John Taylor on Duran Duran’s new single, ‘Free to Love’: ‘Sometimes just dancing is a political statement’

Duran Duran just dropped the new song “Free to Love,” featuring Nile Rodgers, which puts a message of positivity and love out in the world. Bassist John Taylor tells ABC Audio he “100%” believes the song’s message is one that’s particularly important right now.

“I mean, look, we’ve never been a political band,” he says. “But sometimes just dancing is a political statement.”

Taylor says the groove for the song came out of a recording session with Rodgers two years ago. Now that it’s finally out, he almost can’t believe it.

“I think whenever we’re able to pull something off like this we’re all a bit taken aback that we actually did it,” Taylor says. “But, you know, I couldn’t be happier with this song.”

Accompanying the single is a video directed by Jonas Åkerlund, which Taylor says was “so much fun to shoot.”

“It was really done as an homage to the great British pop music TV show Top of the Pops,” he says, noting the program “was the great democratizing music show of the ’70s and into the ’80s. And everybody did it.”

Duran Duran will next headline BeachLife Festival in Redondo Beach, California, on Friday. Taylor says he loves playing festivals, where the audience may not be filled with only Duran Duran fans.

“I love the opportunity to play for people that … have a, you know, half-formed idea of what the band is about,” he says, adding that the festival audience experience is “just different.”

“People need to get together. They need to occupy the same space,” he says. “I just think people will appreciate any kind of opportunity to get together and just hang out and have a good time.”

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