After posting a cryptic teaser on Tuesday and then deactivating all their social media accounts, The 1975 have released the first track from their upcoming fourth album Notes on a Conditional Form. Following the pattern established by previous project openers, the song is simply titled “The 1975.”
Instead of frontman Matty Healy’s vocals, the track showcases a speech by teenage environmental activist Greta Thunberg. “I ask you to please wake up and make the changes required possible,” Thunberg says of climate change.
Setting the tone for what is sure to be a politically charged project, Thunberg’s speech pairs well with the song’s teaser, which featured the phrase “Wake Up!”
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“It is now time for civil disobedience. It is time to rebel,” Thunberg says at the track’s conclusion, getting the message across.
Thunberg is a 16-year-old Swedish activist who brought attention to her cause by protesting outside the Swedish Parliament last year and began a strike against her school that same year to combat climate change. She addressed the United Nations Climate Change Conference in December.
Though there is not an official release date for Notes on a Conditional Form yet, Healy posted an Instagram story in early June promising new music in August. The band’s last album was 2018’s A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships.
Listen to “The 1975” below.