The 1975
People
Sony
You can never make any assumptions coming into a single release from The 1975. Even after the mix of genres on A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships, which included tracks influenced by jazz, mumble rap and house music, no one could have expected what we have on People, but this mix of punk/hardcore/industrial is a welcome surprise.
Lifted from The 1975’s upcoming fourth album, Notes On A Conditional Form (out February 21, 2020), People has a very frantic guitar riff underlying it, and the drums keep the track moving. The song sounds like something that the British punk band Slaves might have made, and definitely heavier than any offering we have gotten from The 1975 previously.
Matty Healy shouts with all his might over the instrumentals telling us to “stop f**king with the kids,” and to “wake up! wake up! wake up!” and while at moments the lyrics are political, others are almost (much needed) attacks on the younger generation, saying “we need to stop just watching sh*t in bed” and “I don’t like going outside so bring me everything here,” and others are just, in true Matty style, plain ridiculous: “Republic’s a banana,” and “Girls, food, gear.”
The song is short, clocking in at 2:40 mins, but any longer and it would not be a true punk track, which is what it appears the band have intended it to be. It packs a lot of punch in such a short time, and definitely fits in a lot of subject matter. People proves that The 1975 really can do any genre, and do it very well.
KIERRA POLLOCK
