Defector

Drones is a concept record about a man indoctrinated by the system to be a human drone, who fights back to retake control of his life. "The first song is about a person that loses hope and kind of becomes vulnerable to the darker forces and drawn into military brainwashing, and then on songs after that, just sort of battling the dark forces that are trying to control our minds and everything," frontman Matt Bellamy told Annie Mac on BBC Radio One. "Then eventually you get to songs like 'Revolt' and 'Defector' where the person fights back and really takes control of themselves."

The song's lyric video features Muse performing the track on a grainy television set, interspersed by various archive news clips, which include NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. Speaking on Steve Lamacq's BBC 6 Music radio show Bellamy discussed the band's decision to include Snowden's image. "It's a brave move to risk everything and go against the grain," he said.

A 55-second track called "[JFK]" leads into this song on the album and on the lyric video. That track is built around a speech delivered by US president John F. Kennedy in 1961.