Ray Hawthorne Announces Ray Hawthorne Can’t Be Trusted, Gets Vulnerable on “Tough As Nails”

Photo: Evan Draper

Guess who's releasing a new album? Ray Hawthorne. Yeah, we're stoked too.

Pop-Punk's most lovable liability, Ray Hawthorne, has announced his new record, Ray Hawthorne Can’t Be Trusted, which will be available on all streaming platforms on October 15th, alongside dropping the single 'Tough As Nails,' a heartfelt new track exploring inheritance, family, and the complicated ways we learn to love.

The song finds Hawthorne reflecting on his relationship with his dad and the different ways people express emotion. He explains 'Tough as Nails' is about how his dad “isn’t outwardly emotional at all, but he’s still a great dude. To each his own. Different strokes. Things like that.” And honestly? That emotional honesty is exactly what makes his music hit (along with all of the catchy pop-punk-ness).

Following Ray Hawthorne Sucks and Ray Hawthorne Isn’t Real, the 13-track record continues his signature mix of sarcasm, chaos, self-awareness, and pop-punk catharsis. Produced by Pete Zen, Ray says this is the first album he made intentionally as a complete record rather than building one around previously released singles. “So I hope that level of cohesion is more present than my previous albums when you listen through the record.”

From his work with North Kingsley alongside System of a Down’s Shavo Odadjian to his solo career and more than 20 million streams, he has built a catalog for anyone who feels a little too much and says it a little too loudly.

Ray Hawthorne Can’t Be Trusted is shaping up to be another messy, loud, deeply honest addition to that catalog, and with the rate it's going, 'Tough As Nails' sure makes us trust that this new era is going to be everything we could have ever imagined.

TOP8’s Take? 

We’ll always make room for a pop-punk record that can make us laugh, feel everything, and question our emotional stability all in the same 13 tracks.

Ray Hawthorne Can’t Be Trusted is available to pre-save now.

STREAM TOUGH AS NAILS