Good Charlotte is back with a new album and are teasing a 2026 world tour, with plans to make every show feel “unique and special.”
Good Charlotte is officially back. After seven years between full-length releases, the Maryland pop-punk mainstays are stepping into a new era with their upcoming eighth studio album, Motel Du Cap, and a global tour reportedly in the works for 2026.
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Joel and Benji Madden opened up about how the new chapter began at an unexpected time and place: Sofia Richie’s wedding in April 2023. It marked the band’s first live performance in five years. “We had such a great night, and we were all sitting around, and we were like, ‘Should we do an album?’ The whole band was like, ‘Fuck yeah, yes, let’s do an album,’” Joel said.
The album’s name, Motel Du Cap, takes inspiration from the venue – the ultra-luxe Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in the South of France – but with a self-aware twist. “Motel Du Cap feels more appropriate. There’s always a little coloured sarcasm in our music, there’s a little tongue-in-cheek,” Benji explained.
Lead single ‘Rejects’ carries classic Good Charlotte DNA, with a matured lens. “Sometimes I wish I wasn’t born at all,” Joel sings, clarifying to Rolling Stone that the lyric isn’t about suicidal ideation, but rather an honest reflection of life’s harder moments. “That honesty makes the song powerful.”
Motel Du Cap features collaborations with Wiz Khalifa, country artist Luke Borchelt, and production from Jordan Fish (ex-Bring Me the Horizon), Charlie Puth, Zakk Cervini, and the Maddens themselves.
Now running their management company MDDN and raising families, the Maddens say this return is happening on their own terms. “We don’t give a fuck, in a great way,” Joel said. “Good Charlotte is something that we get to be totally free in.”
They confirmed there’s plans in the works for a Good Charlotte 2026 world tour, with details still being finalised. “We are going to do a world tour in ’26, and I don’t know if that means it’s 20 shows or 40 shows or 60 shows,” Joel said. “But whatever it is, every show has to feel unique and special.”
He added that fans can expect surprises and energy. “There’s so many people that will be seeing us for the first time, and we want to make it special and exciting… things that make people happy.”
The band has yet to confirm specific cities, but Australia – long one of Good Charlotte’s strongest markets – seems a likely stop on the 2026 run.
