“She’s gone,” Beck sings on his newly-released song “Thinking About You,” which finds the rock polymath grieving a lost love while contemplating life alone.
“Thinking About You” offers simple pleasures for casual fans: a sparse, romantic guitar underneath some of the more melodious singing of Beck’s career. But for longtime Beckologists, the song invites plenty of speculation about his private life. To start, he’s less than 18 months removed from finalizing the divorce from his wife of 14 years, Marissa Ribisi, a transaction he both initiated and described as “heartbreaking” to the New Yorker.
“Thinking About You” also puts further distance from Beck and organized religion, though reporting has often linked him to Scientology. “Religion hasn’t been a central part of my life,” he said in 2019. “There’s a misconception that I’m a Scientologist. There was a period of time, maybe in the early two-thousands, where my family recommended I get some counselling. But, beyond that, it hasn’t been something I’ve actively pursued.”
“Thinking About You” would seem to place him squarely in the camp of atheists or agnostics — philosophies that offer little comfort when you’re 52 years old and alone. “40 roses/ Couldn’t cover my grave,” he sings, ” No crosses or rosaries/ For my soul to save/ Wanna believe in something/ Don’t even have to be true/ Just thinking about you,” he croons, “Thinking about you.” Check out the track below.
In August and September, Beck will embark on a co-headlining tour with Phoenix alongside special guests Jenny Lewis, Japanese Breakfast, Weyes Blood, and Sir Chloe. Tickets are available here. His last album, Hyperspace, came out in 2019.
