Andrew was working with Elton to finish his record, and I’d been called in to scribble out some lyrics. It’s funny because all the people that you mentioned, working with them just kind of happened. The honest answer is that I should think about that stuff, but I don’t. That’s what could be scary about this interview, and I like that. I wouldn’t want anything to be not honest. The fact that you reached both forward and backward generationally for your collaborators made me wonder: Have you been thinking about how to attract listeners beyond Pearl Jam fans? And I know the humble answer would be, “I’m happy if anybody listens,” but I’d rather hear the honest answer than the humble one. You’ve also got these older legends on it. You made your new album with a young producer who has had pop success. Hopefully people trust us to come up with new paint colors that they care about too.” It’s like I need a paint color that I’ve never seen, so I mix it myself. “When the songs are coming out,” says Vedder, who is 57, “it’s usually because they’re songs that I would like to hear myself.

As such, it’s likely that the album will contain some surprises for those listeners who mainly know the singer as an avatar of ’90s-era rock-star angst, as well as for the army of die-hards who have continued to ride Pearl Jam’s various waves. The album features guest appearances by Stevie Wonder, Elton John and Ringo Starr and was produced by Andrew Watt, a hitmaker known for his work with such contemporary pop musicians as Justin Bieber, Post Malone and Miley Cyrus.

11, is an altogether different, more ambitious effort. Eddie Vedder, the lead singer of Pearl Jam, sidestepped those problems on his 2011 solo album, the quaintly charming and musically humble “Ukulele Songs.” His new one, “Earthling,” out Feb. A solo effort from a member of a long-running rock band can be an iffy proposition, the music in danger of being scuttled by either self-indulgence or transparent bids for greater individual stardom (or both).

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