The Rolling Stones recruited The Cure's Robert Smith for the upbeat track Divine Intervention. The backstory is unusual.
According to Rolling Stone, Mick Jagger was at a London recording session when Smith arrived. "I turned up one day to do my vocals, and there's this bloke standing there with his back to me with this long gown on," Jagger said at a New York press event. "When he turned around, he was covered in lipstick. And I'd never met him before—I said, 'You're Robert Smith of the Cure!' He said yeah, and I said, 'Well, while you're here then, you better go and do something.'"
Divine Intervention features Smith's guitar work, Steve Winwood on keys, and an R&B sound with Jagger singing about the end of the world.
The Stones also released Jealous Lover, with a music video exclusive to Amazon Music. Anya Taylor-Joy plays a woman who turns green with envy when she sees her boyfriend, Charles Melton, potentially cheating. A motel parking lot confrontation escalates into the room as Jagger sings, "Hands off, jealous lover."
Both tracks appear on Foreign Tongues, arriving July 10—the Stones' first new material in three years. The album includes Paul McCartney, Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Bruno Mars. Late drummer Charlie Watts recorded a track before his death.
Rolling Stone gave the album four stars out of five, calling it more "guitar-centric" and "holistically Stones-y" than their previous effort.
