Taylor Momsen, frontwoman of The Pretty Reckless, opened up about the band’s new album Dear God and her deeply personal approach to songwriting in a recent interview.
Momsen explained that her creative process is rooted entirely in waiting for genuine inspiration rather than crafting songs on demand. She also reflected on what made Dear God a uniquely intimate record.
“Well, the thing about inspiration is that there’s no process to it. And that’s what makes it challenging. There’s no formula to inspiration. Sometimes it’s fast, sometimes it’s long, but there’s this process of just — the only process is waiting and patience and living life, and that can be torturous, for lack of a better term, because you don’t know when or if it’s gonna come,” she said. “I always wait for inspiration to strike because I never want to craft you a song. That is never my intention with music. I understand how it works. I’m very capable of doing it. Like, you could give me a topic and a style and go, ‘Write me a song,’ and I go, ‘Sure, I got you.’ But that’s not the kind of music that I wanna make.”
Momsen went on to describe the deeper purpose behind her songwriting, framing it as a personal necessity rather than a creative exercise.
“I wanna make music that’s coming from a very real place that has layers and depth, and it’s something that I want to express — and not even want to; need to. That’s why I write songs. I write songs in order to process my life and see things clearly or attempt to. And so I do it for myself as this outlet, and then they eventually turn into records,” she continued.
She then spoke specifically about what set the Dear God writing process apart from previous records.
“This process for ‘Dear God’ was kind of in one way no different than any other record, but the writing itself and what kind of poured out of me at the end of it definitely was… It had a different thing to it that was very apparent to me, where it was so brutally honest and it was, like, nothing was guised in metaphor. Everything was just kind of directly ripped from my diary in this very matter-of-fact kind of way that created a very unique record for us. So you’re very much getting a very intimate look as to how my mind works and what it’s like to be me,” she added.
Dear God marks a notably raw and unfiltered chapter for The Pretty Reckless. Momsen has described it as the most direct and diary-like work the band has released to date.
The album arrived on June 26, 2026, through Fearless Records. It is the band’s fifth studio album and their first full-length release since Death By Rock And Roll in 2021. The five-year gap between records only adds weight to the confessional nature Momsen describes — Dear God is not a record that was rushed into existence, but one that was lived into.
Momsen has been candid about the emotional scope of the project. She described Dear God as “one giant confessional” and clarified that the album title is not meant to be taken literally. “It’s a plea, it’s a prayer, but that ‘God’ can mean anything,” she said. “It’s not literal. It’s dealing with a way grander concept. I just grew up with Christianity, so that’s the language I know.” The statement aligns closely with the diary-ripped honesty she described elsewhere, reinforcing that the album operates on a deeply personal and philosophical level simultaneously.
The 14-track record was released via Fearless Records, a Concord Label Group imprint. It includes the 2025 single For I Am Death — the band’s first new material previewed ahead of the album cycle — alongside newer tracks such as When I Wake Up and About You. The breadth of the tracklist reflects the extended creative window Momsen described, one built on patience and lived experience rather than a compressed studio schedule.
Alongside the album release, The Pretty Reckless announced an extensive 2026 world tour covering North America, Europe, and the UK. For a group that has built its reputation on visceral live performances, the tour represents a natural extension of the raw energy that defines Dear God.
With the album now out in the world, Dear God stands as The Pretty Reckless’s most exposed and unguarded statement to date — a record that Momsen has said she loves precisely because it feels entirely like herself.
