“Alone” by The Cure

"Alone" is the door into Songs of a Lost World, the Cure's 14th studio album, and when it arrived as the lead single in September 2024 it was the band's first new song since 4:13 Dream in 2008. Robert Smith wrote it in 2019 after stumbling back onto Ernest Dowson's poem "Dregs" in his journal and borrowing its imagery, and fans had already heard it take shape on the Shows of a Lost World tour of 2022 and 2023.

It takes its sweet time. Drums, guitars, synths and piano churn for minutes before Smith opens his mouth, Simon Gallup's bass and Jason Cooper's drums dragging the whole thing forward like a tide, with Reeves Gabrels on guitar and Roger O'Donnell and Perry Bamonte on keys. Critics heard mortality and a wounded planet in it. Smith produced it with Paul Corkett, and it won Best Alternative Music Performance at the 2026 Grammys.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.