New is the sixteenth solo studio album by English musician Paul McCartney, released on 11 October 2013 through MPL Communications, Hear Music, and Universal International.

The recording sessions started in January 2012 with Paul Epworth (at Wolf Tone and The Mill) and then resumed at Abbey Road during February–March with other songs taped with Ethan Johns.

[15] On 23 September, McCartney's news blog unveiled the final artwork for New, replacing the earlier minimal black-and-white logo used as a placeholder for online retailers.

The logo and cover concept was conceived by UK art and design team Rebecca and Mike, with CGI created by Ben Ib.

[19] On 10 October, McCartney and his band performed a surprise concert in New York's Times Square, after posting two short tweets announcing the event about an hour before it occurred.

The event gathered a large crowd and came a day after another surprise concert to 400 students at the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Queens, New York.

[23] In his review for PopMatters, J.C. Maçek III wrote: "New is no Abbey Road, but it is a remarkable album from the 71-year-old version of the man who has brought us decades of great rock 'n' roll songs.

Hermes highlighted "On My Way to Work" as "[t]he most Beatles-ish track" and described "Early Days" as "the head turner … a wistful, mostly acoustic memoir-reverie echoing George Harrison's 'All Those Years Ago,' albeit with some genteel bitchiness".

[38] Helen Brown of The Daily Telegraph noted McCartney's "fresh attitude" compared with the more introspective Memory Almost Full, and added that "Though they're produced by men young enough to be his sons, these 12 songs are vintage Macca …" Brown wrote of the singer's efforts to address his past: "He needn't be so defensive, or so concerned about detractors – this album proves his talent is timeless.

"[26] Less impressed, Jesse Cataldo of the website Slant Magazine identified the album's "defining condition" as the same "middling, innocuous quality" typical of McCartney's solo career, and bemoaned that none of the four producers had "any real idea of how to adequately update his sound".

Cataldo welcomed the songs that showed McCartney "at war with himself", and concluded: "while the brave-faced, sunny music that defines the album's back half may be as contrived as his jolly public persona, it's the touches of humanizing anxiety that make New significant, revealing active signs of creative life.

"[33] Writing for the NME, Barry Nicolson considered the album to be McCartney's "most enjoyable record in years" and, contrary to the title, "the sound of an old dog having fun with some old tricks".

While also highlighting the Ronson-produced tracks "New" and "Alligator", Nicolson remarked on the Beatles influence on "Early Days", but found the latter song "marred by McCartney's longstanding preoccupation with ensuring everyone knows he was John Lennon's equal".

[42] Anticipation for McCartney's subsequent tour also boosted sales of New in Japan, providing the artist with his first album to chart in the top three positions there since Tug of War in 1982.

The DVD contains a documentary Something New directed by Don Letts,[48] a collection of behind-the-scenes footage from the international promotional trail, and music videos for "Queenie Eye", "Save Us", "Appreciate" and "Early Days".