Rick Astley Reflects on His Second Act & 'Beautiful Life'

He LITERALLY never gave us up! It's 1980's legend Rick Astley and he's back baby! His first new album in 11 years, a "Beautiful Life" is the name of the new tune. And that's exactly what he's touching on and singing about on his new single, which comes out July 13.

"The last one surprised us all and kind of was a bit freaky, really," Astley chit chats w/ Billboard. "After all the touring we got home and I went into my little room and was just in there playing around with music, just for fun. I wasn't thinking about another record, necessarily, and I think because I hadn't been in that room for a while and I had a bit of confidence because of 50 I banged out a few songs I really liked and I thought, 'Right, I'm gonna just start a record again.' It just sort of came, really, and I got on a roll and decided to go for it."

Astley Beautiful Life's album will be a 12 track all uptempo and lyrically upbeat. Rick goes on to mention about seeing his audience on the road as it did with seeing the sales figures for 50.

"We played that record quite a bit live and it kind of reinstilled in me this thing about people of a certain age. They come to a gig and they still want to get up and dance and have a shuffle about. I don't think I would've done the song 'Beautiful Life' on the last record 'cause I would’ve been too conscious of being a 50-year-old man trying to do something that you could dance to. But after being on the road a bit and seeing people want to dance to songs from (50) it felt comfortable to notch it up a little bit, tempo-wise and groove-wise. They can handle it, you know?"

Astley's accompanying video has also simultaneously been unleashed and he's hoping to have more singles on the horizon. He's particularly preferred tune is the closing track "The Good Old Days," a warm and fuzzy look at being the youngest of four children and getting a musical education courtesy of his older bambinos.

Rick goes on to explain: "I didn't ever get to choose what I got to listen to, so I was raised on a lot of progressive rock records -- Rick Wakeman and a bit of early Genesis and God knows what. But I'm really thankful for it because without my siblings I've got no idea whether I would've gone into music. It was kind of force-fed to me."

Rick astoundingly is still adjusting to the idea of having a second chapter in music following a retirement in 1993. "I still shake my head over it, to be honest. I think just seeing my name on a chart alongside people like Coldplay, Adele, whoever you want to mention, and you're in the Top 10 with them, that's pretty weird. I never would have dreamt that was ever going to happen again. It's pretty great.

I also fully embrace "Never Gonna Give You Up". It's my biggest one, and what happened on the Internet obviously changed the dynamic of that. But it's been really good to me, that song; Wherever I got in the world -- literally wherever I go in the world -- people know that song. It's just part of my DNA. It's kind of strange that it's an old song now, but if I don't embrace it and enjoy it for what it is, I'm fooling myself. It's kind of special, really."

And there you have it music-bots. Now, Rick-roll to the golden boy from 1987 and his career-establishing "Never Gonna Give You Up," intertwined with all his new beats below!