Moving away from the environmental themes of Fishing For Fishies, “The Cruel Millennial” is an Ambrose-led track that comments on the generation gap between millennials and Gen Z exacerbated by the use of new technology. There’s an addiction to phones and computers (demonstrated through the mention of the game Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds, abbreviated to PUBG), as well as a rise in conspiracy theories and the Mandela Effect: it’s second verse mentioning the disappearance of white dog feces and the name of the Berenstain Bears. He comments that, while only born in 1992, he feels old and out of touch with society. While somewhat divisive within the fanbase, “The Cruel Millennial” is an ultimately lighthearted and self-aware boogie about the changing world.
Liner notes mention that “The Cruel Millennial” had been recorded primarily at Flightless HQ in April of 2018 by Stu, with additional drum parts being done at TFS Studios with Gareth Liddiard in May. A snippet of Ambrose recording harmonica for the song appears in How to gut a Fishie. Overdubs were recorded in Melbourne by Stu from July to November. Cavs (drums/conga), Joey (electric guitar), Lucas (bass), Cook (bass), Ambrose (vocals/harmonica/percussion) and Stu (electric guitar/bass/organ/vibraphone) would play on the track, with Sam Joseph mixing the final version. “The Cruel Millennial” was released on Fishing For Fishies on April 26th, 2019.
The song debuted on 2019-06-26 at Howler in Naarm (Melbourne). It would be played a handful of other times in 2019, with a final performance on 2019-09-04 at Stubb's Bar-B-Q in Austin. Since then the song hasn’t been played, with no talk of it returning.