The legendary Queen drummer and songwriter Roger Taylor has released his seventh solo album, Violence Insane In A Beautiful World, while also looking ahead to a new Queen documentary and reflecting on the turbulent state of the world. 

Released September 18 via Columbia, the 10-track album marks Taylor’s first solo record since 2021’s Outsider. At 77, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer says the new project is ultimately about appreciating the world around us while acknowledging just how much humanity has done to damage it.  

Roger Taylor’s New Album Has a Serious Message 

The title Violence Insane In A Beautiful World pretty much lays out Taylor’s philosophy. 

The album isn’t intended to be a traditional concept record, but Taylor says it does have an overarching theme: the world remains an extraordinary place despite the violence, conflict and environmental problems happening around it. 

“It’s about how this is a beautiful world that we live in,” Taylor told Billboard, while acknowledging the terrible violence happening everywhere.  

The album’s opening track, “A Beautiful World,” sets that tone immediately, celebrating the planet before delivering a blunt warning not to ruin it.  

And Taylor isn’t exactly sugarcoating his concerns. 

“Come On Summer” Brings Some Much-Needed Joy 

The album isn’t all heavy subject matter, though. 

Taylor’s latest single, “Come On Summer (It’s Party Time),” takes a much lighter approach. The upbeat track features the Ndlovu Youth Choir, a South African group from Limpopo that gained international attention after performing a Zulu-language version of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.”  

Come On Summer (It’s Party Time)

Taylor said of the youth choir, “I was very smitten with them, with these amazing costumes and fantastic choral arrangements and they were very happy to join me. It was really a two-way process; I would tell the choirmaster what I wanted and he almost telepathically provided it. They were very easy to work with, which made my life a lot easier.” 

Seven Solo Albums and Counting 

Taylor’s latest release also adds another chapter to a solo career that stretches back nearly five decades. 

His first solo album, Fun in Space, arrived in 1981, and Violence Insane In A Beautiful World is his seventh full-length solo effort. It follows 2021’s Outsider, which reached the U.K. Top 3.  

Taylor is also set to perform select U.K. dates in 2026 to celebrate the new album.