Kevin Parker of Tame Impala revealed that he actually seeks out negative reviews of his music. Different social media platforms have each become their own little bubbles of differing opinions. Parker said that he’ll see conflicting reviews depending on where he’s looking.
“Depending on which pocket of the internet you look at, you’ll find completely different reactions,” he told RUSSH Magazine in November 2025. Parker released his latest Tame Impala album, Deadbeat, in October 2025. The reviews were mostly mixed, and Parker admitted that releasing music is “weird these days.”
As for those negative reviews, he said, “I’ll go on YouTube or Instagram, and there’ll be so much positivity, but I’ll still scroll until I find the negative ones.” He added, “We all do it, right?”
Parker reflected on the process of releasing music and how dropping a new album can feel almost “violating.” That’s especially true for solo projects like Tame Impala, where the work is the product of one person’s inner world. Things can get personal, and releasing that out into the world seems daunting.
Tame Impala on Releasing New Music and Letting It Belong to the World
When an album drops, said Parker, it no longer belongs to the artist. Making the album may have been difficult, but letting it go is harder still.
“It’s this baby that you’ve been growing for a year, two years, this thing that you’ve stressed and cried and laughed over – and danced to yourself and loved and hated,” he said. “This thing you’ve had following you around for so long, and then it’s suddenly seeing the light of day and being shared with the world.”
He continued, “It’s just such an overwhelming idea, you know? The idea of these songs that were once yours, and now are not yours; they belong to the world now. That transition weighs quite heavily on the artist, I think.”
Releasing an album for the public to consume and comment on seems similar to having your personal diary read out loud. “Sometimes it even feels a little violating,” said Parker, “Because [the songs] were yours, and now they are not.”
Tame Impala is taking that feeling on the road again with a 2026 UK/EU tour. The dates span from April to May, traveling mostly around Europe before playing a single show in London on May 7 to close the tour.
Photo by Mairo Cinquetti/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
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