Robert Smith: Last News

Radiohead‘s Thom Yorke, ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus and other industry figures are among those who have signed a statement against using creatives’ work to train AI.The statement, which you can find here, reads: “The unlicensed use of creative works for training generative AI is a major, unjust threat to the livelihoods of the people behind those works, and must not be permitted.”It follows ongoing legal issues between the creative world and tech firms over the use of their work to train artificial intelligence models such as ChatGPT.Among the 11,500 signatories from across the music, film, theatre and writing world pushing back against the use of intellectual property without permission are Billy Bragg, Kevin Bacon, Robert Smith, Julianne Moore, Kazuo Ishiguro, Ann Patchett, Rosario Dawson and more.Today we’re publishing a statement on AI training, signed by 10,000+ creators already:“The unlicensed use of creative works for training generative AI is a major, unjust threat to the livelihoods of the people behind those works, and must not be permitted.”Signatories include… pic.twitter.com/AqVaEThMs4— Ed Newton-Rex (@ednewtonrex) October 22, 2024Following the release of the statement, Gee Davy, the interim CEO for the Association of Independent Music has said: “On behalf of the UK’s independent music community – businesses who are proud to work in partnership with artists – we support this statement from Fairly Trained.“To achieve the benefits of AI for creativity, we urge policymakers not to lose sight of the need for strong copyright protections.

The Cure have released another snippet of a song from their upcoming album, ‘Songs Of A Lost World’.The bittersweet new song, titled ‘And Nothing Is Forever’, is the second track from the new record, which is due to be released next month. The snippet is an emotional instrumental segment of the track, featuring melodic keys and powerful strings.The clip has been sent via their Whatsapp channel and can be accessed by unlocking this website, which can be done by entering the album’s release date (November 1st, 2024).Listen to a fan-grabbed screen recording of the new snippet below:The Cure – And Nothing is Forever (fragment)#thecure #thecurepl #songsofalostworld pic.twitter.com/j63Rin9wDY— The Cure PL (@thecurepl) October 21, 2024In a five-star review of the upcoming album, NME compared the track to classics such as ‘Plainsong’ and ‘Pictures of You’.

Robert Smith has opened up about The Cure’s discography, and revealed which of the albums is his “least favourite”.The frontman’s reflection on the band’s catalogue comes as they are gearing up to share long-awaited new album ‘Songs Of A Lost World’.Set for release on November 1 (pre-order here), the record will mark the first from The Cure since 2008’s ‘4:13 Dream’, and it has already been previewed by two singles: ‘Alone’ and ‘A Fragile Thing’.Ahead of the album arriving, Smith took part in a new interview, posted on the band’s new website over the weekend, and opened up to BBC Radio DJ Matt Everitt about which one song from each of The Cure’s albums he thought would fit with the new release.As well as revealing which songs he’s most proud of – notably the title track from the ‘Faith’ album, ‘Disintegration’’s ‘Untitled’ and ‘Wish’’s ‘To Wish Impossible Things’ – Smith also went on to recall which release he doesn’t look back on so fondly.Naming ‘Before Three’ as his favourite song from 2004’s self-titled record, he recalled how he isn’t a fan of the album as a whole.“’The Cure’ album is probably my least favourite album that we’ve made,” he said. “I don’t like some of it, it’s the only album that I don’t think works.

Robert Smith has named one song from each of The Cure’s albums that he thinks would fit in with the sound of new album ‘Songs Of A Lost World’.The long-awaited new album – which will follow 2008’s ‘4:13 Dream’ – has already been previewed by two singles: ‘Alone’ and ‘A Fragile Thing’. It is set to arrive on November 1, and you can pre-order it here.Now, in a lengthy new interview with the frontman posted to the band’s new website over the weekend, Smith was asked by BBC Radio DJ Matt Everitt what his top 10 Cure songs of all time were.“There’s no such thing as my 10 favourite Cure songs.

The Cure have designed two limited edition guitars to raise funds for a cancer research charity.The guitars are released in collaboration with Schecter Guitars and feature artwork from Bunny Lake Designs. Proceeds will be donated to World Cancer Research Fund International, a charity that supports research and initiatives to fight cancer globally.Frontman Robert Smith will be donating $250 (£191) from each sale, with Schecter matching his contribution, bringing the total donation to $500 (£383) per guitar.

