Kings of Leon ignored social media algorithms and just tried to create a “great” album when making ‘Can We Please Have Fun’.
The rockers released their ninth studio record on Friday (10.05.24) and bassist Jared Followill has admitted the musicians didn’t try to craft hits that would go viral on TikTok and instead focused on making music they could be proud of.
He told Billboard: “Our only rule is to not have any songs on the album that we would be embarrassed if they were a single – so we try to make the album great, because we don’t know anything about the business side of things or algorithms or which song will do well.
“Now it seems like you just need a great 15-second piece of a song to make it big on TikTok – slow it down, reverb it, make it huge. But we don’t know what works anymore, and I don’t think anybody knows …
“You just have to play ball a little bit, and hope that you’re with the right people who know what they’re doing.”
It comes after frontman Caleb Followill admitted he felt like “the most inspired man in the world” when making the new album because the band were between record contracts at the time.
He told NME: “The fact that we didn’t have that [a recording contract] in the beginning [of making the album] was such a … man, it was a weight lifted …
“I saw things in colours and shapes and sounds. It was just like I was on a huge acid trip. For months!
“I’d see something on TV and go: ‘Ooh – I can apply that.’ And while it was happening, I was thinking: ‘Man, I wish other people could feel what I’m feeling right now’.”
Kings of Leon signed to RCA Records back in 2002 but the band parted ways with the label following the release of their 2021 album ‘When You See Yourself’.
They signed a new deal with Capitol Records after completing work on ‘Can We Please Have Fun’.