Music Review: The 1975

by Claudia Bishop

by Begoña from Errenteria, España - Wiki Commons

If you were to ask me at the beginning of last year what bands I wanted to see in the next two years I would have given a long list that is now being worked through slowly but surely. The 1975 are a band that has always remained very high on that list. In 2016, my brother went to his first 1975 concert and it stuck in my mind. Vividly, I can remember driving into school listening to their music the night after my brother came back from London to see them. Like any annoying younger sibling, I followed in my brother's footsteps and became a fan. 

During half term I went to see them and it definitely lived up to the wait of 4 years.

What I love about their music is how relatable and real their music is. They play songs about typical teenage feelings that give a sense of validation. As a psychology student, I love to read into the deeper meaning of why I have certain feelings.

The appeal of all relatable entertainment is to give us a sense of self-awareness, as humans we spend our lives trying to work out the question of “why?”. Why am I here? Why am I like the way I am? The basic origin of religion was formed to understand the world we are in and why we are here. Therefore, by subjecting ourselves to relatable things gives us a sense of comfort as we feel less alone in life because other successful people are also doing the same things as us. The 1975’s songs really do this to me, in particular “somebody else” is a classic famous song by the 1975 and addresses that break-up feeling that most people can relate to. When the starting beat played at the concert there was an overwhelming outpour of emotion from the crowd, it was clear that a lot of the audience associated the song with a certain experience. It was a beautiful moment to see the whole crowd grow a lot closer in that moment. You can only imagine how that would feel to be the lead singer of the band and see so many people react so positively to your music, it's a feeling i think a lot of people are jealous of.

The lead singer, Matty Healy, really makes the band as iconic as it is. He has a very interesting character that I think psychologically makes the band so appealing to so many people. He is a self proclaimed narcissist who has definitely seen his fair share of troubled times. This self awareness really makes him such a great role model. In this time of instagram and filters on our lives, this obvious recognition of our worst flaws is very refreshing. There is a sense of being yourself unapologetically. This trait is something that is so promising to see as it sets the example for teenagers in this day to stop conforming to the depressing norms of society but to branch out. As well as this, he is not afraid to put out his own experiences out there for the world to hear. In the most recent single they let out (The Birthday Party) , Matty talks about his rehab experience which really brought to light the issues with the cultures around drugs. By making himself so vulnerable to his audience he really creates such a bond with his listeners which makes all the fans so like-minded and accepting.

Finally, the band is doing great things to spread awareness of climate change with the lead singer being very close to Greta Thunberg. Halfway through the concert the lights went down and a speech made by Greta played out. This was very eye opening and really brought to light the actual issues the world is still facing even though we were having the time of our lives. It's incredible how much influence a band can have and the fact that the 1975 are using this for such a great cause is such a promising thing. This part of the show was of course followed by the socially critical song “Love it if we made it”.

The 1975 are such an amazing band and definitely one I would recommend watching. They are playing a show in Finsbury Park in July that looks to be a great lineup.