Chic are to release their first album in 25 years next year, Nile Rodgers has said. It’s About Time was originally scheduled to come out this year on Warner Brothers. Now the follow-up to Chic-ism will emerge in the year of the group’s 40th anniversary.
“When Prince suddenly died, it was like I’d been struck by lightning twice. It made me ‘see’ why I named the next Chic album It’s About Time,” Rodgers wrote on his blog. “Time is so important, and what we do with it is everything.
“I flashed upon this fact: 2017 is the 40th anniversary of the world’s most influential disco in history, Studio 54. It’s also the 40th anniversary of Chic. Our song Le Freak became one of Studio 54’s massive anthems.”
Rodgers spoke to Rolling Stone and expanded on his remarks. “If we had put out the album last year, it would have been the 39th anniversary of Chic,” he said. “No one gives a shit about 39 or 37 or 38. And I went, ‘Wait a minute. 2017 is the 40th anniversary of Chic.’ And then it hit me it was the 40th anniversary of Studio 54. No matter what bad stuff goes on in the world, it’s just like your birthday, you still can celebrate and pay tribute to these anniversaries. The fact that it’s 40 years later and we’re still going strong. Our gigs are fun and great. It still feels the same as when we first started, other than the fact that my guitar feels heavier.”
Rodgers also said the album, though written, was not yet finished, and would not be until he was ready to release it. “I purposely didn’t finish stuff off because there are a lot of artists who wanted to do features with us that we just didn’t get to,” he said.
He added that the album would feature 10 songs, and be the length of a vinyl record. His blog post promised a “big surprise” to go with the album, but he didn’t expand on that with Rolling Stone except to say that it is, indeed, “pretty big”.
