This year marks 50 years since Paul McCartney released his self-titled first solo album. In 1980, he released the second album in the trilogy of self-titled solo albums. On December 11, his third and final album in the trilogy, McCartney III, will be released. McCartney III, along with the other two albums, is written, produced and performed by the artist himself.

McCartney, former member of The Beatles, has had a long journey as a solo artist even after being in one of the most iconic bands of all time for so many years. Although he had made a lot of solo content post-Beatles era, he did not intend on releasing this new album this year. The current pandemic pushed him to create more this year.

“I was living lockdown life on my farm with my family and I would go to my studio every day. I had to do a little bit of work on some film music and that turned into the opening track and then when it was done I thought what will I do next? I had some stuff I’d worked on over the years but sometimes time would run out and it would be left half-finished so I started thinking about what I had. Each day I’d start recording with the instrument I wrote the song on and then gradually layer it all up, it was a lot of fun. It was about making music for yourself rather than making music that has to do a job. So, I just did stuff I fancied doing. I had no idea this would end up as an album,” said McCartney according to a press release.

At the beginning of the pandemic, McCartney had a few things to say about how East Asian wet markets were being run. The legendary artist appeared on Howard Stern’s Sirius XM show where he said, “I really hope that this will mean the Chinese government says, ‘OK, guys, we have really got to get super hygienic around here.’ Let’s face it, it is a little bit medieval eating bats.”

In June of 2018, McCartney announced a new album in five years. Egypt Station was released on September 7 of that year.

McCartney’s first two albums of the trilogy were perfect reflections of where he was in his musical career at those times. These works of art introduced a new chapter for him after being a part of one of the largest band break-ups in the history of music. McCartney III, the 18th solo album from the former Beatle, is expected to showcase nothing less than the brilliance McCartney has shown the world after all of these years.