The 1975 Stay Hopeful on the Observant “Love It If We Made It”

“The poetry is in the streets. Jesus save us! Modernity has failed us, and I’d love it if we made it,” Matty Healy sings on The 1975’s latest single, “Love It If We Made It.”

The 1975 announced last month that they would be releasing two albums during the Music For Cars era, with the first of the two, A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships, due out in October. “Love It If We Made It” is the second single from the record, joining the buzzing “Give Yourself A Try” which dropped June 1, and like that first single, it has been released with its own catalogue code (DH00334).

“Love It If We Made It” opens with a quietly pulsing keyboard, now familiar to the band’s followers on Instagram, where the snippet has been featured in the band’s story in the countdown to the song’s release. Healy comes in swinging with the drums and the brusque line, “Fucking in a car, shooting heroin.” That opening piano bit is at the backbone of the song, and the brighter, twinkling synth that comes in adds a shiny quality to the song’s atmosphere. Most powerful, however, is the push in the second chorus where the electric guitar bursts forward and a chorus of backing vocals swell behind Healy. The verses bluntly point out what’s happening in society, giving little to no context. “Saying controversial things just for the hell of it,” Healy sings, and you can’t help but laugh because of how smoothly Healy avoids straight opinion while observing controversial things (“Thank you Kanye, very cool!” stands out). Still, the chorus is anything but cynical—“I’d love it if we made it,” repeats again and again.

Sincerity is at the core of the band’s new material. Although known for their post-modernism with self-referential and irreverent lyrics, during the song’s Beats 1 premiere, Healy told Zane Lowe that they are embracing sincerity and directness on the new record; it will even feature a song called “Sincerity Is Scary.”

“It’s easier to be ironic than it is to be like a person, you know, and be a bit soppy and stuff,” Healy said.

Healy said “Love It If We Made It” possesses the ethos of the record, and called it generous and hopeful, which can be felt in this track. Even as he sings, “Modernity has failed us,” fans hold onto what they just heard: “The poetry is in the streets,” a phrase The 1975 have referenced throughout their career, and even with a slightly different sound than their past records, The 1975 are here in full living color. And yeah, that’s hopeful, too.

Teasing the release of the new song earlier this month, The 1975 posted a page with the first few lyrics of the song, followed by a paragraph of crossed-out text about the present. A few days later, the full lyrics were posted, followed by related posters featuring the lyrics “Modernity Has Failed Us” and “Fucking in a car, shooting heroin.”

// A B R I E F I N Q U I R Y I N T O O N L I N E R E L A T I O N S H I P S // L O V E pic.twitter.com/jKiVajop3i

— The 1975 (@the1975) July 6, 2018

// L O V E I T I F W E M A D E I T // L O V E pic.twitter.com/n17Yc6oSyP

— The 1975 (@the1975) July 11, 2018

Listen to “Love It If We Made It” below and watch a performance by The 1975 from the Paste archives in 2013 further down.