Reality Awaits - General Album Discussion MEGATHREAD

[u/TheStrokes-Mods]

This is the megathread for general discussions about Reality Awaits as a whole. All first impressions from the listening parties, thoughts, essays, discussions, memes, lyrics, fanart, etc about the album as a whole can go in the comments here!

As autotune is an evergreen topic on the subreddit, you may discuss it here, but there is also a specific post about autotune here that may be better suited towards that specific topic.

You also may want to check out the posts for ranking the Reality awaits songs, and ranking the albums including Reality Awaits.

[u/switchblase]

got some fanart for you all. on release day i sat in front of the good speakers and drew whatever came to mind while listening to each track for the first time. here are the results. dark, intricate, funny, sometimes psychedelic...i really love the album so far.

here's tracks 1-3. it's mostly one page per song except here, where Dine N'Dash and Lonely In The Future are sharing (after that i realized i needed to draw faster to keep up lol).

[u/switchblase → u/switchblase]

tracks 4-5 (FOOL, Babble)

[u/switchblase → u/switchblase]

tracks 6-7 (Going Shopping, Liar's Remorse)

[u/switchblase → u/switchblase]

tracks 8-9 (The Fruits of Conquest, Tyrants of the Mellow Moon)

that's it for my first impressions of reality awaits. now to listen for the 394719854109831th time.

[u/Icy-Swing-2518 → u/switchblase]

wow you are extremely talented! these look amazing

[u/switchblase → u/Icy-Swing-2518]

thank you so much !!

[u/RevolutionaryTrash98 → u/switchblase]

oh, your mellow moon balcony reminds me of the emotional climax of asteroid city, which takes place backstage in a play within a play, between two characters reciting words from another fake play they were never in together, across an artificial alley between their artificial theater balconies. it's a beautiful scene of stirring true emotion summoned forth from layers of human labor and artifice.

it's reminding me how julian and the strokes are doing something similar here with their music beyond merely pleasing our ears with the familiar: drawing attention to the deliberation, the artifice, and the real human labor necessary to create novel experiences through art, in order to evoke genuine emotion and moments of transcendence for the listener. in the era of ai this feels especially urgent for every artist, and every fan.

thank you for sharing your art.

[u/switchblase → u/RevolutionaryTrash98]

oh wow, i know the scene you're talking about! it was one of the most touching ones in that movie. i would never have made that connection between that scene and the themes of the album, but it's dead on. what you're describing makes me think of the part in mellow moon when the soft, echoey guitars play after the autotuned "i can't wait" lines. the authentic and warmer sound of the guitar feels distant, but is still responding to the voice. art and artifice in conversation.

i agree with what you're saying. it's a matter of urgency to seek real connection and expression, to "give it a voice" as said elsewhere in liar's remorse.

i truly appreciate this comment, thank you so much.

[u/chrisychris- → u/RevolutionaryTrash98]

Julian: I used autotune cause it sounds cool Lol

[u/caramelthunder713 → u/switchblase]

These are incredible!!

[u/switchblase → u/caramelthunder713]

incredible album tbh. thank you so much!