Arctic Monkeys‘ highly-anticipated sixth studio album Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino is coming out next month, and we finally have a juicy detail about its opening song.
Following the release of an album bio on an event listing, Pitchfork — after confirming with the band’s representatives — has reported that the opening line of the album’s first song, ‘Star Treatment’, clearly references The Strokes.
The song begins, “I just wanted to be one of the Strokes, now look at the mess you made me make / Hitchhiking with a monogrammed suitcase, miles away from any half-useful imaginary highway.”
In an interview with Mojo, frontman Alex Turner delved into what the self-reflective meant to him, and why he kept it in the song.
“That’s me writing about writing. Did the Strokes line feel too close to home? Yeah, absolutely. But you can’t let that stop you,” he said.
References to The Strokes are nothing new for Arctic Monkeys, as they’ve previously covered ‘Take It or Leave It‘ and Turner has professed his love of The Strokes’ album Is This It? to NME.
Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino is out on Friday, 11th May.