Robert Smith of The Cure has shared that two songs, “It Can Never Be the Same” and “A Boy I Never Knew,” will appear on the band’s upcoming album. He added that the record will feature both songs they’ve previously performed live and “new stuff that no one’s ever heard.” The English rock band recently released their first studio album in 16 years, Songs of a Lost World, on Nov. 1 through Fiction Records. The album includes material the band had been sitting on since 2008’s 4:13 Dream. Appearing as a guest on X-Posure with John Kennedy on Radio X, Smith discussed the tracks that are slated for their next album, which will serve as a follow-up to Songs of a Lost World.

“It has a couple of songs that we were playing live which didn’t make it onto Songs Of A Lost World and it has some completely new stuff that no one’s ever heard,” he explained. “There’s three songs on it, which are slower than pretty much anything on this album. So I don’t know, it may well end up being heavier than this one.”

“Lyrically, it’s a very long way from being an upbeat album,” he continued. “It has one song of grief on it which didn’t make it onto this album, which is a very, very old song which we’ve been playing for a long, long time called ‘It Can Never Be the Same.’ And I think that this next album will have that song on because I think it’s about time. It used to be called ‘Christmas Without You’.”

Smith also shared details about “A Boy I Never Knew,” a song that has been “redone.” According to him, the track is about a boy’s death decades earlier and delves into the “death of humanity.”

The Cure has performed “It Can Never Be the Same” live for years. In 2019, Smith told NME that it was one of 13 “leftover songs” from their 2008 album, initially intended to be part of a companion release. However, the companion album was never completed because “things got in the way.”

While the fan favorite “Another Happy Birthday” didn’t make it onto the 2024 LP, Smith revealed that he is “already finishing” the band’s next album and teased a potential release as early as next summer. He also mentioned that it includes “the saddest song” of their recent batch. Beyond this follow-up, Smith hinted at a third album in the works as well.