Exclusive: Hear an Anthemic New Cold War Kids Song

The Cold War Kids — whose third album, Mine Is Yours, will arrive in January — have given Rolling Stone an exclusive stream of the new track "Royal Blue," along with video footage from recording sessions in Nashville. "We wanted to do something more epic," says singer Nate Willett of the disc. The Long Beach, California band enlisted Jacquire King, who co-produced Kings of Leon's Only by the Night and new Come Around Sundown, who helped the band achieve a more layered sound. "On our last records, there are a lot of really kinky, out-of-tune vocal parts that are emotionally good — but this record was really about getting it right." "Royal Blue" is an anthemic, echoing statement of the band's grand ambitions, with Willett wailing, "From now on / Fly high as I want / From now on, I'll show my weak spots."

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Song Stories

“I'm Yours”

Jason Mraz | 2008

Jason Mraz re-emerged after his disappointing second album with this lead single, a Jack Johnson-esque ditty about giving yourself fully to someone else. The success of the reggae-tinged song (it earned two Grammy nods and a spot on the Billboard singles chart for well over a year) was something the folk-pop singer never predicted when he wrote it in 15 minutes at home. "I played a happy-hippie chord progression that would probably work without 50 different Bob Marley songs," he told Rolling Stone. "I thought, 'It's too novelty. This is a nursery rhyme,'" concluding that "you can never guess what's gonna be a hit."

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