Rolling Stones launch official podcast 'Speaking In Tongues' with Robert Smith, June 25

The Rolling Stones are turning their next album rollout into a full-blown content operation. They announced an official podcast called 'Speaking In Tongues', launching June 25, with behind-the-scenes interviews and studio access tied directly to their upcoming July 10 record 'Foreign Tongues'.

This is not a generic “tour diary” gimmick. The six episodes are built around conversations with the band members Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood, narrated by Norah Jones, with contributions from producer Andrew Watt plus The Cure's Robert Smith and Steve Winwood. Robert Smith, in particular, is more than a cameo here, because he also appears on the album, alongside Winwood, and the project extends to the album's cover artist, Nathaniel Mary Quinn.

If you run a label, manage an artist brand, or invest in music businesses, you already know the raw problem: attention is expensive and fragmented. The Stones are answering that by packaging the work itself as the marketing engine. The podcast will cover studio techniques, creative influences and the band's songwriting process, and it will include studio outtakes and “never-before-heard new songs.” That last detail matters because it signals the podcast is designed to give fans additional musical value, not just commentary.

From a strategy standpoint, the timing is unusually tight and purposeful. The Stones launch the podcast June 25, then the album arrives July 10, giving the series a runway that keeps the project top of mind rather than peaking only when the tracklist drops. That tracklist revealed “last month” shows another modern rollout tactic: the song titles appear on streaming devices, but “in actual foreign tongues,” a playful concept that points to the larger theme of the album era. The podcast, then, becomes a bridge between the concept and the craft.

The lineup of contributors also reads like a deliberate “reach beyond the core” move. Beyond Jagger and Richards, the podcast features contributions from Andrew Watt, who is the producer associated with the album, and from Robert Smith and Steve Winwood, both of whom appear on 'Foreign Tongues'. It also brings in Nathaniel Mary Quinn, the record’s cover artist, which extends the storytelling beyond audio into visual identity. In other words, it treats the album as an ecosystem, not a product.

This also lands in a broader context of how major catalogs and modern releases compete. 'Foreign Tongues' follows 2024’s 'Hackney Diamonds', which helps explain the pressure on the Stones to keep the storyline moving rather than letting momentum fade between projects. And the album includes guest appearances from Paul McCartney, Robert Smith, Steve Winwood and the late drummer Charlie Watts. It also includes previously released singles 'Rough And Twisted' and 'In The Stars', plus a cover of Amy Winehouse’s 'You Know I’m No Good'. That mix of guests and repertoire provides plenty of narrative material, and the podcast format gives them a place to unpack it in episodes.

There is plenty for executives to notice in how the Stones talk about the album itself. At an album launch event in New York City, the band discussed the diversity of sound on 'Foreign Tongues', including a country track called 'Ringing Hollow'. Jagger said that, when he and Keith Richards were young, they both liked country music a lot and played it, always liking Hank Williams, and that while you “can’t really imitate those people,” they absorbed the style. He described 'Ringing Hollow' as a “love song to America” and said he “didn’t want to express it in a rock way,” thinking it was better “in a country way.”

Jagger also connected the album to range, saying it is interesting to him that, even though The Stones are a rock band, they have the ability to do ballads and country music and dance music, that they are “not stuck in one particular style,” and that over the years they’ve loved “all kinds of music.” Richards added: “It’s quite possible that there’s more in there. And that’s what we’re looking for.” For decision-makers, that matters because the podcast is positioned to operationalize that ambition. If the album is about gamut, the series becomes the mechanism to show how the band actually gets there in the studio.

The rollout does not stop at audio. Ahead of the release, the Stones teamed up with Marvel to launch a special vinyl collector series for the record, with limited edition artwork featuring Spider-Man, The Hulk, Captain America and more. That kind of cross-brand packaging creates multiple entry points for buyers, and the podcast adds a third dimension: storytelling that can convert passive listeners into engaged fans.

Finally, there is a reality check for anyone watching how attention behaves during a comeback cycle: the Stones are also actively expanding their presence outside traditional channels. The source notes that Mick Jagger surprised fans in Oxford recently by playing an impromptu gig with students at a local pub. That kind of surprise moment can drive social buzz quickly, while the podcast and Marvel vinyl create longer arcs that keep the campaign alive after the initial spark.

For boards, label executives, and music investors, the takeaway is clear: 'Speaking In Tongues' is a bet that deeper access beats noise. The six episodes, the specific June 25 launch date, and the direct tie to a July 10 album create a controlled narrative timeline, and that control is increasingly valuable in an environment where algorithms decide what gets heard. The Stones are leveraging star power, peer credibility from collaborators like Robert Smith and Steve Winwood, and producer Andrew Watt’s production identity to turn an album release into a sustained media product.