The Rolling Stones are at it again with a mystery campaign, and this one spans several continents.
The band's official social media pages began circulating images of shadowy posters spotted in cities around the world. Each poster carries the group's familiar lips logo and the words "Familiar Tongues" repeated in multiple languages. A QR code on the posters leads to a Rolling Stones microsite offering what the site calls "Subversive Scents" — fragrance products named after classic Stones recordings, including "Sticky Fingers" and "Urban Jungle."
No further details about the project have been announced.
The campaign isn't the band's first cryptic move in recent months. Earlier, the Stones ran a postering exercise under the name of their alter egos, The Cockroaches, which also featured a QR code. That one linked to a website controlled by the band's label, Universal Music, and was followed by a limited-edition vinyl-only release titled "Rough & Twisted."
The Stones last released a studio album in 2023. Hackney Diamonds, their 24th collection, featured collaborations with Paul McCartney, Elton John, Lady Gaga, Stevie Wonder and the late Charlie Watts, and won a Grammy Award for best rock album.
Producer Andrew Watt, who helmed Hackney Diamonds, told Rolling Stone last September that he is producing the follow-up, describing the experience as "working for Batman." He added: "When the tongue is up in the air, you just go. I can say we did some recording together, but that's all I can say." That same month, guitarist Ronnie Wood told fans they were "getting a new album" in 2026.
A 2026 U.K. and European tour, whose dates were never officially confirmed, was reportedly called off last December. According to Variety, citing an unnamed source close to the band, guitarist Keith Richards, now 82, was unable to commit to another demanding road schedule.
Whether Foreign Tongues is the new album, a companion project, a fragrance line, or something else entirely, the Stones have not said. For a band six decades into its career, that kind of silence tends to be its own statement.
