"Compliance" is a song by British

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...

. It was released as a single on 17 March 2022 as the second single from '' Will of the People'', their ninth studio album.

Release

"Compliance" was announced through Muse's social media channels on 11 March 2022, alongside a cryptic short video featuring a quote which explains the backstory of the song, which read as follows: Additional social media posts were published on 16 March, the day before the release of "Compliance", confirming that both "Compliance" and previously released single "

Won't Stand Down "Won't Stand Down" is a song by British rock band Muse. Released as a single on 13 January 2022, it is their first single from '' Will of the People'', their ninth studio album. It topped the UK Rock & Metal chart and reached number 56 ...

" will feature on Muse's upcoming ninth studio album, '' Will of the People''.

Writing and composition

Lyrically, "Compliance" is an

anti-establishment An anti-establishment view or belief is one which stands in opposition to the conventional social, political, and economic principles of a society. The term was first used in the modern sense in 1958, by the British magazine ''New Statesman'' ...

protest song A protest song is a song that is associated with a movement for social change and hence part of the broader category of ''topical'' songs (or songs connected to current events). It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre. Among social mov ...

, in common with previous Muse songs such as "

Uprising Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority. A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...

". It features themes of oppression of the people, delivered from the perspective of the oppressor; lyrics such as "we have what you need, just reach out and touch" and "you will feel no pain any more" are an attempt to gaslight the population into accepting their oppressed state as being better than any alternative scenario. "Compliance" was released less than a month after the commencement of the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

, and the lyrics highlight the plight of the Ukrainian people by exposing Russia's perspective of the conflict; songwriter

Matt Bellamy Matthew James Bellamy (born 9 June 1978) is an English singer, musician, producer, and songwriter. He is primarily known as the lead vocalist, guitarist, pianist, and primary songwriter for English rock band Muse. He is recognised for his eccen ...

stated that, among other themes, the song references "new wars in Europe". Musically, "Compliance" was described by Mike DeWald of ''Riff'' as a "melodic alt-

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, earl ...

er", while Ludovic Hunter-Tilney of ''Financial Times'' labeled the song as

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s ...

. Muse lead singer Matt Bellamy said he thought the song was "the best pop track we've ever done".

Music video

The music video for "Compliance", directed by Jeremi Durand and shot in Poland, was released with the single on 17 March. The video features references to 2012 film ''

Looper Looper may refer to: Animals * Cabbage looper (''Trichoplusia ni''), a member of the moth family Noctuidae * Inchworm, of the insect order Lepidoptera, the moths and butterflies People * Looper (surname), a Dutch-language surname with the meanin ...

''; three masked children, wearing masks resembling the band members, travel to a dystopian future in an attempt to destroy it and save their future selves. Much of the video is shot in reversed slow-motion. The music video shares a common theme with "

", commencing with the same metallic masked figure who appeared in the music video for this single.

Live performances

"Compliance" made its live debut at a special invitation-only concert at the Cavern Club in Exeter, not far from the band's home town of Teignmouth, held on 7 April 2022. In contrast to the studio recording, it is usually played in a heavier, guitar-based version. In live performances, the song is usually paired with " The Gallery", the B-side to 2001 single "

Bliss BLISS is a system programming language developed at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) by W. A. Wulf, D. B. Russell, and A. N. Habermann around 1970. It was perhaps the best known system language until C debuted a few years later. Since then, C b ...

", as an instrumental introduction. "The Gallery" made its live debut in this role at a charity concert to support the victims of the

at the

Hammersmith Apollo The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Palace. Located in Ham ...

on 9 May 2022, 21 years after it was released.

Personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal. Muse *

– lead vocals, guitars, keyboards, production *

Chris Wolstenholme Christopher Tony Wolstenholme (born 2 December 1978) is an English musician. He is the bassist and backing vocalist for the rock band Muse. Early life Chris Wolstenholme grew up in the English town of Rotherham before moving to Teignmouth, D ...

– bass, production *

Dominic Howard Dominic James Howard (born 7 December 1977) is an English musician who is the drummer and co-founder of the rock band Muse. Early life Howard was born in Stockport, Greater Manchester, in England. When he was around 8 years old he moved with hi ...

– drums, production Production *Aleks Von Korff – additional production, engineering *

Serban Ghenea Șerban Ghenea (born October 13, 1969) is a Grammy award-winning Romanian-Canadian audio engineer and mixer. Early life and education Ghenea was born in Bucharest, Romania in 1969. In 1976 he moved to Montreal with his family. He later attended ...

– mixing *

Chris Gehringer Chris Gehringer (born May 27, 1962) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered recordings such as Gwen Stefani's '' Love. Angel. Music. Baby.'' (2004), Rihanna's '' Loud'' (2010), Lady Gaga's '' Born This Way'' (2011) and Drake' ...

– mastering *Bryce Bordine – mixing engineer *Andy Maxwell – studio assistant *Joe Devenney – studio assistant *Tommy Bosustow – studio assistant *Chris Whitemyer – technical assistant *Paul Warren – technical assistant

Charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2022 singles 2022 songs Muse (band) songs Protest songs Songs written by Matt Bellamy