Caleb Followill had a “midlife crisis” after breaking his foot but eventually channelled his feelings into his music.
Caleb Followill had a “midlife crisis” after breaking his foot.
The Kings of Leon frontman suffered the injury while playing tag with his children in spring 2025, forcing the cancellation of a number of tour dates in the UK and Europe, and while he initially felt “self-pity and guilt”, he began to channel his frustration into music.
He told Billboard: “That foot injury was a midlife crisis kind of deal.
“At first it was a lot of self-pity and also guilt, ’cause I felt like I was letting everyone down. After a little bit of that, I did grab the guitar and I started to play and the first thing that came out of that ended up being My Whole World.”
The songs he penned ultimately found their way onto the group’s reflective new album O My Beloved, but the Sex on Fire hitmaker wasn’t thinking about crafting hits when he began writing.
He added: “It just felt different. I didn’t feel like I was writing something that I was necessarily going to put out into the world; it just felt therapeutic, and it felt like something that I had buried down and hadn’t really addressed.
“So that song came very naturally and very quickly. I just kept writing and the songs that came after that all had that same feeling.”
Elsewhere on the album – which the band produced themselves – the group were keen to show their “appreciation and pride” for how far they have come, both personally and professionally.
Caleb said: “I know we use the word gratitude a lot, but I don’t really know how else to describe it.
“I felt like I was just looking back on our accomplishments, and outside of music – at our life and who we’ve become as men and fathers.
“There was a lot of appreciation and pride for that and the potential to continue doing what we do, because I feel like we’re at a place now where we love it more than we ever have.”
Caleb – who has two children with wife Lily Aldridge – previously described his foot injury as “pretty gnarly”.
He told fans online at the time: “Hello to everyone out there, especially our European fans that are coming to see us this summer. Unfortunately I regret to inform you that those shows will have to be cancelled due to a freak accident that happened the other day.
“I broke my foot pretty bad just playing with my kids… it’s pretty gnarly and I’ll spare all the details. But we’re fortunate enough to have some great doctors here in Nashville that gave me emergency surgery.”
Caleb Followill had a ‘midlife crisis’ after breaking his foot
