''I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It'' (stylised in
sentence case
Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (or more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (or more formally ''minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writing ...
) is the second studio album by English
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
the 1975
The 1975 are an English pop rock band formed in 2002 in Wilmslow, Cheshire. Now based in Manchester, the band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Matthew "Matty" Healy, lead guitarist Adam Hann, bassist Ross MacDonald, and drummer G ...
, released on 26 February 2016 through
Dirty Hit
Dirty Hit is a British independent record label founded in December 2009 by Jamie Oborne, Brian Smith, and former England footballer, Ugo Ehiogu. It is currently based in West London, England. Their releases are distributed to digital platforms ...
and
Polydor
Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...
. In 2014, frontman Matty Healy released a series of cryptic tweets containing lyrics from the album, revealing its title the following year. After their social accounts were deleted and reinstated with a new visual identity, the band officially confirmed the album in September 2015, a month before "
Love Me" was released as the lead
single
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
. Over the course of five months, "
Ugh!
''Ugh!'' is an arcade/flight game developed by Egosoft and published in 1992 by Play Byte for the Amiga, Commodore 64, and MS-DOS. It is a clone of the 1984 Commodore 64 game '' Space Taxi''.
''Ugh!'' was later distributed as shareware mainly vi ...
", "
Somebody Else" and "
The Sound" were released as singles, with "
A Change of Heart" released four days prior to release. "
She's American
"She's American" 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 MacDo ...
" and "
Loving Someone
"Loving Someone" 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 (musician), George Daniel, ...
" were later released in November 2016 and February 2017 as the final singles.
Upon its release, the album received positive reviews from critics. Several publications, including ''
Pitchfork
A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves.
The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...
'', ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'', and ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', listed it as one of the best albums of 2016. It was also a commercial success, topping the charts in the United Kingdom and the United States, and its box set received a nomination for
Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package at the
2017 Grammy Awards
The 59th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on February 12, 2017. The CBS network broadcast the show live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The ceremony recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, ...
.
''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' later placed the album sixth on their list of the Best Albums of The Decade. Additionally, ''
Stereogum
''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine.
''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several award ...
'', ''
Pitchfork
A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves.
The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...
'', and ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' placed it 61st, 161st, and 82nd, respectively.
Background
After the band released their
self-titled debut, in 2013, they spent 2015 mostly recording a follow-up.
On 1 June, the band's Twitter accounts were deleted, which caused mass speculation from both fans and media alike that the band had broken up. On 2 June, Healy reactivated the accounts and tweeted again, but revealed a cryptic and symbolic comic strip containing the message that the band had gone on hiatus. A blurred Instagram picture from Healy titled "The 1975-2" set anticipation for release. The same day, the social media accounts were reinstated.
The tweet by Healy was verified as the name for their second album later in October 2015 with "Love Me" (a "very funky new single", according to ''Spin'') released on 8 October.
Style
The band cited
D'Angelo
Michael Eugene Archer (born February 11, 1974), better known by his stage name D'Angelo (), is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He first garnered attention after co-producing the single "U Will Know" ...
,
Christina Aguilera
Christina María Aguilera (; ; born December 18, 1980) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and television personality. Known for her four-octave vocal range and ability to sustain high notes, she has been referred to as the " Voice of ...
,
Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis,
Roberta Flack
Roberta Cleopatra Flack (born February 10, 1937) is a retired American singer. She topped the Billboard Magazine, ''Billboard'' charts with the No. 1 singles "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", "Killing Me Softly with His Song", "Feel Like M ...
,
My Bloody Valentine's ''
Loveless'',
Boards of Canada
Boards of Canada are a Scottish electronic music duo consisting of brothers Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoin, formed initially as a group in 1986 before becoming a duo in the 1990s.Hoffmann, Heiko.Pitchfork: Interviews: Boards of Canada (Septemb ...
,
Kim Carnes
Kim Carnes (; born July 20, 1945) is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, she began her career as a songwriter in the 1960s, writing for other artists while performing in local clubs and working as a sess ...
