The Strokes share slow-burning new single ‘Falling Out Of Love’ from upcoming album ‘Reality Awaits’

The Strokes have released ‘Falling Out Of Love’, the latest song to surface from their new album Reality Awaits.

The New York band began hinting at new music earlier this year, telling fans they would “be in touch” about a release before confirming the follow-up to 2020’s The New Abnormal. Last month, they set Reality Awaits for June 26 and shared the lead single ‘Going Shopping’, with pre-orders available here.

Now, on Wednesday May 13, Julian Casablancas and co. have followed that with ‘Falling Out Of Love’, a slower, more stripped-back track built around gentle guitar lines and vocal hooks that lean into heartbreak and solitude. “Took you out to my hometown/ Where I learned to be alone/ Riding up the mountainside/ Where all the world’s here,” Casablancas sings.

Much of the song runs through a vocoder, echoing the voice treatment heard on the 2013 Daft Punk collaboration Instant Crush and on later Strokes material like 2020’s At the Door.

“Hiding out for a while/ Falling out of love for the first time/ Some things are flawed by design/ But I’m fine for the first time,” he sings in the chorus. “Dancing in acid rain alone with you/ But I don’t wanna do it anymore/ I guess I’ll sing alone.”

‘Falling Out Of Love’ is track four on the nine-song Reality Awaits tracklist. The album was recorded in Costa Rica with producer Rick Rubin before being finished in several international locations.

The band’s last single, ‘Going Shopping’, drew a three-star review from NME, which said the track “doesn’t feel bold” but “does avoid playing anything safe.” The review added: “You couldn’t definitively place its sound on any of The Strokes’ previous six albums, but the lack of spirit and tenacity – save for a guitar solo at the end – is noticeable.”

Since then, The Strokes have played Coachella 2026, where they called out the CIA and the United States government, and are set for more festival dates at Bonnaroo, Summer Sonic and other events.

They have also announced a large tour across the UK, North America, Europe and Japan. It will be their first full headline run in the UK and Ireland in over 20 years, and includes a date at London’s O2. Support comes from Thundercat, Cage the Elephant, Hamilton Leithauser, Fat White Family, Alex Cameron and ÖLÜM, with tickets available here.

Casablancas said in 2024 that he was “stepping away” from the band to focus on The Voidz, though he also said The Strokes remain “a very cool day job that I’m honoured to have, so I don’t feel negatively about it”.

Rubin told The Joe Rogan Experience in 2022 that the band recorded the new music “on the top of a mountain” and “didn’t want to leave” because they were having “the best experience”.

Guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. later echoed that account, calling it “one of his favourite recording experiences.” He added: “I don’t think if I told you what it looked like and what it was, you’d fully understand the ‘magical-ness’ of where we were and how it was to record like that.”

He also spoke about the band’s future, saying: “I really think what excites me about wanting to play music and continue doing it is, I don’t think we’ve written our best songs yet. I really feel that in my gut.”