NME:

In the lead-up to the release of their latest LP ‘Foreign Tongues‘ on
July 10, the band will launch ‘Speaking In Tongues’, The podcast will
feature behind-the-scenes insight into the making of ‘Foreign Tongues’
over six episodes, with the band sharing studio techniques, creative
influences and their songwriting process.

As well as studio outtakes and never-before-heard new songs, the
podcast will also feature contributions from producer Andrew Watt and
The Cure‘s Robert Smith and Steve Winwood – who both appear on the
new album – and the record’s cover artist, Nathaniel Mary Quinn.

They say six "podcasts". I'd be shocked if they added up to more
than an hour. I wouldn't be shocked if they added up to half that.
The Stones have always excelled at "less is more".

ALSO listening party two hours early, Sonic Boom Records, Toronto

(via iorr-bye bye johnny via Spiegel, translation by ChatGPT)

interview by Andreas Borcholte and Philipp Oehmke
19.06.2026
excerpts

SPIEGEL: Mr. Jagger, how is a Rolling Stones song actually created nowadays?

Jagger: Of course, it has changed over the years. In the past, Keith
and I still had to come together in the studio for that and sat there
with our guitars in front of those old tape recorders with the large
tape reels. Today, we sit alone at home and compose on our own.

SPIEGEL: Do you start with the music or with a text?

Jagger: Neither. Hard to explain — take the song “Jealous Lover”
from the new album, for example: I was at my house in France,
where I have a small studio. Or rather, a room with lots of
instruments. I was fooling around on the electric piano, and this
chorus came to me. I have a little rhythm machine, and I switched
on the beat “Hip-Hop 3.”

SPIEGEL: Hip-Hop 3?

Jagger: Yes, Hip-Hop 3. Very simple. When you’re composing, you
don’t want complicated beats. When you’re just starting a song, you
need a beat that helps you. I knew Hip-Hop 3 would work here. It
goes like this (sings): Dub-du-du-bak. So I write the chorus, then
the first verse, rack my brains over whether the song needs another building block...

SPIEGEL: Sounds amazingly easy.

Jagger: Wait! Haha. After that it gets difficult. I like the music, but
now I have to get the lyrics right and spend a lot of time constructing them.

SPIEGEL: But you know beforehand what the song will be about, or
do you just write freely?

Jagger: I have an idea. Here it’s about a jealous person. A jealous
woman. I know about that. But of course it can’t only be about that,
that would be too simple, the lyrics need another twist. So I write a
third part, something like: But I can’t live without you or (now he
sings): All of this doesn’t make a difference because I can’t live
without you. That turns the lyrics into more than just a complaint
about jealousy.

SPIEGEL: When you’re satisfied, do you send the song to the producer?

Jagger: No. Keith.

SPIEGEL: You send it to Keith Richards.

Jagger: I can’t send it to Keith because Keith isn’t online. He doesn’t
have email. I have to drive over to him and play it for him.

SPIEGEL: So what are the chances that Keith will like the song too?
Put differently, do you drive there nervously?

Jagger: If it’s good, he’ll like it. You know, after 65 years I simply
know what Keith likes. However, I still haven’t fully understood what
he doesn’t like. That’s a bit erratic.

SPIEGEL: Is Keith allowed to write lyrics as well?

Jagger: He occasionally writes lyrics. On this album, the idea for
“Side Effects” comes from him, as does the lyric of the song he also
sings, “Some of Us.” He wrote that almost entirely on his own; only
a few lines are from me.

SPIEGEL: How do your sketches then become proper songs?

Jagger: First I record demos for all the songs, together with Matt
Clifford. I’ve been doing that with him for decades; he’s the
keyboardist in our live band …

SPIEGEL: And he also arranged, for example, the UEFA Champions League anthem …

Jagger: Exactly, I make the demos with him and then see where the
problems lie in the songs. Sometimes I then notice: “I need another
section there, this still isn’t enough.” In principle: write rather too
much material than too little. Later you can always cut, remove
things, or move them to another place. Now it’s about the
arrangement and the groove. How fast should the song be? What
beat does it need? Only then do I go into the studio with Steve …

SPIEGEL: Steve Jordan, your new drummer, successor to Charlie
Watts, who died in 2021 …

Jagger: … and I first work only with him to find out: can the groove
be improved even further? Does this groove even work? For me,
everything revolves around the groove.

SPIEGEL: What do you mean by groove in a Stones song?

