Morrissey shares new track “Make-Up Is A Lie” ahead of delayed album

Morrissey is back with the title track from his upcoming solo album Make-Up Is A Lie.

The former Smiths frontman is preparing to release his first studio album in over five years after securing a new deal with Sire Records, an imprint of Warner Records that previously released music by his former band. The album is set to arrive on March 6.

The Suedehead singer has urged listeners to experience the song in darkness. The track was produced by Joe Chiccarelli and co written with keyboardist Camila Grey.

Writing on Morrissey Central, the 66 year old artist reflected on the long road to the song’s release, saying, “The wait has sometimes felt like a tragedy, but the release today of Make-up Is A Lie is like a reunion of lovers.

“And after several plays it seems to have existed always. We can now place our faith in what is visible. Please sit in your favourite chair in your dark cabin with the lights out – or, get off your head and enjoy some impulsive self-humiliation – as I often do. I hope you consider Make-up Is A Lie to be worth the attention that you give it. Many of us, here, and in France, Turkey, Poland, The Netherlands, Denmark, Greece, America, England… We have waited because our belief is unchallengeable: let the squawkers squawk. What survives beyond their grasp is love. I insist on being myself in spite of much discouragement, and this new music is a valid portrait of much more to come in 2026.”

The label praised its artist, describing him “as one of the most acclaimed and potent voices of the last four decades."

Listeners can also look forward to Morrissey’s interpretation of Roxy Music’s 1973 track Amazona.

It had been widely assumed that his long postponed album Bonfire of Teenagers would be released through the new label, but the revealed tracklist instead belonged to an entirely new project.

The newly shared list of 12 songs does not feature Rebels Without Applause, the sole single previously released from Bonfire Of Teenagers in 2022.

The tracklist includes The Monsters Of Pig Alley, Headache, Make-Up Is A Lie, The Night Pop Dropped, You’re Right It’s Time, Kerching Kerching, Zoom Zoom The Little Boy, Lester Bangs, Boulevard, Many Icebergs Ago, Amazona and Notre-Dame.

Morrissey’s career has been marked by challenges in recent years.

In November 2020, record label BMG ended its relationship with the singer, a move Morrissey later said was connected to the company’s “new plans for diversity”.

He completed Bonfire of Teenagers in 2021, with its title song referencing the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing.

The album had originally been scheduled for release via Capitol Records in February 2023, but Morrissey said in late 2022 that he had “voluntarily” parted ways with both the label and his management, claiming the album was being held back.

In 2024, Morrissey disclosed that he had finished another new album that also remains unreleased.

Speaking to Medium, he explained, “The second one was re-recorded in France in late 2023, and given a new title. We scrapped half of the tracks and we recorded six new ones, and so it is not the album from the beginning of 2023.”