The chart-topping, multi-Platinum and Ivor Novello-winning Passenger returns with a new album ‘Wild Love’ which is set to be released on November 6th. He introduces the record by sharing the brand-new song ‘It Was Gonna Be You’.
Passenger – real name Mike Rosenberg – was inspired by recently (and unexpectedly) becoming a husband and father. ‘Wild Love’captures the whirlwind of emotions as their relationship developed – the excitement, the upheaval, the trepidation and the joy.
Passenger says, “Going from a working relationship to a romantic one is scary. The older you get, the more of the spikier sides of love you’ve seen. Things go sour for all sorts of reasons and with someone so close, the stakes are so much higher. ‘Wild Love’ is the title track because it sums up the theme of the album. Do you give in to your doubts and do nothing, or do you face your fears and go for it? I wrote the song as I was realising that the choice was obvious.”
While the ‘Wild Love’ album charts the couple’s personal experiences – taking the plunge, cherished early memories together, the realisation that this new love could be one that lasts – the single ‘It Was Gonna Be You’ is an outlier from a previous chapter in his life, a story of discovering that relationships can rapidly unravel. It is set to a classic Passenger sound of bright, buoyant melody coloured with flourishes of piano and Americana-tinged guitar twangs.
He adds, “This is the last song that I wrote for the album and honestly, I wasn’t sure if it would fit with the rest of them It came from a slightly less personal place which for a time felt at odds with the rest of the record, but as I kept playing it, it felt more and more at home with the others. I think ‘Wild Love’ tries to capture the many sides of love – the good, bad and ugly – and I think this song brings something none of the others do. It’s also a catchy little bugger.”
The uplifting, energised atmosphere of the ‘Wild Love’ album opens with its most direct moment, the infectious ode-to-change of the live favourite ‘Boomerang’. The title track and centrepiece ‘Wild Love’ will also be familiar from shows, a delicate piano-based country song which taps into the elation and fear that came as the couple’s relationship took shape. There are sonic surprises too, such as the way in which the frisky ‘Caution To The Wind’ draws on both ‘70s Elton John and the insistent keys of Bruce Hornsby and the Range’s ‘The Way It Is’, or the ‘80s synth embellishments on ‘Lightning Strikes’. A rare cover is also included with his take on Taylor Swift’s ‘Willow’, the song that soundtracked the couple’s blossoming love.
While ‘Wild Love’ was written over the course of several years, it was recorded in the summer of 2025. Passenger and long-term producerChris Vallejo decamped to their new studio in the South Downs, a beautiful creative space built by adapting an old agricultural barn.
‘Wild Love’ is available to pre-order / pre-save HERE. In addition to its digital release, stunning physical formats include a gatefold coloured vinyl in two exclusive colours, a natural and a white vinyl available from select indie stores, and a Deluxe hardcover book CD.
‘Wild Love’ is Passenger’s first full-scale album project since 2021’s ‘Songs For The Drunk and Broken Hearted’, which hit #2 in the UK and went Top 10 across Europe, continuing a long run of success which has included a global breakthrough with ‘All The Little Lights’ and his first UK #1 in the shape of ‘Young As The Morning Old As The Sea’. He also wrote songs for the stage adaptation of Rachel Joyce’s novel ‘The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry’, which transferred to the West End at the start of the year. The musical received an Olivier nomination and five-star reviews across the board, resulting in Passenger releasing a selection of the songs on the album ‘One For The Road’.
Passenger is set to play a hometown headline show at Hove Park, Brighton on September 6th – limited final tickets are available HERE. Expect details of more live activity to be confirmed as the ‘Wild Love’ campaign unfolds.
‘Wild Love’ tracklist: Digital Format
1. Boomerang – Extended
2. It Was Gonna Be You – Extended
3. Caution To The Wind
4. Catherine Wheel
5. Wild Love – Extended
6. Willow
7. California
8. Lightning Strikes
9. Bonnie’s Song
10. Ghosts – Extended
11. It Was Gonna Be You
12. Boomerang
13. Ghosts
14. Wild Love
PRE-ORDER / PRE-SAVE HERE