Taylor Momsen says The Pretty Reckless delayed the band’s fifth album, ‘Dear God,’ because of an unexpected call to tour with AC/DC on their two-year sold-out run. She also describes the record as an entirely personal “letter to God,” shaped by Catholic imager
When Taylor Momsen talks about why ‘Dear God’ took longer than expected, the reason is immediate—and it has nothing to do with studio indecision. The Pretty Reckless had already started cutting the album, then the phone rang.
“It was a bit of a strange recording process for us because of the AC/DC tours. ” the singer-songwriter. 32. said in an interview. “It was going fantastic. like the best sessions of our lives. everything was flowing and that’s when we got the phone call that said. ‘Hey. leave the studio. AC/DC called, they want to take you out.’”.
The band didn’t hesitate. Momsen. along with guitarist Ben Phillips. bassist Mark Damon and drummer Jamie Perkins. joined AC/DC on a two-year sold-out jaunt as part of the band’s touring schedule. She called watching the rock legends nightly “inspiring. ” adding that it “just kind of reconfirms everything I love about rock ‘n’ roll.”.
For Momsen, the detour wasn’t only career validation. It also reinforced a life plan built around the rhythm of writing, recording and touring behind rock music. “It gave me the confidence that my life plan… is possible,” she said. And on a more basic level, she described it as pure joy. “It’s also just super fun to get to watch AC/DC every night after you played a show,” she said. “It’s kind of like the two best things put together.”.
Dear God isn’t what the title suggests
Momsen’s fifth LP, ‘Dear God,’ is something of a contradiction on the surface. She coproduced the album with Phillips and producer-engineer Jonathan Wyman, but she said the title doesn’t mean what many listeners might assume.
“I was raised Catholic and so when I say ‘God. ‘ I associate Catholic imagery to that because of how I was brought up. ” Momsen said. describing how she wears a few crosses around her neck while joking that they’re “Ts” for Taylor. “But the album itself is much more broad than that. It’s entirely a letter to God, but God meaning something bigger than you.”.
She framed the work as emotional communication rather than doctrine. “It’s a plea, it’s a prayer, it’s basically one giant confession of my life.”
That theme runs across the 14 tracks, and Momsen pointed to “Love Me” as especially telling. She said that on the track—written by her and Phillips toward the beginning of the album’s creation—she pleads for someone to want her and asks why her prayer isn’t answered.
“There’s a desperation to it that is palpable,” Momsen said. “I think that pleading to something larger than you for salvation or acceptance or whatever it may be, that is a through line through the record.”
Writing songs that “nothing’s off the table”
Talking about the songs, Momsen said, can be hard because they’re tied to her life in a direct way. She described the writing process as pulling from “pieces of my life from childhood to now and nothing’s off the table.”
She even found inspiration in something oddly personal: an old home video her family was watching over the holidays. In it, Momsen is 2 years old and says she’s a “bad witch.” When she began creating “Spell on You,” she discovered the clip and decided to use it.
Momsen said she ripped the audio from a VHS and added it to the start of the song. In the track, she sings about putting a spell on someone and making them “black and blue” with a voodoo doll.
She wouldn’t confirm whether she owns a voodoo doll—but she didn’t rule out the idea that one might exist out there. “I’m pretty sure someone has a voodoo doll of me though,” she joked. “I keep getting these very weird injuries on tour and bites and things and so I would like to find out who that person is and maybe burn that thing.”.
The strange injuries she can’t shake
Momsen’s tour history includes real-world scares that have mirrored the darkly playful tone of her lyrics. In 2024, she was attacked and bitten by a bat while performing with The Pretty Reckless in Spain. Earlier this year—while touring with AC/DC—she was bitten by a poisonous spider.
Now, she said, she’ll try to avoid any further run-ins with animals during the band’s schedule. The Pretty Reckless is planning a 20-date North American tour that kicks off July 10 in Raleigh, North Carolina and runs through Sept. 28 in Hampton, New Hampshire.
Between leaving the studio for AC/DC and returning to finish ‘Dear God,’ Momsen’s latest record looks like what she said it is: a confession shaped by the road, packed with personal images, and written through a kind of desperation that doesn’t stop when the music pauses.
Taylor Momsen The Pretty Reckless Dear God AC/DC tour Ben Phillips Mark Damon Jamie Perkins Jonathan Wyman rock music album production North American tour Raleigh Hampton New Hampshire