"Orwellian" is a song by Manic Street Preachers, released as the lead single from their 14th studio album, The Ultra Vivid Lament, on 14 May 2021,[1] alongside a YouTube lyric video.

Announced as a departure from the sound of their 2018 previous effort Resistance Is Futile, the single tries to capture the essence of the new album, musically and lyrically.

What happened to the loneliness of the long-distance runner?” The magazine goes further saying that "It raises a complex issue, and there are plenty of holes you could pick in Wire's arguments, yet it still feels articulate and focussed, the words in perfect step with Bradfield’s pumping pop piano chords and bracing crescendo chorus".

[4] Later, on June 10 the band showed a new video, adding to the previous lyrical one, directed by Kieran Evans, about the video, the latter said that "For this album project, Nicky Wire and myself decided there should be more experimentation to the visual approach to both the promos and short films we have planned", concluding that "We’ve called this clip of 'Orwellian' a 'visualised' version because it's not strictly a promo, it’s much more of a visual interpretation of the song by me.

"[7] The Line of Best Fit wrote about the song: "Fingertips on the greater tonal range of a piano like on "Orwellian", where the almost gutsy succession of harmonies must have seen its birth on some ivory keys in some basement west of some big island in the North Sea.