Robert Smith says the band has finished the follow-up to 2024’s Songs of a Lost World—and also a third, distinctly darker, more upbeat record—delivering new details about release timing that remain unresolved.
A second chapter is already written, and The Cure aren’t pretending they’re waiting for inspiration. In 2025, frontman Robert Smith said the band has completed a new album—and he’s gone further, describing a second follow-up to Songs of a Lost World, the LP that arrived in 2024 after a 16-year gap.
Smith pointed to the band’s working timeline in a recent interview with BBC 6 Music. He said, “We did the initial recording of Songs of a Lost World in 2019. We did record three albums’ worth of songs.” He then laid out where those songs have landed: “So the second one’s done. So that’s about to be delivered to Universal.”.
He didn’t stop at logistics. Smith tried to prepare listeners for a mood shift, even if the albums remain related. The third album. he said. is “really. really upbeat” and “really poppy.” But the second record is darker in a way that feels deliberate. “The next one, if anything, it’s more dismal than Songs of a Lost World,” he said. “It’s quite dark emotionally.”.
The word “poppy” still mattered to him, though, and he clarified what he meant by it. Smith offered Olivia Rodrigo as a reference point after she enlisted him for the duet “what’s wrong with me.” “It doesn’t compare melodically to the stuff that Olivia does. ” he said. before adding: “It’s more my idea of Cure pop.” He even put a number on the difference: “It’s probably 20 BPM slower than anything she does.”.
Release dates, for now, remain frustratingly out of reach. Smith didn’t offer clues about when the new albums might arrive. His comments, however, suggest they won’t be released together. Songs of a Lost World was their first LP in 16 years. released in 2024—and the follow-up is described as “about to be delivered to Universal. ” while the third album is framed as another distinct step.
The promise in Smith’s timeline is stark: three albums’ worth of songs were recorded from the Songs of a Lost World sessions in 2019. but only one record has been released so far. Now. the band is moving the next pieces into place—one darker. one brighter—without giving fans a calendar to hold onto. This is less a tease of a single comeback than a countdown to how many different versions of “The Cure” are still waiting in the same vault.
The Cure Robert Smith Songs of a Lost World Universal BBC 6 Music Olivia Rodrigo album teasers post-2024 releases alternative rock
So they’re dropping 3 Cure albums?? I thought they were done like 2024 already lol
“20 BPM slower than Olivia Rodrigo” like ok… I don’t even listen to her so who cares. Still though, dark Cure album sounds promising.
Wait I got confused—he said the second one is “about to be delivered to Universal” but also they “aren’t pretending they’re waiting for inspiration.” Delivered for what like shipping a CD? Also the upbeat one is third? My brain hurts.
They recorded 3 albums’ worth in 2019 and we only got ONE in 2024 so… are they just sitting on it on purpose? I feel like labels are slowing it down. Universal probably has them hostage or something. Anyway hope they don’t release them all randomly like surprise drops.