Cover artwork for Bryan Adams's album How’s It Goin’, released November 6, 2026, through BAD Records.
Photo credit: BAD Records / Bryan Adams
Bryan Adams released How’s It Goin’ on Friday, November 6, through his BAD Records label, with songs about Canadian history, geography and the country’s relationship with the United States. The subjects range from Terry Fox’s Marathon of Hope to the Battle of Lundy’s Lane, while Newfoundland, Lake Ontario and the possibility of Canada becoming the 51st U.S. state also appear across the tracklist.
Adams announced the album in September after writing a song for the wildlife documentary Canada’s Wild Eastern Edge. “The idea was simply to make a record about Canada,” he said at the time. Research for that song led him towards other Canadian subjects, and he told music journalist Gary Graff that the resulting album was recorded over about three months.
The documentary is a four-part nature series produced by Doclights in association with NDR, ORF and Arte. Distributor ZDF Studios describes its route along Canada’s Atlantic coast, from northern Quebec and Labrador to Newfoundland, the St. Lawrence River and Nova Scotia. Each episode runs approximately 50 minutes. ZDF currently lists the series as in production, and the song that began the album appears under the same title.
Another track also has a documentary connection. Adams wrote “The Ballad of Terry Fox” for Run Terry Run, a separate film about the Canadian athlete’s 1980 cross-country fundraising effort for cancer research. The single was released on August 27, accompanied by a music video. The album also includes “The Battle of Lundy’s Lane,” named for the 1814 War of 1812 battle in the Niagara region.
The political material arrived earlier in the year. Adams released “51st State” on Canada Day, July 1, amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to annex Canada. In September, Adams told Graff he had felt compelled to write something that addressed current affairs. When releasing the single, he described it as a tribute to his country, saying, “I wanted to write something about Canada because Canada is home.”
Newfoundland gets its own reference in “When Canada Joined Newfoundland,” a title that reverses the usual description of Newfoundland joining Confederation in 1949. “Lake Ontario,” released as a single on October 28, addresses suggestions that the Great Lake should be renamed, according to BAD Records. Adams dismissed the prospect in a statement accompanying its release: “Lake Ontario is forever.”
BAD Records describes the album’s musical influences as country, folk and rock, while Adams says the material took him somewhere different musically. How’s It Goin’ follows his 2025 album Roll With the Punches and is available in several editions. The physical release has 12 tracks on CD, black vinyl and red-and-white splatter vinyl. A hardback book edition includes the CD, lyrics and related images. The digital release adds “Lake Ontario” as a 13th, bonus track.
