Fall Out Boy revealed the track listing for their upcoming album Friday, and fans were surprised to see that Ethan Hawke is featured on “So Much (For) Stardust,” which drops March 24.
Hawke appears on a song titled “The Pink Seashell feat. Ethan Hawke,” and as bassist and lyricist Pete Wentz explained in 2020, it’s inspired by a moment in Hawke’s 1994 film, “Reality Bites.”
“There’s this bit in the movie ‘Reality Bites’ where Ethan Hawke’s character talks about seeing his dad after he found out he had cancer. They’d talk about life and he gave Ethan’s character a pink seashell to help explain things,” Wentz told NME.
“He realized the shell is empty and maybe life is pointless. ‘It’s all a random lottery of meaningless tragedy in a series of near escapes,’ he says. That’s why he enjoys the little things in life, like eating a burger or smoking a cigarette. I think there’s a whole record from that perspective, taking part in these little pieces of life without the consequence. It’s important to not forget those little granular moments of life. To me, there’s a record in that pink seashell.’”
Wentz was discussing the possibility of a solo album, but the song ended up on Fall Out Boy’s roster. The band also has a song which name-checks Hawke’s first wife, Uma Thurman, on their 2015 album “American Beauty/American Psycho.”
It’s not clear if the track is written or sung, but Hawke did sing in “Reality Bites.” He also plays a reclusive pop star in “Juliet, Naked,” in which he serenaded Rose Byrne with a cover of The Kinks’ “Waterloo Sunset.”
In January, Joe Trohman, Fall Out Boy’s co-founder and guitarist announced he was stepping away from the band for “a spell” to focus on his mental health.
