“Antarctica” tells of someone who wants to feel the cold of winter again, as the place they live is only getting warmer due to climate change. They’re such a fan of the cold that they consider themselves a “polar bear in denial” and head for the coldest continent on planet Earth (side note: polar bears live in the Arctic, not Antarctica, and the band mentioned this factual error on 2024-09-09). Their trip starts out fine as the song’s narrator says that it feels like a new home, but it goes sideways when their plane crashes into the tundra. Leaving the aircraft, they end up freezing to death. Despite the song’s grim story about our climate, “Antarctica” is one of the most vibrant songs on Flight b741 with an overall cheerful attitude about the snowy landscape.
The band taps into the likes of Professor Longhair, Dr. John and Little Feat with the song’s New Orleans blues stylings. That said, it also carries the southern rock influence heard throughout Flight b741 as Stu yodels and howls towards the end of the track.
The song also features the lead vocal debut of Lucas for the “Fahrenheit or Celsius” bridge. Lucas has sung within the band since their earliest known show on 2010-10-29, but “Antarctica” is the first King Gizzard song with this specific accolade.

Based on a photo shared by Lucas showing a series of chords, “Antarctica” had the working title “Polar Bears.”
The band first teased the song on February 21st, 2024 when they posted a picture of their studio as an Instagram story, the photo was captioned with the title flipped upside down.
“Antarctica” was performed by Ambrose (piano/harmonica/vocals), Cavs (drums/percussion/vocals), Cook (bass/vocals), Joey (guitar/vocals), Lucas (organ/vocals) and Stu (guitar/vocals). The ASCAP ACE Repertory lists that the entire band received songwriting credits. “Antarctica” was released on August 9th, 2024 as the second song on Flight b741. It was later released with the b-side of “Sad Pilot” as a 7” single for the Austin Record Fair on 2024-11-15.

“Antarctica” was teased before the release of Flight b741 such as during “The Bitter Boogie” on 2024-05-27. It wouldn’t see a live debut until 2024-08-15 at The Anthem in Washington, DC, following teases during “The Dripping Tap.”