David Byrne Is Done With Mansplaining on ‘She Explains Things to Me'
The sweeping track was inspired in part by Rebecca Solnit's 2014 collection Men Explain Things to Me, with the titular essay providing a scathing look at male arrogance and how conversations between men and women go awry.
More from Rolling Stone
David Byrne's New Album Is 'A Chance to Be the Mythical Creature We All Harbor Inside'
Watch Olivia Rodrigo Burn Down the House With David Byrne at Gov Ball
Hear David Byrne and Devo's Long-Unheard Collaboration 'Empire'
'Many times I have marveled at how a friend (usually a female friend) seems to clock what is going on in a film between characters way before I do,' Byrne said of the single in a statement. 'Sometimes I understand poetry, but sometimes I need help. Though inspired by the Solnit book Men Explain Things to Me, there is a huge difference — mansplaining is usually unasked for, in this case I am the one asking.'
Bynre shared the first single and opening track 'Everybody Laughs' from Who Is the Sky? last month. The album marks his first since 2018's LP-turned-Broadway show-turned-HBO film American Utopia. It arrives Sept. 5 and features contributions from Hayley Williams, St. Vincent, and the Smile drummer Tom Skinner.
Byrne previously said in a statement that Who Is the Sky? is 'a chance to be the mythical creature we all harbor inside. A chance to step into another reality. A chance to transcend and escape from the prison of our 'selves.''
He added, 'At my age, at least for me, there's a 'don't give a shit about what people think' attitude that kicks in. I can step outside my comfort zone with the knowledge that I kind of know who I am by now and sort of know what I'm doing. That said, every new set of songs, every song even, is a new adventure. There's always a bit of, 'how do I work this?' I've found that not every collaboration works, but often when they do, it's because I'm able to clearly impart what it is I'm trying to do. They hopefully get that, and as a result, we're now joined together heading to the same unknown place.'
Byrne will support the record with a lengthy North American tour this fall that will feature — like his American Utopia gigs — a mobile 13-piece band.
Best of Rolling Stone
Sly and the Family Stone: 20 Essential Songs
The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs
All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked
Solve the daily Crossword
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
22 minutes ago
- Fox News
Steve Doocy visits welcoming American hometowns
Fox News host Steve Doocy chats with Granbury, Texas, residents about their favorite parts of the community on 'Fox & Friends.'
CBS News
22 minutes ago
- CBS News
Filmmakers, San Francisco Japantown museum reflect on 80-years since first atomic bomb
Inside a tiny museum in San Francisco's Japantown, there is a powerful message about the atrocities of the atomic bomb. "Americans see the bomb as a beautiful mushroom cloud, and the Japanese who were on the ground see it as ground zero, the devastation, the 70,000 people who lost their lives in an instant," said Rosalyn Tonai, Director of the National Japanese American Historical Society. This summer, the NJAHS resurrected an exhibit from 30 years ago to remember the victims of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs that the United States dropped on Japan on Aug. 6 and 9, 1945. The two bombings ended World War II, with the Japanese surrendering less than a week later, on Aug. 15. The exhibit also includes a single relic that serves as a haunting reminder, a doll that was recovered from the rubble in Nagasaki. "An American family brought it in and let us know that they had kept it all these years. It was given to them by a family that survived the atomic blast," said Tonai. The survivor stories are what Tonai wants people to experience and understand. The display also features firsthand accounts from those who survived the atomic blasts, including Jack Dairiki, who still lives in San Francisco. Dairiki was a Japanese American kid visiting family in Hiroshima who became stuck in Japan because of the war. On Aug. 6, 1945, he was outside a factory on the outskirts of the city when the first bomb dropped. "We saw three aircraft coming above us," said Dairiki, during a 2015 interview with KPIX. "At that time, the bomb exploded, all the factory windows went out, it flew over my head. I weighed 100 pounds and was floating in the air." And now a new documentary titled "Atomic Echoes" by filmmakers Victoria Kelly and Karin Tanabe is shedding even more light on the devastation. "Few Americans understand what happened under the mushroom cloud, "said Tanabe. "We all see the exact same image, which really covers up the atrocities, and then we stop there in the history books." Tanabe's great-great uncle was part of the rebuilding effort in Hiroshima. Kelly's grandfather was an American medic sent to Nagasaki, who witnessed the effects of peak radiation sickness. He suffered from PTSD and died at the age of 42. The filmmakers interviewed several other American medics who were sent to Japan 45 days after the bombings. "They were really torn, they were really proud of their service, and all of them said, you know, we were there, and we can't ever have these bombs happen again because they were the worst thing we've ever seen," said Kelly. For Tonai, she believes the topic is still relevant today and still important to talk about. "We are the cusps of a nuclear buildup, and this is really a call for world peace," she said. "So, we really need to take a pause and take a look at the human cost and consequences of a possible nuclear fallout. Her hope is that the history that happened even eight decades ago will never repeat itself.
CBS News
22 minutes ago
- CBS News
Sean "Diddy" Combs wants to go back to Madison Square Garden, his attorney says
As Sean "Diddy" Combs awaits his sentencing, his lead attorney Marc Agnifilo sat down with CBS News' Jericka Duncan in his first network interview since the highly publicized trial in which a New York jury found Combs guilty of transportation to engage in prostitution but acquitted him of more serious charges of sex trafficking and racketeering. When discussing the hip-hop mogul's future goals, Agnifilo said Combs told him "he's going to be back at Madison Square Garden." Asked about what Combs wants the public to know, Agnifilo explained that Combs has been reflecting on "the blessings that he's been given, on the imperfections that I think he sees in himself." "I think he wants to get out of jail, reestablish a loving, present relationship with all of his seven children. He wants to take care of his mother," the defense attorney added. "I think he's someone who's always going to strive to do something, you know, exceptional and probably demanding and challenging," Agnifilo said about Combs' potential plans for the future. "But I think the most demanding and challenging thing in front of him right now is to get back with his kids and get back with his mother, and the people who love him and miss him." See more of CBS News' Jericka Duncan's interview with Agnifilo Thursday on "CBS Mornings."
