The 1975 is Self-Aware: Politics and Being “Woke” Through The Art of Music

The 1975, photo by Samuel Bradley

The English band The 1975, in which consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Matthew "Matty" Healy, lead guitarist Adam Hann, bassist Ross MacDonald, and drummer George Daniel, are making statements through their music, gaining massive popularity from fans all over the world.

The band’s music holds debatable ideas, all while handling specific themes of life: love, heartache, addiction, politics, gun-violence, and loathing towards past U.S. presidents.

The 1975’s most recent album, Being Funny in a Foreign Language, touches base on one of these topics, with the track Looking for Somebody (To Love) being reminiscent of Foster the People’s famous track Pumped Up Kicks. The song makes an honest but truthful point: gun-violence is often masked by toxic masculinity and the stigma surrounding it. In an interview for Apple Music, Healy explains: “There’s a line that says, ‘You’ve got to show me how to push/If you don’t want a shove,’ which is me saying we have to try and figure this crisis out because there are so many young men that don’t really have guidance, and a toxic masculinity is inevitable if we don’t address the way we communicate with them.”

The recent track strays far from the band’s widely controversial stances. One of The 1975’s most popular songs arises from their album A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships, in which the song Love It If We Made It dives deep into all things modern politics and everything wrong with it through current events and moments in time. Healy reportedly kept up-to-date with every major news headline within the states and beyond, ultimately suppressing his frustrations by writing a song about them. With lyrics like “Selling melanin and then suffocate the black men, start with misdemeanors and we'll make a business out of them” and “Write it on a piece of stone, a beach of drowning three-year-olds; rest in peace Lil Peep, the poetry is in the streets. Jesus save us, modernity has failed us,” The 1975 make drastic efforts to alert the general public that catastrophes are happening in front of them with no major action being taken.

However, The 1975 have shown strong support for communities like the LGBTQ+, with regards to their fans who are a part of it. In a performance after the 2016 mass shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, the band reportedly paid tribute to those whose lives were impacted after the horrific event by dedicating the song Loving Someone, coming off of the album I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It. The song speaks volumes, with Healy heartily singing, “We're all human, we're just like you, man. "We’re sentient or something or other I can’t remember, whatever,” The grand stride resonated with fans from across the globe, along with the band staying resilient in their views on the topic through statements and social media posts.

In the alternative/indie pop song I Like America & America Likes Me, Healy pleads for his fear of dying and social issues such as consumerism, mass shootings and gun control. An article with Pitchfork elucidated this perfectly, with Healy explaining that despite differences in personality and appearance, most people are united by their fear of dying. The track oozes profusely with strong auto-tune and Soundcloud-esque beats. This notion isn’t accidental, however; the song was simply meant to sound like it. As for the ironic title, it is a reference to an art performance by Joseph Beuys, a German artist, teacher, performance artist, and art theorist, titled I Like America and America Likes Me.

The 1975 is far from over and is expected to continue creating music to call out social injustices they believe in. Though internet users and goers of social media have accused the band of their own issues and so-called “cancellations”, Healy makes a strong ending statement in an interview with NME:

“I come from art. My grandad was one of the first drag queens in the UK. I genuinely believe that a lot of the best art comes from transgressive communities like the gay community and cultures of color. If you want good art and good sh*t then leave people alone, let them do their thing! Don’t be racist and don’t oppress women!”