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Taylor Momsen on ‘Brutality’ of New The Pretty Reckless Album: ‘Directly Ripped Out of My Diary’

The Pretty Reckless kick off their Dear God World Tour in July with dates into December.

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The Pretty Reckless’ upcoming album, Dear God, thrust the Taylor Momsen-fronted band into completely new experiences. They recorded in between supporting AC/DC on huge tours, Momsen told Loudwire on April 2, 2026, which had them switching between performing their old stuff and recording brand-new songs.

Momsen said it was “a new kind of experience for us, going back toward something that is familiar with old material and performing with AC/DC and then going back and diving into the next phase of our life.”

The album drops on June 26 and has already been previewed with singles “For I Am Death” and “When I Wake Up.” Momsen expressed her excitement at being able to include the new songs in their setlists before the album drops. The Pretty Reckless have several European festival dates scheduled in June before kicking off their Dear God World Tour on July 10 in North Carolina.

Taylor Momsen Says Upcoming The Pretty Reckless Album ‘Feels So Much Like Me’

When describing Dear God, Taylor Momsen touched on its raw emotional power. She emphasized the importance of songwriting for her, which has always been evident in past albums from The Pretty Reckless. Momsen has a skillful grasp of cathartic lyricism, but she said the latest album is even more personal than ever.

“I keep using the phrase, [but] it feels so much like me,” she said. “This album has an honesty and a brutality to it that is something that I’m really proud of. It almost has this feel of it [being] directly ripped out of my diary. You’re really getting the inside of how my mind works on this one.”

For Momsen, songwriting is “everything,” and she made it clear that Dear God is an outlet for her inner thoughts. The album visuals make some not-so-subtle hits at religion, adolescence, and the traumas that can surround both. Momsen, who was raised Catholic, often references religious imagery in her songwriting. Now, it seems like she’s ripping open her journals and pasting the pages back together into collages of memory, emotion, and experience.

“Songwriting feels like confession and therapy and terror and your worst nightmare and the greatest dream,” she said. “It’s all of the things. It’s the thing that I would consider myself first and foremost. I’m a singer, yes. I’m a performer, I play guitar, I’m all those things, but I’m a songwriter first. Because without a song and without that outlet, I wouldn’t know who I am at all as a human being. It’s the most important thing. It’s the only thing.”

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