,
Scritti Politti
Scritti Politti are a British band, originally formed in 1977 in Leeds, England, by Welsh singer-songwriter Green Gartside. He is the only member of the band to have remained throughout the group's history.
Beginning as a punk-inspired collect ...
, and
Sigur Rós
Sigur Rós () is an Icelandic post-rock band from Reykjavík, active since 1994. The band comprises singer and guitarist Jón Þór "Jónsi" Birgisson, bassist Georg Hólm, and keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson. Known for their ethereal sound, fron ...
as inspirations for the record's 17 tracks.
The album's sound has been described as
pop,
new wave,
dance-rock
Dance-rock is a dance-infused genre of rock music. It is a post-disco genre connected with pop rock and post-punk with fewer rhythm and blues influences. It originated in the early 1980s, following the decline in popularity of both punk and disco ...
,
indie rock
Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...
,
pop punk
Pop punk (or punk pop) is a rock music genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop. It is defined for its emphasis on classic pop songcraft, as well as adolescent and anti-suburbia themes, and is distinguished from other pu ...
and
soul
In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being".
Etymology
The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...
.
It also incorporates
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 ...
,
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
,
post-rock
Post-rock is a form of experimental rock characterized by a focus on exploring textures and timbre over traditional rock song structures, chords, or riffs. Post-rock artists are often instrumental, typically combining rock instrumentation with ...
,
dance-pop
Dance-pop is a popular music subgenre that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developing from a ...
and
R&B elements.
Promotion
Singles
On 8 October 2015, the 1975 released "
Love Me" as a single from the album after announcement and was first played on
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
.
On 10 December, they first played "Ugh!", the second single from the album, on Apple Music's
Beats 1
Apple Music 1, previously branded as Beats 1, is a 24/7 music radio station owned and operated by Apple Inc. It is accessible through iTunes or the Apple Music app on a computer, smartphone or tablet, smart speaker (such as the Apple HomePod), ...
.
"The Sound" was premiered on Radio 1 on 14 January 2016, and was released as a radio single on 19 February.
The music video premiered 6 days after. "Somebody Else" debuted on Beats 1 with Zane Lowe on 15 February, and released on
iTunes
iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
and
Spotify
Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...
on 16 February. The music video debuted on 7 July. The next single, "A Change of Heart" debuted on BBC Radio 1 with Annie Mac on 22 February. A video for "She's American" was filmed but never released. "Loving Someone" was released as the seventh single.
Tour
A tour for the album began on 9 November 2015 in
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
. The band played the United Kingdom in November and the United States in December 2015, Asia and Oceania in January 2016, Europe in March to April 2016, and the US from April to May 2016. They played nine festivals over the summer of 2016, including
Firefly Music Festival
Firefly Music Festival is a music festival produced by AEG Presents that was first held on July 20–22, 2012, in Dover, Delaware. Firefly takes place in The Woodlands of Dover Motor Speedway, a festival ground, over the span of three days. Man ...
in June and the
Reading and Leeds Festivals
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festiv ...
in August.
On 25 July 2016 the band announced a North American Tour for the Fall, beginning on 1 and 2 October at
The Meadows Music & Arts Festival, and then playing three dates in Mexico, the first ever in the country. The band concluded the tour headlining Latitude Festival in Henham Park, United Kingdom on 14 July 2017, stating that it was "the end an of an era, but the start of a new era, called 'Music for Cars'". It is estimated that as of July 2017, the band had done over 150 concerts for this album-cycle.
Artwork
The album's artwork and design was created by
Samuel Burgess-Johnson
Samuel Burgess-Johnson is an English art director, graphic designer and photographer based in Los Angeles, known for working with musical artists such as The 1975, Tove Lo, Wolf Alice and No Rome.
Career
Samuel Burgess-Johnson moved to Melbour ...
and photographed by David Drake.