The Cure‘s Robert Smith has shared the band’s plans for a full world tour in 2025, likely stretching into their upcoming 50th anniversary as a band.To mark the release of long-awaited 14th album ‘Songs Of A Lost World‘, the alt-rock icons are set to play two London shows – one for BBC Radio 2 on October 30 and another intimate album release show at Troxy on November 1 – but have no further tour dates in the diary. Now, in a new and long-ranging interview filmed by the band for fans in conversation with Matt Everitt (shared via unlocking their ‘Songs Of A Lost World’ website), Smith has shared when fans can see them on stage after that.The same interview saw Smith reveal that The Cure have another new album that’s “virtually finished” – with a third new record also on the way.

The Cure frontman Robert Smith has spoken about his relationship with football, revealing that having a curry with the late Stan Bowles was “the highlight of [his] life”.Former England and Queens Park Rangers forward Bowles died in February, having been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2015. He was 75 years old.Bowles played more than 560 games in English football and was capped five times by England. He made 315 appearances for QPR and scored 97 goals for the club, per BBC News.During a new interview in support of The Cure’s upcoming new album ‘Songs Of A Lost World’, Smith recalled being a longtime QPR supporter before he “fell out of love with football about 10 years ago for lots of silly little reasons”.He also remembered meeting his childhood hero Bowles, and opened up about his current feelings towards football in general – saying that it has become “very corporate” in recent times.“Each season becomes more and more predictable or tedious.

Robert Smith has explained the profound coincidence and death behind the cover artwork for The Cure‘s new album, ‘Songs Of A Lost World’.The band are set to release their long-awaited 14th studio record – the follow-up to 2008’s ‘4:13 Dream’ – on November 1. Smith and co. have already shared the singles ‘Alone’ and ‘A Fragile Thing’.Back in 2019, the frontman said the new LP had been shaped by his “experience of life’s darker side” following the deaths of his mother, father and brother.During a lengthy new interview about ‘Songs Of A Lost World’, Smith revealed how the official album artwork came to be.

I Can Never Say Goodbye‘, featuring in their upcoming album ‘Songs Of A Lost World’.In a new and long-ranging interview filmed by the band for fans in conversation with Matt Everitt (shared via unlocking their ‘Songs Of A Lost World’ website), Smith has shared that writing about his brother’s death in his music helped him “enormously”.Speaking about how he approached addressing such a personal and emotional topic on ‘I Can Never Say Goodbye’, he explained to Everitt that he decided to tackle it in a simple, narrative way. “I wrote this song a lot of different ways, until I hit on a very simple narrative of what actually happened on the night he died,” he said. “It went all around the houses and I went everywhere with this song to sum up how I felt.

The Cure‘s Robert Smith has revealed that the band have another new album in the works that’s “virtually finished”, with a third record in the pipeline too.The alt-rock icons are set to release their long-awaited 14th album ‘Songs Of A Lost World‘ – their first since 2008’s ‘4:13 Dream‘ – on November 1. Back in 2020, Smith told NME that the band were hard at work on “two new albums and an hour of noise”.Now, in a full interview recorded for fans in conversation with Matt Everitt that’s due to be shared in full later today (Sunday October 13), Smith has revealed how ‘Songs Of A Lost World’ came to be, and details of leftover material on the way.Smith spoke of how the band originally intended to release a record to celebrate their 40th anniversary.“I felt that we should be summing up,” said Smith.

Yungblud has spoken about the future of Bludfest, and explained that he hopes to make the festival into a “two-day” worldwide event.The first instalment of the Doncaster musician’s own festival took place at the National Bowl in Milton Keynes on August 11, and also saw him perform the biggest show of his career to date.It came with a star-studded line-up too, with appearances from the likes of Lil Yachty, Soft Play, Nessa Barrett, The Damned, Lola Young, Jazmin Bean, Noahfinnce, Jesse Jo Stark, Landon Barker (the son of Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker), Hannah Grae, Aziya and more.Now, following the 2024 edition of the live music event wrapping up – and overcoming some obstacles along the way – Yungblud has opened up about how he sees the festival growing over time.Speaking to Kerrang!, the artist, whose real name is Dominic Harrison, revealed that he doesn’t just have plans to continue the festival, but he also wants to make it into an international event, and run for double the length of time.“My plan is to take it to Paris and Prague and Australia,” he said. “I’d love for it to be a two-day event.”Explaining who else he’d like to enlist, he shared which big names he would want to lock in for Bludfest 2.0.

