"Editorial abstract illustration evoking the emotional arc of a song titled "The Adults Are Talking" by The Strokes. Noticeable climb from quiet to loud. layered composition, overlapping color planes. Mood: contemplative, transcendent. Visual style: contemporary editorial aesthetic. Painterly, grainy film texture, muted palette with strategic accent colors. The composition should read left-to-right like a timeline — calm on one side, intensifying toward the other. Strictly no faces, no text, no logos, no literal objects, no band imagery. Pure color-field abstraction with emotional weight. 16:9 editorial format."
The Adults Are Talking
The Strokes
The New Abnormal (2020)
Balanced energy, right in the middle of 19,209 measured songs — measures out best for focus.
118
BPM
The Adults Are Talking by The Strokes is 118 BPM — Moderato (moderate).
Half-time 59 BPM · Double-time 236 BPM · released 2020
Fan image for "The Adults Are Talking"
An abstract illustration of what this song feels like. Each image is built from a prompt — the text description fed to the image generator. Listeners submit their own prompts, upvote the ones that fit best, and the top-voted prompt drives the next regeneration. After 100 image votes, we make a new picture.
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Song DNA
Notes: A reflective tone with a modern edge.
Recommended for: deep listening meditation
A balanced track — neither sleepy nor charged. It’s fairly predictable, with a shape you can follow. It has a big quiet-to-loud range with just a little movement, multi-layered in texture, with strong, dynamic vocals driving it at a steady, walkable tempo. Against the 19,209 songs we’ve measured, it sits more energetic than 69% of songs, calmer than the rest.
Cultural Context
Addresses contemporary issues with wit.
Listening Prompt
Great for introspection.
What to Expect
Starts quietly and builds to a climactic finish.
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Hear it the way it was made
The right gear changes everything.
Moods: contemplative, transcendent
Volume Warning
"The Adults Are Talking" climbs hard.
Dynamic range 7/10 places this in our upper band. The opening volume that feels comfortable will not be comfortable at the climax. If you are setting this up for a focused listen, anchor your volume to the quietest section, not the loudest. The arc is the point of the song; if you blunt it by riding the volume knob, you lose what makes it work. The Strokes built the dynamic shape on purpose. Plan around it.
How this song sits on each sensory axis
A dynamic range of 7/10 means this song moves. Expect a real volume climb between quiet sections and the loudest part of the arrangement — enough that you may want to set the initial volume below where you'd normally land.
Sudden changes: mild. There are one or two transitions worth knowing about, though they're musically resolved rather than surprise-driven.
Texture is layered — a full arrangement with clear separation between parts.
Predictability is medium — conventional structure overall, with one or two moments that deviate from what you'd expect.
Vocal style: dynamic vocals.
Where this sits in The Strokes's catalog
We have 23 songs from The Strokes in the library. Of those, 1 are rated Safe, 20 Moderate, and 2 Intense. This song's dynamic range of 7/10 sits above the artist average of 6.7, making it the #11 most dynamic track of theirs in our library.
Other tracks from The New Abnormal
We have 4 songs from this album. Overall, the album leans moderate in sensory profile.
- At the Door — moderate DR 7
- Bad Decisions — moderate DR 7
- On the Other Side — moderate DR 6
2020 context
Released in 2020. We have 475 songs from that year in our library, averaging a dynamic range of 6.2/10. This track is about average than the year average. Explore more from the 2020s.
Explore by mood and tradition
Guides that may help
Karma Police: Radiohead’s Eerie Joke About Power and Paranoia
Karma Police began as a band in-joke and became one of Radiohead’s defining songs — a queasy meditat…
How fast is "The Adults Are Talking"?
118 BPM — Upbeat (dance-pop / running warm-up)
For running
Too slow for most running; good for warm-up walks or cool-down.
For workouts
Steady cardio, power walking, light weights.
For daily life
Cooking, casual listening, cleaning, dinner music.
Browse more songs at 118 BPM.
When "The Adults Are Talking" works, and when it doesn't
Use-case verdicts computed from the song's tempo, dynamics, and sensory profile.
✗
Focus / studying
No — too dynamic or too many surprises. Save for active listening.
~
Running / workout
Maybe — at 118 BPM this is more warm-up or cool-down pace than peak-effort running.
✗
Sleep / winding down
No — contains elements that will keep an awake nervous system engaged.
✓
Driving / road trip
Yes — predictable enough for safe driving attention, interesting enough to stay engaged.
✓
Cooking / dinner background
Yes — sits in the background without demanding attention.
~
Emotional release / catharsis
Not really — it's pleasant but doesn't hit hard enough for cathartic listening.
Related reading
Editorial guides that cover this song's use cases, moods, or artist.
