The Strokes' Latest Single is Not Bad News

After six years, iconic band The Strokes are set to release their seventh studio album titled "Reality Awaits". On May 13, the band released their second single from the album, Falling out of Love, which has earned a lot of chatter online; the people are disappointed. And I disagree with that sentiment.

The discourse on this song has people polarized; while some believe that the song is actually good if you can get over the reckless flaunt of autotune, others outright hate it. I saw a Reels video saying 'I have a theory that Julian Casablancas' plan is to make a Strokes album so bad that we're never going to ask for another one again'. I love how fans are getting creative and funny to express their passionate disapproval of the song on socials. What I do not love is their contempt towards an absolutely beautiful song.

I'll come out and say it right at the outset—I'm not a fan of Going Shopping, the first single The Strokes released from Reality Awaits. And the fact that this is the first song they chose to release gives me jitters about what I will feel about the album. However, Falling out of Love ain't no Going Shopping. There's a real, beautiful song in the record that should not be too hard to see.

Falling out of Love is a wonderfully-written song about, well, naturally falling out of love with someone and being in denial that it's happening with you for the longest time until you join hands with yourself and come to realisation while still wanting to not fall out of love out of fear of being alone or lonely. Yes, that was a long sentence, and yet, I find the message behind the song so nuanced that that sentence is an oversimplification on my part.

I adore the lyrics of the song but what I'm really obsessed with is the melody and the liberal yet extremely artistic and intentional use of autotune as a tool, especially in the chorus. The autotune really goes very well with the song, and especially its lyrics. The song is coming from a place of devastation and brokenness, and the autotune complements that. Moreover, Julian does not just simply sing into the autotune, he manages to sing so emotionally that he breathes life into the output of the autotune. He's not working behind the autotune, he's working ahead of it. I'm in awe of how incredibly provoking the voice of Casablancas sounds coming out the autotune. Like the singer is broken, but still very human.

There is also a larger conversation to be had about bands and artists exploring genres outside their niche or experimenting with newer sounds or evolving their own taste—and the lack of freedom that their fans typically allow. I believe this puts immense pressure on artists, and many end up rotting in a cage of decades-old success, trying to invent new songs without inventing anything new, with access to an open door that they can't bring themselves to take. But that's a conversation for another time.

For this article, all I wanted to say is that Falling out of Love is amazing, everyone is wrong, I'm excited for the new album, and I hope that it's nothing like Going Shopping.