Image: Albert Sanchez
Published: 5 June 2025

Pop music icon Belinda Carlisle today announces she will be releasing her new album Once Upon a Time in California on 29 August 2025, her first English language studio album in almost 30 years. The first taste of the collection, the single ‘The Air That I Breathe’ is out today.

The album is a deeply personal journey through Carlisle’s youth. featuring ten covers of songs that reflect both her upbringing in California and the music that later informed her own musical career. Produced by Gabe Lopez and recorded in Los Angeles, the album sees Carlisle interpret classics such as ‘Anyone Who Had A Heart’ (Dionne Warwick), ‘If You Could Read My Mind’ (Gordon Lightfoot, with Stars on 54 converting it to a disco classic in 1998) and the first single ‘The Air I Breathe’ (The Hollies). and lesser remembered hits such as ‘Reflections of My Life’ (Marmalade) and ‘Time in a Bottle’ (Jim Croce).

“I was born and raised in California at a time when music was an important part of Californian culture. I lived and breathed music, it was my great escape - a refuge of fantasy and imagination,” Carlisle says. “Every day after school and when it was summer vacation, I would listen and sing along to the music on the radio for the entire day. Always fantasising about being a singer myself, one day. This collection of songs is the best representation of what I loved back then that I could think of - listening to it brings back so many memories of a time and a California that doesn't really exist anymore. That’s not meant to sound like a bad thing, it's just different - there was an innocence and energy back then that was unique and magical. Things I doubt will ever be felt in quite the same way again. Here's to the California of my dreams.”

Belinda Carlisle is one of music’s most successful and influential artists of the modern era. As a member of The Go-Go’s, still the most successful all female rock bad of all time, she played a huge part in shaping the future of women in pop, with their 1981 debut album Beauty and the Beat becoming the first album written and performed by an all female band to hit number 1 on the US Billboard Album Charts, where is stayed for six weeks, becoming one of the biggest selling debut albums of all time.

In 1986, Carlisle launched her solo career, becoming one of the most recognisable sounds and faces of the 1980s and 1990s pop scene, with massive global hits including ‘Mad About You’, ‘Heaven Is A Place On Earth’, ‘Leave A Light On’ and ‘Summer Rain’.

After a lull in releasing new music in the early 2000s, Carlisle returned in 2023 with the single ‘Big Big Love’, her first original music in almost 10 years, followed by the EP Kismet.

With Once Upon a Time in California, her first English language studio album since 1996’s A Woman & a Man, Carlisle embarks on another golden era in her remarkable four decade music career, with a collection for both long time fans and a new generation. While some of the songs may be familiar, Carlisle puts her own stamp on them, making them exciting all over again, through both the production and her unmistakeable, gorgeously emotive voice that once heard is never forgotten. While deeply personal for Carlisle., this is an album that connects all music lovers and is another reminder of why Belinda Carlisle is such a revered artist.

Once Upon a Time in California will be released on 29 August on CD, vinyl and digital formats. You can pre-order and pre-save here now.
To keep up with all things Belinda Carlisle you can follow her on Instagram and Facebook

Once Upon a Time in California track listing
1. Anyone Who Had A Heart
2. If You Could Read My Mind
3. One
4. Never My Love
5. The Air That I Breathe
6. Time In A Bottle
7. Superstar
8. Everybody’s Talkin’
9. Get Together
10. Reflections Of My Life