Deadbeat is the fifth studio album by Tame Impala, the musical project of Australian multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker. It was released on 17 October 2025 by Columbia Records, the first Tame Impala release on the label. Musically, Deadbeat was inspired by bush doof culture and the rave scene of Western Australia. The album was preceded by the singles "End of Summer", "Loser" and "Dracula".
At the 2025 J Awards, the album was nominated for Australian Album of the Year. "End of Summer" won the award for Best Dance/Electronic Recording at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards.
At the 2026 ARIA Music Awards it was nominated for Album of the Year, Best Alternative Release, Best Solo Artist, Best Engineered Release and Best Produced Release.
Contents
Background
While promoting his previous album, The Slow Rush, in a February 2020 interview, Parker mentioned that the next record would not take as long, saying that he has a "flourish of ideas". In February 2022, he reconfirmed in an interview that he'll have "another Tame Impala album done sooner than what has been the pattern for me". According to Parker, he started working on Deadbeat around 2023. In March 2024, he posted a picture of himself in his recording studio with the caption "don't worry" hinting at his next album. On 13 July 2025, he posted a picture on his Instagram showing a school board with thirteen tracks listed up in a table format.
Head of the album's announcement, Parker completed sessions in Fremantle and at his Wave House studio in Injidup, Western Australia. Statements promoting the album describe it as "deeply inspired by bush doof culture and the Western Australia rave scene."
Promotion and release
Tame Impala formally announced Deadbeat on 4 September 2025, following the release of the album's second single, "Loser", the day before. The album was released worldwide on 17 October 2025 through Columbia Records.
Singles
On 18 July 2025, an unnamed 12-inch vinyl listing appeared on the Tame Impala webstore for pre-order. The release was later revealed to be the physical edition of "End of Summer" and "Ethereal Connection", issued on 25 July 2025. Parker had first performed the song during a DJ set in Barcelona in early June 2025.
The second single, "Loser", was teased when streaming service metadata for "End of Summer" briefly displayed fields replaced with the title "Loser". Posters advertising a 3 September release date subsequently appeared in several cities, including Los Angeles and New York City. "Loser" was released on 3 September 2025 alongside a music video featuring actor-musician Joe Keery.
The third single, "Dracula", was released on 26 September 2025 following teasers on social media. Parker described the track as one of the defining moments of the Deadbeat era. "Dracula" was written by Parker in collaboration with Sarah Aarons and produced by Parker, with a music video directed by Julian Klincewicz.
The fourth single, "My Old Ways", was teased on social media alongside his music video with a caption that included lyrics of the song, "Powerless as I descend, back into my old ways again". "My Old Ways" was released on 17 October 2025, written and produced by Parker.
Critical reception
Deadbeat polarised critics and audiences upon release, receiving both praise and ambivalence leaning towards unfavourability. According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Deadbeat received "generally favorable reviews" based on a weighted average score of 64 out of 100 from 15 critic scores. The review aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave Deadbeat a weighted average score of 6.0 out of 10 from 18 critic scores.
Writing for The Guardian, Alexis Petridis noted Parker's "preponderance of banging four-four beats", and praised the album's production and experimentation, giving it four out of five stars. Petridis argued some of Parker's songs would have been better as instrumentals, such as "Afterthought", the impact of which "feels reduced by the pop melody he's placed on top of it". He noted thematic pessimism, with the dance and house influence being mirrored in the "unsettled and disrupted tone" of the lyrics. Petridis praised the closing track "End of Summer" as hitting "an enviable sweet spot between dancefloor euphoria and rainwashed sadness", if minimised by its vocal hook. Overall, Petridis praised the "occasionally confused" album as simultaneously "painfully honest" and "genuinely wracked". Other four star reviews came from The Times, The Independent, and New Noise Magazine.
In a 6.5 out of 10 scored review, KTLA reporter Russell Falcon opined the album captured elements of chillwave more than dance, writing that given that artists like Washed Out and, more recently, S.G. Lewis have managed to work within the genre's aesthetic "without sounding anonymous or reserved," Parker's soundscape only "almost works." Falcon highlighted "Piece of Heaven" and "Ethereal Connection" as the album's most successful cuts.
In a 4 out of 5 star review, Bryget Chrisfield of Rolling Stone Australia/New Zealand described Deadbeat as a major stylistic departure from Parker's previous work, writing that the album had a more consistent emotional tone in comparison with previous Tame Impala albums and featured a techno sound rather than a psychedelic sound. Mark Chinapen of Medium was conversely more critical of the album in a 5.5 out of 10 scored review, describing the EDM and house of Deadbeat as sounding basic, uninspired and extremely repetitive while considering the album a step down from Parker's prior material. Shaad D'Souza of Resident Advisor additionally noted the repetitive nature of Deadbeat, describing the album as "boilerplate dance-pop" and that it worked best when moving away from its "dance-pop mould".
Commercial performance
Oceania
In Australia, Parker's native country, Deadbeat debuted at number two on the ARIA Albums chart, earning Parker his fifth straight consecutive top ten album in the country across all of his projects. The album also debuted at number five on the Official Top 40 Albums chart in New Zealand respectively.
United States
In the United States, Deadbeat debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 with 70,000 album-equivalent units, consisting of 38,000 pure album sales and 28,000 on vinyl. It was Parker's highest first-week sales on vinyl, as well as his third top-five-charting project in the country.
Track listing
Notes
"Ethereal Connection" was initially released as an untitled B-side for "End of Summer", sold on Tame Impala's website in limited supply.
Personnel
Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.
Kevin Parker – performance, production, mixing
Loren Humphrey – additional recording and production on "Dracula", "Loser", and "Obsolete"
Matt Colton – mastering, cut
Imogene Strauss – creative direction
Julian Klincewicz – photography
Irie Jean – photography assistance
Special Offer, Inc. – art direction, design