October 17, 2025– Brandi Carlile released her newest song “Church & State,” which will be featured on her new album set to come out on Friday, October 24. Carlile shares, “Written and sung on November 5, 2024, after 11 p.m. The only things in life that are certain are death and taxes. I wouldn’t dare dodge either one of those things. One thing I know for sure is that we will all be dependent physically and esoterically on the young people that we dump our insanity onto. We crawl twice in our lives. With any luck in our infancy, we’re lifted into loving arms. Who will lift us up when we’ve grown old and burned the whole world down? Not the ones left to sort through the ashes. Let the violent hands be lifted by their religion.”

Listening to Carlile’s new song, I can feel the anger that permeates from the lyrics and how justified that is, given the state of the world. As a lesbian woman myself, music coming from artists who understand is so powerful, and is something that the community desperately needs. My girlfriend is a HUGE Brandi Carlile fan, and we’re both excited to see the direction this album will go. The singles released from the album have already proven it to be a strong body of work, and fans all across the world are looking forward to hearing the record in full.  

Carlile’s new album, Returning To Myself, is highly anticipated, and the release of “Church & State,” the third song released from this record, only intensified the excitement of fans. The song was written by Carlile, Andrew Watt, and Carlile’s longtime bandmates Phil and Tim Hanseroth. Returning To Myself will be her eighth studio album and her first solo project in four years. After a long stint of focusing on collaborations with musical legends, the 11x Grammy-winning songwriter reflects inward, backward, and brings us home with this collection of new music.  The album will be released on Interscope Records/ Lost Highway and was produced by Carlile, Watt, Aaron Dessner, and Justin Vernon, and features ten songs. One of those songs is “A War with Time,” which was released last week with an accompanying acoustic performance video filmed on Carlile’s fishing boat in Whidbey Island, WA. 

In addition to the previously listed collaborators, the record includes SistaStrings (Monique and Chauntee Ross) as well as Josh Klinghoffer, Chad Smith, Matt Chamberlain, Dave Mackay, Rob Moose, Blake Mills, Mark Isham, and Stewart Cole. 

Carlile has had an illustrious career as an 11x Grammy award-winning singer/ songwriter, performer, producer, 2x EMMY Award-winning composer and lyricist, No. 1 New York Times Bestselling author, and activist, and has become one of music’s most respectable voices. She has released eight studio albums, including her collaborative album with Elton John, Who Believes In Angels?, which debuted at No. 1 in the U.K. and top 10 in the U.S. Carlile continues with her impeccable work with her recent Grammy Award-winning projects from Joni Mitchell and Brandy Clark, and a produced and recorded version of Indigo Girls’ “Closer To Fine” with her wife, Catherine, which was on Barbie The Album, as well as a rendition of “Home,” which was featured in the final season of “Ted Lasso.” Carlie also received her first Oscar nomination in January 2025 in the Original Song category for “Never Too Late.” The song was written with Elton John, Bernie Taupin, and Andrew Watt, and is the title track for the Disney+ documentary on Elton’s life and career.

Brandi Carlile, especially within recent years, has become known for her iconic collaborations with artists including Noah Kahan, The Highwomen, Hozier, Soundgarden, Alicia Keys, P!nk, and Dolly Parton. In 2023, she was named OUT Magazine’s “Icon of the Year,” awarded Billboard’s Women In Music “Trailblazer Award,” CMT’s Next Women of Country “Impact Award,” and NMPA’s 2023 “Songwriter Icon Award,” and received multiple recognitions from the Americana Music Association. Alongside being a world-class musician, Carlile is a founder of the Looking Out Foundation, which has raised over $8 million for grassroots causes to date. She currently lives in rural Washington State with her wife and two daughters, and fans can listen to her new album now. 

RETURNING TO MYSELF TRACKLIST

1. Returning To Myself

2. Human

3. A Woman Oversees

4. A War With Time

5. Anniversary 

6. Church & State

7. Joni

8. You Without Me

9. No One Knows Us

10. A Long Goodbye

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