Joan Jett and the Blackhearts have released a new single, “If You’re Blue,” off their upcoming EP Mindsets, out June 2. “If You’re Blue” marks the first new material from the band since their 2013 album, Unvarnished.
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Prior to the release of the single and their surprise EP, Jett teased the song with a post on social media containing the caption “Call me if you’re blue.”
I make my own rules they don’t teach in school / And that’s what I live by, sings Jett on the old-school, just over three-minute, punk-chorded track.
The EP follows Jett’s 2022 album with the Blackhearts, Changeup, a 25-song collection of acoustic versions of Blackhearts classics, including a band cover of Tommy James and the Shondells’ “Crimson and Clover” and “Bad Reputation,” along with The Runaways’ “Cherry Bomb.”
Changeup followed the 40th anniversaries of Jett’s first two albums, Bad Reputation and I Love Rock ‘n Roll when the band decided to record acoustic versions of some of their hits.
“Once we got in the studio and started recording, we just kept going because it sounded really good,” Jett told American Songwriter in 2022. “We thought it didn’t diminish anything—it didn’t take away from the songs at all. In fact, I think maybe it added some nuanced things: the song can show you different parts of itself. I found that the lyrics sort of jumped out. I guess they’re a lot more audible or understandable.”
Jett continued, “I think a lot of these songs, for whatever reason, the lyrics get overlooked a lot. So I’m very proud that everyone can hear them [on these versions], and that many of them seem as relevant today as the day I wrote them.”
Following the release of Mindsets, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts are set to join Bryan Adams for a U.S. tour, which will kick off on June 6 in Baltimore, Maryland, and wrap up on Aug. 3 in Seattle, Washington.
Photo by Rob Tringali/MLB Photos via Getty Images
