and all of a sudden my favorite band was like “you know what, let’s change everything. Catch ya on the flip side”. Instant panic. Like, y’all I AM BRANDED FOR LIFE. At this point, I would have had to live with this on my arm forever, meaning if Matty decided to turn the band into satan worshipping fire chanters or a folk band that sang about flowers or some sh*t, I was going to be a walking billboard. A couple of months went by and all I had were cryptic tweets that gave me basically zero information as to what kind of band I was going to be advertising from then on.
Then, FINALLY, they released “Love Me” and all of my fears were instantly erased. I realized that I was already in love with the “New 1975” and I couldn’t wait to see what else would come from the black-to-pink aesthetic change, the new makeup wearing Matty Healy, and everything else that came along with this total 180 the band had taken.
Flash forward to last Friday when, after what seemed like an eternity, their ever-so-romantic-but-also-slightly-creepily-named new album “I Like It When You Sleep for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It” came out and I was hit with this new change full force.
In short, I love it, obviously. But as you all know, despite having no real skill when it comes to actually putting words into grammatically correct or cohesive sentences, I am not one to keep things brief (That’s the polite way of saying that I don’t know when to shut up.)
I love everything about this new album. The sound is DRASTICALLY different from their first album but still manages to hold on to everything that I love about the band’s original sound. The 1975 has never been a band to stick to genre norms and they push those boundaries even further with this album with songs that have clear-cut pop influence all the way to songs that have a sound reminiscent of early 90’s RnB and even some instrumental tracks. With the bands new image and overall change in brand, Matty is embracing his androgyny and breaking gender barriers and even carries that idea into the album with lyrics that hint at sexual-fluidity. This album is definitely lighter in the composition and music but still dark in the lyrical content and subject matter. Topics like drugs, sex, heartbreak, and loss are not new for The 1975, and it’s a relief to see that despite the change in identity, the openness of the lyrics remains the same.
Like I said in my last post, the thing I love most about music is discovering it for myself, so the last thing I want to do is ruin it for anyone else. I will, however, quickly go over a few of my favorite tracks and why they are my favorite, just to give an idea of why this album is so special.
Surprisingly, none of my favorite songs are singles (whoa, what a concept.)
” A Change of Heart” is easily one of my favorite 1975 songs EVER. It’s a ballad that describes falling out of love in a way that is so honest and self-aware. What I love most about this song in particular is that it ties back to three songs on their first album which brings their narrative full circle. (I won’t say which ones because that’s half the fun and it’s way too special to spoil.) This song is something totally different for the 1975 and the simple production adds to the idea that it’s all about “truth and serious conviction” (Matty Healy, BBC Radio 1 Interview).
The song on this album that really hits home for me is “If I Believe You”. The song is hymn-like despite being about a search for truth and meaning in religion. This is one of those songs that as soon as I heard it I immediately was brought to tears because it was so unbelievably relevant in my own life.
within the album as a whole, I appreciate hearing an artist highlight the realities of fame rather than adding to this image of fame that we’ve been given our entire lives that everything is perfect and pretty in pop-star land. He writes about fame in relation to mental health, the superficial nature of celebrity, and is real and honest about his personal life. This is especially eye-opening for me because, as someone who wants to be in this industry, it requires me to really think about my purpose and why I want to be in a similar position.
Overall, this album is the shit and you should all go and buy it.
Alright, I think I’m done ….. yeah. As always, please leave a comment down below, or slide into my twitter DMs or message me on FB letting me know what you think, provide feedback, suggestions on what you want to see me write about, etc. and I’ll love you forever. K COOOOOL.
buy ILIWYSFYASBYSUOI on Itunes and tell Matty I love him.
Love, Your resident scatterbrain and knower of all things 1975,
Marissa.
