It’s official: The 1975 is bringing emo music back with their 2020 album, Notes on a Conditional Form. How do we know? The band just dropped their first single, ‘People’ and boy does it say a lot.
The release of this single is generating the same level of hype as what Ariana Grande’s reveal of her song ‘Break up with your girlfriend, I’m bored’ did for pop fans. Except for this time, it’s the Matt Healy stans that are losing their sh*t.
The band is obviously taking a turn with this album. This single reveals that The 1975 could be straying away from its pop vibes, soothing vocals and their typically romantic lyrics. Our guess? It’ll be worlds apart from their last album, A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships.
‘People’ serves up throwback emo vibes in its video clip and sound, but it’s also giving us reflective tones. The lyrics read as a sort of protest:
Our fave phrase:
“And we need to stop just watching shit in bed.”
Surely that one had us all feeling attacked.
The clip takes us back to emo and punk rock roots by employing a simple style that was used by Green Day, Fall Out Boy, and My Chemical Romance back in these genres’ hay day. It simply shows the band in a room doing their thing.
Lead Matthew Healy, Warren Fu and Ben Ditto were behind the clip that features a cubed room where all four walls flash with internet images. We get the sense the team were mimicking the chaotic feel of the song. The clip even starts with the warning: “This video has been identified by epilepsy action to potentially trigger seizures for people with photosensitive epilepsy. Viewer discretion is advised.” It’s completely called-for.
We’re left with the thought that this album may develop as one big commentary on the state of current affairs. Considering ‘People,’ inspires clenched fists and begs us to chant along we’re thinking an angrier album could actually be cathartic.