My Old Ways

Album

Deadbeat

Label

Columbia Records

Genre

Psychedelia

Composer(s)

Kevin Parker

Entered Chart

Nov 1, 2025

Peak Date

Nov 1, 2025

Released

17 October 2025

"My Old Ways" finds Kevin Parker exploring repetitive behavior patterns. He keeps returning to destructive habits despite attempts to break free from them, and he feels powerless in the face of temptation. It's a theme that's been playing in the Tame Impala universe since forever. Remember "Cause I'm A Man," where he sang "I'm a human, human" like a confession and an apology rolled into one? Here, he gives himself the smallest of lifelines: I tell myself I'm only human The track opens Deadbeat, Tame Impala's fifth album. Gone are the glossy dreamscapes of Currents or The Slow Rush. Instead, "My Old Ways" starts with Parker alone at a piano before the song morphs into a percussive, club-like pulse. It signals where Deadbeat is heading: toward the ecstatic chaos of bush doof, a thumping, dust-and-neon brand of rave music native to Western Australia, Parker's own backyard. The video, directed by New Zealand's Sam Kristofski (who also helmed the "Loser" clip), looks like it wandered in from another Tame Impala dimension. It cuts between cinéma vérité shots of Parker recording and trudging along Manhattan's 54th Street, and then a surreal mid-song transition takes us through a shimmering "portal" that drops him back home in the Margaret River wilderness.

So, here I am once again, feeling no good
I must be out of excuses, I knew I would
Feels like it came out of nowhere this time
Wish I had someone else to blame

I tell myself I'm only human

I know I, I said never again
Temptation, feels like it never ends
I'm sliding, powerless as I descend

Back into my old ways again (ways again)
Back into my old ways again
Back into my old ways again (ways again)

Thought I would never go back, but just this once
A little present for holding out so long
I could not bear the thought of it two days ago
Don't think I would forgive myself

I tell myself I'm only human

I know I, I said never again
Temptation, feels like it never ends
I'm sliding, only noticing now and then

Back into my old ways again (ways again, ways again)
Back into my old ways again (ways again, ways again)
Back into my old ways again

I know what's comin', ain't so shockin'
Always fuckin' up to somethin'
Ego strummin', should be stoppin'
Here goes nothing
I know what's comin', ain't so shockin'
Always fuckin' up to somethin'
Story swappin', downhill sloping
Barely coping
I know what's comin', ain't so shockin' (I know it's)
Always fuckin' up to somethin' (always)
Ego strummin', should be stoppin' (déjà vu)
Here goes nothing
I know what's comin', ain't so shockin' (I know it)
Always fuckin' up to somethin' (don't seem)
Story swappin', downhill sloping (hard to do)
Barely coping
I know what's comin', ain't so shockin' (I know it's)
Always fuckin' up to somethin' (always)
Ego strummin', should be stoppin' (déjà vu)
Here goes nothing (back into my old ways again)
(I know it all seems hard to do)
I know what's comin', ain't so shockin' (I know it)
Always fuckin' up to somethin' (don't seem)
Story swappin', downhill sloping (hard to do)
Barely coping, I (back into my old ways again)

I know I, I said never again
Temptation, feels like it never ends
I'm sliding, powerless as I descend

Back into my old ways again
Back into my old ways again (ways again, ways again)
Back into my old ways again
Back into my old ways again
Back into my old ways again (ways again)
Back into my old ways again