The discourse around The Strokes’ new album is almost as entertaining as Reality Awaits is. The Strokes’ new album came out last Friday and has driven up quite a stir among fans and critics. Many point out the obvious use of autotune, Julian’s public persona, and even the diss thrown towards Anthony Fantano. These criticisms may be fair and are really up to the listener’s own preference, as all consumption of art is, but I believe that Reality Awaits is the ultimate display of self-expression and what happens when a band puts the art and self-expression above everything else.
Reality Awaits is the seventh studio album from The Strokes and follows the beloved 2020 album The New Abnormal. This release also follows Julian’s side project 2024 album Like All Before You from The Voidz. The lead-up to Reality Awaits involved two lead singles and a delayed release. “Going Shopping” was the first single to release and immediately caught a large amount of attention for its prevalent use of autotune and catchy hooks. “Going Shopping” was paired with a very surprising yet fitting appearance of Walton Goggins in the official music video that was released. This video also showcases Casablancas dancing, which is a rare sight to see. Following “Going Shopping” was the final single released called “Falling out of Love”. This single also heavily featured autotune, which furthered the discourse leading up to the release. After “Falling out of Love” was released on May 13th, the release date for Reality Awaits was delayed from June 26th to July 24th.
Reality Awaits is a darker release from The Strokes, featuring many personal themes including relationships with art and critics along with societal and political disillusionment. The Strokes hit hard on this record and pushed their own art above any criticism and backlash. Casablancas unapologetically moves forward with his use of autotune to fully serve his self expression and art to fulfill his vision. Reality Awaits was recorded in Costa Rica and produced by Rick Rubin, and this combination is perfect for the art and goal of self-expression. Rubin knows how to push and pull an artist to their fullest extent. He often pushes artists to explore and experiment in a way that other producers can’t. The album is full of incredible vocal performances that are deeply compelling. Especially on “Dine N’Dash,” but in all honesty, the entire album has an outstanding emotional depth that Julian puts on full display in every track. Casablancas is very intentional about how his vocals come across, either lazy, up high, colored by autotune, or simply just hitting hard. Everything he does is clearly well thought out and applied to whatever instances he sees fit.
The consistency of Reality Awaits is one of the strongest attributes. Every track will speak to certain preferences while others may not. Every list I’ve seen has completely different rankings of the tracklist. I can’t even rank the songs myself; every song works for me perfectly and is such a great, consistent ride throughout. The band is clearly pouring everything into this record. Care and effort are evident at every drum hit, bass line, guitar riff. Reality Awaits oozes with fun and attention that every moment is filled with ear candy and intricate details. The transitions between each track are especially cool and show the attention to detail that The Strokes took in crafting this album. The band’s performance on this album uplifts and complements the writing immensely. Reality Awaits features a wide dynamic range of emotion that never gets boring or stale. They put everything they have forward and serve the songs to the best of their ability while staying true to their artistic vision. Julian is a master of melody and knows exactly how to create the catchiest hook you’ve ever heard while unapologetically doing what he wants. Some don’t resonate with the use of autotune, but I don’t think that matters. Reality Awaits is a distilled album made purely out of self-expression, but most importantly, it just rocks.