Jagger: Groove means that it’s first and foremost about the drums
and about how I imagine the bass line and how the rhythm of the
lyrics fits into that groove. I then sing the entire lyrics to Steve, only
to him. No guitar, no piano, nothing. I just sing. And I immediately
notice whether the groove he’s playing, or the bass drum, works.*

(*my comment: "Jesus Christ, make Steve a Stone already!")

Jagger: The whole thing is extremely rhythmic. Everything I sing is rhythm.
That’s why it has to match the drums exactly. Of course, the guitars
also have to fit later. But the foundation is the drums and the voice.
Only after that do the guitar riffs come in.

SPIEGEL: Tell Keith Richards that.

Jagger: Yes, yes, I know. But in the end he would even agree with
me. Because he can’t develop a riff unless that groove is there. He
has to hear it first. The groove determines what the riff ultimately sounds like.

SPIEGEL: That means you build the frameworks of the songs, and
only later does Keith Richards join in? Is that okay for him?

Jagger: Keith can help. Besides, he already knew all the songs; I had
previously played them for him in New York, at his home.

SPIEGEL: He lives in New York?

Jagger: A bit outside.

SPIEGEL: You’re said to have a house nearby there as well. So you
pack your guitar and go there?

Jagger: With my guitar, and I also bring the beatbox.

SPIEGEL: And Keith Richards sits down and listens.

Jagger: Yes, and he also plays a few things that I should listen to.

SPIEGEL: Can one imagine that as a nice situation?

Jagger: To be honest, it’s pretty exhausting. There are a lot of songs.
And I have to play them all live. With some of them I have to write
down the chord changes beforehand. I could never possibly
memorize them all. There are too many.

SPIEGEL: When you then go into the studio to record the songs, do
you all play together? Or does everyone come individually and record
their instrument alone, as is common with many bands, also so that
you don’t have to keep seeing each other all the time?

Jagger: We usually record everything live with the whole band first.
That’s always how we’ve done it. Then we see which parts we want
to keep—and everything else is later added or overdubbed, i.e. re-
recorded. I almost never keep the actual vocal from these live
recordings. I often call out changes in between or give instructions.
Also, it’s much too loud in the studio—the drums, the whole band.
You can’t really record a good lead vocal like that. I haven’t done
that for 40 years.

SPIEGEL: Do you still enjoy going to the studio together?

Jagger: It is our workplace.

SPIEGEL: In London?

Jagger: And also in L.A. The studio is nowadays a huge electronic
tool. For over 50 years we have been working in the studio; of course
the technology has become increasingly sophisticated. And above all:
faster. In the past, people spent nights turning the huge reels of tape
machines to the right position. Nevertheless, we still use equipment
from the fifties. Those are extremely popular with these young
producers. You can hardly find them anymore. You have to track
them down at auctions in Denmark or something like that.

SPIEGEL: Do you let a young producer tell you what to do?

Jagger: Of course. I listen to it and then say: “That’s complete
nonsense. No, that’s wrong, you’re not doing that correctly – you’re
completely off.” We joke about it now. We don’t have arguments
anymore, we have jokes.

SPIEGEL: When you watch the old film footage—for example from
the documentary "Cocksucker Blues” from the Stones’ 1972 US tour,
which was never officially released because of its drug and sex scenes?

Jagger: When I see that, I seem like a different person to myself.

SPIEGEL: Really?

Jagger: It’s a different person. It’s another facet of you, but of course
it’s still you. And one mustn’t forget, it is also a filmed version of
me, even if it is a so-called documentary film. And I am playing Mick
Jagger in it. A public persona.

SPIEGEL: On the new album, you cover “You Know I’m No Good” by
Amy Winehouse, who broke down under her public persona.

Jagger: We thought for a long time about what we should cover. At
first we considered something from earlier times, Aretha Franklin,
but also more obscure soul tracks*.

(*my comment: "exactly as I speculated.")

Jagger: In the end, we worked our way forward through the eras
and thought: hey, we’re in England, Amy is English, and this song
would work as a groove track. “You Know I’m No Good” is a song
that lives entirely from its groove, a kind of soul piece that is
reminiscent of the seventies. Even if it of course sounds more
modern. When I listened to Amy’s original again, I thought:
wow, that’s a pretty complicated beat, not even easy to dance to.
That’s how I came up with the idea of using a different beat, one of
the first I ever heard, from this blues singer Lowell Fulson.
That’s more of a Stones beat than an Amy beat.

SPIEGEL: You said you would have liked to go on tour this summer.
But Keith didn’t want to?

Jagger: I would love to go on tour as soon as possible. We were
actually supposed to this summer. Now everything depends on Keith.
He’s fine, but he didn’t want to go on tour. It was too much for him.
I can’t force him.