The 10 Calmest Albums Ever Recorded — A low-intensity Listening Guide
The 10 Calmest Albums Ever Recorded — A low-intensity Listening Guide — A guide for sensory-sensitive listeners on musiciwant.com
Teaching Music Listening to Kids Who Feel Music Strongly: A Gentle Approach
A gentle approach to introducing music to a child who feels it strongly — one who startles at sudden sound, or notices more than everyone el…
Best Headphones for Sensory Sensitivity: A Buyer's Guide
How to choose headphones for sensory-sensitive listening. Noise cancellation, clamping pressure, and comfort guidance for ears that notice e…
Why this rating
We rate this song Moderate because it falls between our Safe and Intense thresholds on at least one dimension. Moderate is the default for most well-produced music that has real arc but no surprise elements. Full rubric: methodology.
This song in the Music Studio
53/100 intensity
See how “The Adults Are Talking” sits against your own sensitivities, or use it as a waypoint in a calmer set.
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Rating last reviewed: 2026-04-05. Reviewed by the Music I Want editorial team against the documented methodology.
Think this rating is wrong? Contact the editor — every message is read and ratings get revised.
By the numbers: how this song compares
Computed from this song’s place among the 19,209 songs we’ve measured.
Where it sits in 19,000 songs
On our 19k-song scale this lands in the middle band — more energetic than 69% of songs, calmer than the other 31%. Its intensity reading of 53/100 comes from a dynamic range of 7/10, layered texture, mild shifts, and dynamic vocals. It shares this stretch of the spectrum with thousands of other tracks, so the finer fingerprint below is what really separates it.
What makes it unusual
What stands out most about this song is blazing intensity: more extreme on that axis than 69% of everything we've measured. At the far opposite end of the library sit the songs built on near-total stillness — steady volume, no surprises, a slow and unhurried pulse — the kind of track this one is the counterpoint to.
Feels almost identical to
Province — TV on the Radio · 99%A View to a Kill — Duran Duran · 99%The Invisible Man — Queen · 99%Shut Up Kiss Me — Angel Olsen · 99%
Closest matches by feel across all 19,209 measured songs — not by genre or artist, by how they actually move.
What it’s good for
Sleep3/10
Focus7/10
Workout3/10
Dinner7/10
Party / hype6/10
Scored from this song’s tempo, intensity, dynamics and texture — not crowd votes.
2020 in context
The 475 songs we’ve measured from 2020 average a dynamic range of 6.2/10. At 7/10, this track is louder and more dynamic than its year.
Mixes smoothly with
Within a few BPM and close in feel — they flow without a jarring transition.
The fingerprint
Intensity53
Dynamics67
Tempo43
Surprise25
Density33
Predictability50
Vocal force75
Trigger load0
The 8-dimension measurement behind every rating on this page.
Frequently asked about "The Adults Are Talking"
Quick answers pulled from the song's sensory analysis.
What is the BPM of "The Adults Are Talking" by The Strokes?
"The Adults Are Talking" by The Strokes has a tempo of 118 BPM (Moderato (moderate)). At half-time that is 59 BPM, and at double-time 236 BPM.
What is the sensory intensity of "The Adults Are Talking" by The Strokes?
"The Adults Are Talking" by The Strokes rates as Moderate intensity. Dynamic range 7/10, mild sudden changes, layered texture. Moderate is the default for well-produced music with real arc but no surprise elements.
How loud is "The Adults Are Talking" — what is its dynamic range?
"The Adults Are Talking" has a dynamic range of 7/10. Noticeable climb from quiet sections to loudest point. Set opening volume slightly lower than your preferred peak.
Does "The Adults Are Talking" have sudden or surprising changes?
"The Adults Are Talking" has mild sudden changes — one or two transitions worth knowing about, but they are musically resolved rather than surprise-driven.
What is "The Adults Are Talking" best for?
In our library "The Adults Are Talking" is recommended for: deep listening, meditation. These tags are assigned only where the song's sensory profile genuinely supports the use case.
When was "The Adults Are Talking" released?
"The Adults Are Talking" is from 2020, on the album "The New Abnormal". It appears in our 2020s catalog.
What is the emotional mood of "The Adults Are Talking"?
We tag "The Adults Are Talking" as contemplative, transcendent. Moods are tonal descriptors based on how the song reads emotionally — separate from the sensory intensity axes.
What is the vocal style of "The Adults Are Talking"?
The vocal style is dynamic vocals.
Is "The Adults Are Talking" good for running?
Not really — at 118 BPM it's below most running cadences. Better for warm-up, cool-down, or walking. Recreational runners typically step at 140-175 BPM.
Is "The Adults Are Talking" good for studying?
Only partially. The song's dynamic range (7/10) means there will be loud moments that break focus during deep work.
Can I use "The Adults Are Talking" for sleep?
Not recommended for sleep. Contains transitions that will wake you up.
Should I listen to "The Adults Are Talking"?
"The Adults Are Talking" is Moderate intensity — fine for most listeners, but with enough dynamic activity that it works best as active listening rather than background.
Songs with the same DNA
layered texture, similar intensity — across any genre or era.
Safer alternatives with a similar feel
These songs share similar moods but with a gentler sensory profile.
What this song means to people
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Where to next?
You know how this one feels — now go find the next one.