Songfacts®:

• This ferocious pop punker is a rallying cry to humankind to act against the world's problems, including generational angst, political inaction and climate change.
  
  People like people
  They want alive people
  The young surprise people
  
  1975 frontman Matty Healy told NME the song's message is a simple one: "We've forgotten the fundamental fact that we humans like other humans." Healy added it's a message he first tried to express on "Give Yourself A Try."
• The origins of the song date back to The 1975's set at the Alabama's Hangout festival in June. The concert took place just after the abortion ban was passed in the Deep South state. An angry Healy told the crowd before playing their "Loving Someone" track that he thought the abortion ban was about controlling women, not preserving life. He went on to accuse them of being "misogynist" and "not men of God."
  
  Healy's tirade did not go down well with some in the crowd, and The 1975 were advised to leave the state as quickly as possible to avoid conflict (Alabama is an open-carry state, and firearms abound). A day or two later, Healy wrote "People" on the band's tour bus in Texas.
• The 1975 debuted "People" live on August 23, 2019 when they opened their headlining Reading Festival set with the song. The noisy track is the closest to punk the band have released to date; it was actually written with the aim of performing it at Reading - a festival with a rock lineage.