 Frankfurt – Jahrhunderthalle
Feb 20 Esch-Sur-Alzette – Rockhal
Feb 24 Rotterdam – De Doelen
Feb 28 London – The O2
Mar 04 Lille – Zenith Des Lille
Mar 07 Zurich – THE HALL
Mar 09 Milan – Fabrique
Mar 12 Valencia – Palau Des Les Arts
Mar 14 Zaragoza – Auditorio Des Zaragoza
Mar 16 Seville – Cartuja Center