the lead single from their second studio album, I Like It When You
Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It (2016), released
on Dirty Hit .
Background
According to Matthew Healy, the band's vocalist, the song was
born out of confusion in response to the band's success. He
spoke on the song's genesis to Billboard:
“ It came from jamming. We're big Talking Heads
fans, big Scritti Politti fans, and Japan as well.
"Love Me" was just three years of being on the
road and not wanting to soundcheck the same
song every night. That riff just happened. "Love
Me" sounded bombastic and ridiculous and a bit
arrogant and I was like, "That's what it needs to
be about. The rock star buying into his own self-
constructed mythology." We found ourselves, as
a band, being immersed in a world we didn't feel
part of. So it's just… love me, if that's what you
want to do. ”
The song has been compared to " Fame" by David Bowie , as well
as " Burning Down the House " by Talking Heads .
Release
The song debuted on BBC Radio 1 on October 8, 2015 as Annie
Mac 's Hottest Record In The World. The group performed the
song alongside " The Sound" on their appearance on Saturday
Night Live on February 6, 2016.
Reception
Reviews of the song were positive. Matthew Horton of NME wrote
that the song "fizzes with overweening confidence, fitting for a
song Healy says is about narcissism." Nick Williams at
Billboard dubbed it "an impressive coming-of-age shift" and a
"spirited step away from the radio-friendly teen rock of its
debut." Brennan Carley of Spin 's response was favorable: "A
track that wouldn’t be out of place on any Neon Indian record,
albeit with more heavily U.K.-accented vocals, "Love Me" shows
the band loosening their grip on accomplishing much of anything
beyond the sprawling, joyous fun of making good tunes."
Music video
The song's music video , directed by Diane Martel , was
released on October 28, 2015. A press release accompanying the
clip states that the "post-ironic self-indulgent performance
parodies rock and roll in the digital age and the self-constructed
mythology of the iPhone generation." Healy commented on
the video's meaning: "With "Love Me" we wanted to capture the
neon-hued enthralling acquisition of success and excess, the
screaming momentum, the sexy daze." In the clip, the band
performs surrounded by cardboard cut-outs of pop stars Harry
Styles , Miley Cyrus, and Ed Sheeran. Dan Stubbs of NME
interpreted the clip as spoofing "the group's own rockstar
pretensions, the generation 's obsession with social media, and
their contemporaries."
(Source:Wikipedia.Org)