She calls for civil disobedience in response to climate change, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in a modified version of her speech "Our House Is on Fire" from the 2019 World Economic Forum.

[1] Aged 16 at the time of the song's release, she was the first featured artist on a recording by the 1975; the band had previously criticised that guest appearances in music were primarily intended to improve chart positioning.

[9][14][15][16] The lyrics call for civil disobedience to bring about reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in response to climate change, based on the January 2019 speech "Our House Is on Fire", which Thunberg delivered at the World Economic Forum.

[32] Al Horner of The Daily Telegraph observed that the Conservative politician Theresa Villiers—who previously voted against initiatives to limit carbon emissions—became the UK Environment Secretary on the day of the release.

[19] According to Oborne, shortly before the release he was contacted by an unusual number of tabloids, and following it they began to run fabricated stories about Healy's relationship and drug usage.

[33] The Conservative politician David TC Davies—who has made incorrect claims about climate change in Parliament—called the band hypocritical for their upcoming tour, due to its carbon emission cost.

[34][35] Oborne said in May 2020 that he was still surprised by the "hate and negativity" that Healy received over the collaboration, describing him as "a bit weary of being that guy who fights for the underdog and gets a lot of abuse".

[8][37][38] A BBC journalist noted that the band were scheduled to tour a wide number of countries, flying by plane, at the time of the song's release.

[17] However, contemporaneously with the song's debut, the record label and band announced measures to reduce their environmental impact,[8][2][39] such as substitution of plastic materials by paper.

[51] Relatedly, Laura Snapes from The Guardian praised the 1975 for using their platform to highlight a woman's voice, and Horner said the music was "careful to never overpower or distract" from Thunberg.

[17] Jake Kerridge of The Daily Telegraph praised it as the "most terrifying" spoken word pop music since the 1984 anti-nuclear war song "Two Tribes", by Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

Several critics enjoyed the transition between "The 1975" and the punk rock song "People", including Claire Shaffer of Rolling Stone and Manno; Insider's Callie Ahlgrim lauded that "the effect is exquisite".

[15] The SLUG Magazine writer Paige Zuckerman found it "a more mature, evolved iteration" of the 1975's lead tracks, but Manno questioned what purpose it served on the album.

[20][57] At the Reading and Leeds Festivals, the song was followed by "Love It If We Made It"; Adam White of The Independent found this continuation to bring "greater potency" to "The 1975".