Words by Riley Fitzgerald
Graphic by Rolling Stone

“Over the course of Tame Impala’s hypnotic, critically acclaimed 2015 album Currents, the protagonist stumbles through various symptoms of heartbreak — despair, paranoia, helplessness, optimism — in a way that suggests a personal metamorphosis,” writes Billboard’s Tatiana Cirisano.

Her comments arrive as part of a new series of essays profiling the songs Billboard contends to have defined the decade.

“Then,” she continues, “in the final track, he’s nearly back to square one. ‘New Person, Same Old Mistakes’, the woozy, six-minute-long kicker, cautions listeners to be skeptical of anyone’s well-intentioned ability to change — including that of the narrator himself.”

“During the chorus, his past and current selves battle it out to the tune of distorted drums and a grumbling bassline,” she then adds. “After the pompous ‘feel like a brand new person’ comes the lingering, ominous echo, ‘but you’ll make the same old mistakes.'”

She then outlines how in a 2015 interview with Billboard Parker, an astronomy student before dropping out to pursue music, had become fascinated by the astrological phenomenon of the Saturn Return. In keeping with the mystical significance of the stellar event, Parker himself had been doing a great deal for reflecting on his past as well as the path ahead of him when writing the song.

The essay also contains input from producer and recording engineer Rob Grant who helped guide Parker thought he creative process of Currents.

“One of the beauties of Kev is the desire to push something different, and something new,” Grant tells Billboard. “As soon as you stay still, they can nail you to the cross. But if you keep the target moving, they fight pretty hard to nail you down.”

The piece also chronicles Tame’s rise to commercial prominence, the chart performance of Currents‘ singles and Rihanna‘s cover ‘Same Ol’ Mistakes‘.

The full article here.’

Tame Impala’s long-awaited fourth album The Slow Rush will arrive February 14th.