Overview
- Stipe, appearing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Thursday, announced his debut solo album for the end of 2026 and performed the new song “The Rest of Ever.”
- He played the track with the show’s house band, Louis Cato and The Great Big Joy Machine, marking the song’s first public performance.
- He said one cut uses a recording of a tree in his Georgia yard played back to the tree, which he described as sounding like Daft Punk.
- He also revealed a reworked take on the sea shanty “Drunken Sailor,” noting he wrote fresh lines after mishearing parts of the traditional lyrics.
- He credited the long timeline to pandemic delays and the pressure of following his R.E.M. catalog, while stressing he remains close with his former bandmates after brief reunion moments in 2024 and 2025.