You can hear the divide already.
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One side says The Strokes are evolving again. The other wants the band frozen somewhere between dirty New York guitar riffs and the glory days of Is This It. And right in the middle of that fight sits Reality Awaits.
The band’s upcoming follow-up to 2020’s The New Abnormal hasn’t even arrived yet, but fans are already tearing apart and passionately defending the first two singles.
The chic, detached swagger of “Going Shopping.” The dreamy nostalgia of “Falling Out Of Love.” Both tracks introduced a heavier use of vocoder effects on Julian Casablancas’ voice, drawing comparisons to Daft Punk’s 2013 hit “Instant Crush” and the band’s own 2020 track “At the Door.”
And some fans are not having it.
Others absolutely are.
Now, guitarist and keyboard player Albert Hammond Jr is stepping directly into the conversation and making it clear he believes the criticism is missing the bigger picture.
After sharing a post celebrating the release of “Falling Out Of Love,” Hammond found himself responding to fans in the Instagram comments section, including one person who insisted he secretly didn’t even like the new material himself.
That’s when Hammond unloaded his honest reaction to the record.
“It’s my favourite album we’ve ever done. I can’t express how beautiful it is,” he wrote.
And he didn’t stop there.
“I listen to the whole thing and wanna start from the beginning again. It grows and grows and becomes intoxicatingly good.”
That’s a massive statement from someone who helped create one of the most influential rock catalogues of the last 25 years.
Reality Awaits arrives June 26 and marks the band’s first album since The New Abnormal, the Grammy-winning comeback record that re-established The Strokes as more than just indie-rock survivors living off early-2000s mythology.
Since releasing the singles, The Strokes have played Coachella 2026, where they made headlines for calling out the CIA and the U.S. government during their set, and also debuted new material on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
The band is now preparing for a massive international tour with stops across North America, Europe, the UK, Ireland, and Japan, including a major date at London’s O2 Arena. Festival appearances at Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival and Summer Sonic are also on the schedule.
Support on select dates comes from Thundercat, Cage the Elephant, Hamilton Leithauser, Fat White Family, Alex Cameron and ÖLÜM.
BOTTOM LINE: New The Strokes is coming. Whether you like it or not.
