Gary Numan has spent decades warning us about the future, and—surprise!—it turns out he was onto something. His latest album, Intruder, takes a look at the climate crisis from the perspective of the Earth itself, and spoiler: it’s not happy with us. The electronic pioneer sat down to chat about the record, artificial intelligence, and how his whole family somehow ends up involved in his music, whether they like it or not.
“We Are the Virus”
Numan’s last album, Savage, imagined a future where climate catastrophe had reshaped humanity into something unrecognizable. Now, with Intruder, he’s flipping the perspective. “The intruder that the album talks about is us,” he explains. “We are the virus on the planet. And the planet obviously understands that without us, it flourishes.”
This idea wasn’t even his—it was inspired by his daughter Echo, who at 11 years old wrote a poem about the Earth’s feelings. “It was a child’s view of how the Earth might feel. In her poem, it’s sad, people are horrible, but it’s brilliant. And I thought, that’s a good direction for the album. How does the Earth feel? If it had a voice, what would it say? Is it disappointed? Frustrated? Angry? Most importantly—will it fight back?”
“There Is No Hope”
If you’re looking for some kind of redemption arc in Intruder, you’re out of luck. “The album offers no hope whatsoever,” Numan says bluntly. “There is no happy ending, no resolution, no ‘if we all hold hands, it’ll be fine.’ It just contributes to the conversation, keeps climate change in the public eye. Because that’s the problem—these discussions become background noise. Another show, another song, another speech about climate change, blah blah blah. People forget the urgency. And politicians bend to public opinion, so keeping that pressure up matters.”
He’s not exactly optimistic about leadership fixing things, either. “The last four years? Not only was nothing being done, but an awful lot was being undone. We’re not just behind—we’ve gone backwards. The damage is more than just four wasted years, because we now have to undo what was dismantled before we can even begin to move forward again.”
“People Are Just Awful, Aren’t They?”
Numan has been writing about humanity’s self-destruction for decades, but he swears he’s not trying to be prophetic. “I would be the last person to say these are attempts at prophecy. I just tend to go for extreme possibilities, because writing about what’s likely isn’t as interesting as writing about something that’s just possible.”
Case in point: his 1979 album Replicas, which imagined a dystopian London controlled by machines. “Back then, the idea was: how do you bring people into line? Well, you don’t. You just get rid of them. Everything runs smoothly without people.” Four decades later, Intruder is basically making the same point. “If there’s a recurring theme in my work, it’s that people are the problem.”
And right on cue, AI is now writing songs—actual music, lyrics, vocals, everything. “We knew it was coming,” he says. “But yeah, an AI rapper? That’s happening now. I wrote a song called ‘Metal’ back in ’79 about a machine that wanted to be human. And now we have computers making entire songs. The robots don’t need us anymore.”
“It’s a Family Business”
For someone making records about humanity’s impending doom, Numan sure has a wholesome way of working. His wife helps with his visuals, his daughters sing on his records, and even his youngest—who doesn’t think she can sing—ended up having her poem printed inside the Intruder album sleeve.
“My middle daughter Persia sang on Savage, toured with me, and it made me so dad-like and emotional every time,” he says. “I’d have a little tear in my eye. On this album, she and my older daughter Raven sing backing vocals on six or seven songs. Echo didn’t want to sing, but her poem is part of the artwork. And my wife does all the styling and makeup for the album shoots and videos.”
This leads to some… rigorous wardrobe adjustments. “Getting dressed for a video now is an ordeal,” he laughs. “She’s moving this, adjusting that, tightening this, pulling that up. I feel like a doll. But she’s amazing, and it’s become a family adventure.”
“This Is Not a Concept Album, It’s Reality”
Despite the end-of-the-world themes, Numan is quick to stress that Intruder isn’t science fiction. “It’s not some far-off possibility—it’s happening. We’re in the middle of it. The planet is already fighting back. Look at wildfires, look at floods, look at the virus. It’s all happening now.”
And while the album offers no solutions, he hopes it adds to the urgency. “We just need to buy enough time for the next generation of leaders to take over,” he says. “They’re the ones who are actually going to do what needs to be done. Our job is to make sure there’s still a world left for them to fix.”
For now, Intruder is just another scratch on the surface of a much bigger problem. But at least it sounds incredible while reminding us how doomed we are.
Watch the interview above and then check out the videos below.
