Morrissey has revealed his new album is “no longer scheduled” to drop in February 2023.
The Smiths musician had been set to release his 14th solo album ‘Bonfire of Teenagers’ early next year, but now he’s announced a change of plans.
In a brief statement on his official Morrissey Central website, he said: “‘Bonfire of Teenagers’ is no longer scheduled for a February release, as stated by this site.
“Its fate is exclusively in the hands of Capitol Records (Los Angeles).”
Announcing the collection back in May 2021, Morrissey described the album was the “best album of my life”.
He had been dropped by label BMG in 2020, which he said was “perfectly in keeping with the relentless galvanic horror of 2020”.
He wrote at the time: “This is perfectly in keeping with the relentless galvanic horror of 2020. We would be critically insane to expect anything positive.
“My three albums with BMG have been the best of my career, and I stand by them till death. Recording them has been a pivotal period in my life, and I thank the previous BMG team and everyone involved for that.
“It’s still important to me to do music my own way, and I wouldn’t want to be on a label that dictates so specifically how their artists should behave – especially when the word ‘talent’ is notably never mentioned.”
When he announced ‘Bonfire of Teenagers’, the singer said it would be “available to the highest (or lowest) bidder”, with Capitol being unveiled for the US, although a UK release is yet to be confirmed.
Morrissey has played a number of songs from the album live this year, including ‘I AM Veronica’, ‘Rebels Without Applause’, ‘Kerouac’s Crack’ and more.
Last month, it was revealed Andrew Watt has produced the collection, with Iggy Pop, Miley Cyrus and Red Hot Chili Peppers duo Flea and Chad Smith all featuring on the record.