On Sept. 30, Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner appeared on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” with his black mullet tamed and face clean-shaven, sporting the signature Ray-Ban’s that defined his era as the sleazy rockstar of “AM” — he has lost the Elvis-esque gel-packed coiffure, though.
It’s been four years since the Arctic Monkeys’s last release, “Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino,” an eclectic composition written from the perspective of a lounge singer on the moon reflecting on the dystopian nature of modern reality. However, with the release of the Arctic Monkeys’ latest single “Body Paint,” it appears Turner has come back down to Earth and returned to old themes in his exploration of the complexities of love.
In “Body Paint,” Turner takes on the role of a harrowed lover, aware of his partner’s affair but unwilling to do anything about it. He introduces his partner as “a master of deception and subterfuge,” using the sparse lyrics to decry not the affair itself, but rather both party’s unwillingness to address it.
In the bridge, he sighs out, “And I’m keeping on my costume / And calling it a writing tool.” The accompanying music video encapsulates the loneliness of being trapped in a one-sided love with shots of cigarettes lit on burning tarot cards and a man watching a helicopter taking off. One scene shows Turner triplicated on screen, with each of his iterations singing in turns until the original blinks and the impostors fade out of existence. The instrumental backing the imagery and lyrics feels just as passive as the song’s narrator. The piano glides up and down chords in a lullaby-like manner while the drums’ soft hits are as predictable as punctuation.
The Arctic Monkeys haven’t always made the type of music you’d hear drifting through a hotel bar at two in the morning, though; their first breakout hit, “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor,” was part of a more rebellious brand of rock. Its thrashing guitar and pounding drums were the perfect soundtrack for fresh adults running into life head-first; the lyrics referenced George Orwell’s “1984,” William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” and Duran Duran’s “Rio,” encompassing the media knowledge of any young adult coming of age in 2005. The song’s thesis can be found in the bridge, where Turner declares, “Oh there ain’t no love, no / Montagues or Capulets / Just banging tunes and DJ sets and / Dirty dancefloors and dreams of naughtiness.” It was wild, angsty, sleazy — it was a picture of young independence.
They released three more albums — “Favourite Worst Nightmare,” “Humbug” and “Suck It and See” — maintaining the fast chaos of “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not”with tracks like “Pretty Visitors,” “Teddy Picker” and “She’s Thunderstorms.” These albums helped the Arctic Monkeys become more certain in their sound and make a name for themselves among the British public.
Things changed in 2013. The Monkeys shot to international stardom with “AM,” an album which placed the fierce electric guitars of rock right next to the rhythmic flow of hip-hop rhymes, all underlaid by R&B-inspired rhythms. This changed the lives of many, many teenagers all over the globe, as its darker, more mature sound and explorations of sex, love and parties was perfectly fit for anyone inclined towards dramatically gazing out of car windows on cloudy days. “AM” clearly stole the heart of the world as it received a laundry list of awards and nominations and ranked in the top 10 in lists of best albums of 2013 found on Q, NME, musicOMH, Digital Spy, Uncut, Digital Spy and Rolling Stone.
Then, the Arctic Monkeys disappeared. It took five years for the band to return with an entirely new sound in “Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino,” a concept album about the modern world that drew inspiration from science fiction novels and think pieces like Neil Postman’s “Amusing Ourselves to Death” (1965). The standout tracks include single “Four Out of Five,” a cordial invitation to escape the franticness of modern life, and the eerie “She Looks Like Fun” whose lyrics reference, a takedown of social media, which seem like a direct endorsement of panopticon theory — “Dance as if somebody’s watching / ‘cause they are”; and finale “The Ultracheese” whose nostalgic reminiscing lays down a foundation for where the Arctic Monkeys pick up with “The Car” singles “There’d Better Be a Mirrorball” and “Body Paint.”
The five-year gap between “AM” and “Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino” cemented the image of the Arctic Monkeys as rockstars rebelling against time, young adults fighting their way through love and life. But, Alex Turner is 36 now, not 20, and he’s no longer maintaining the image of the unreachable rockstar but rather that a tranquil lover.
“Body Paint” is nearly five minutes long, despite having less lyrics than 90% of the Arctic Monkeys’ discography. Each word is packed with meaning and when there is nothing to be said, Turner lets the melancholy piano sing the message for him.
“Body Paint” is not a new direction, but rather a logical continuation to the Arctic Monkeys’ work. It tackles themes of love, builds upon the relaxed, lounge pop sound the Monkeys leaned into during “Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino,” and features Turner’s evergreen lyricism at its finest.
Teresa Pham is an Entertainment Intern for the fall 2022 quarter. She can be reached at teresaap@uci.edu.