For each song on the album, a pink
neon sign
In the signage industry, neon signs are electric signs lighted by long luminous gas-discharge tubes that contain rarefied neon or other gases. They are the most common use for neon lighting, which was first demonstrated in a modern form in Decem ...
was created and put against various locations to create
nostalgia
Nostalgia is a sentimentality for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. The word ''nostalgia'' is a learned formation of a Greek language, Greek compound, consisting of (''nóstos''), meaning "homecoming", ...
for the song, but to also detail the thematic material and complexity of each song through the photo's atmosphere. Burgess-Johnson worked closely with Healy to help with the placement. The box set version of the album gained a nomination for the
.
Release and reception
The album was released on 26 February 2016. The US Target edition of the album includes two bonus tracks: a demo of "A Change of Heart" and the song "How to Draw".
The record received mostly positive reviews from
music critics
Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...
. At
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the album has an average score of 75 out of 100, which indicates "generally favorable reviews" based on 24 reviews.
Writing for ''
Exclaim!
''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...
'', Ian Gormely noted that the band's ambition was perhaps their sole stumbling block, though pursuing all musical avenues makes the result "overstuffed, awkwardly titled and frequently brilliant."
In ''
Drowned in Sound
''Drowned in Sound'', sometimes abbreviated to ''DiS'', is a UK-based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway. Founded by editor Sean Adams, the site features reviews, news, interviews, and discussion forums.
History
''D ...
''s review of the album, they praised the album's eclecticism and lyricism, concluding, "What they've made is a bold body of work that sounds effortless and odd and sophisticated. What they do next is likely to be stadium-filling and bonkers and brilliant, but it matters little when what they're doing now is so sensational."
''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'', who had previously been highly critical of the band, also praised the album for its scope and ambition, writing, "Any record that burrows as deep into your psyche as 'I Like It...' should be considered essential. It's hugely clever and wryly funny, too."
Although music journalist
Alexis Petridis
Alexis Petridis ( el, Αλέξης Πετρίδης; born 13 September 1971) is a British journalist, head rock and pop critic for the UK newspaper ''The Guardian'', as well as a regular contributor to the magazine '' GQ''. In addition to his mus ...
noted that parts of the album were over-ambitious, he went on to claim that "
credibly, though, most of the time Healy gets away with it. That's sometimes because his observations are sharp – as a skewering of celebrity #squad culture, "you look famous, let's be friends / And portray we possess something important / And do the things we like" is pretty acute – but more usually because they come loaded with witty self-awareness and deprecation: the endless depictions of vacuous, coke-numbed girls he has met would get wearying were it not for the fact that he keeps turning the lyrical crosshair on himself."
In a more mixed review, ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' criticised tracks like 'Lostmyhead' and 'Please Be Naked' for being 'boring-melty' but praised songs such as 'Somebody Else', 'Loving Someone' and 'Love Me'.
Accolades
Commercial performance
The album became the group's second number one in the United Kingdom, debuting atop the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...
, with combined sales of over 58,000. It became the group's first number one on the US
''Billboard'' 200, with 98,000 pure album sales in its debut week and 108,000 sps,
while also setting the record for longest title of a ''Billboard'' number-one album with 71 characters. The next week, it fell to number 26, tying with
Amos Lee
Amos Lee (born Ryan Anthony Massaro, June 20, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter whose musical style encompasses folk, rock, and soul. He was born in Philadelphia and graduated from the University of South Carolina with a degree in English ...
's 2011 album ''
Mission Bell'' for the
fourth largest drop from number 1 as of January 2017.
[Robbie Daw]
"The 1975 Suffer Second Biggest Drop Ever From #1, Plunge Out Of Top 20"
Idolator
An idolator is a practitioner of idolatry.
Idolater or Idolator may also refer to: Books
*''Os Idólatras'', 1968 Portuguese novel by Maria Judite de Carvalho Music
* Idolator (website), an American music blog
* ''Idolator'' (album), third album ...
