Keith Richards Drives Foreign Tongues Preview With 14 Songs
Keith Richards helped launch the Rolling Stones’ Foreign Tongues in New York on Tuesday afternoon, with the band previewing 14 songs from its forthcoming 25th album. The event gave the first public look at a record cut in about a month, a pace that fits a group still working with Andrew Watt after Hackney Diamonds.
Mick Jagger, Richards and Ronnie Wood appeared with Conan O’Brien before friends, journalists and fellow artists, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Baz Luhrmann and Odessa A’zion. The audience also heard that Foreign Tongues brings in Steve Winwood, Paul McCartney, Robert Smith and Chad Smith, while the cover art comes from New York-based artist Nathaniel Mary Quinn.
Conan O’Brien at the mic
Conan O’Brien set the tone before the band stepped on stage, saying it would help them “finally make it after decades of obscurity.” He later said of the album, “It kicks ass,” and added, “There’s a vibrancy, an urgency to it.”
That reaction matched the way Jagger described the record. He said, “The thing about this record is – the Stones are a rock band that also has the capacity to do ballads, country music or dance music. So we don’t get stuck in one kind of style.”
Andrew Watt in the room
Richards singled out producer Andrew Watt, who also worked on Hackney Diamonds. “When it’s not working, that’s when we bring in the referee,” he said while pointing at Watt. “He kicks us up the arse.”
The four-week recording window fits that method. Jagger said, “Only having four weeks gave us an urgency,” and the band framed the album as a quick, concentrated session rather than a long overhaul. With more than 250 million albums sold, the Stones do not need a reset; they need a record that lands fast.
Charlie Watts and the baton
The biggest friction point in the room was absence. The Stones are now operating after Charlie Watts’s death in 2021, and the band reflected on that loss while discussing how the lineup changed around Steve Jordan.
Wood put it bluntly: “Charlie handed the baton to Steve [Jordan].” Richards added, “When Charlie hit the bucket, he said: ‘Steve’s your ma” while recalling the handoff. That keeps Foreign Tongues from feeling like simple nostalgia; it is a new album built in the shadow of an older one, with the band choosing speed, guest players and a live-room showcase over a slow rollout.
