Matthew Healy, the outspoken singer of The 1975, breaks down the mantra behind his music.
Matthew Healy and Sam Wicks. Photo: Sam Wicks
Led by Matthew Healy, the pop smarts of Mancunian indie rock quartet The 1975 have won the band an international fan base and a diverse range of influential supporters, from Taylor Swift to ex-Joy Division/New Order’s Peter Hook.
The band’s outspoken frontman has never been a singer short on words – both on record and in conversation – but he’s outdone himself with the title of The 1975’s sophomore set: I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It.
The sprawling 17-track album, currently sitting atop the charts in New Zealand, Australia, the UK and the US, runs the gamut from sugar rush indie pop to ’80s funk to shoegaze; and Healy makes no apologies for its derivations, or its stadium-sized ambition.
“Our mantra is we create in the way we consume,” he says. “We’re from this generation where nobody consumes one kind of music, so we don’t aspire to represent that. We want to create loads of different types of music; that’s where we have our cultural relevance – because just being another indie band, or being another rock band, or being a band that isn’t as good as what preceded it is pointless.”
LISTEN: The 1975's Matthew Healy speaks with RNZ Music's Sam Wicks.