, 2016-03-15. Retrieved 2 December 2016. It also debuted at number one in Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
The album was certified platinum by the
British Phonographic Industry
British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards, the Classic BRIT Awards, National Album Day, is home to the Mercury Prize, and co-owns the Official Charts Company with th ...
(BPI) for sales of over 300,000 copies in the United Kingdom. On 10 April 2017 the album was certified
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
by the
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
(RIAA) for combined sales and
album-equivalent unit
The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, is a measurement unit in music industry to define the consumption of music that equals the purchase of one album copy. This consumption includes streaming and song downloads in addition to traditi ...
s of over 500,000 units.
Track listing
Personnel
Credits adapted from liner notes
and
Tidal
Tidal is the adjectival form of tide.
Tidal may also refer to:
* ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple
* Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim
* TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music
* Tidal (servic ...
.
The 1975
* George Daniel –
programming , drums , keyboards , percussion ,
synthesiser
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and f ...
, synthesiser programming ,
production
Production may refer to:
Economics and business
* Production (economics)
* Production, the act of manufacturing goods
* Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services)
* Production as a stati ...
* Adam Hann – electric guitar
* Matthew Healy – vocals , background vocals , electric guitar , piano , keyboards , acoustic guitar , production
* Ross MacDonald – bass guitar ,
upright bass
The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...
Additional musicians
*
Mike Crossey
Mike Crossey (born 1979) is a Northern Irish record producer, songwriter, and mixing engineer. He produced the debut single by Arctic Monkeys, collaborating with them over two albums. He is known for his ongoing relationship with The 1975 in ad ...
– programming
* Jonathan Gilmore – programming
* Jason McGee –
conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as an orchestral or choral concert. It has been defined as "the art of directing the simultaneous performance of several players or singers by the use of gesture." The primary duti ...
* Cassandra Grigsby-Chism – choir vocals
* Nicole King-Morgan – choir vocals
* Crystal Lewis – choir vocals
* Crystal Butler – choir vocals
* Sharetta Morgan-Harmon – choir vocals
* Quishima Dixon – choir vocals
* Carisa Moore – choir vocals
* Fallynn Oliver – choir vocals
* Edward Lawson – choir vocals
* Marquee Perkins – choir vocals
* James Connor – choir vocals
* Vernon Burris – choir vocals
* Derrick Evans – choir vocals
* Anika Weibe – choir vocals
* Monique Sullivan – choir vocals
*
John Waugh –
saxophone
The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...
*
Roy Hargrove
Roy Anthony Hargrove (October 16, 1969 – November 2, 2018) was an American jazz musician and composer whose principal instruments were the trumpet and flugelhorn. He achieved worldwide acclaim after winning two Grammy Awards for differing styles ...
–
flugelhorn
The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B, though some ...
*
Miguel Atwood-Ferguson
Miguel Atwood-Ferguson is a Los Angeles-based multi-instrumentalist, session musician, arranger, composer, music director, producer, DJ, orchestral conductor and educator. He has contributed to over 500 recordings and scored for television and fi ...
–
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
,
viola
The viola ( , also , ) is a string instrument that is bow (music), bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of ...
,
cello
The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...
, string arrangement
* Jamie Squire – synthesiser
Technical
* Mike Crossey – production,
mixing
* Jonathan Gilmore –
engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
, programming
*
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
Artwork
*
Samuel Burgess-Johnson
Samuel Burgess-Johnson is an English art director, graphic designer and photographer based in Los Angeles, known for working with musical artists such as The 1975, Tove Lo, Wolf Alice and No Rome.
Career
Samuel Burgess-Johnson moved to Melbour ...
–
art direction
Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television, the Internet, and video games.
It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the visi ...
, design, photography
* David Drake – photography
* Edward Emberson – inlay photography
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
{{Authority control
2016 albums
The 1975 albums
Interscope Records albums
Polydor Records albums
Vagrant Records albums
Contemporary R&B albums by English artists
Dance-pop albums by English artists
Indie rock albums by English artists
New wave albums by English artists
Post-rock albums by English artists
Synth-pop albums by English artists
Dance-rock albums