Give Yourself A Try

Album: A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships (2018)
Charted: 22
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • "Give Yourself A Try" finds Matt Healy giving advice about growing up as a millennial.

    You learn a couple things when you get to my age
    Like friends don't lie and it all tastes the same in the dark
    When your vinyl and your coffee collection is a sign of the times
    You're getting spiritually enlightened at 29


    Healy has reached the age where he is easing up on sowing his wild oats and is now focusing more on self care. Speaking with Beats 1's Zane Lowe, Healy said the song reflects "a lot of anxiety - health anxiety, social anxiety, whatever it may be that my generation seems to be afflicted with."
  • The song was released as the lead single from A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships on May 31, 2018. Healy described the track to Zane Lowe as a post-punk song. "What I liked about it was that it still had that kind of inherent prettiness that I think exists in The 1975," he added, "so it felt like a really good start, because there's a lot of tension to the record."
  • The orange wig that Matt Healy wore in the song's music video was inspired by one Milla Jovovich wore in The Fifth Element.
  • Matty Healy is talking to his younger fans in this song. He explained to Pitchfork it's about the false idea presented in pop culture and literature of how once you become an adult, those teenage feelings of anxiety disappear and you become a happy, well-rounded person.

    "I'd love to talk to myself at 40 and see what I've achieved and what I feel," Healy added, "but I will just be the same neurotic person who's striving to be a grown-up."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Janis Ian

Janis IanSongwriter Interviews

One of the first successful female singer-songwriters, Janis had her first hit in 1967 at age 15.

Lace the Music: How LSD Changed Popular Music

Lace the Music: How LSD Changed Popular MusicSong Writing

Starting in Virginia City, Nevada and rippling out to the Haight-Ashbury, LSD reshaped popular music.

Jimmy Jam

Jimmy JamSongwriter Interviews

The powerhouse producer behind Janet Jackson's hits talks about his Boyz II Men ballads and regrouping The Time.

Dar Williams

Dar WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

A popular contemporary folk singer, Williams still remembers the sticky note that changed her life in college.

Commercials

CommercialsFact or Fiction

Was "Ring Of Fire" really used to sell hemorrhoid cream?

Reverend Horton Heat

Reverend Horton HeatSongwriter Interviews

The Reverend rants on psychobilly and the egghead academics he bashes in one of his more popular songs.