Duran Duran drops a new single: "Invisible"

That 'screen door slam' percussion is straight out of 1988, and his vocals seem uninspired and monotonous.

Alison Moyet did the best “Invisible.”

God that was awful

That video is nauseating and corny. They're pulling the old horror movie cliched trope that's been used for the past 10+ years now with the blacked out eyes?

I'm surprised nobody from Duran Duran ever came out of the closet

The song really grew on me. I've listened to it half a dozen times a day.

The song is okay, but I did like the video.

R5, I thought it's been known for decades now that Simon Le Bon is openly Bi.

Does not have a nice tone. Unpleasant to the ear.

I want to like this because I really like Duran Duran, but this is pretty bland.

There aren't many 1980 new-wave/new-romantic bands still putting out albums, still sounding relevant and fresh. Especially not with most of the original lineup (only Andy Taylor, the guitarist, is missing).

fresh?

Yes.

Invisible began with a Le Bon lyric, “a personal thing about a relationship where one person is not listening, and the other person starts to think: maybe I’m just not here”. Soon it grew into something broader, “about being human, and realising there’s a lot of us and we don’t all get heard”. It is a year since it was recorded, but Taylor notes that in that time, as the world has weathered isolation, upheaval and political protest, the song has acquired new layers of meaning. “It’s become enormously resonant,” he says. “And I’m glad that we are not coming back with a party song. That would feel tone deaf.”

"When Duran Duran jumped onto the global music stage in the early 1980s, critics dismissed them as just another teen boy group, albeit with good musical chops, who were most likely the flavor of the moment. But the band continued pounding out albums and scoring hits, and this Sunday’s live performance at the Billboard Music Awards with Blur’s Graham Coxon proves just how wrong the naysayers were."

How Duran Duran's Billboard Music Awards performance was their most contemporary creative effort

Starting with their 1986 hit 'Notorious', Duran Duran went on to perform 'Invisible' from their upcoming album before ending with one of their most famous songs 'Hungry Like the Wolf'. Sandwiched between two classic hits, Duran Duran unveiled their most contemporary creative effort in a rather strategic manner; old timers lapped up the new song willingly as the classics played to their nostalgia, whereas the young audiences of today got to see how some of the sounds that they’re accustomed to, are actually from a bygone era.

If their performance at the BBMAs is anything to go by, Duran Duran's return is happening at a time when the retro 80s sound has permeated through modern music today. From The Weeknd ('Save Your Tears' remix) to Dua Lipa ('Levitating'), BTS ('Butter') and Carly Rae Jepsen, artists of today are incorporating the 80s sound through instrumentation and songwriting, and even resorting to retro remixes. Beyond just lifting the synth sound of the 80s, these trailblazing artists today are also looking at the overall vibe of the time and attempting to recreate it for an audience that has no idea what that decade sounded like. Music trends, like fashion, is cyclical and the pop culture of today is harking to a time when Duran Duran was most relevant and certainly most successful.

Against this backdrop, Billboard’s decision to have Duran Duran play that 3-song medley is their way of saying "Let's show the kids how this is done". Thankfully, Duran Duran didn't come undone.

This is a lackluster re-entry by Duran Duran.

I compare it to a new song produced by another 80s band, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark/OMD. In 2019, they released this new song (Don't Go), which is very reminiscent of their sound yet still new material.

Psychedelic Furs also released a new album a year or so ago... only for them, it's the first new album in 29 years, not just five...

A new single: "More Joy!"

Isn't John Taylor married to the women who owns Juicy Couture? She's probably worth more than he is!

I thought Simon was married to a model?

Please stop dropping singles. I just vacuumed.

Ugh, John Taylor is so fucking hot.

I didn’t like the new single. It was depressing, frankly.

Hearing them say something upbeat would sound wrong, I kind of see their point.

Still, something to cheer us up from this hellish year-and-a-half would have been nice. The video was disturbing and awful. Didn’t some artificial intelligence or computer program create it? Hated it.

R24, did you listen to the single at R19?

I liked "Invisible", personally. Hated the video, but who cares about that.

I imagine they're saving the 'big' single for the album release in October.

The second single ("More Joy") is rather forgettable. A nice song I guess, and would enjoy it as part of listening to the whole album or any sort of duran playlist, but ten minutes after it's over, I can't remember a thing about it.

I don't envy these bands.

If they put out similar music to what they're known for then people complain that it's derivative. If they try something new people whine that it's not enough like the old stuff.

I think Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt of Everything But the Girl had the right idea - to go off and do their own things and never make music under the EBTG name again, to squash expectations.

I dunno. I've loved every single Duran Duran album. I have them all, and find the recent ones every bit as good as the early ones.

[quote]I thought Simon was married to a model?

Yes, Simon married the British model Yasmin Parvaneh, they've been married since 1985. Yasmin's mom was British, her father, Iranian. Yasmin was born in Oxford.

Here are the Le Bons with two of their three daughters.

I can't stop listening to Anniversary. Best track of the year so far.

Yasmin Parvaneh is so hot.

They're still alive?

Loved Invisible after a few listens. The video is AI. Its not an actual music video. Just AI tripping out.

The great thing is that there have been all sorts of tricks to make shitty singers sound passable. They can now use those to give an assist to older singers who have aged out of their old range. Seems like a better use of audio manipulation. LeBon sounds great here.

I love "Tonight United"... the whole album is great.

Seriously loving their new album. Every track is great. Can't stop listening to it on repeat. Couldn't pick a favorite track if I tried.

It's their best album in the last five years!

Do they still get radio play? I think it's a shame that, because a band or singer passes a certain age, their music no longer gets played on the radio. It's like, "Oh, sorry, even though your new record sounds amazing, you're not 25 anymore, so fuck off."

I've heard their single "Anniversary" a few times on the radio...