Caleb Followill said Kings of Leon seriously considered breaking up before making their album Can We Please Have Fun, said in an interview with Esquire. The band had noticed their circumstances shrinking and needed to decide whether they still had something worth pursuing.
Followill was asked directly whether he had thought about ending the band. He explained that the decision point came before the album was made, when the band faced concrete signs that things were changing.
“Oh yeah. Many, many times,” Followill said when asked if he had seriously considered ending Kings of Leon.
“Before we made Can We Please Have Fun, there was a moment when everything felt like it was kind of shrinking. The stages were getting smaller. Crew members that we love were kind of leaving and going on big tours with bigger artists.”
Followill described the moment he realized something had to change. “That’s when I looked in the mirror and said, ‘If you don’t take control of this thing, you’re going to lose it.'”
He explained what he told the people around the band about their options. “And unless we do want to go and do our goodbye tour, let’s see if we can get something out of us.”
Followill’s comments came as the band discussed what direction to take after a difficult period. The album that followed became a turning point for the group.
The turning point came with Can We Please Have Fun, released on May 10, 2024. This was Kings of Leon’s first album to not be released on their original label, RCA Records, instead arriving on LoveTap Records and Capitol Records. The band recorded at Dark Horse studio and worked with new producer Kid Harpoon, who has collaborated with Harry Styles and Florence + the Machine.
Caleb Followill called the album “the most enjoyable record I’ve ever been a part of.” Drummer Nathan Followill noted that the band “allowed ourselves to be musically vulnerable” and that “every song doesn’t have to be on 11.” The record showed a raw unpredictability and return to the sound of Kings of Leon’s early days.
The recovery and renewed focus came after setbacks that had weighed on the band. Caleb Followill broke his leg in a freak accident while playing with his children and underwent emergency surgery in May 2024. The band had also been struggling with their mother’s death, but they “bottled up that grief” to make the album because Followill “didn’t think the world needed to hear our sadness.”
Kings of Leon served as supporting acts for Zach Bryan on his With Heaven on Tour, which ran from March 7 to October 10, 2026. The tour gave the band a chance to perform and reconnect with audiences during this period of creative renewal.
