Music / Will of the People

"THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE, THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE, THE WILL OF THE WILL OF—"

Welcome to the desecration baby
We’ll build you right up then we’ll tear you down
Welcome to the celebration baby
The judges are jailed and the future is ours

— "Will of the People"

Will of the People is the ninth studio album by the English Alternative Rock band Muse, released on 26 August 2022.

The album covers a variety of genres and was described by frontman Matt Bellamy as a "greatest hits album of new songs", being a throwback to their classical, heavy metal and electronic influences, while also returning to a much darker lyrical content and being looser on themes due to the "greatest hits" nature of it.

Tracklist:

1. "Will of the People" (3:18)
2. "Compliance" (4:10)
3. "Liberation" (3:06)
4. "Won't Stand Down" (3:29)
5. "Ghosts (How Can I Move On)" (3:36)
6. "You Make Me Feel Like It's Halloween" (3:00)
7. "Kill or Be Killed" (5:00)
8. "Verona" (4:56)
9. "Euphoria" (3:23)
10. "We Are Fucking Fucked" (3:36)

Trope or be Troped:

• Ace Custom: Matt would debut no less than three unique Manson guitars during the tour for this album:
  • A modified Manson Oryx with fanned frets and an all-white finish.
  • "Verona Sky", which is heavily modeled after the classic Fender Telecaster.
  • A guitar with a body styled after the rebels' mirrored masks, jokingly nicknamed the "WOTPcaster" by fans.
• Album Title Drop: The very first thing you'll hear in the album is the title sung by a choir.
• Animated Music Video: Both the videos for "Will Of The People" and "You Make Me Feel Like It's Halloween"^note except for the parts where Matt, Dom and Chris show up were CGI-animated by Frame48.
• Arc Symbol: The "Will of the People" symbol that rebels use a lot.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: "Will" who also serves as a giant stage prop, and "Baph" (from the cover of the "Kill Or Be Killed" remix), which is based on the Satanic occult deity Baphomet.
• Back to Front: The "Compliance" music video is this for the most part, though the children seem to exhibit Non-Linear Character traits.
• Bizarrchitecture: In the grand tradition of horror, the Haunted House in "You Make Me Feel Like It's Halloween" video has it out for anyone who enters it.
• Bizarre Instrument:
  • During the recording of "Won't Stand Down" Matt uses a GuitarViol, a hybrid between a guitar and a cello.
  • The Simulation Theory power glove makes a return on this tour, this time with a built-in control panel Matt uses to play synth sounds.
• Black Cloak: The masked rebels all wear ones indistinguishable from one another, with the "WOTP" symbol spray-painted onto the back.
• Cluster F-Bomb: "We Are Fucking Fucked" drops the f-bomb a total of twenty times, including four in the chorus, making it the song with the most profanities in their discography.
• Continuity Nod: Aside from a metric ton of horror movie references, the video for "You Make Me Feel Like It's Halloween" also features the burning car from the "Compliance" video, the power glove Matt wielded in the Simulation Theory era, and the Corey Taylor mask from Dom's infamous "SIT THE FUCK DOWN" moment in the Hullabaloo documentary. (Yes, a nod to a twenty-year-old inside joke.)
• Cool Mask: The masses of people in the music videos from all of the Will of the People songs wear silver mirrored ones, sometimes with glowing eyes. Also double as an Icon of Rebellion.
• Dark Is Evil: Played with when it comes to the rebels in the Will of the People concept films. They intend to overthrow their oppressive government, but in the process end up becoming ''the oppressive government'' once they take over. Whether the original government was doing something bad is even up in the air, the lyric "we need a revolution, so long as we stay free" making it seem that they weren't.
• The Evils of Free Will: "Compliance" is told from the perspective of The Government promising to take people's bad feelings away provided they do as they're told. In the music video for the song, this process is implied to be aided by Government Drug Enforcement.
• Full-Circle Revolution: The storyline of Will of the People in a nutshell. Every time the revolutionaries take over and become the new leaders, they become the dictators they wanted to get rid of in the first place, in a perhaps literal fashion.
• Genre Roulette: The band has described Will of the People as a "Greatest Hits Album of new songs", so expect a lot of the genres from previous albums getting some representation in here.
• Graffiti of the Resistance: A recurring visual motif of this era, as well as a prominent feature of Matt's various stage outfits for this tour.
