GRAMMY-winning rock band Switchfoot usher in a new era of music today with the release of “Wake Up, Mr. Crow,” the lead track off their forthcoming album Forever Now. An alarm clock of a song that sets the tone of the guitar-driven record, the track showcases a juxtaposition of major versus minor chords — a musically unsettling parallel of our “strange, strange times.” To coincide with the release, the band has also dropped the accompanying music video — watch here. Forever Now will be available everywhere June 26 and can be pre-saved now.

 

“The goal for us was to look inward and find the songs that are uniquely ours to sing,” said the band. “Instead of chasing after what is profitable or lucrative, we were looking for the moments that made us fall in love with rock and roll to begin with. That was what we wanted to represent with this record. This song is just the beginning of what is to come.”

The lyrics of the verses of “Wake Up, Mr. Crow” paint on the canvas of the dystopian daily routine — the traffic, the caffeine, the political: “Rise and shine / The morning sun like a warning sign.” The introspective still point of the song comes during the bridge, where the protagonist begins to question who he is: “Which of these voices is mine?” All leading to the climax of the song — the title itself: “How do you feel? Wake up, Mr. Crow, how do you feel?“

Born from an intense and highly emotional period of songwriting, musical discovery and keen cultural observation, Forever Now is the most thematic and narrative-driven album of Switchfoot’s already storied career. The band’s fourteenth full-length studio LP — produced by longtime collaborator and accomplished producer, Mike Elizondo — centers on the emotional roller coaster of a person’s final day on Earth. And more specifically, the questions one might ask themselves if confronted with a harsh but potentially enlightening reality. “If you found out that today was your last day, how would you live it? What would matter most?” Jon Foreman, lead vocals, said of the album’s thematic throughline. The band first announced the record during their captivating performance at Austin’s South By Southwest Festival earlier this month.

 

“As artists, we’re always looking to grow and expand our sound,” continued the band. “Underneath it all, we are forever kids, just playing with music as this amazing toy that has endless possibilities. In the pursuit of growth, it can look like running from yourself and your sound. But with this album, we were very intentional about owning who we truly are. We were very intentional not to run from what is uniquely ours.”

 

The new project adds to their extensive and widely known discography across thirteen studio albums, with over 10 million copies sold worldwide. In 2023, the award-winning band celebrated the 20th anniversary of their triple-Platinum album The Beautiful Letdown with a re-recording of the full record as well as a deluxe edition featuring guest features from artists like Tyler Joseph (Twenty One Pilots), Ryan Tedder (OneRepublic), Jon Bellion, Jonas Brothers and more.