“Part of the Band” by The 1975

There’s a whole lot going on in this song, and in the grand scheme of it the title, which pops up only once and in the first line, doesn’t seem to be of much particular significance. The lyrics are highly metaphorical, allegorical and poetic, to the degree that trying to individually interpret all that’s being put forth may prove an act of vanity without further explanation from Matt Healy himself. And by the looks of things, upon release of “Part of the Band”, The 1975 did not issue any statement concerning the meaning of the song.

But with that said, what it appears we’re dealing with here is the musings of a man who can perhaps best be described as being confused. On one hand the lyrics may read like random, unrelated thoughts, but in reality that might not be the case.

Instead, as revealed, the vocalist is someone who does a lot of thinking, as in and also it seems a lot of reading. And as inferred, his thought processes are heavily influenced by external factors, as in whatever topics or ideas may be trending or that he personally is into at the moment. 

So as a result, he doesn’t seem to have a clear notion of where his life is headed, or something like that, because again, this piece is a bit confusing, for lack of a better word. And also majorly contributing to it all is what appears to be drug addiction on the part of the narrator.

Conclusively

So in putting this all together without getting in too far over our heads, the simplest way to describe “Part of the Band”, as aforenoted, is as centering on the vocalist being in a mentally-confused state. And as the piece progresses, it is revealed that said state is being exacerbated by the internet, drugs, romance/sex and also the intellectually-minded arts that the vocalist appear to be into. 

So ultimately, perhaps what this song is meant to convey is the idea of the modern world where literally too many inputs are available to us.

The 1975

It’s been awhile since we’ve heard from The 1975. The last single they dropped prior to this one was a 2021 collaboration with Charli XCX and No Rome titled “Spinning”. Before that, in mid-2020, the crew dropped their fourth studio album, “Notes on a Conditional Form”, which was a major critical success. 

“Part of the Band”

“Part of the Band” was officially made public on 7 July 2022. It is the lead single from The 1975’s “Being Funny in a Foreign Language” album.

Matthew Healy, i.e. The 1975’s frontman, co-wrote and co-produced this song with George Daniel. Jack Antonoff also participated on the production side. Jamie Squire served as an additional co-writer. 

To note, besides for Healy the other official members of The 1975 are:

• George Daniel
• Adman Hann
• Ross MacDonald

The aforementioned Squire is one of the crew’s session/touring bandmates.

Jack Antonoff also provided background vocals to this track, as did a semi-popular female singer who goes by the name of Japanese Breakfast.

This song originated from another called New York, which Healy first performed in 2021. The author of that particular piece, which as of this writing remains unreleased, is another English singer named Benjamin Francis Leftwich. At the time Healy got his hand on it, New York did not have a bridge. So he proceeded to write one and later took that segment and fleshed it out into an entirely new piece, that being “Part of the Band”.