Robert Smith says the next Cure album is finished
The darker follow-up to Songs of a Lost World is complete, while Smith is also shaping a separate, brighter collection—though no release date is fixed yet.
Robert Smith has given the clearest 2026 update yet on the music waiting beyond Songs of a Lost World. Speaking to BBC Radio 6 Music after Primavera Sound, he said The Cure’s next album is complete and ready for the next stage of release.
The record is understood to contain thirteen tracks and to continue the darker strand of the sessions that produced Songs of a Lost World. Smith has described it as more desolate than its predecessor, which is quite a promise after an album built around absence, mortality and the closing “Endsong”.
One finished record, another change of light
Smith also discussed a separate group of songs with a much brighter character. That project is being shaped as an upbeat, overtly pop Cure album rather than simply an appendix to the lost-world sessions. Taken together, the comments suggest that the long gap before the 2024 record did not reflect a shortage of material; the harder task has been deciding how the songs should be grouped and completed.
No release date or final title has been announced, and long-term Cure listeners know the wisdom of separating “finished” from “on the schedule”. Until the band and label confirm a date, it is better to treat this as a studio-status report than a release announcement.
Even with that caution, the direction is significant. The Cure are touring with a Grammy-winning album behind them, another dark record apparently complete, and a contrasting pop set in development. For the first time in years, the future looks crowded rather than hypothetical.
Sources and further reading: NME: Robert Smith interview report · MusicRadar: album details