The 1975 is gearing up for Notes on a Conditional Form with the release of lead single “People,” where they take everything from political complacency to climate change to task.
The track opens with a call to action, as Matty Healy screams into the mic:
Wake up, wake up, wake up
It’s Monday morning and we’ve only got a thousand of them left
Well, I know it feels pointless and you don’t have any money
But we’re all just gonna try our fucking best
The lyrics go even further to confront listeners about politcal inaction:
We are appalling and we need to stop just watching shit in bed
And I know it sounds boring and we like things that are funny
But we need to get this in our fucking heads
The economy’s a goner, republic’s a banana, ignore it if you wanna
The music video–complete with facial-recognition glitches and lyrical chyrons–is reminiscent of the in-the-box format of “The Sound.”
The band is continuing their tradition of opening each album with a self-titled track, and NOACF’s “The 1975” samples a speech by 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg:
We can no longer save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed. Everything needs to change, and it has to start today. So, everyone out there, it is now time for civil disobedience. It is time to rebel
This isn’t the first time the English band has gotten political. Earlier this month, The 1975’s frontman kissed a male fan during a Dubai show, defying United Arab Emirates’ strict anti-LGBTQ laws. “I would go to jail for what I stand for, you know,” he told NME ahead of the show. “I feel like I’m in one of the only punk bands in the world.”
Last year’s critically acclaimed single, “Love It If We Made It,” runs through a laundry list of social and political topics:
A beach of drowning three-year olds
Rest in peace Lil Peep
The poetry is in the streets
Jesus save us
Modernity has failed us
However, the band told Genius that the track is free of personal sentiments. “I didn’t want to do a protest song, because it couldn’t be subjective, it had to be objective,” Healy said in an interview for Genius' Verified series. “Because there’s no opinion in ‘Love It If We Made It,’ I’m not expressing an opinion. I’m shouting, so it sounds like, because I’m angry about the things I’m saying, but it’s just a list of stuff that happened.”
Watch Healy talk about the meaning behind “Love It If We Made It” on Genius’ Verified series below.
Watch the music video above, and read all the lyrics to “People” on Genius now.
