Tears For Fears have today (7) released the atmospheric new song “The Tipping Point,” the title song from their forthcoming first new studio album for 17 years. The full-length will be released by Concord Records on February 25, 2022.
The album will be Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith’s first together since their reunion set Everybody Loves A Happy Ending in 2004. It’s described as “a song cycle reflecting many of the personal and professional tipping points the pair, and the world, have faced” during the interim.
“Before everything went so right with this album, everything first had to go wrong,” says Orzabal. “It took years, but something happens when we put our heads together. We’ve got this balance, this push-me-pull-you thing – and it works really well.”
Agrees Smith: “If that balance doesn’t work on a Tears For Fears album, the whole thing just doesn’t work. To put it in simple terms, a Tears For Fears record and what people perceive to be the sound of Tears For Fears is the stuff we can both agree on.”
In its first incarnation, The Tipping Point was to be made in committee by the duo with some top current songwrters, at the behest of TFF’s previous management. “Eventually, that pressure and tension divided us not just from our management, but from one another too,” says Orzabal. The band changed representation, and their new team were hugely enthused about the five tracks that the duo could agree on.
“Suddenly, for the first time in a long time, we felt like we had someone in our corner who understood what we were trying to do,” Roland continues. “We felt like we had somebody on our side. It was the first time in a long time that we decided – we have to do this.”
The Tipping Point sees Orzabal and Smith joined by longtime collaborator Charlton Pettus, along with producers and songwriters Sacha Skarbek and Florian Reutter. “When you’ve known each other as long as we have, and have worked together as long as we have, there’s a bond there that becomes familial. So, it’s different from a friendship,” Smith says.
“And it’s different from a marriage. It’s literally like that’s your brother. It’s the kind of bond that you can’t really break. It can fall apart at times. You separate for periods, which I also think is healthy, really. But in the end, we always seem to find each other again.”
“The Tipping Point” track itself is written by Orzabal and guitarist, writer and producer Pettus and co-produced by the band, Sacha Skarbek, and Florian Reutter. It was inspired by a personal tipping point in Orzabal’s own life, and captures the grief of watching someone you love lose their long-standing battle with disease. It’s accompanied by a video directed by Matt Mahurin (Joni Mitchell, U2, Metallica).
Tears For Fears have worldwide album sales of 30 million and despite their long absence from new recording, they have toured extensively in recent years, including a sold-out UK arena tour. In 2017, they released the Rule The World compilation and were recently honored with the Outstanding Song Collection Award at the 2021 Ivor Novello Awards.
Pre-order The Tipping Point, which is released on February 25, 2022.
