Mick Jagger has released two new solo songs and has unveiled official videos for both of them.

You can listen to (and watch) "England Lost" above and "Gotta Get a Grip" below. The Rolling Stones singer said he wrote the surprise tracks as a reaction to the "anxiety [and] unknowability of the changing political situation. ... We obviously have a lot of problems. So am I politically optimistic? No."

While both songs contain political undertones, "England Lost" takes a more pointed stand. On the surface, the song seems to be about a soccer game, but dig deeper and you'll hear a song that addresses today's political turmoil. The haunting video, especially, makes this clear.

"It's about the unknowability about where you are and the feeling of insecurity," said Jagger. "That's how I was feeling when I was writing. It's obviously got a fair amount of humor because I don't like anything too on the nose but it's also got a sense of vulnerability of where we are as a country."

"Gotta Get a Grip," on the other hand, is a flashier dance track, with an appropriately glitzier video to accompany it. But that song too features a political bite simmering beneath it. "The message, I suppose, is despite all those things that are happening, you gotta get on with your own life, be yourself and attempt to create your own destiny," explained Jagger.

The tracks aren't currently attached to a Jagger solo album. He released them as standalone songs that he felt needed to be heard now. "It's always refreshing to get creative in a different fashion and I feel a slight throwback to a time when you could be a bit more free and easy by recording on the hoof and putting it out there immediately," he said. "I didn't want to wait until next year when these two tracks might lose any impact and mean nothing."

In the meantime, the Stones are supposedly heading into the studio soon to work on their first album of original material since 2005's A Bigger Bang.

 

Watch Mick Jagger Perform 'Gotta Get a Grip'

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