Justin Hawkins has shared his admiration for The Cure and the band’s new material, despite Robert Smith previously saying he isn’t a fan of The Darkness.The comments from The Darkness’ frontman come as The Cure are preparing for the upcoming release of ‘Songs Of A Lost World’. It’ll be their first album in 16 years, following on from 2008’s ‘4:13 Dream’, and has already been previewed by the lead single ‘Alone’.On Sunday night (October 6), the post-punk icons dropped a teaser of the second single ‘A Fragile Thing’ via the group’s fan WhatsApp channel and mailing list.

The Cure have announced details of their upcoming single, ‘A Fragile Thing’ – confirming that it’ll arrive later this week.The promise of new music comes as the post-punk legends have been preparing for the release of ‘Songs Of A Lost World’ in recent weeks. It’ll be their first album in 16 years, following on from 2008’s ‘4:13 Dream’, and has already been previewed by the lead single ‘Alone’.Yesterday (October 6), Robert Smith and co.

The Cure have shared a snippet of another song from their upcoming new album in the form of ‘A Fragile Thing’ – check out the clip below.The post-punk legends have in recent weeks been preparing for the release of ‘Songs Of A Lost World’, their first album in 16 years, and have now shared a taster of its second single via the group’s fans WhatsApp channel and mailing list.The snippet gives a glimpse into the track’s intimate, introspective lyrics, with frontman Robert Smith singing: “There’s nothing you can do to change it back, she said / Nothing you can do but sing / This love is a fragile thing”. Trademark intricate guitar parts and dark production lend the track a sense of emotional weight; listen here:first listen to the new Cure song "A Fragile Thing" from the upcoming album Songs of a Lost World:“Every time you kiss me, I could cry,” she said.⁰“Don't tell me how you miss me; I could die tonight of a broken heart.

Elvis Costello has announced a new boxset and has shared a cover of country classic ‘Only Daddy That’ll Walk The Line’ – check it out below.The song was written by Jimmy Bryant and recorded by Waylon Jennings in 1968, reaching Number Two on the US Hot Country Songs chart. It has subsequently been covered by artists including Linda Ronstadt and Hank Williams Jr, and now Costello has released his own version.The recording was captured live at the Royal Albert Hall in London when Costello played a six-date residency at the venue in early 1987.

The Cure’s Robert Smith is auctioning off some signed new artwork to raise money for charity.The frontman took to his Instagram page earlier today (October 4) to announce the news, and share details about how fans can get their hands on the prints.“I HAVE SIGNED A4 & A3 PRINTS OF FOUR OF MY ARTWORKS – ‘ALONE’, ‘AND NOTHING IS FOREVER’, ‘ENDSONG’ & ‘”IT’S JUST THE WAY I SMILE” YOU SAID… ‘ TO RAISE FUNDS FOR @heartresearchuk,” he wrote in the caption, sharing a photo of the four pieces.Three of the four new pieces are inspired by the band’s upcoming album ‘Songs Of A Lost World’ – their first new album since 2008’s ‘4:13 Dream’.These are ‘Alone’ – an abstract piece that predominantly uses blacks, blues, yellows and greens – ‘Endsong’, which features a rich red sphere amid what seems to be a starry night sky, and a piece called ‘And Nothing Is Forever’, which seems to show two sculptures beneath a rich red sky.The final piece is called ‘“It’s Just The Way I Smile” You Said’, and is an up-close portrait inspired by the lyrics of 1989 track ‘Plainsong’. Unlike the other three paintings which were made for the Heart Research UK project in 2023, this one was made in 2021.At time of writing, one of each piece is available in both an A4 and A3 print, and come signed by Smith.

