Triple j sat down with Thundercat in a Double J interview in 2026, catching the bassist, singer and producer while he was still celebrating the success of his most recent album, Distracted. The conversation moved from music to pop culture and back again, with Thundercat talking about Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker, Kamasi Washington and the late Mac Miller.
The interview arrived in a year when Thundercat had released only one song so far, GRIS, making the sit-down one of the few fresh chances to hear him reflect on where he has been and where he may be headed next. That gave the exchange a particular weight: not a rollout tied to a new record, but a conversation with an artist still absorbing the afterglow of his last one.
Double J framed the discussion around that momentum, and Thundercat answered in the same spirit, drifting between collaborators and cultural obsessions with the easy depth that has long made his interviews compelling. Kevin Parker and Kamasi Washington came up as part of the wider creative circle around him, while Mac Miller remained present as a name that still carries real emotional force in the conversation.
Then came the turn that gave the interview its most playful edge. Thundercat also talked about Star Trek and what he called musical nerd heaven, a phrase that neatly captured the overlap between his taste, his humor and the way he talks about art as a world built for enthusiasts. It was the kind of exchange that does not sound like a press cycle and does not read like one either.
That is what made the timing matter. In 2026, with only GRIS out so far, the interview offered a current snapshot of an artist who is not rushing to flood the market, but is still very much in motion. For listeners, the answer is simple: yes, Thundercat is still riding the creative energy of Distracted, and the conversation showed he is comfortable letting that chapter breathe while he wanders into the next one on his own terms.
