Tame Impala has responded to critics claiming he’s gone “commercial” with his new music to “make money”.
The Australian multi-instrumentalist, also known as Kevin Parker, is dropping his fifth studio album ‘Deadbeat’ tomorrow (October 17) – and ahead of his album, he spoke to Zane Lowe about the idea that he was making music to simply make money. You can watch the moment below at 39 minutes 35 seconds:
“In an interview, someone asked me what I thought about the idea that fans think that I’ve turned my focus to commercial – or whatever is gonna sell,” he began. “If I didn’t care about the music anymore and I just wanted to make money and sell albums, the way you would know that is if I just did the same thing again.
“I would know exactly what’s gonna happen,” Parker continued. “I’d know what radio stations are gonna play it, I’d know how it’s gonna perform, who’s gonna like it, what demographics or whatever – it would all be so planned out for me.”
He went on to claim that “making a bunch of ‘Elephant’ re-dos would’ve got me on every car commercial in America”.
Parker also said that releasing his seminal album ‘Currents’ in 2015 felt “risky” at the time, explaining: “The whole album, there weren’t many guitars on it, I was using drum machines, it was electronic in some parts, electro in some parts… any time I decide not to do the same thing again, it’s unknown. And it’s scary and all that kind of shit, but I remind myself that I would far rather it this way than the way where I know it’s planned out ahead of me.
“I would just feel defeated if I decided to do the same thing again – if I decided that I wanna go down the path of knowing what’s gonna happen, I want control and I want predictability,” Parker added. “If I did that, that’s how you would know I’ve given up as an artist.”
He concluded, laughing: “Well, I mean… if I do, it’s ’cause I felt like it. It’s because you’re expecting me to not do the thing that I [do].”
Earlier in the chat, Parker revealed that hits like ‘Elephant’ nearly didn’t make ‘Lonerism’.
When asked by Lowe about songs that “scraped” themselves onto the album, Parker told Lowe: “Every song… every single song has been deliberated over. I’ve loved it and hated it.”
“‘New Person, Same Ol’ Mistakes’ almost didn’t make the album,” he continued. “A bunch of songs – ‘Elephant’ almost didn’t make the album. Every artist has those stories.”
‘Elephant’ would go on to become a classic staple in Tame Impala’s sets, while, ‘New Person, Same Ol’ Mistakes’ from ‘Currents’ would be covered by Rihanna on her album ‘ANTI’ in 2016 – which Parker would later say he “loved”.
Meanwhile, Tame Impala will set off for a huge US, UK and European tour starting in October.
Parker will then commence his UK and Europe leg in April 2026, where he’ll land in London to start his run of UK dates at the O2 Arena on May 7. He’ll later visit Manchester (8), Birmingham (9) and Glasgow (11) before finishing off with a final show at Dublin’s 3Arena (13).
Visit here for US and European tickets, here for UK tickets and see all dates below:
Tame Impala’s 2025/2026 and ‘Deadbeat’ tour dates are:
OCTOBER 2025
27 – Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York [NEW]
28 – Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York [NEW]
31 – Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York
NOVEMBER 2025
01 – Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York
03 – United Center, Chicago, IL
06 – Moody Center, Austin, TX
09 – Pechanga Arena, San Diego, CA
11 – Kia Forum, Los Angeles, CA
12 – Kia Forum, Los Angeles, CA
14 – Oakland Arena, Oakland, CA
15 – Oakland Arena, Oakland, CA
17 – Kia Forum, Los Angeles, CA
APRIL 2026
04 – Super Bock Arena – Pavilhão Rosa Mota – Porto, Portugal
05 – MEO Arena – Lisbon, Portugal
07 – Movistar Arena – Madrid, Spain
08 – Palau Sant Jordi – Barcelona, Spain
10 – LDLC Arena – Lyon, France
12 – Inalpi Arena – Turin, Italy
13 – Unipol Arena – Bologna, Italy
14 – Hallenstadion – Zurich, Switzerland
16 – Olympiahalle – Munich, Germany
18 – PreZero Arena – Gliwice, Poland
20 – O2 Arena – Prague, Czechia
23 – Barclays Arena – Hamburg, Germany
25 – Royal Arena – Copenhagen, Denmark
26 – Avicii Arena – Stockholm, Sweden
27 – Unity Arena – Oslo, Norway
29 – Uber Arena – Berlin, Germany
30 – Festhalle – Frankfurt, Germany
MAY 2026
01 – PSD Bank Dome – Dusseldorf, Germany
03 – Accor Arena – Paris, France
04 – Ziggo Dome – Amsterdam, Netherlands
05 – AFAS Dome – Antwerp, Belgium
07 – The O2 – London, United Kingdom
Elsewhere, watch Tame Impala preview his trippy new techno song ‘Not My World’ at his Mexico City DJ set.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.nme.com ’
