Play Me

Play Me is Kim Gordon's third solo album, released March 13, 2026, on Matador Records. Produced once again by Justin Raisen, whose decade-long collaboration with Gordon began with the track "Murdered Out," the record follows the acclaimed The Collective (2024) and arrives in a moment of heightened cultural and political anxiety. At 12 tracks running just under 30 minutes, it reflects Gordon and Raisen's shared ethos: once a song has said what it needs to say, you get out.

Sonically, the album draws on trip-hop and boom-bap rhythms, industrial textures, krautrock motorik grooves, jazz-inflected horn samples, Auto-Tuned vocal processing deployed with ironic intent, and heavy sub-bass and 808s. Dave Grohl plays drums on the track "Busy Bee," alongside dialogue between Gordon and Free Kitten bandmate Julia Cafritz. Music videos were directed by Barnaby Clay, Moni Haworth, and the Rodarte designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy.

Thematically, Play Me engages directly with the crises of the present moment: the environmental and ethical costs of AI, Spotify's algorithmic playlist culture and its financial exploitation of artists, the encroachment of the billionaire class on democratic institutions, and the erosion of human critical thinking by "convenience culture." Gordon described the album's lyrical approach as "abstract poetry" that is "reactive to what's going on," noting that to her, "music is really about freedom." The reworked single "Bye Bye" substitutes its lyrics with phrases the Trump administration reportedly sought to ban from federal agencies, turning the song into a quiet act of civil resistance.

Critics positioned the album as an equal companion to The Collective rather than a sequel or retreat, praising Gordon's vocal experimentation, lyrical "slipperiness," and fearless creative risk-taking at age 72. Metacritic weighted average: 80/100.