TRACK REVIEW: There’d Better Be a Mirrorball - Arctic Monkeys

There’d Better Be a Mirrorball - Arctic Monkeys

Arctic Monkeys have come back down to Earth. Following their latest studio album Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, the group abandons their 2018 interplanetary travels for their trademark Bittersweet Breakup Special with new lead single "There'd Better Be a Mirrorball." The single serves as the first taste of their (IMO, highly-anticipated) seventh studio album The Car, due later this year. As with many an Arctic Monkeys track, we once again find ourselves slow-dancing on an emptied-out dancefloor. Even after all this time, frontman and key songwriter Alex Turner finds a way to evoke the 2014 Tumblr aesthetic of blue and purple club lights (we would not have Euphoria without AM), fallen confetti, and crushed cigarettes our tween-age selves had yet to smoke…we all remember that picture. This song is the more adult, pensive, and frankly, less sexy cousin to “No. 1 Party Anthem.” I feel more inclined to cry than to picture myself in a coming-of-age film.

Listen, when it comes to Arctic Monkeys, I'm not new to this (I'VE BEEN TRUE TO THIS)—fans will be surprised by an older, more lovelorn Turner sans his typical sultry spin on his slower tracks. He croons less about loss of love between two people, but rather about what that loss means for our narrator and his impending single future. I won't call it a "new" sound for the band—their nostalgia-fueled, alt-rock, keys-and-kick-drum-centric sound hasn't gone anywhere, but weeping strings (or is that me?) add a fresh layer of instrumentation partially reminiscent of their previous album, yet still new to long-time listeners.

This track fed the fan in me; I've been on the Arctic Monkeys train for longer than I'd like to admit, and I still find new ways to connect with the band sonically and lyrically. I would hope that my taste has grown more refined as their group has matured, but honestly, I wouldn't care either way. I will be listening to The Car come October 21st, and even if it sounds just like every other album they've made, well…I enjoyed those too. As campus begins to cool and (forgive me for saying this) cuffing season creeps around the corner, hit play on "There'd Better Be a Mirrorball"; there's no better song out right now to better reflect on the one that got away, or the person you fell foolishly in love with, or all of the painful-yet-needed-for-growth situationships in between.

RIYL: Alexandra Savior, August Eve, Lana del Rey's Norman Fucking Rockwell!

FCC: Clean

- DJ T AKA Tahlia Vayser