Green Day says their next album “Saviors,” announced Tuesday, covers a wide range of topics — from disease, war and inequality to the alt-right, masks and mental health. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the band said that it’s also about, “What would Andy Warhol do? What would John Waters do? What would Quentin Tarantino do?”
Green Day announced the forthcoming album on Tuesday, set for release in early 2024. The first single, released Tuesday, is “The American Dream Is Killing Me.”
“As soon we cut it, we said, `OK, that’s going first,’” lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong said in a press release. He describes the song as “a look at the way the traditional American Dream doesn’t work for a lot of people — in fact, it’s hurting a lot of people.”
Both the song and the album’s themes hearken back to their anthemic “American Idiot,” which went on to become a popular Broadway musical. “Saviors” is their first album back with producer Rob Cavallo in more than a decade — Cavallo was their longtime producer who worked with the band on “American Idiot,” as well as their seminal 1994 breakthrough “Dookie.”
That lead single was one of the last tracks written and recorded for the album, according to the band. While playing with some of those “American Idiot” themes, it also features a simpler punk musical approach with tighter lyrics rather than that earlier album’s wordy depths.
The music video delivers a film noir zombie story as the band faces their own “Walking Dead”-esque cataclysm. The song’s lyrics explore homelessness and other issues around housing, alongside mental health and how the American Dream has been subverted.
The band premiered both “The American Dream is Killing Me” and “Look Ma, No Brains!” off the new album at a surprise show in Las Vegas and appearances at the When We Were Young Festival. Next up, they’ll be promoting their work in an Amazon Music Live concert on Thursday.
