Morrissey has completed his next album, Bonfire of Teenagers, according to a post on the singer’s website. The album was recorded in Los Angeles and will feature 11 tracks, although a release date has not yet been confirmed.
“The worst year of my life concludes with the best album of my life,” Morrissey wrote of the release. The post also noted that the singer is currently unsigned and the album is available to the “highest (or lowest) bidder.”
Morrissey parted ways with record label BMG last November. The singer revealed the label had dropped him in an update on his website, titled “BMG Dumps Morrissey,” noting, “BMG have appointed a new executive who does not want another Morrissey album. Instead, the new BMG Executive has announced new plans for ‘diversity’ within BMG’s artist roster, and all projected BMG Morrissey releases/reissues have been scrapped.”
He added, “This news is perfectly in keeping with the relentless galvanic horror of 2020. We would be critically insane to expect anything positive.”
Morrissey made headlines earlier this year when an episode of The Simpsons parodied the former Smiths singer with a moody character named Quilloughby. The character, voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch, becomes Lisa Simpson’s imaginary friend in the episode, titled “Panic on the Streets of Springfield.” The episode also included a mopey, Morrissey-esque tune called “Everyone Is Horrid Except Me (And Possibly You).”
The singer, of course, posted some choice words on his website in response, writing, ““The hatred shown towards me from the creators of The Simpsons is obviously a taunting lawsuit. But one that requires more funding than I could possibly muster in order to make a challenge.”
His manager Peter Katsis told Rolling Stone, “It’s funny that none of the stories are talking about the false portrayals or what The Simpsons did. The Simpsons are claiming it’s a composite of several artists — obviously so we don’t sue them. What no one’s talking about is how insulting it truly is. The guy is still a super vegan. His beliefs in animal rights is what’s got him to this point.”
Morrissey has courted controversy a lot in the past few years, which may explain why BMG dropped him. In 2019, he claimed in an interview on his website that he isn’t racist because “everyone ultimately prefers their own race” and has been a public supporter of extreme right-wing politics in Britain.
Morrissey will perform five nights at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas from August 28. His website confirms that “there are no anti-social distancing or facial concealment rules in place” for the shows. His last album, I Am Not a Dog on a Chain, came out in 2020.