Tame Impala Joins Justice and SZA on GTA 6 Song as Tour Hits Home

A busy week for Kevin Parker

Kevin Parker has had a busy week. On October 15, Rockstar Games released the launch trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI. Its music is "Flower in a Hurricane," a new song by the French electronic duo Justice featuring Tame Impala, SZA and King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard.12 In the same days, Parker was playing arenas in Australia on the Deadbeat tour, which reached his home country nearly a year after it began in the US.6 One chart report also had "Dracula," his collaboration with BLACKPINK's Jennie, back in the US top ten.5

Each of these would be a decent headline for most artists. Together, they show where Tame Impala now stands. Parker started out as a psych-rock auteur working alone in his bedroom. He is now part of mainstream pop, games and film, and his reviews suggest that shift is also making his live shows harder to hold together.

The GTA VI connection

The biggest news in reach is the Grand Theft Auto VI song. Rolling Stone reports that the three guest acts take turns on vocals. It says the track sounds like a modern update of the 1980s music players heard in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. The new game returns to that Vice City setting, but in the present day.1 Justice also wrote the game's full original score. Pieces of it had already appeared in earlier teasers, and the game is due out November 19 after a long series of delays.1

Rockstar's announcement says the song will appear on Grand Theft Auto VI: The Album, the game's official soundtrack. Pre-saves are open on the major streaming services, and vinyl and CD editions are planned.2 Rolling Stone puts the track among roughly three dozen original songs written for the game. Other contributors include Travis Scott, Morgan Wallen, Rauw Alejandro and Keith Richards.1 The two reports agree on the basic facts. Rolling Stone adds context about the musical style and the other artists on the soundtrack. The gaming coverage points out that Rockstar has not said how the score or songs will be used during play.12

The pairing has a history. Rolling Stone notes that Parker also appeared on Justice's album Hyperdrama.1 Pitchfork reports that Parker's first Grammy, in 2025, was shared with Justice for "Neverender" in the Best Dance/Electronic Recording category.14 "Flower in a Hurricane" continues an existing partnership rather than being a one-off. It is also the highest-profile placement Parker has had outside his own records. A launch trailer for one of the most anticipated games in years reaches people who may never have heard Lonerism.

Deadbeat, one year on

The GTA news comes almost exactly a year after Deadbeat came out. Tame Impala's fifth studio album was released on October 17, 2025. It was his first record on Columbia, and it drew on the bush doof and rave scenes of Western Australia.3 When the album was released, Parker said he had originally wanted something rawer and more stripped back, which he called "really almost bare bones." He also said he would have liked to make an album that was techno all the way through.19

The album's run since then has been strong by any measure. Pitchfork and People report that "End of Summer" won Best Dance/Electronic Recording at the 68th Grammy Awards on February 1. Parker later admitted he missed the win because he was asleep in Perth and had forgotten he was nominated.1415 The industry records show "End of Summer" also won ARIA awards for production and engineering. Deadbeat is nominated in those same categories this year, and "Loser" and "End of Summer" were both shortlisted for APRA Song of the Year.11 "Loser" kept growing after its release: it appeared in Spider-Man: Brand New Day and went to US pop radio in August 2026.8

The chart numbers are harder to confirm. A German aggregator, citing Yonhap News Agency, reports that "Dracula" was at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 on October 14. It says the song climbed six places and has spent 20 straight weeks in the top ten, with an earlier peak of No. 5.5 No major chart outlet in this coverage confirms those numbers, so they should be read with caution. Still, the general picture fits other reporting. Billboard calls Parker "the 'Dracula' singer," which suggests how much that song now defines him in the US.

The homecoming tour, and a split among critics

On the Australian leg, critics disagree, and the disagreement says a lot. The Guardian's review of the opening Brisbane show praised the lighting and laser rig as spectacular. It also said Parker's voice and the six-piece band, which now includes James Ireland of Pond, sounded excellent.612 But the reviewer argued that the new songs sit uneasily next to the older catalogue. Quieter Deadbeat tracks such as "No Reply" and "Obsolete" fell flat, the review said, and the show kept lurching between moods.612

Noise11's review of the October 14 Melbourne show described the same tension as a generation gap. It said a crowd mostly in its twenties connects with the electronic material. Older fans who found Tame Impala through Innerspeaker and Lonerism still treat the guitar-led songs as the heart of the band.10 In the review's view, the two groups can share an arena without hearing the same band.10

Other writers were more generous. Music Feeds gave the Melbourne show five stars and described Tame Impala as having fully turned into an arena act. It singled out the confetti during "Let It Happen" and the encore of "My Old Ways," "The Less I Know The Better" and "End of Summer."4 Northern Exposure Magazine called the same night an immersive audiovisual experience. It also praised the support act, Ninajirachi.7

The critics who disagree on the overall verdict largely agree on one segment. Parker moves to a small B-stage in the crowd to play "Ethereal Connection," and later "Not My World." The Guardian said the interlude goes on too long, goes nowhere, and prompted a wave of bathroom trips.12 Noise11 said it looked more like a man playing with gear at home than part of a major arena production.10 This matters because Parker has called "Not My World" the song closest to the album's original mission statement.19 The part of the show that most clearly reflects the record's intent is the part that gets the least praise.

My view is that the mixed reviews are the cost of a deliberate choice, not a sign that the show is failing. Parker built Deadbeat around unpolished, inward-looking club music.19 The tour puts that music next to songs that fans now chant like football anthems.12 The Guardian, which was critical in places, still called the night full of "banger after undeniable banger."12 Noise11 still concluded that Tame Impala remains formidable live.10 The friction is real, but it is not doing damage. If anything, it is what you would expect from an artist who refuses to simply repeat his greatest hits.

Fame, security, and the cost of scale

There is a less flattering side to that growth. In September, during the North American run, Parker said he would stop signing autographs and posing for photos outside hotels and at airports. He blamed aggressive professional collectors, whom he accused of using children to get to him.16 He also stopped meeting fans in venue parking lots after shows. He said the crowds had grown too big for his security to handle, and his team had asked him to stop.1617

The Guardian, Billboard and Yahoo all describe the announcement the same way, and none questions his reasons.1617 It sits uncomfortably with what Parker told Mac DeMarco earlier this year. He said that at the scale he now works, shows are time-coded and scripted, so the moments when things go wrong have become "the spice."15 As Tame Impala has grown into an arena act, Parker has lost much of the casual contact with fans that used to come with it.

What comes next

The Australian run continues with Sydney shows from October 19 to 21. It ends in Perth, his home town, on October 24 and 25.6 UK dates are planned for 2027.7 Wikipedia describes the tour as running from 2025 to 2027.8 Grand Theft Auto VI arrives November 19, which should keep "Flower in a Hurricane" in heavy circulation through the holidays.1

One year after Deadbeat, the story is not really about whether Parker's turn to dance music worked. The Grammy, the radio play, the film sync and now a central spot on the GTA VI soundtrack show that it did, at least commercially.1481 The open question is whether he can keep an arena of older and younger fans together as his music moves further from where he started. The homecoming reviews suggest he mostly can, though not always smoothly.