End Of The Road For Iggy

“I wanted to be free,” says Pop.

Iggy Pop is close to announcing a decision to retire from touring. The singer, 72, admits that he “wanted to be free” while out on the road for his 2016 album Post Pop Depression, and even considered performing “behind a screen” due to being tired of people looking at him, but changed his mind.

“I wanted to be free,” Pop says. “I know that’s an illusion, and that freedom is only something you feel, but I have lived my life thus far in the belief that that feeling is all that is worth pursuing.”

Free is the title of Pop’s eighteenth studio album, which apparently has “virtually nothing in common with any other Iggy Pop album”. It’s due on September 6 via Loma Vista/Caroline International.

“This is an album in which other artists speak for me,” he says, “but I lend my voice. By the end of the tours following Post Pop Depression, I felt sure that I had rid myself of the problem of chronic insecurity that had dogged my life and career for too long. But I also felt drained. And I felt like I wanted to turn my back and walk away.”

Iggy also publishes a new book on September 26. Til Wrong Feels Right collates selected lyrics illustrated with artwork and photos, along with reflections on his career by himself and others.