• "Groundhog Day" Loop: Combined with the Full-Circle Revolution above, Will of the People is this, with an era of totalitarian rule and revolution in alternation along with an apocalyptic event known as the "Great Reset" somewhere in between. It is unknown how this happened and whether it may ever end.
• In the Hood: The masked rebels all wear hooded jackets.
• Lonely Piano Piece: "Ghosts (How Can I Move On)", which is a first for the band where this trope is being applied totally straight.
• Lyrical Dissonance: "You Make Me Feel Like It's Halloween" could rival "Supermassive Black Hole" in catchiness, while also being a song about domestic abuse.
• Lyric Swap: The last verse of "Verona" uses this to heartbreaking effect:
  • The closing lines swap out the first verse's "I won't let you be alone / because I need you so" with "I won't let you die alone / because I love you so".
  • The same verse tweaks the opening line "Can we kiss with poison on our lips?" to "We will kiss..."
• Lyric Video: "Verona" is the only song from the album to get an official lyric video, likely to call attention to the previous entry.
• Metal Scream: The Title Drop of "Won't Stand Down" and "Kill or Be Killed" in their respective songs.
• Mind Control: As seen in the video for "Won't Stand Down", the old woman is capable of doing this.
• Musical Nod:
  • The Toccata and Fugue in D minor in "You Make Me Feel Like It's Halloween".
  • The pre-chorus melody of "Euphoria" matches the prechorus melody of "Time Is Running Out". Doubles as a Call-Back.
• Non-Appearing Title: "Verona".
• One-Word Title: "Compliance", "Liberation", "Verona" and "Euphoria".
• Perpetual Smiler: The old woman in the video for "Won't Stand Down", but this is because she's wearing a mask.
• Playing with Puppets: A key motif of the "Won't Stand Down" video.
• Set Right What Once Went Wrong: The main plotline of "Compliance", according to Word of God.
• Shout-Out:
  • The music video for "Will Of The People" references V for Vendetta at various points, right down to the masked protesters and the government building getting blown up.
  • According to the band, the "Compliance" video is inspired by Looper.
  • "You Make Me Feel Like It's Halloween" is, as you'd expect, a love letter to horror movies. Matt specifically mentions Stephen King as an influence, with nods to The Shining and Misery on the song itself. The music video also throws in references to It (1990), Carrie (1976) and Christine for good measure.
  • "Verona" is a very prominent one to Romeo and Juliet.
• Sigil Spam: The rebels love slapping the "WOTP" symbol anywhere they go.
• Stealth Parody: Will of the People is one of The Resistance era.
• Studio Chatter: "We Are Fucking Fucked" opens with Dom saying "We're playing together?" before the song starts – which also makes this one of the rare occasions we hear the drummer's voice on a Muse record.
• Surprisingly Gentle Song: "Ghosts" and "Verona".
• Take That!: "Will of the People" is a mockery of the Jan 6th rioters.
• Time Stands Still: "Compliance"'s music video has many shots where time appears to be stuck.
• Title Track
• Toppled Statue: Demolished monuments of the band's heads figure prominently in both the album cover and the "Will of the People" music video.
• Trippy Finale Syndrome: As the final official single and music video from the album, "You Make Me Feel Like It's Halloween" is this for Will Of The People.
• Truck Driver's Gear Change: "Liberation", where the pitch contrasts from the verses and the chorus. "Ghosts" as well in the final chorus.
• Uncanny Valley:
  • The old woman in "Won't Stand Down"'s music video, who actually is wearing an alarmingly accurate mask of Matt's face for reasons unknown.
  • There's also the masked rebels in the "Will Of The People" and "Halloween" music videos. They just move a little too smoothly, and The band looks quite fake when they unmask at the end of the video, perhaps intentionally.
• The Unreveal: No matter what, we never get to see what any of the masked rebels look like unmasked.
  • In the "Won't Stand Down" video, the old woman unmasks herself, only for her face to still be covered by a mirror mask.
  • A rebel tries to unmask themselves at the end of the "Halloween" video. Instead, they have another mask underneath. And another. And another. And it just keeps coming...
• Villain Song: "Compliance"; see The Evils of Free Will above.
• Wham Line: The will of the sheeple.
• World of Symbolism: Trying to make sense of canon in the Will Of The People music videos and imagery can be a nightmare unless you keep this trope firmly in mind.

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