The stage lights momentarily black out with the faint onset of the unmistakable introduction. The lights gradually brighten as the music gets louder, illuminating the band members. All but one. A door at the center of the set begins to glow with a radiant white light, and with the first fuzzed-out strum of the guitar, Healy stumbles through the portal as if from another dimension. His silhouette is lit from behind by a black-and-white screen that echoes his shadowy figure. He is crouched over as he sings the first verse, one hand gripping the microphone while the other covers his eyes.
"I know a place / Somewhere to go when I need to remember your face / We get married in our heads / Something to do while we try to recall how we met"
A purple-toned white light pulsates in rhythm with the percussion, while the powerful reverberation of the guitar and moaning of the saxophone electrify the room. With a decisive crash of the drums, Healy’s head falls back at his neck. His arms raise to his sides as he drops to his knees in surrender.
"Do you think I have forgotten about you?"
The album climaxes with its penultimate track — a moody and magnetic orchestral duet with a dynamic intensification that is reminiscent of U2’s “With or Without You.” It is difficult to articulate my profound sensitivity to this song, that after months of daily listens, has yet to dwindle. It is one of those songs that, with every listen, induces pressure in the back of my eyes and tension in my throat. It is pure emotion personified through music.
While the song is overwhelmed by unequivocal passion, everything from the instrumentals to its stage presence is hazy, like a fading memory that desperately struggles to remain whole. It is a lyrical continuation of “Robbers,” a track featured on The 1975’s debut album, that has since prevailed as one of their most iconic anthems. The preliminary track depicts a destructive relationship through the allegory of a robber, his lover, and his violent transgressions. Bound by a toxic love, the couple strips each other of any external source of growth or contentment. With the same tenacious passion of its musical scion, “Robbers” is sharper, inundated with the heightened emotion of fresh heartbreak. Nine years later, the story continues as Healy laments his past lover and generates a misty illusion of what once was.
Carly Holt, wife of the band’s lead guitarist Adam Hann, plays the vocal role of Healy’s former companion. Her delicate voice first echoes Healy’s lyrics in gentle adlibs — don’t let go — before taking over in her solo bridge. The softness of Holt’s voice, mingled with the subdued instrumentals of the final verse, signifies the other half of the story. Separated by distance but united by time, a man and a woman contemplate the same memory and gaze at a withered mirage of their younger selves.
…
Everyone has an about you. Someone who exists only as a memory. Someone you wish you could talk to again — say the right things, tell them how you really feel. It’s not that about yous are impossible to reach, they haven’t died. Vulnerability is scary, and sometimes, it is easier to leave things unsaid, to quarantine emotions deep within us and present as a shadow that camouflages our true feelings. People write letters they never send, delete contacts from their phones or unfollow people on social media so as not to be subjected to painful reminders. But sometimes my emotions are ineffable. And sometimes, painful reminders hurt less than the alternative of isolation. So, I listen to “About You” and let Healy sing the difficult words for me. I let silent tears fall onto my lap as I drive through my hometown with my speakers on full volume. I chant in unison with an arena full of people, all of us releasing the emotions of an individual experience, all of us talking to individual ghosts.
The pressure in my eyes still builds, and the tension in my throat still forms, but it is not the result of my about you. That weight was lifted many listens ago. This song has revealed to me the healing power of music that is embedded in every note of the poignant melody. Every listen solidifies the permanency of “About You” — a song that will forever define my early-adulthood and a song I will rely on for the rest of my life.