The Rolling Stones’ Foreign Tongues Proves They’re Not Done Yet

A Band That Refuses to Retire

The Rolling Stones dropped Foreign Tongues today, their 25th studio album, and I’m not going to bury the lede. It’s better than Hackney Diamonds. I liked Hackney Diamonds fine, but it leaned too hard into Jagger doing his solo-record thing with a backing band that happened to be the best backing band on the planet. Foreign Tongues sounds like an actual Stones record again. Guitars up front, Jagger and Richards trading riffs like they’re still fighting over who gets the last word, which they probably are.

Producer Andrew Watt cut the whole thing in under a month at Metropolis Studios. That’s wild for a band this size. No five year vanity project, no forty engineers arguing about mix notes. Just a group of guys who know how to write songs going in and doing it.

What’s Actually On the Record

Fourteen tracks, and the title is a bit of a bit, because the track titles themselves got translated into a grab bag of actual foreign languages before landing back in English on the sleeve. Cute idea, could’ve been annoying, isn’t. The record leans guitar centric and rowdier than anything they’ve put out in years. There’s a cover of Amy Winehouse’s “You Know I’m No Good” that I was fully prepared to hate and don’t.

Guest list is stacked without being showy about it. Paul McCartney, Steve Winwood, Robert Smith from The Cure, Chad Smith from the Chili Peppers. None of it feels like a duets album cash grab. It feels like a bunch of musicians who respect each other showing up because Keith asked nicely.

If you want it on wax or in your CD player, Foreign Tongues is out now on CD and vinyl, and yes I already ordered mine.

The Charlie Watts Track

Here’s the part that got me. The album includes one song built around a recording Charlie Watts laid down before he died in 2021. I wasn’t ready for how that hits. Watts was the metronome that kept this whole circus honest for almost sixty years, and hearing him on a brand new song in 2026 is one of those moments where a band that could’ve coasted on nostalgia instead chose to actually earn it.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t expect much walking into this one. Legacy acts putting out “one more album” usually means contract obligation or ego. This doesn’t feel like either. It feels like a band that’s outlived every prediction of its own death and still has something to say about it.

Foreign Tongues isn’t going to convert anyone who wrote the Stones off decades ago. But if you’ve stuck around this long, or you’re my age and just now figuring out why your dad wouldn’t shut up about this band, this is worth your time. Mick Jagger is 82 years old and making records with more bite than guys a quarter his age. That’s not nostalgia. That’s just being good at your job, for longer than most of us will get the chance to try.

Speaking of bands that got their flowers late, I went deep on why Missy Elliott’s Miss E…So Addictive still sounds ahead of its time a few weeks back. Different genre, same idea: the best artists don’t need a nostalgia tour to stay relevant.

Frequently Asked Questions

When did Foreign Tongues come out?

Foreign Tongues released on July 10, 2026, marking the Rolling Stones’ 25th studio album.

Who produced Foreign Tongues?

Andrew Watt produced the record, recording it in under a month at Metropolis Studios.

Does Foreign Tongues feature Charlie Watts?

Yes. One track is built around a recording Watts made before his death in 2021.

Who are the guest musicians on the album?

Paul McCartney, Steve Winwood, Robert Smith of The Cure, and Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers all appear on the record.

Is Foreign Tongues better than Hackney Diamonds?

In my opinion, yes. It’s more guitar driven and feels less like a Jagger solo project with a backing band, more like an actual Stones record.