Genres: Indie Rock, Post-Punk Revival, New Wave, Neo-Psychedelia
The Musiquarium’s Reality Awaits Review Score: 10 out of 10
Since featuring on the Daft Punk single Instant Crush back in 2013, vocalist Julian Casablancas has seemed enamoured with autotune. Where that song was a hit with critics and fans alike, more recent endeavours with autotune, such as on his other band, The Voidz‘ 2024 album, Like All Before You, and its follow-up EP, Męğż Øf Råm, were met with overwhelmingly negative receptions, particularly from the fans.
Instead of backing down, The Strokes’ first single in six years, Going Shopping, saw Casablancas refusing to back down from his controversial vox modulations. A segment of fans were vocal about their disdain for the continuation of Casablanca’s autotune obsession, with many of them already making up their minds about the soon-to-be released seventh album from the New York City band before it even released. To be fair, the last Voidz album was very flawed (though it had its moments), but Reality Awaits is vastly superior to Like All Before You and should not be compared to that album.
Blending together their usual post-punk revival/new wave sensibilities with the weirdness and autotune of The Voidz into something that feels both retro and futuristic, and simultaneously colourful and dark, Reality Awaits feels like the band’s most conceptual album yet, with every song alluding to the frustrations of having critics and a fanbase that judge your experimentation and artistic vision — that some people would rather you keep remaking/recycling the same ideas and playing it safe, than trying something new.
Psycho Shit is The Strokes’ darkest and most mysterious opener yet, with some vaguely western-sounding notes playing over top of its moody arpeggios. Here, Casablancas could be criticizing both politicians and music critics (“You kill your prey from your nest, from behind a desk, psycho shit, you have no honor or no balls”), which may be referring to politicians who wage war from their secure fortresses, while sending others out to die in their name, as well as those who have criticized his music from inside their rooms (Anthony Fantano gave the last Voidz album a “Not Good”, which is basically a 0/10 — more on that later).
Lyrics like, “Only my beloved songs will define me” could refer to both how history may only remember certain accomplishments of politicians/governments, but ignore the destruction they caused in the process, as well as how Casablancas feels like he may only be remembered for critically-acclaimed albums like The Strokes’ Is This It more than his more experimental and adventurous later work.
Perhaps Reality Awaits is a political album, perhaps it’s about the advancements and effects of technology, or perhaps it’s Julian Casablancas telling his fairweather fans and critics a “fuck you”, but for the sake of this review, I’m going to stick to the latter.
Some other lyrics that support the “critics” angle are, “we’re all dead, what’s your prize? To harass, just to be a pet. To be kept around keeps you so proud. A teacher’s pet, the way of death” — what do critics get out of criticizing others’ music/art? Does it make them feel better about themselves? Does it bring them a sort of satisfaction? Is it a way to piggyback off of the success of others, by having something to talk about that keeps themselves relevant? And those whom the critics influence will follow their word like the gospel, like a teacher’s pet would. Why think for yourself when somebody can for you, like an army who follows every command, whether they truly agree or not.
Dine N’Dash has that classic Strokes post-punk rhythm, but with an eerie darkness to it. The chorus could be suggesting that the band’s fans will listen to this album once and not allow for a proper analysis before making their judgement. They will scarf down something that took years to make in a matter of minutes and then abandon it without even “paying”, or they just won’t pay it enough proper attention.
Maybe Casablancas is telling people to stop listening to his music if they hate his new artistic direction so much, but he knows that they would rather stick around to have something to complain about (“Leave if you want, but I bet that you won’t”); he also sarcastically asks his fans for permission to try anything new, as The Strokes’ and The Voidz’ new musical directions always polarize their respective fanbases (“Permission to speak? Permission to launch? Permission to sit? Permission to die?”), as well as his own defiance towards the negative reception of his art in the name of his own artistic integrity (“I will not surrender, something in my brain”).
On Lonely in the Future, the targets of Casablanca’s scorn are on the modern music industry and its lack of originality, and those who imitate the style and music he influenced over two decades ago, trying to pass it off as novel. However, he doesn’t want to be a hypocrite and seems to acknowledge that “we all steal, baby”, as songs like Last Nite copied parts of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ American Girl, and the chorus of Razorblade is very similar to Barry Manilow’s Mandy. He then shifts his wrath towards music critics again, such as the aforementioned Anthony Fantano who “would not recognize art in any age” and those who hate what they cannot understand (“You don’t get it, it’s a pity, maybe you’ll catch up sooner than later”).
When Casablancas sings the chorus, he’s proclaiming that he’s so ahead of the curve, that he’s lonely waiting for others to catch up to where he is (both contemporary artists and listeners) — many classic albums have been reappraised years or decades later, as sometimes the best art takes time to be understood. Remember, Lou Reed’s Berlin was initially seen as a failure, David Bowie’s Low perplexed critics and even Radiohead’s KID A was polarizing when it released. And speaking of Lou Reed, he infamously got into a feud with music critic Robert Christgau on the 1978 live album, Take No Prisoners — what Julian Casablancas is doing here is not new.
Falling Out of Love is a slowed-down ballad, which may initially seem like it’s about the planned obsolescence of the future (“some things are flawed by design”), but perhaps Casablanca is admitting that the criticized flaws of his recent music (his use of autotune) has been deliberate and part of his vision, not some crutch for his vocal abilities, as he is still a more than capable singer. He laments about his fans that feel betrayed by his musical direction and that have been turned-off by his music, telling them to stop acting like children and to be adults (many of the critiques of his recent work have admittedly been quite childish and lacking in proper analysis; they react emotionally and not rationally) — okay, maybe you’re thinking “music does make people emotional”, but a critic should have some semblance of emotional intelligence when analyzing something.
