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Paul McCartney Teases a ‘McCartney III’ Album on the Way

Who says you can’t teach a classic-rock superstar new-media tricks? Paul McCartney seems to be taking some tips from Taylor Swift, in using visual iconography on social media to drop clues about an upcoming project, as she often has. In his case, it would seem, from all indications, to herald the release of a “McCartney III” album.

If the hints indeed lead there, “McCartney III” will be following hot on the heels of “McCartney II,” which came out in 1980. That album, of course, was the fast followup to “McCartney,” his first post-Beatles solo project, which came out in 1970.

All kidding about timing aside, what “McCartney” and “McCartney II” had in common — which was not a great deal, since those two albums, spaced 10 years apart, could hardly have sounded less alike — was that they were completely solo projects, with no other musicians involved. If that remains the case for a “III,” expect nothing in the way of famous collaborators like Greg Kurstin and Ryan Tedder, who served as producers and co-writers on McCartney’s last album, 2018’s “Egypt Station.”

The singer has been posting photos to social media with triplicates of various items, including flowers in this most recent tweet, and mushrooms before that. He also tweeted a photo of a single rose (although that probably doesn’t point to a “Red Rose Speedway II” on the way).

The barrage of hints began earlier when Spotify users began noticing that, if they played tracks from the previous self-titled albums on the service, a dice animation bearing three dots would pop up.

Some fans who have ordered from McCartney’s online store in the past have reported receiving in the mail a package from Capitol Records that includes a cloth bag with a McCartney emblem containing dice with only the three dots.

The album has been widely rumored in McCartney fan circles as a Dec. 11 release.

In a GQ interview in the August issue, McCartney spoke of working alone in quarantine. “”I feel dreadfully sorry for all those who are less fortunate and obviously all those who have lost loved ones, but I’ve been lucky,” he said. “I’ve been able to write and get into music, starting songs, finishing songs. I’ve had a few little things to write and it’s given me the time to finish some songs that I hadn’t found the time to get around to, you know?”

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