Foreign Tongues

Summarize Timeline Fact Check

Foreign Tongues is produced by Andrew Watt.^[4] Ronnie Wood first confirmed in late September 2025 that fans would be getting a new Rolling Stones album when he told UK publication The Sun, "Yes, you will be getting a new album next year. It is done."^[5] Reports dispel rumours that it will be their last album, and assert that the band have written at least 10 more songs for an album after it.^[4]

The album was first teased as part of a marketing campaign for the single "Rough and Twisted", credited to pseudonym The Cockroaches, which was released on 11 April 2026,^[6] including only 1,000 vinyl copies to select records stores.^[7] A number of publications had also erroneously announced in the days leading up to its release that a song entitled "Mr. Charm" was rumoured to be released as the lead single for a new Rolling Stones album on 11 April 2026.^[8][9]

Of the single, Will Hodgkinson of The Times stated that it had "a killer riff, a rambunctious harmonica solo from Mick Jagger, a devil-may-care spirit and the feeling that, six decades on from first crawling out of a notoriously squalid flat in Edith Grove, southwest London, to play the blues in smoke-clogged pubs and clubs along the Surrey Delta, the Rolling Stones are still a chaotic bar band forever on the verge of collapse, happiest in the most low-down dives."^[4]

The album will reportedly primarily consist of new material, with a handful of leftover compositions from the band's last album, Hackney Diamonds, as well as material from the band's final session with drummer Charlie Watts in 2021, as confirmed by Jagger at a press conference hosted by the band in New York City.^[10][11]

On 25 April 2026, the band posted 20 photographs onto their official Facebook page taken in different countries showing street views with posters announcing the words Foreign Tongues written in different languages, which was later to be revealed as the title of their new studio album.^[12]

On 2 May 2026, the album's front cover was unveiled, a painting by American painter Nathaniel Mary Quinn entitled Trinity (2025)^[13] showing Wood, Richards, and Jagger's "faces seem[ing] to merge into one", an artwork possibly inspired by the art of British painter Francis Bacon and made under the art direction of Portuguese illustrator Bráulio Amado and English art director and visual artist Mat Maitland,^[14] reported to be reminiscent of a "better version of the cover to Metallica's 2016 album Hardwired... to Self-Destruct".^[15] The next day, the band teased further details to be released on 5 May.^[16]

On 5 May 2026, the band confirmed that Foreign Tongues would be released on 10 July 2026,^[17] also launching the album's first single, "In the Stars", on YouTube and other streaming services,^[18][19] and also included the complete audio version of "Rough and Twisted" digitally as a double A-side to "In the Stars" three and a half weeks after its physical release.^[20][13]

The band released a music video for "In the Stars", featuring Odessa A'zion, on 14 May 2026.^[21]

The album features guest appearances by Paul McCartney, Robert Smith (The Cure), Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), and Steve Winwood and Bruno Mars.The band's recording with Watts occurred during a session in Los Angeles shortly before his death in 2021. Several tracks included on Hackney Diamonds were recorded during the same Los Angeles sessions.^[19]

According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Foreign Tongues received "generally favorable reviews" based on a weighted average score of 80 out of 100 from seven critic scores.^[23] The review aggregator Any Decent Music gave it a weighted average score of 7.2 out of 10 from five critic scores.^[22] Rather than being a nostalgic retread, Dave Simpson's review in The Guardian described Foreign Tongues as "a thoroughly modern-sounding, occasionally political record that has the band confronting the world around them and their remaining time within it". Simpson highlighted the tracks "Mr Charm" and "Covered in You" for their railing against "mad mogul Mr Musk" and autocrats respectively.^[26]

The album's cover art is a 2025 pastel drawing by American artist Nathaniel Mary Quinn. Entitled Trinity, it consists of a composite, collage-like surrealist portrait of the bandmembers' faces.^[13] The artwork has met with a lukewarm reception.^[34]

Summarize Fact Check

Credits are adapted from Tidal.^[35]

Technical

• Andrew Watt – production, engineering (all tracks); mixing (14)
• Don Was – additional production (8)
• Paul Lamalfa – engineering (all tracks), mixing (14)
• Marco Sonzini – engineering (1–7, 9–13), additional engineering (8)
• Matt Clifford – engineering (8), pre-production (1–13)
• Krish Sharma – engineering (8)
• Joe Brice – additional engineering
• Alex Kalteziotis – additional engineering (1–13)
• Lars Fox – additional engineering (1–13)
• Joe Dougherty – additional engineering (1, 2, 11)
• Kelsey Porter – additional engineering (1, 2, 11)
• Tommy Turner – additional engineering (1, 2, 11)
• Harpaal Sanghera – additional engineering (3–7, 9, 10, 12, 13)
• Mollie Crammond – additional engineering (3–7, 9, 10, 12, 13)
• Dani Perez – additional engineering (8, 11, 12)
• Rich Evatt – additional engineering (11)
• Lawrence Adams – additional engineering (13), studio personnel (5–12)
• Serban Ghenea – mixing
• Bryce Bordone – additional mixing
• Randy Merrill – mastering
• Andrew Koenig – studio personnel (5–14)
• Dom Faccini – studio personnel (5–14)
• Laura Ramsay – studio personnel (5–14)
• Pia Squillino – studio personnel (5–14)
• Pierre de Beauport – studio personnel (5–14)
• Ryan Bullington – studio personnel (5–14)
• Tavish Westwood – studio personnel (5–14)
• Tony Russell – studio personnel (5–14)
• Anna Donarski – studio personnel (5–13)
• Artie Smith – studio personnel (5–13)
• Marc Van Gool – studio personnel (5–13)