It’s been nine long years since Andrew W.K. released Close Calls With Brick Walls, his last album of PMA-themed stadium-metal. But in a couple of months, AWK will return with his new album You’re Not Alone, and today, he’s shared its first single. “Music Is Worth Living For” is full of revved-up guitars and tingly movie-climax keyboards and inspirational messaging, and it’s the sort of song that only Andrew W.K. would make. Below, listen to the song and read what AWK has to say about it.

Andrew W.K. says:

“Music Is Worth Living For” is an exaltation of my love for music itself. It’s also me pleading with myself to recognize music’s eternal power and glory, in the face of hardship and pain. The song is an effort to remind myself that life is worth living, if for no other reason than because of the beauty music conveys. Music is a mysterious phenomenon — it seems both to magically overwhelm and sublimate our suffering, but also to starkly dignify the struggles of our daily life. The physical power of music must be coming from some sort of unshakable truth, sent from the primal core of all being. It’s so effortless and elegant in its intensity. I truly believe that listening to music can transform you into a better person. In that way, all my songs have been me just trying to get better, trying to cheer myself up, trying to convince myself that there is hope and joy in the world no matter how dark it may seem. And the lyrics of this song, especially in the verses, are me calling out my own interior negative forces — the lowest and darkest impulses inside me, that wish to hold me down in despair — and I’m telling those malevolent urges once and for all that they won’t break me. I will persevere. And when I triumph, somehow, someday, it will be because of music. This song is a celebration of that essential and divine life-force that music is both emanating from and emitting to us. This song is about how good music makes it feel to not be dead. As the last line of the chorus proclaims, “Music makes me want to stay alive.” That’s probably the truest lyric I’ve ever written.

You’re Not Alone is out 3/2 on Red Music/Sony. Andrew W.K. will be in our New York office today to perform a Stereogum Session on Facebook Live at 4:30PM EST. Tune in here.