News
21 July 2026 – The Strokes Make ‘Reality Awaits’ Wait A Little Longer
By Editorial Team - July 21, 2026
Summary
The Strokes release their seventh studio album ‘Reality Awaits’ on 24 July after its original summer date shifted, produced by Rick Rubin.
Key Facts
- The Strokes release their seventh studio album 'Reality Awaits' on 24 July.
- The 9-track album was produced by Rick Rubin at his studios.
- It follows the lead single 'Going Shopping' and is their first album in six years.
- Entities: The Strokes, Reality Awaits, Going Shopping, Rick Rubin, The New Abnormal
- Tags: the-strokes, reality-awaits, indie-rock, rick-rubin, new-album
<a href="/tags/the-strokes">The Strokes</a> release their seventh studio album ‘Reality Awaits’ on 24 July after its original summer date shifted, proving that reality not only awaits but occasionally reschedules. Produced by <a href="/tags/rick-rubin">Rick Rubin</a>, the nine-track record began its campaign with ‘Going Shopping’ and arrives six years after ‘The New Abnormal’.
Few bands carry such a complicated relationship with expectation. Every new Strokes record is asked to sound familiar enough to satisfy history while different enough to justify existing, which is a very efficient method for ensuring nobody enjoys breakfast during release week.
‘Reality Awaits’ enters a world where their early sound has influenced several generations of guitar bands, many of whom now have their own anniversary editions. The real question is not whether The Strokes can recreate 2001. It is whether five musicians with decades of history can still surprise one another. Reality, inconveniently, is almost here.