Johnny Depp has written a song about his experience of the lengthy and much-publicised defamation trial against his ex-wife, Amber Heard, it has been reported.
The track, due to be released on Friday 15 July, is one of two songs written by the actor on an album collaboration entitled 18, which has been recorded alongside the British guitarist Jeff Beck.
Of the album’s title, Beck said: “When Johnny and I started playing together, it really ignited our youthful spirit and creativity. We would joke about how we felt 18 again, so that just became the album title too.”
The first single from the album, This is a Song for Miss Hedy Lamarr, is an original by Depp. “I was blown away by it,” Beck said of the track. “That song is one of the reasons I asked him to make an album with me.”
Depp added: “It’s an extraordinary honour to play and write music with Jeff, one of the true greats and someone I am now privileged enough to call my brother.”
“I think you’ve said enough for one motherfucking night,” he sings with Beck, according to the Sunday Times.
“You’re sitting there like a dog with a seven-year itch … If I had a dime, it wouldn’t reach your hand,” he sings on one track, called Sad Motherfuckin’ Parade.
He joined Beck on stage at a number of his recent UK gigs during his defamation trial and is also reported to be planning on-stage appearances at Beck’s forthcoming European tour.
Alongside Depp’s two original songs, the album, which has been recorded over the past three years, features 13 songs including covers of tracks by Motown artists as well as the Beach Boys, John Lennon, Velvet Underground and Killing Joke.
After joining TikTok in June, Depp shared a video montage of his recent UK tour with Jeff Beck with a caption thanking his “most treasured, loyal and unwavering supporters”.
In the post, also shared on Instagram, Depp wrote: “We’ve been everywhere together, we have seen everything together. We have walked the same road together. We did the right thing together, all because you cared. And now, we will all move forward together.”
In a statement to People magazine, a spokesperson for Heard responded to his message, saying: “As Johnny Depp says he’s ‘moving forward,’ women’s rights are moving backward. The verdict’s message to victims of domestic violence is … be afraid to stand up and speak out.”
Depp won his trial in June, with a jury finding that Heard had defamed her ex-husband when she wrote a 2018 op-ed in the Washington Post about being a survivor of domestic violence.
While she did not mention Depp by name in the piece, his lawyers argued it falsely implied she was sexually and physically abused by him during their marriage.
Heard plans to appeal against the verdict.
