Alexander Skarsgård takes the lead in the new Rolling Stones video, while the accompanying release brings a Mick Jagger and Keith Richards duet featuring Charlie Watts back to streaming.
by Paul Cashmere
The Rolling Stones have released the new video for “Mr Charm”, giving Alexander Skarsgård the starring role in the latest visual chapter from their 2026 album Foreign Tongues, while also putting the previously unavailable-on-streaming “Bad Luck Hideaway” into circulation.
Directed by Henry Scholfield and filmed in Palmdale, California, the “Mr Charm” video puts the Golden Globe-winning actor into the Stones’ world, following previous videos from Foreign Tongues featuring Anya Taylor-Joy, Charles Melton and Odessa A’zion.
Skarsgård, known for True Blood, Big Little Lies and Succession, is not playing a version of Mick Jagger so much as stepping into the character created by the song. The clip places him in a desert setting and has him moving through a backwoods diner with the loose-limbed physicality the song demands.
The choice of actor continues a visual approach the Stones have used throughout their recent releases. The video for “Jealous Lover” featured Taylor-Joy and Melton, while A’zion appeared in “In The Stars”. For Hackney Diamonds, the band recruited Sydney Sweeney for “Angry”.
The song itself has a more pointed subject than the video might initially suggest. “Mr Charm” takes aim at the uncertainties of the modern world while maintaining the humour that has long been part of the Stones’ lyrical approach.
Among its targets is billionaire Elon Musk. Jagger sings, “Who would you really trust? Is it Boeing, is it NASA, is it mad mogul Mr. Musk?”, turning questions about technology, wealth and space exploration into part of a fast-moving Stones lyric.
Ronnie Wood has previously described the song as the band’s response to what he sees as the increasingly troubled state of the world.
“We have to try and keep the smile on people’s faces as well as being blatantly honest with them, you know, about that sickness in the land,” Wood said. “There’s a lot of bad things going on.”
Wood also pointed to climate and extreme weather as part of the subject matter behind the song, saying, “The hot is getting hotter, the cold is getting colder, and ne’er the twain shall meet.”
Musically, “Mr Charm” began with a guitar riff from Jagger before Keith Richards and Wood added their guitar parts. Steve Winwood contributes organ, while drummer Steve Jordan provides the groove that drives the track.
Jagger has described the song’s rhythm as being closely connected to movement, particularly because of the amount of lyric being delivered at speed.
“It’s connected with dance,” Jagger said. “The drums, the feet, and also the spitting out of the lyrics on a song like this, where you’ve got a lot of words coming at you very quickly, and they’ve got to be in time.”
That rhythmic quality is central to the new video, with Skarsgård effectively becoming the physical embodiment of the song’s restless character.
The release also brings an important piece of Stones history back into wider circulation. “Bad Luck Hideaway”, a Mick Jagger and Keith Richards duet, is now available on streaming services alongside “Mr Charm”. The recording features drums performed by Charlie Watts during sessions at British Grove.
Watts died in 2021, but his playing continues to appear on the band’s recent recordings. “Bad Luck Hideaway” was produced by Andrew Watt, who also worked with Jagger, Richards and Wood on Foreign Tongues and previously produced Hackney Diamonds.
Foreign Tongues was released on July 10 and is the Stones’ 14-track studio album following Hackney Diamonds. The record was made in under a month at Metropolis Studios in West London, with Jagger, Richards and Wood reunited with Watt.
The album also followed the band’s unusual pre-release campaign, which included “Rough and Twisted” being issued as a limited white-label vinyl release under the name The Cockroaches.
With “Mr Charm”, the Stones have now paired one of the more pointed songs on Foreign Tongues with a deliberately playful visual, while “Bad Luck Hideaway” adds another piece of the band’s recording history to the current release cycle.
For fans, the new material offers two very different reasons to press play: one puts a Hollywood actor in the middle of a Stones video, while the other lets Charlie Watts’ drumming continue to speak from the band’s archive.
Stay updated with your free Noise11.com daily music news email alert. Subscribe to Noise11 Music News here
Be the first to see NOISE11.com’s newest interviews and special features on YouTube. See things first-Subscribe to Noise11 on YouTube
Follow Noise11.com on social media:
Facebook – Comment on the news of the day
