"Love Me" is a song by English band the 1975 from their second studio album, I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It (2016). The song was written by Matty Healy, George Daniel, Adam Hann and Ross MacDonald. Mike Crossey handled the production alongside Daniel and Healy. It was released on 8 October 2015 by Dirty Hit and Polydor Records as the lead single from the album. Written two years before its release, the song was inspired by the band's adjustment to their newfound celebrity status, having found themselves in a scene where fame was prized as currency. The track's production was inspired by the music of the 1980s, specifically the work of Trevor Horn, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Oingo Boingo.
A funk and electropop song, "Love Me" is markedly more pop-sounding than the 1975's trademark ambient and ethereal compositions, incorporating elements of new wave, post-punk, art pop, dance-pop, funk rock and power pop. The production encompasses an intricate mesh of guitars and synthesisers alongside a 1980s-style saxophone, cowbells and a guitar solo. Healy sings in an experimental style, using articulation techniques such as staccato. The lyrics both celebrate and admonish narcissism, ego and fame, acting as a commentary on modern society's obsession with celebrities.
Upon release, "Love Me" received generally positive reviews from contemporary music critics, who compared it to David Bowie and Prince. Reviewers praised the song's unexpected sound, production and Healy's vocals. The track later appeared on several year-end lists. It peaked at number 20 on the UK Singles Chart, number 10 in Scotland and reached the top 50 in Australia, Canada and Ireland. In the United States, the song peaked at number 7 on the US Billboard Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart and number 100 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. It was later certified gold in the United Kingdom by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). An accompanying music video, directed by Diane Martel, was released on 28 October 2015. The visual features the 1975 performing the song alongside cardboard cutouts of various celebrities, and received positive reviews from contemporary critics.
Background and release In June 2015, Healy posted a photo of the cover art for I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It and a pink square on Twitter. The singer also released a statement that described the 1975's need to change their identity, both visually and philosophically, while saying: "Firstly we must reclaim our identity & repossess our control of it...Until then there won't be any pop music or dancing with long hair." The band continued teasing an upcoming release in the form of mysterious new images and merchandise. On 29 September, they began a ten-day countdown on their website, leading to 8 October. On 6 October, the 1975 announced that the song would premiere two days later on BBC Radio 1. "Love Me" was officially released as the album's lead single on 8 October. Regarding the decision to release the song as the lead single, Healy said it was because "it's too ridiculous to follow anything really".
Development
In an interview with iHeartRadio, Healy told Nicole Mastrogiannis that "Love Me" is about himself. He said the song represents the 1975 coming to terms with a new life after achieving commercial success with their debut album. The singer described the track as making light of the band's newfound fame while adjusting to the "quite lavish, ridiculous part" of the social fabric they were unfamiliar with. Healy noted that, unlike their friends, the 1975 were not celebrities, but found themselves in a social scene where fame is often prized as "social currency". Regarding the influence of this situation on the songwriting process, the singer said they "wanted to comment on that, and say that it feels a bit weird, and a bit that this culture seems to be unjustified for that". Healy told Joe Lynch of Billboard that he wanted "Love Me" to embrace a narrative of: "The rock star buying into his own self-constructed mythology." The singer wanted the song to sound bombastic, ridiculous and slightly arrogant, representing the 1975 being immersed in a world they did not feel part of. He discovered a social hierarchy based on whom an individual had photos with, which he felt was a "decline in the standards of what we expect culturally".
In an interview with Premier Guitar, Hann revealed "Love Me" was written two years prior to its release. The guitarist told Tzvi Gluckin that typically, Daniel builds the basis of a song on his laptop using Logic Pro, sending Hann a simple guitar idea. The latter expands on the concept or creates something new, engaging in a back-and-forth with the producer. However, the guitarist said "Love Me" was composed in a spontaneous manner, with the initial idea created on tour during a soundcheck. To achieve the desired tone for the song's guitar solo, the band recorded it using a Music Man John Petrucci Signature Series guitar, firing different pieces from the DI unit through different pedals, amps and delays, giving it a "weird" character. Hann also used the guitar to construct the main chord part of "Love Me", since it gave the song a 1980s sound that maintained a "well-balanced even sound to it".
Regarding the production, Healy said the 1975 chose to create "Love Me" in a 1980s-style due to the era being "where our love of pop music is [...] It's where a lot of our favorite records come from. I think where a lot of people's favorite records come from". They were inspired by the innovative production techniques and dramatic nature of 1980s pop music, noting it was crafted in a way that avoided theatrics. The singer highlighted the exploratory production that developed in the era, noting technology became an important production tool as artists tried to see how "ridiculous" they could sound. He cited the film Weird Science (1985), producer Trevor Horn and bands such as Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Oingo Boingo as influences on the song. While trying to emulate the ethos of the era for "Love Me", they did not want to create a pastiche that was overly-referential.
