Michael Stipe & Andrew Watt Share New Song “I Played The Fool”

Over the weekend, former R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe got up onstage with Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy’s R.E.M. covers project in Brooklyn, and he sang “These Days” and “The Great Beyond” for the first time in 18 years. Today, we get to hear Stipe sing again, except this time he’s doing a new song. Stipe got together with super-producer Andrew Watt, a guy who has worked with a lot of canonical rockers, to record the theme song to Rooster, Steve Carrell’s new HBO college dramedy.

Michael Stipe has been quietly working on his first-ever solo album for a very, very long time, and it’s not clear that it’ll ever come out. A couple of years ago, his progress was the center of a long, fascinating New York Times feature. Up until now, Stipe hasn’t released any solo music since 2023, when he teamed with Gaelynn Lea for the Earth Day benefit release “Give Me A Hand.”

“I Played The Fool” marks the first time that Michael Stipe has ever worked with Andrew Watt, and the two of them are listed as both songwriters and performers. The song also has Blink-182’s Travis Barker on drums and former Red Hot Chili Pepper Josh Klinghoffer on guitar. It’s genuinely weird to hear Stipe singing over music this sleek, but it’s also nice to hear his voice again.

In a press release, Stipe says, “I’m thrilled to lend my voice to Rooster — as a giant fan of everyone involved, it’s a real honor to be included with ‘I Played The Fool.'” Watt says, “Michael Stipe is a hero of mine. A chance to write a song with him was that of a dream… He is one of the true great songwriters of this lifetime, and he did what only he could do on this song. He sets Rooster off to the moon by making you laugh and cry at the same time with the best clapping TV theme song since Friends.” Check out out below.