David Byrne has released his new single ‘What Is The Reason For It?’, featuring vocals from Paramore’s Hayley Williams – listen below.
The former Talking Heads frontman is preparing to release his latest solo album ‘Who Is The Sky?’ this Friday (September 5) via Matador Records, which you can pre-order/pre-save here.
It is his first solo record since 2018’s ‘American Utopia’ and he has already shared the singles ‘She Explains Things To Me’, ‘Everybody Laughs’ and ‘The Avant Garde’, and now he is back with the vibrant, danceable ‘What Is The Reason For It?’.
The track sees acrobatic interplay between Byrne and Williams’ vocals, while swirling strings, playful brass and a sashaying rhythm make for a classic Byrne sound. Watch the video, featuring Byrne’s line drawings animated by artist Dustin Yellin, here:
Byrne told People about the song: “When we were finishing up the record, the producer Kid Harpoon and I were wondering, ‘Oh, maybe this song, it’s a love song, or at least it’s asking what is love, what it’s about? Why do we do this? Why do other people do it? Do we know anything about it? (…) And I knew that [Williams] was in town, so I just texted her and said, ‘Do you want to come by and sing on this?’ And she said yes. And she killed it.”
Byrne and Williams have also collaborated on ‘Open The Door’, a song from the new animated film adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The Twits.
As well as Williams, ‘Who Is The Sky?’ will also feature St. Vincent and The Smile’s drummer Tom Skinner, and it is said to “build upon the optimistic themes” presented on ‘American Utopia’, its accompanying tour and its Grammy-winning Broadway show and Spike Lee-directed movie.
The 12 songs from the LP were all arranged by the New York City-based orchestra Ghost Train Orchestra, whom Byrne enlisted after discovering their 2023 tribute album to the blind New York composer and street poet Moondog.
Byrne will embark on a worldwide tour in support of ‘Who Is The Sky?’ kicking off in the US in September before calling at the UK in March 2026. Any remaining US tickets can be purchased here, and UK tickets here, and all dates can be viewed here.
We last caught up with David Byrne when he released the American Utopia concert film in 2020, with Byrne sharing why there wouldn’t be a Talking Heads reunion in the future. You can revisit the full Big Read cover feature here.
Elsewhere, he recently shared a playlist of instrumental music ahead of his wedding to financier Mala Gaonkar, and reiterated that his old band will not “go out on tour again”, because you “can’t turn the clock back”.
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