| "The Sound" | ||||
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| Single by the 1975 | ||||
| from the album I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It | ||||
| Released | 19 February 2016 | |||
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| The 1975 singles chronology | ||||
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| "The Sound" on YouTube | ||||
"The Sound" 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). It was written by band members Matty Healy, George Daniel, Adam Hann, and Ross MacDonald. Mike Crossey handled the production alongside Daniel and Healy. The London Community Gospel Choir provide the song's choir vocals. The song was released on 19 February 2016 by Dirty Hit and Polydor Records as the fourth single from the album. Inspired by the pop albums of his youth, Healy sought to channel the memorable melodies from them and create an "unabashed" pop song. Healy first presented the song to One Direction, who declined, so the band decided to record it.
A house, pop, disco and indie pop song, "The Sound" contains a maximalist four on the floor production inspired by music of the 1980s. It features a disco house piano, syncopated synthesisers, synthesised strings and an electric guitar solo, and incorporates aspects of new wave, funk, and R&B, among other genres. Focusing on a desire for attention, sex, and intellectual validation, the lyrics detail a relationship struggling with deceit. Throughout the song, Healy describes an obsession with the sound of his lover's heartbeat. Upon release, the song was met with widespread acclaim from contemporary music critics, many of whom deemed it a standout from I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It. Specific praise was given to the production, lyrics and the 1975's embrace of pop music, drawing comparisons to M83, Daft Punk, MGMT, and Passion Pit.
"The Sound" appeared on numerous year-end and decade-end lists, including NME, Pitchfork and Time. Commercially, the song peaked at number 15 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the band's highest-charting release on the chart at the time. Elsewhere, it peaked at number nine on the US Billboard Hot Rock & Alternative Songs and in Scotland. "The Sound" reached the top 50 in Ireland and Japan. The song was later certified double platinum in the United Kingdom by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). An accompanying music video, directed by Tim Mattia, was released on 26 February 2016. The visual features the band performing inside of a neon-lit glass cube surrounded by strangers, while criticisms of the band are interspersed on pink screens.