Peter Gabriel has shared an uplifting, politically charged new single, ‘Won’t Stand Down’, which he says hopes to “encourage some sort of activism”.
The track is the latest to be shared from English singer, songwriter, musician, and human rights activist as part of his new album ‘OI’. Set to be his 11th studio album, the record is the follow-up to 2023’s ‘I/O’ and the two records were written around the same time.
Each song on the forthcoming album will receive both “Bright-Side” and “Dark-Side” mixes and will be released to align with this month’s full moon and new moon. Singles so far have dropped steadily each month, and included January’s ‘Been Undone’, February’s ‘Put the Bucket Down’, March’s ‘What Lies Ahead’ and April’s ‘Till Your Mind Is Shining’.
With the latest song, the “Bright-Side” version is the first to be released, and it comes as an uplifting, empowering song that offers both hope and inspiration to pursue change in the world.
“A million mothers looking forward/ They’re all looking out ahead/ In the haze they can make out a planet/ Alive, or was it dead?,” Gabriel sings in the ethereal, invigorating first verse. “Moving out in so many directions/ This is not the way we want to live/ It’s not the way it has to be.”
It gradually builds towards the euphoric-yet-tranquil chorus: “But we won’t stand down/ Until there’s something better showing on the ground.”
“It’s really a song to encourage some sort of activism,” the singer shared, adding that he originally wanted to create music for The Elders.org – the organisation founded by Nelson Mandela that sees independent global leaders fight for justice, human rights and a more sustainable planet.
“That’s something which I wanted to talk about, write about and encourage, because it’s pretty dark out there in lots of places and I think we need people who can just nudge both us and our leaders and keep alive some basic values of justice, compassion and democracy – a hope that can help us start envisioning a just, peaceful and fairer world,” Gabriel added.
He also recalled how he believes people “generally respond much better” towards messages of hope and positivity, rather than being “bombarded and scared by negative ones”, and therefore wanted to bring that lighter feeling to his new music.
For the “Bright Side” version of ‘Won’t Stand Down’, he was inspired by Marvin Gaye and the “Cuban element to his song “Sexual Healing’”, which brought energy and movement to the song.
“I tried to bring an element of that to this song, while allowing it to evolve into something different,” he shared. “I think it’s a good band performance in the sense that it’s not built up over a lot of time with many different layers, so it feels more alive and, with this song more than any others on the record, I wanted to have real, live emotion in it.”
‘Till Your Mind is Shining’ is out now. Listen here: https://t.co/n4ly9zL8b6
“The song began around a chord sequence which I liked and which felt quite poppy and playful, so I just kept on playing around with it till I had something. Of all the songs that I’ve written for i/o… pic.twitter.com/ocw5k0hSwd
— Peter Gabriel (@itspetergabriel) April 2, 2026
The artwork for the song comes from Shirin Neshat and her work ‘Faith’, after Gabriel discovered her “beautiful, powerful and political” work back in the ‘90s.
“By using Shirin’s work here people may ask whether this song is connected to what is happening now in Iran and although it wasn’t written in reference to the bombing,” Gabriel said. “It was written before that attack – I think it is a real condemnation of humanity that we have not found a way to settle disputes without bombing, destroying and murdering each other. We should be well beyond that by now.”
The “Dark-Side Mix” of the song will be released later in the month, on the new moon. Further details on the release plans for the full album will be arriving soon.
In other Peter Gabriel news, the iconic artist has recently shared his personal thanks to director Josh Safdie for including his song ‘I Have The Touch’ in the hit film Marty Supreme, starring Timothée Chalamet.
