Review: Thundercat — Distraction

Thundercat
Distracted
Brainfeeder
Street: 04.03.2026
Thundercat = Jamiroquai + Kaytranada X Andre 3000’s New Blue Sun

Can a tiny femme nonbinary bitch relate to one of the geekiest and most prolific neo-funk musicians of all time? Well, we’re about to find out. Thundercat is back after six years with a project that will blow your silly patterned socks off. If you’re used to saying “I feel weird” after too much screentime and stimulants or being called weird by others, listen the fuck up. There is something that cuts through the brain fog and overstimulation — creation after overconsumption is such a refreshing feeling. Thundercat has grabbed this feeling by its throat and kissed it tenderly, right after forgetting to text it back. 

Now I know you’re dying to know my favorites off the album, so let me tell you. To start, “She Knows Too Much” with the late Mac Miller easily takes the cake. The chorus saying “all the books she reads, she know way too much” is enough to steal my heart. The music video is also worth checking out as it’s stylized as a 90s cartoon, and the bright colors instantly mesmerize you. “Funny Friends” featuring A$AP Rocky is also another personal favorite, because I can’t tell if it’s about a nameless girl or the actual kinship between the two artists. The lyrics, “Karma’s a revolver, we livin’ like the Beatles” and “Patience is a virtue, wow, time is too cerebral,” bounce around my mind like a bullet. Finally, “This Thing We Call Love” featuring Channel Tres is fun and moody and everything in between. I can’t help but want to dance, and I can imagine this song playing in International and everyone having a good time. 

“Distracted” implies not focusing on one thing, but another. The sleight of hand used here is exquisite. While Thundercat reels you in to enjoy the sexy and varied sounds backed up by kick-ass collaborators like Lil Yachty, WILLOW and Channel Tres, you’re actually in for a tell-all about a recent breakup of his. The pure processing of heartbreak feels hijacked by an unknown source, like there was a glitch in the matrix. Lines like “I’ll just stay on my own / Unless she wants to come back” on “No More Lies” featuring Tame Impala paint an intoxicatingly relatable essence. Even titles like “I Did This to Myself” and “I Wish I Didn’t Waste Your Time” are filled with a refreshing candor about what it feels like to lose someone you love. 

Breaking down the entire ethos of the album, “Great Americans” gives a day in the life of Thundercat, including talking to his cats about losing his love and boasts the lyrics, “Everything I do is a learned behavior / A true Truman show.” That’s the other thing that I should’ve expected but took me by surprise: The sheer amount of geeky references is so charming and irritating. “Anakin Learns His Fate” is where this takes center stage; Thundercat clearly loves Star Wars, and this song is based on his rewatch of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Apparently, he has a personal theory that Anakin turned to the dark side after learning Padme was pregnant, and that’s what inspired him to write the song. The listening experience is that of having a boyfriend who can’t stop talking about their niche interests. 

Music is usually the antidote to the woes of the modern man, and even that we’re given too much of. That’s how I felt finding out Thundercat dropped a spoiled “Really? More of a good thing that I’ve been asking for?” album. Yet that’s the plight of the netizen; we are swarmed with excellent literature, art, films and everything in between. Even worse, we can scroll all of it, made by people just like us, at a moment’s notice. Yes, too much of a good thing is a bad thing. Let this album chew that concept up and spit it out on a silvery smooth platter made of jazz.  —Marzia Thomas

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