Going to Babble On continues with Casablanca’s views on his fanbase’s negative reception of his post The New Abnormal music, with the pre-chorus detailing how they want him to obey the words that they say (e.g. to stop using autotune) and about the mob mentality where people jump on bandwagons of hate, and that “Maybe it’s time that you see for yourself for once” — he sees their critiques as just nonsensical babbling lacking in any actual substance, much like what a baby would do.
The lead single Going Shopping starts with lyrics about how “like a tiger, they will chase you down with words instead of claws”, which might just be a reference to music critics, online forums (like reddit) and music review sites (e.g. rate your music, album of the year), where they use words to attack Casablancas’ music. As for the chorus, it feels like he’s singing from the point of view of casual fans using a consumerist mindset, where they seem like they want the type of generic muzak that you would hear in a mall, but he’s not interested in being that anymore.
Casablancas has already proved himself in the past and now he just wants to make the music he wants, whether it’s commercially-viable or not. Kanye West was ridiculed for using autotune on 2008’s 808s & Heartbreak, and that album has gone on to become one of the most influential and beloved albums of his career, despite initial criticisms that deemed it a failure.
In The Fruits of Conquest, Casablancas sings a refrain of “They don’t obey, so we won’t obey, I won’t obey, no, we won’t obey”, which at face value might seem like it’s about rebelling against the powers that be and the technology pushed upon us (particularly A.I.), but it could also be about the fans and their relation to Julian Casablancas and the band; they won’t trust or agree with what he is doing with his music, so why should he obey their demands of not using autotune and changing his music to fit their expectations?
The closing track Tyrants of the Mellow Moon (which has a guitar passage that sounds similar to Radiohead’s Faust Arp) can either play like a finale to the album or to the band itself (“So we go for one more ride”). Julian Casablancas has recently been more active with his side project The Voidz over the past several years, and seems like he wants to do away with The Strokes, but fans keep begging for more from the band. He sings that “people with the ego to share their weird ideas with you” can be seen as him scoffing at the fact that fans seem to think that they know the band and music better than Casablancas does, even though he’s a renown musician with a 25+ year career, several acclaimed albums and a Grammy. Maybe Casablancas knew that autotuned vocals would be enough to allow the band to die, but being the dignified musicians that they are, they still made a great album album that most of the public just isn’t ready to enjoy yet, but it will buy the band enough time to disappear for another 5-10 years, if not longer, as the fans may need time to appreciate what they don’t know they already have.
As for the sound of the album, you never know what you’re going to get with Rick Rubin’s production, as it can elevate a project (Slayer’s Reign in Blood, Beastie Boys’ License to Ill, System of a Down’s entire discography, Kanye West’s Yeezus) or can be truly awful and detrimental to the songs (Metallica’s Death Magnetic, Red Hot Chili Pepper’s Californication), but his production here is some of his best yet, which comes as no surprise, as his first collaboration with The Strokes on The New Abnormal made for one of their best-sounding albums in their career.
The band is also tight as ever, with some more fantastic guitar interplay between Albert Hammond Jr. and Nick Valensi, groovy bass from Nikolai Fraiture and some of Fabrizio Moretti’s most impressive drumming yet. And sure, Julian’s autotune vocals may be the weakest link here, with some cheesy lyrics now and then, but it gives it character and a distinction from the rest of the band’s work.
Maybe I’m wrong, but I feel like The Voidz’ Like All Before You and Męğż Øf Råm were tests to see how much Casablanca’s fans would tolerate his autotune vocals, and that no matter how good the music and songs were, they would hate the music nonetheless. He had probably anticipated that Reality Awaits would face equal criticism to those projects, and despite how intersting and unique Reality Awaits actually is, the fans are bitching and complaining right on cue.
As for the title, perhaps the band is suggesting that this is their reality, that you can’t always get what you want and that this version of the band that awaits you — you can enjoy it and embrace the future, or you can look to the past and be stuck there. Maybe my lyrical assessment isn’t the right one, or maybe it’s just one of many interpretations that exist, but such is the beauty of music, that a song can mean many different things to different people or have multiple meanings at once.
If you read this far, you also might be thinking that it’s ironic that I am writing about Casablancas attacking his critics when I am one myself, but its more nuanced than that. I write my own music and I understand just how difficult it is to be an artist who bares their soul to the world, with every second dissected by your audience. You can spend countless hours creating something, only for somebody to listen to 5 seconds of it and call it “shit”. I understand that this album won’t appeal to everybody, but it’s also important to see things from the artist’s P.O.V. as well, something I always try to do when I write about somebody else’s music; fortunately, I loved Reality Awaits and tend to enjoy controversial albums.
I might be alone in thinking this, but Reality Awaits is one of The Strokes’ best and most dynamic albums yet, and a major improvement over Julian Casablancas’ recent work with The Voidz. Add this to the list of underrated LPs that will be reappraised in years, like many misunderstood albums before it it.
For credit breakdowns and historic release details, view The Strokes on Discogs.
Back to the 2026 Album Guide or the The Strokes Album Reviews page.
Written by Brett Nippard
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