In the midst of an uncertain political climate that has already had many musical artists speaking out, Alabama Shakes have become another group lending their voice to the discussion and making a stand with their platform, as Pitchfork reports. Today, the group – who just returned with their first song in over a decade released last year – have shared “American Dream,” a new single and protest song. A lyric video can be found on the group’s YouTube channel.

“I thought we wanted the same things; I must be dreaming?” are the lines that open up the song, already serving to paint a picture of the song’s message of disconnect and distrust with politicians and the state of the world. Singer Brittany Howard continues by listing off various virtues, with a choir alternating between the lines “The American Dream,” and “The impossible dream,” and Howard herself repeating the “I must be dreaming” line. The spaced out and soulful track continues, with Howard continuing with lyrics that touch on a myriad of issues with the state of the world, before stating she’d rather go back to sleep. While it’s quite an apparent aspect of the track already, Howard shared in a press release that she described the song as a “snapshot of what we’re living through in 2026.”

“I look around and wonder how we got to a place where there’s so much strain and so little support,” Howard continues. “I mean, it shouldn’t be impossible to take off work so you can bring your child to the doctor—that’s actually insane. My hope is that one day people will hear this song and say, ‘Yeah, shit was crazy back then, but we made it through.’” The track’s lyrics include references to ideas like doublethink, and touch upon topics such as gun reform and violence, the wage gap and defunding of organizations like the E.P.A. while the White House is “pretty and pimped out” as a result of recent renovations by President Trump. The track not only speaks to many of the issues of our time and frustrations felt by man, but does so in an unmistakably distinct style.