After lots of crazy social media antics, The 1975 have finally released their next single. Photo from YouTube
‘Love Me’ is the first bit of material successful pop-rock band The 1975 have released since their major brand revamp, a process seen first-hand by many of their fans over social media. Peter Biskup reviews their new single, and comments on their recent shenanigans.
The 1975 built up a lot of hype with their 2013 self-titled debut album, a release which gave us the hit singles “Chocolate”, “Girls” and “Sex.” These singles really showcased the band’s ability to craft catchy pop songs, which makes it understandable why they became such a phenomenon. However, while some hype around a new single would normally be expected, the huge amounts of anticipation for this single was due to the band’s social media hijinks.
Back in June the band took down all their social media accounts without any explanation whatsoever. Before taking the accounts down the band teased their fans on Twitter and Instagram with a cartoon which suggested the band was splitting up, ending with the words The hardest part of any relationship is to say goodbye. So we must leave, with a parting ‘we love you’. This caused mass panic in their fanbase for 24 hours until the band’s social media accounts returned with an inverted image of their debut album. Since then the band have been counting down to the single with cryptic messages and subtle hints, pointing to the name of the new single Love Me.
Now, it doesn’t matter what your presumptions of The 1975 may be here, as this stunt did something rare in the age of the digital download; they made people excited about a single, so it felt like a proper event. This may not seem like a lot for a band, but in a world where you can usually hear a leaked version of a song or an album before it is out, the band have been able to make their fans wait and built up so much excitement for what isn’t the biggest news in the grand scheme of things.
But now onto the song itself. It is undeniably catchy and fun, and what you’d expect from The 1975 (if not, a bit funkier). The opening chords crash in and instantly make you want to move, and the weird screeching synth surprisingly works with the funky feel of the track. The intro is exciting and different to what we’ve heard before, but as soon as Matty opens his mouth we’re back to it sounding just like another 1975 song. While this isn’t a bad thing as such, the whole social media stunt made me hope that the band would evolve towards a brand new sound, like they have before, but this track sounds like it could have been cut off their last album. My main complaint about this song is the same with the album from 2013 – the lyrics just are just alright. While this song does tackle the pressures of fame, which is an interesting (albeit cliched) topic, the lyrics just don’t stand up to the quality of the instrumentation, making the song less enjoyable.
Overall I can’t really fault The 1975 because they have remained consistent with this single and fans of the band will love it. Personally, especially with the media stunt, I would have loved to have seen some growth within the band, but this single shows that The 1975 are an enjoyable, catchy, consistent band and I’m still looking forward to hearing their sophomore album, I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It, in February.