Robert Smith has discussed the lyrics and inspiration for The Cure’s new single ‘Alone’ in a new video.The Cure shared the track, the lead single from their upcoming album ‘Songs Of A Lost World’, on September 26, and it marks the first time the six-piece have shared new studio material since their 2008 album ‘4:13 Dream’.Smith said at the time that the track was inspired by the Ernest Dowson poem Dregs, and he’s expanded on the inspiration further in a video uploaded to The Cure’s official YouTube channel.“I rediscovered a poem by Ernest Dowson, an English poet – it’s called Dregs,” he began in the video. “I’ve got a book and I jot down over the years things that I think [are] interesting’.

The Cure are set to perform two world exclusive performances for the BBC later this month.The first intimate live show will be for ‘Radio 2 In Concert’, where they will perform for a small audience of fans at the BBC Radio Theatre in London on October 30.Fans can register to attend for free, which will be allocated via a ballot. Registrations for tickets opened at 8:30am BST today (October 2) and will close 9pm BST the following Wednesday (October 9) at the website.It will be broadcast on Jo Whiley’s show on Radio 2 and BBC Sounds from 7-9pm GMT on October 31, which will also feature an interview with Robert Smith.Smith and co.

The Cure have teased another new track from their forthcoming album ‘Songs Of A Lost World‘.Folowing the release of their comeback single ‘Alone’ last week, the band are now teasing the track ‘Endsong’ from their new record. You can listen to a snippet of the song below.The band have previously performed the track during their live shows, with NME describing it as a “stunning, sprawling soundscape to portray Smith utterly lost in a universe where there’s ‘Nothing left of all I loved,'” in a review of their show at the OVO Arena Wembley in 2022.Frontman Robert Smith previously told NME that their first album in 16 years would be “merciless” and would “express the darker side of what I’ve experienced over the last few years” – drawing more on the sounds of classic album ‘Pornography’ as “it hasn’t got any of those songs that lighten the mood at all” due to having lost his mother, father and brother in recent years.#TheCure • Endsong (Teaser).

The Cure‘s Robert Smith has opened up about the long wait for their new album ‘Songs Of A Lost World‘.The post-punk legends have been teasing the follow-up to 2008’s ‘4:13 Dream‘ for some weeks now, starting by changing their online presence before sending fans postcards alluding to the album title and release date, putting up a poster at the Crawley pub where they played their first gig, beaming projections in cities around the world, and launching a secret website and WhatsApp channel that would later give fans a short taster of their new single ‘Alone‘.Following the release of the track – which marked their first single in 16 years – the band also confirmed that their 14th album ‘Songs Of A Lost World’ will be released on November 1 and is available to pre-order now here.Now, speaking about the wait for their new LP in a clip shared to the band’s official Instagram account, Smtih shared: “I don’t think there was really a kind of an official beginning to this album because it’s been kind of drifting in and out of my life for like an awful long time. I mean if I have one regret is that I said anything at all about it in 2019 because I really shouldn’t have done that.”A post shared by The Cure (@thecure)He continued: “We had only just started creating it.

The Cure have shared their epic and emotional new single ‘Alone’, as well as confirming the release of their long-awaited new album ‘Songs Of A Lost World’.The post-punk legends have been teasing the follow-up to 2008’s ‘4:13 Dream‘ for some weeks now, starting by changing their online presence before sending fans postcards alluding to the album title and release date, putting up a poster at the Crawley pub where they played their first gig, beaming projections in cities around the world, and launching a secret website and WhatsApp channel that would later give fans a short taster of ‘Alone‘.Now the song, one of the many new tracks previewed on the band’s 90-date, 33-country ‘Shows Of A Lost World’ tour, has been released.With frontman Robert Smith having previously told NME that their first album in 16 years would be “merciless” and would “express the darker side of what I’ve experienced over the last few years” – drawing more on the sounds of classic album ‘Pornography’ as “it hasn’t got any of those songs that lighten the mood at all” due to having lost his mother, father and brother in recent years, the track is a sprawling indie-noir moodpiece that sees the frontman sing of feeling “cold and afraid“, adding: “The ghosts of all that we’ve been, wwe toast with bitter dregs to our emptiness”.Clocking in at nearly seven minutes long, ‘Alone’ breathes with a long sigh of the band’s ghostly textures before Smith begins to sing at around the halfway mark with the line they’ve long been teasing: “This is the end of every song that we sing“.