"About You"
Single by The 1975
from the album Being Funny in a Foreign Language
Released17 March 2023
Genre
Length5:26
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
The 1975 singles chronology
"All I Need to Hear"
(2022)		 "About You"
(2022)		 "Oh Caroline"
(2023)

"About You" is a song by English band the 1975 from their fifth studio album, Being Funny in a Foreign Language (2022). The song was released on 8 December 2022 through Dirty Hit and Polydor Records as the fifth single from the album. It was written by band members Matty Healy and George Daniel, who also produced the song alongside Jack Antonoff.[3][4][5][6][7][8] The song features additional vocals by Carly Holt, wife of The 1975 lead guitarist Adam Hann, as well as string arrangements from musician and composer Warren Ellis of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.[9] Musically, "About You" is a pop rock ballad featuring shoegaze-inspired production; Healy cited U2, Phil Spector and David Cronenberg as influences for the track.

Background and development

Healy envisioned "About You" as a musical continuation of the band's 2013 hit single "Robbers".[10] He credited musician and composer Warren Ellis - who contributed string arrangements to the album - with having a significant influence on the track's creative direction. He noted that the initial version of the track was "really simple" and "stylistically a little bit cleaner" than "Robbers", before Ellis "made it all weird and shoegazey". Healy felt Ellis' work on the track was characterized by the "moving, weird distortion" present throughout the arrangement, which he felt lent the song a "gothic feeling". He elaborated: "Even though it’s major key, [Ellis] gave it this terror, which makes my performance in it a lot less romantic because everything is mushing together, and it’s violent." He elaborated: "I’ve always loved those kinds of Cronenberg, body-horror analogies, the tension between death and sex. I think that the morose can be quite sensual, and there’s quite a bit of that in my work."[11]

Healy cited Phil Spector as an influence on the band's initial decision to fill the track with "this huge hall reverb (...) rather than being able to feel the rhythm", drawing inspiration from Spector's production on The Ronettes' "Be My Baby".[12] He also noted the song's similarities with U2's "With or Without You", and likened the final version of the song to the track "Inside Your Mind" from the band's third album, A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships (2018).[13]

Music and lyrics

Musically, "About You" is a pop rock song in the key of D major, and has a tempo of 96 beats per minute. The song's shoegaze-inspired production is characterized by "swooping strings, fuzzed-out guitars, and drowsy saxophones", which Maura Johnston of Rolling Stone felt "[shroud]" Healy's voice in the "chaos" of the instrumentation.[14] Healy sings in a lower register throughout the track, which Johnston likened to the voice of George Michael.[14]

Charts

Chart performance for "About You"
Chart (2022) Peak
position
Ireland (IRMA)[15] 41
New Zealand Hot Singles (RMNZ)[16] 8
UK Singles (OCC)[17] 41
US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (Billboard)[18] 29

Certifications

Certifications and sales for "About You"
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[19] Silver 200,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The 1975 – About You".
  2. ↑ "The 1975 'Being Funny in a Foreign Language' Review". 13 October 2022.
  3. ↑ "The 1975 - Being Funny In a Foreign Language review - The Skinny". www.theskinny.co.uk. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  4. ↑ McCormick, Neil; Johnston, Kathleen; Hall, James; Perry, Andrew (14 October 2022). "The 1975 bring back Yacht Rock, Brian Eno channels folk horror – the week's best albums". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  5. ↑ Cragg, Michael (14 October 2022). "The 1975: Being Funny in a Foreign Language review – a surprising but welcome paring back". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  6. ↑ Johnston, Maura (13 October 2022). "The 1975 Battle Anxiety With Acerbic Tunes And Sax Magic On 'Being Funny In A Foreign Language'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  7. ↑ "The 1975 - Being Funny In A Foreign Language". DIY. 14 October 2022. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  8. ↑ "The 1975: Being Funny In A Foreign Language Review - a return to roots that instead follows their same well-worn path | The 1975". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  9. ↑ "The 1975 'Being Funny in a Foreign Language' Review". 13 October 2022.
  10. ↑ "The 1975 – About You".
  11. ↑ "The 1975 – About You".
  12. ↑ "The 1975 Releases a Track That is a Continuation of "Robbers" on Their New Album, 'BFIAFL'". 14 October 2022.
  13. ↑ "The 1975 – About You".
  14. 1 2 "The 1975 Battle Anxiety with Acerbic Tunes and Sax Magic on 'Being Funny in a Foreign Language'". Rolling Stone. 13 October 2022.
  15. ↑ https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/irish-singles-chart/20230203/ie7501/
  16. ↑ "The Official New Zealand Music Chart".
  17. ↑ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  18. ↑ "The 1975 Chart History (Hot Rock & Alternative Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  19. ↑ "British single certifications – 1975 – About You". British Phonographic Industry.
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