Music and lyrics
Musically, "Love Me" is a funk and electropop song. It has a length of three minutes and 42 seconds (3:42). According to sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Hal Leonard Music Publishing, "Love Me" is set in the time signature of common time with a moderate tempo of 98 beats per minute. The track is composed in the key of F major, with Healy's vocals ranging between the notes of F3 and B♭4. It follows a chord progression of F7–E7–F7. The production contains an intricate mesh of guitars and synthesisers, chunky 1980s riffs, "huge" shivering hooks, thin and bright rhythm guitars panning between speakers, wibbly synth breaks, a synth solo, cowbells, a 1980s-style saxophone and background vocals which come out of the left and right channels, which Jonathan Wroble of Slant Magazine described as a "chorus of adulation". Hann's guitar solo occurs at 2:26, using reamped tones, tricks and exotic effects. "Love Me" is distinctly different from the band's previous music, eschewing their trademark ethereal and ambient elements in favour of a more 1980s pop sound that incorporates aspects of new wave and post-punk. Additionally, the song contains elements of art pop, dance-pop, funk rock and power pop.
Lyrically, "Love Me" serves to support the 1975's denial of their rock stardom and is both a celebration and an admonishment of narcissism, ego and being famous. The song criticises overinflated egos, admonishing those who are unable to remain connected with reality on the basis of self-absorption. The track acts as a "post-ironic" comment on selfie culture and 21st-century society's vacuous obsession with celebrities. In the first verse, Healy sings: "I'm just with my friends online and there's things we'd like to change". "Love Me" is also an admission of wrongdoing, with the lyrics serving as an apology to the band itself for losing sight of what is most important to them—the music, singing in the pre-chorus: "We've just come to represent a decline in the standards of what we accept!" In the chorus, he sings: "And love me yeah/ If that's what you wanna do". Healy's vocals in the song are approached with a new, experimental methodology, singing from the highest peak of his range to the lowest point. Unlike the 1975's previous songs, the singer eschews a crooning style and adopts "jumping" melodies and musical articulations such as staccato to give the track an emotional depth.
Matt Collar of AllMusic called "Love Me" a "cheeky, plastic" funk song. Wroble said the track mimics Peter Gabriel's "Big Time" (1986) to "masterful effect". Exclaim! editor Ian Gormely compared it to a song that "fell off the back of an INXS greatest hits collection". Kitty Empire of The Guardian said "Love Me" resembles Duran Duran's Notorious (1986). Rolling Stone writer Jon Dolan said the song "funkily" recalls Nile Rodgers' production work with Duran Duran. Pryor Stroud of PopMatters called the track a "post-Random Access Memories update of Duran Duran's chrome-funk work with Nile Rodgers". Collin Brennan of Consequence of Sound compared the song's guitar riff to David Bowie's "Fame" (1975) and the chorus to the Isley Brothers' "It's Your Thing" (1969), writing its plagiarism of the two songs feels "self-conscious and self-effacing". Rhian Daly of NME called "Love Me" a nod to "Fame"-era Bowie. Laura Snapes of Pitchfork said the song splices Bowie's "Fame" and "Fashion" (1980). Kika Chatterjee of Alternative Press called the track "blatantly Bowie-esque, perfectly at home on a disco dance floor".
Critical reception
Stereogum named "Love Me" the 45th-best pop song of 2015, saying the 1975 "lock into a groove so tight you could snap it in half and so funky you can smell it". The track also appeared on Collar's 2015 year-end songs list for AllMusic. NME ranked "Love Me" at number 5 on their year-end list; Emily Barker commended the lyrics, wordplay and themes, while noting the song mines "Fame"-era David Bowie, Talking Heads and INXS.
Andy Gill of The Independent said "Love Me" is the 1975's "gauche take on Talking Heads' preppy funk-pop". In his review of I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It, Collar called the song delightful, while comparing it to "something Madonna might have made in collaboration with Chic guitarist Nile Rodgers and art-pop duo Yello". MTV News writer Chandra Johnson said the track "sounds a lot less Brian Eno and a lot more Prince than their previous work". Laurence Day of The Line of Best Fit compared "Love Me" to Prince and Duran Duran, lauding the production for containing "more pop pleasures than seems humanly possible", ultimately deeming it a "massive" comeback for the band. Matthew Horton of NME called the song a "monster hit" reminiscent of Bowie's "Fame". He also praised its confidence and the "unexpected but brilliant cock-rocking guitar solo". Gigwise editor Andrew Trendell said the track is the most pop-inclined song the band has ever created, describing it as a mixture of the Red Hot Chili Peppers "soaked" in a 1980s vibe that blends Bowie's Let's Dance, the "sexiest" Prince moments, the power pop of Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" (1986) and Bros.