Don't Stop, Do Punk Rock

At 71, debbie harry bringa her inimitable, iconic style to a new blondie album - their 11th - and an international tour because what else is she going to do, retire?

- Sofia Sanchez & Mauro Mongiello

LIKE THE QUINTESSENTIAL NEW YORK GIRL THAT SHE IS, DEBBIE HARRY ARRIVES AT A WEST SIDE MANHATTAN REHEARSAL STUDIO RUNNING LATE, LOOKING GLAMOROUS, AND FEELING FRAZZLED. “IT’S JUST BEEN A LOT OF PRESSURE,” THE SINGER, SONGWRITER, AND ACTRESS SAYS OF HER LIFE LATELY, AS SHE DEPOSITS SEVERAL OVERSTUFFED TOTES IN THE MAKESHIFT LOUNGE AREA AND LETS OUT A WEARY SIGH.

Harry and her band Blondie have a new album, Pollinator, for which they solicited songs written by a mix of peers (Johnny Marr, Laurie Anderson) and artists they’ve influenced (Charli XCX, TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek, Dev Hynes). As tends to happen in the lead-up to a big release, everything is going on all at once: The grueling European press tour just ended, Harry has barely had a second to hang at home with her dogs, and now it’s all about what to wear at tomorrow’s video shoot and getting the new material properly rehearsed and, oh yeah, figuring out what to play onstage during the upcoming world tour. Harry flings a handwritten set list—“That’s the third one”—onto the coffee table and collapses into one of several grotty leather couches.

“We have over 40 years of music and only an hour to satisfy the audience and also play the new music. There’s absolutely no way to do all that,” Harry explains. “It doesn’t compute, really.” The 71-year-old singer adjusts her giant shades and unzips her thrift-store jacket, revealing a Vivienne Westwood T-shirt (a gift from the designer herself) featuring a photo of a pair of bare breasts in their anatomically correct location.