Today the legendary duo Tears For Fears have announced the forthcoming release of their first new studio album in nearly two decades, THE TIPPING POINT. Arriving February 25th, 2022, via Concord Records, THE TIPPING POINT is a song cycle reflecting many of the personal and professional tipping points the pair and the world have faced throughout the last seventeen years.
Asked why make a new album now? Roland Orzabal says, “Before everything went so right with this album, everything first had to go wrong, it took years, but something happens when we put our heads together. We’ve got this balance, this push-me-pull-you thing – and it works really well.” Curt Smith agrees, “If that balance doesn’t work on a Tears For Fears album, the whole thing just doesn’t work. To put it in simple terms, a Tears For Fears record and what people perceive to be the sound of Tears For Fears – is the stuff we can both agree on.”
Despite their many hits and 30 million albums sold, the band started making this new record by committee with some of today’s hit songwriters at the behest of their previous management. Before long, this reluctant attempt at compromise failed. Orzabal explains, “Eventually, that pressure and tension divided us not just from our management, but from one another too”. The band switched to new management, who raved over the five tracks the band could both agree on. Orzabal continues, “Suddenly, for the first time in a long time, we felt like we had someone in our corner who understood what we were trying to do. We felt like we had somebody on our side. It was the first time in a long time that we decided – we have to do this.”
Joining Orzabal & Smith on the album is their longtime collaborator Charlton Pettus along with producers and songwriters Sacha Skarbek and Florian Reutter.
“When you’ve known each other as long as we have, and have worked together as long as we have, there’s a bond there that becomes familial. So, it’s different from a friendship,” Smith says. “And it’s different from a marriage. It’s literally like that’s your brother. It’s the kind of bond that you can’t really break. It can fall apart at times. You separate for periods, which I also think is healthy, really. But in the end, we always seem to find each other again.”
Alongside this announcement they’ve also released their first single and the title track, “The Tipping Point.” Written by Orzabal and guitarist, writer and producer Charlton Pettus and co-produced by the band, Sacha Skarbek, and Florian Reutter, the explosive yet intimate track is filled to the brim with emotion. Inspired by a personal tipping point in Orzabal’s own life, this song captures the grief of watching someone you love lose their long-standing battle with disease.
The accompanying visual, directed by the famed Matt Mahurin (Joni Mitchell, U2, Metallica), depicts the subtle and poetic portrait of imbalance.
Tears For Fears were one of the most iconic bands of the ‘80s, selling over 30 million albums worldwide with singles such as “Shout,” “Everybody Wants To Rule The World,” “Mad World,” “Sowing The Seeds Of Love,” and “Woman In Chains” acknowledged as classics.
The Tipping Point is the band’s first album since their reunion album Everybody Loves A Happy Ending in 2004. Since then, the band have toured extensively, including a sold-out UK arena tour and in 2017 released Rule The World, a best-of compilation that returned the band to upper reaches of the album charts once more. Earlier this month the band were honored with the Outstanding Song Collection Award at the 2021 Ivor Novello Awards.
The Tipping Point is the bold, beautiful and powerful sound of Tears For Fears finding themselves together, once again.
THE TIPPING POINT Tracklisting
1. No Small Thing
2. The Tipping Point
3. Long, Long, Long Time
4. Break The Man
5. My Demons
6. Rivers Of Mercy
7. Please Be Happy
8. Master Plan
9. End Of Night
10. Stay
Deluxe CD Bonus Track
1. Secret Location
Super Deluxe Edition CD Bonus Tracks
1. Let It All Evolve
2. Secret Location
3. The Shame
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