The 1975 frontman Matty Healy is not afraid to be outspoken, as anyone who’s seen his viral on-stage protests can attest to. Earlier this year, the Manchester musician denounced Alabama’s abortion laws while performing in the southern state, while last week, he kissed a man during a show in Dubai to protest the UAE’s anti-gay laws.
The band’s new track “People” is equally forthright, a trashing post-punk anthem that offers healthy doses of environmental realtalk with lyrics demanding we all “wake up” to the global climate crisis and “stop fucking with the kids”. Presumeably Healy took some notes from activist Greta Thunberg, who collaborated with the group on a track last month.
“I wrote ‘People’ on a bus in Texas the day the abortion bill was circulating in Alabama,” he told Apple Music. “After playing our show there, we were advised to leave due to Alabama being an open-carry state. We did and we soon stopped in a truck stop in Texas. I bought some Cheetos that were next to a collection of knives for incels and various bumper stickers encouraging women to give oral sex to truck drivers as some kind of trade for the privilege of being in the truck and elegant presence of such a great man. I was pretty pissed off. I am pretty fucking pissed off. God bless.” And you can tell. The accompanying music video to the track sees a hypercharged Healy shoot dollar bills out a gun and self-destruct into a puff of emoticons.
Upcoming album Notes On a Conditional Form is out February 21 next year and promises to be their longest album to date at 22 tracks long.
Watch the video for “People” below.
