Michael Stipe Releases Spoken Word Single ‘Hum Desiderata’ Ahead of Solo Debut

Michael Stipe has released another new track from his upcoming solo album.

Titled ‘Hum Desiderata’, the former R.E.M. frontman’s latest offering is a spoken word piece based on Max Ehrmann’s poem Desired. The track features additional vocals from artist Elizabeth Hatmaker.

Stipe revealed the track following his discussion of the long-awaited solo album and his performance of new song ‘The Rest Of Ever’ on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in April.

The legendary singer confirmed that he has been working on his first full solo album for several years, a project that has taken “longer than I wanted,” though he is now putting the finishing touches on the record, with a projected 2026 release.

“One of the songs is the sound of a tree hearing itself for the first time,” he said at the time. “It’s this confusing situation. My friend recorded a tree in my backyard in Georgia and played it back to itself, and so it sounds like Daft Punk, but I’m putting a sea shanty [in the song].”

Previously, Stipe collaborated with Andrew Watt, Josh Klinghoffer, and Travis Barker to debut the theme song for Rooster, which he later performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live!.

His previous solo work includes the 2019 single ‘Your Capricious Soul’ and ‘Drive To The Ocean’ the following year, as well as ‘No Time For Love Like Now’, released with Aaron Dessner’s Big Red Machine in 2020.

Elsewhere, Stipe recently teamed up with Brandi Carlile to cover Elvis Presley’s ‘Suspicious Minds’ at the 2026 Gansett Games.

At the event, Queens Of The Stone Age frontman Josh Homme performed a rendition of Tom Petty’s ‘Running Down A Dream’, and Charlotte Lawrence covered Blondie’s ‘Heart Of Glass’.

The annual party, hosted by billionaire crypto investor Mike Novogratz in Amagansett, New York, has grown in prominence in recent years, attracting high-profile performers to its stages.

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