There’s no way I can begin this review without being blunt and simple: The Strokes’ new song “The Adults Are Talking” is one of the strangest and confusing songs I’ve heard this year.
I don’t mean confusing in the sense that I don’t understand the lyrics, I understood it’s an unrequited love song, but confusing in the sense that I can’t make sense out of what I’ve listened to, which is neither an insult nor a compliment.
The instrumentation and singing don’t match well at all in some areas, especially the beginning because Julian Casablanca’s vocals are slow (almost like something you would hear out of a Billie Eilish song), yet the techno instrumentals are fast. In some parts, the vocals pick up fast, but not enough to catch up, which left me unsatisfied because the two most important things in the song don’t match up for the most part.
Yet, even after that, I can’t say I disliked it, which is confusing to me. Perhaps it’s because the instrumentation is still catchy or because of the mysteriousness of the lyrics, but all I can say is that it is rare for a song to leave me so confused that I’m not even sure about my opinion on it.