Kings of Leon ditched the songwriting “tricks” they used to create radio-friendly anthems when they were writing their for their new album.
The Sex On Fire stars are back with their 10th studio record O My Beloved – which was released on Friday (06.11.26) – and frontman Caleb Followill has now admitted he changed tactics when writing the new tracks after suffering a foot injury which forced the rockers to cancel their 2025 tour.
Caleb told NME: “It wasn’t planned. We were just doing our thing in the studio, writing and recording some exciting stuff.
“But when I busted my foot, my frame of mind went somewhere else because I was feeling down on myself.
“I felt like it was my fault that we had cancelled a tour. So I was sitting at home with a broken foot and I started playing the guitar … the first song that I wrote ended up being My Whole World.”
He went on to explain the songs were written in a totally different way to their previous hits, saying: “This time, it felt like we only needed to follow what was speaking to us, and then everything started to come together.
“Before we knew it, we had a handful of songs that all felt cohesive, and we had moved away from using the tricks that we’ve learned over years to make a song that would fit on the radio.
“It became about being honest and writing songs from a good place … then just seeing what happened.”
The Nashville group – made up of brothers Caleb, Nathan and Jared Followill and their cousin Matthew Followill – show their appreciation for their family and friends on the record, which is the follow-up to 2024’s Can We Please Have Fun.
Announcing the album, Caleb previously said: “We have already surpassed anything we ever imagined we could do, and we’ve built something that is so special.
“I thought, wouldn’t it be beautiful to make an album that is looking back on all of the things that we’ve done and appreciating how we got here.
“In the songs, there’s our families, stories from our childhood, things that maybe didn’t seem that significant at the time, but the way they find their way into these songs kind of lets me realise how impactful they really were in my life.”
On My Whole World, Caleb sings with gratitude: “As the wind blows there goes /My whole world /Like a ray of sunshine / I’m grateful today for /My whole world /That sweet peace of mind.”