Franz Ferdinand have taken on Chappell Roan‘s ‘Good Luck Babe’. Check it out below.
The band played the Grammy-nominated track, from Roan’s 2023 album ‘The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess’, on Jo Whiley’s BBC Radio 2 show last night (November 27).
Ahead of their performance, frontman Alex Kapranos told Whiley: “It’s just an amazing song by an incredible artist,” adding: “It’s funny, you get some artists that have a moment, often it’s kind of divisive.
“Some people absolutely love them and some people hate them. But I’ve not come across anybody I know, none of my friends, nobody I know, who doesn’t like this artist. They’re just so good. This song’s incredible so we’re going to play it.”
The cover sees them imbue the pop track with an indie edge. You can check it out below.
Franz Ferdinand are set to release their upcoming album ‘The Human Fear’ on January 10, 2025 via Domino. So far, they’ve shared the singles ‘Night Or Day’ and ‘Audacious’. You can pre-order/pre-save the album here.
Produced by Mark Ralph (who previously worked with the Scottish Mercury Prize-winners on 2013’s ‘Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action’), ‘The Human Fear’ marks the band’s first studio album since 2018’s acclaimed and dance-driven ‘Always Ascending’.
A press release promises that the 11 tracks on the album will “all allude to some deep-set human fears and how overcoming and accepting these fears drives and defines our lives.”
Speaking to NME about the LP, Kapranos shared: “I don’t think there’s a single song that you’ll hear on the album and won’t think, ‘Oh, is that Franz Ferdinand?’ At the same time, there will be thinking, ‘Oh, did they really do that?’ That’s not to say I start rapping or anything like that.”
Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand performs on stage. CREDIT: Joseph Okpako/WireImage/Getty
He also explained what ‘The Human Fear’ is and said: “We all have fears in our lives, and those fears are kind of a clue to understanding who we are – how we respond to them, how we overcome them (if we overcome them, because sometimes we don’t). The greatest moments in your life usually involve overcoming some kind of fear. Sometimes it’s a paralysing fear, but when it’s overcome, my god, it’s the greatest buzz in the world!
“Say you’re asking your partner out for the first time; that’s terrifying. Or moving to a new town and not knowing anybody. On the album, I’m talking about different fears that I’ve seen in other people: fear of social isolation, fear of leaving an institution, fear of leaving or staying in a relationship. It wasn’t like a clinical analysis when writing the songs, I only realised that after.”
The band also announced a short run of in-store shows around the album release which will then be followed by a UK and European headlining tour. Check out a full list of dates here and visit here for tickets.
Meanwhile, Roan recently picked up nominations in all four major categories for the 2025 Grammy Awards, with her debut album ‘The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess’ up for Album of the Year, and her track ‘Good Luck, Babe!’ in contention for both Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Roan is also nominated for Best New Artist.
NME awarded the album four stars, writing that it’s a “display of Roan’s bold and brazen pen, where she places searing revelations alongside some deliciously cheeky choruses.”
English (US) · 