What a wild ride it's been with this song.
When The 1975 announced a new single was coming out, I was (of course) excited. After the wonderful tune that was "Give Yourself A Try", I was very curious to hear another track from what is shaping up to be an immensely intriguing album, A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships.
So when I saw that “Love It If We Made It” was live and hit play on my phone, the ensuing song that came out of my phone speakers was not what I expected.
With “Give Yourself A Try”, I knew instantaneously that I loved the song. It’s upbeat and catchy, all while maintaining it’s somewhat gritty nature, both lyrically and musically.
With “Love It If We Made It”, it was not the same smooth ride.
My girlfriend, Kellyn, was in the room with me, and the minute Matty Healy begins his sing-yelling, we both looked at each other with confusion. What a 180 from the pretty vocals of “Give Yourself A Try” – this track was full of frustration and angst. The tempo is slower, but the fire feels even more intense, the instrumental chugging along as if only for a platform for Healy’s most aggressive vocals to date.
We both were put off. We agreed that the direction of the song and lyrics was a bold move for the band, something Kellyn mentioned would be difficult for some of the fans to accept. I respected the work, but wasn’t sure I would grow to like it.
I really should be more aware of how bad my first impressions of a song can be by now.
I gave it time. I listened to it on the way to work the day after it released, letting it fill the speakers and blare into my ears. And I found myself liking it a little more. I try to do most of my critical listening in the car. With my body and mind focused on the road, it’s easier for me to hear music without distraction and truly appreciate it. Not to mention that it’s a better representation of the track – the speakers allow for the full sound to be heard, intricate parts and lines not easily heard on the unreliable speakers found on smart phones.
One of the aspects that kept me coming back was the lyrical content. What a huge amount of ground covered in a song. They don’t hold back, they don’t sugar coat subjects on the track. Just look at the starting two lines:
“We're fucking in a car, shooting heroin
Saying controversial things just for the hell of it”
They cover just about everything, from:
the systematic oppression of black people –
“Selling melanin and then suffocate the black men
Start with misdemeanours and we'll make a business out of them”,
Trump & Kanye –
"I moved on her like a bitch!" & “"Thank you Kanye, very cool!",
The current environment of rap, specifically the recent deaths of prominent up & comers–
“Rest in peace Lil Peep”
and a whole lot more. You could write an essay about all the various things discussed in the song. The one line I keep coming back to in particular, however, is the endnote of each verse:
“Modernity has failed us”,
which I find to be such an incredibly interesting notion. It’s playing on the idea that the more advanced we become, the farther we march down the road called Progress, we will always improve as a species, as a people. But progression is never a diagonal line up. It flies up and plummets. It zigzags all over the place. I think a lot of people felt that things were only ever going to get better. Science would improve us, technology would make our lives easier, and things would continue to climb. But, with a multitude of different events, such as Brexit and the election of Trump, many people have begun to see that we might slide back down before we climb once more. This is no surprise – in the course of the history of humanity, we have had successes followed by times of darkness and despair.
That’s what makes this song great though – the chorus. “I’d love it if we made it”. A cry for humanity to strive on, push back at the hopelessness and dare to make a difference in a time of growing indifference.
Fast-forward to now, and 36 plays later, and I am 100% sold on the song, perhaps even more so than “Give Yourself A Try”. The band calls their current era “Music For Cars”, something that I’ve found to be very true so far. The songs work so well for the road, especially late at night, zooming along freeways and deserted roadways. Beyond that though, its reveals more of the risky and bold moves the band is taking with this record. Personally, I’m in for the ride. I’m excited to see what’s next.
Rating - 4.5/5
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