By Nicole Belair, Staff Writer
The 1975 is an indie-alternative group with a tone reminiscent of early 80s pop. Their most recent album has a mouthful of a title, “I Like it When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It,” and covers a variety of topics.
Some songs deal with drug-addiction, others with love (or lack thereof), and some allow you to just let go and dance.
No matter the theme, each track will make you want to come back for more.
The album opens big and bright, with songs like “Love Me” and “UGH!” Both are funk rock songs that are perfect for dancing or a long car ride.
According to Billboard, “Love Me” was written out of confusion in response to the band’s success, with a great riff and lyrics that are just a bit arrogant.
“UGH!” is another fun dance song, but it has a deeper meaning than what appears on the surface. The underlying message is an honest one, relating to the singer’s drug addiction and his inability to get his life back together.
The ability to disguise this vulnerable message with a catchy, upbeat melody takes extreme skill, and it works well.
One of my favorite songs on the album is a ballad of sorts, “A Change of Heart.” The song is about a relationship in which the two partners no longer see eye to eye, with lyrics that are a combination of humorous, relatable, and thought-provoking.
Members of the band have also hinted that the song might be largely based on the brief relationship lead singer Matty Healy had with Taylor Swift.
The song starts out funny and contains some provocative language, but then moves to more of an emotional ballad.
Two parts that I particularly like are when Healy sings, “you were coming across as clever, then you lit the wrong end of your cigarette,” and, “I feel as though I was deceived, I never found love in the city. I just sat in self-pity and cried in the car, oh, I just had a change of heart.”
Healy is clearly capable of writing poetic lyrics, and I’m glad that the band has really embraced it.
Another masterful piece is “Somebody Else.” Over the course of four minutes, the song takes on several different moods, all of which audiences can relate to.
The song begins slowly, with the lines, “So I heard you found somebody else, and at first, I thought it was a lie.”
The chorus goes on to explain, “I don’t want your body but I hate to think about you with somebody else. Our love has gone cold, you’re intertwining your soul with somebody else.”
But as the song develops, the mood changes to more of a funny, spiteful tone. “Get someone you love?” Healy sings, “get someone you need? F*** that, get money.” It perfectly captures the range of emotions that one can feel over the course of a break-up.
One last song I will mention is “Loving Someone.” It’s a song about empowerment, while also criticizing the way our society currently works.
Healy talks about how celebrities follow an easy path, rather than breaking the status quo, and how the media pushes heterosexual views on kids instead of allowing them to make their own choices.
Healy sings, “Keep holding their necks and keep selling them sex. It’s better if we keep them perplexed, it’s better if we make them want the opposite sex.”
And, later: “Disenfranchised young criminal minds in a car park beside where your nan resides are not slow, they’ve just never been shown that you should be loving someone.”
When I saw The 1975 in concert, Healy dedicated their performance of “Loving Someone” to Orlando, and audience members in the pit waved a rainbow flag.
In the state of our current society, politics, etc., “Loving Someone” is exactly the type of song we need to reinforce support, love, and acceptance for everyone.
“When you sleep…” is a lyric that seamlessly balances desire and confusion. It’s moody, clever, and captivating while simultaneously being appropriate for a disco.
The 1975 is more than the catchy chords and lyrics of their hit summer single, “The Sound,” and their full album is absolutely worth a listen.