The New Abnormal is the sixth studio album by American rock band the Strokes, released on April 10, 2020, through Cult and RCA Records.

Writing sessions for The New Abnormal dated as far back as 2016, following the release of the band's Future Present Past extended play from the same year.

[1] On May 13, 2019, the band performed live for the first time in two years at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles, premiering a new song entitled "The Adults Are Talking".

[7] Early shows were plagued by technical difficulties ranging from sound issues[8] to rain-outs[9] to cancellations of entire festivals, partly due to COVID-19.

[13] Writing for Newsweek, James Crowley wrote that the album sonically leans more towards the "disco-tinged post-punk than the garage rock they made their name with,"[14] while Kitty Empire of The Observer labeled it as "all-out pop".

[17] Harrison Screen of Vinyl Chapters found that it also carries on the tradition of the band blending "a vintage feel into modern-day," adding that "these songs are straight from the seventies.

[23] To compensate for the cancellation of their performance at the Governors Ball Music Festival on June 2, 2019, the band played a special New Year's Eve show at Barclays Center in Brooklyn with Mac DeMarco, Kirin J Callinan and Hinds.

[27] Other notable performances included a rally for Bernie Sanders in Durham, New Hampshire on February 10, 2020, alongside Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Sunflower Bean, Cynthia Nixon, and Cornel West.

[28] There, Casablancas confirmed that the new album, titled The New Abnormal, would be released on April 10, while the band debuted one new song, "Bad Decisions", and screened a music video for another, "At the Door".

"[44] Entertainment Weekly gave the album an A−, acknowledging that "twenty years on from the band's first flush of stardom, Abnormal offers something better than reckless youth: rock stars finally old enough to miss those good old days—and wise enough now, too, to give us the soundtrack these strange new times deserve.

"[41] In the review for AllMusic, Heather Phares praised the album, calling it "[f]ull of passion, commitment, and creativity" and proclaiming that "The New Abnormal marks the first time in a while that the Strokes have made truly exciting music.

"[35] Giving the verdict for Consequence of Sound, Tyler Clark stated that "Even with its inevitable blemishes, The New Abnormal is easily the freshest, most interesting album that The Strokes have released in more than a decade.

While the band haven't proven to be the single-handed savior that rock music always seems to be searching for, they have made the case for taking a slow-burn approach to collaboration and creativity.

"[46] Rachel Aroesti also provided a positive assessment in the review for the Guardian, writing that "when they put their minds to it, that old magic is still well within the Strokes's grasp.