I’ve always been a massive pop music fan and nothing has changed. For the past 3 years I’ve been listening to a band called the 1975. Their star has risen quickly over the past 3 years, it seems I jumped on the “band”-wagon at just the right time. I’ll see myself out.
Who Are the 1975?
Long gone are the days where I have time to read lengthy wiki pages, so here’s what I know about the 1975:
- British pop band from Manchester.
- “Matty” Healy is the lead singer and recovering addict.
- Chocolate was their breakout hit.
- They hope to play Glastonbury main stage in the next 2 years.
- Their new album has been likened to “Hello Computer” (as much as I love them, that’s BS).
Here are my favourite 1975 pop songs:
Chocolate
Chocolate was the first 1975 song I heard because it was requested at a wedding I DJ’ing at about 5 years ago (I just checked, I bought it on the 5th of April 2014).
I didn’t think too much of Chocolate initially, particularly because I couldn’t hear many of the lyrics. The lines, “Guns hidden under our petticoats”, “Boys in the blue”, “We never gonna quit it” and “Serious, you better go” always stood out for me and intrigued me to investigate what was being sung.
I had a totally Dawson Creek-eque childhood so I just adore any songs that are summer-loving and teenage-dreamy because it reminds me of a time when life was innocent and simpler (I love Ed Sheeran’s Castle on the Hill for the same reason).
I’ve listened to it enough times to try and figure out the lyrics (still have no clue), but the repetition resulted in me really liking the song. Also Matt looks like a baby Orlando Bloom, not a bad video to keep watching 😉
Girls
I love this video from start to finish. The play between the boys and girls, the stylized set and the tune in general is a lot of fun.
The video starts with the band complaining about the styling being off brand, but really, it’s everything it needs to be to play off boys vs girls. I also think boys get quite a bit of flak for making pop music so this is a good tongue and cheek intro.
The lyrics that caught my attention here were, “One moment I was tearing off your blouse,
Now you’re living in my house, What happened to just messing around?” It’s all about thinking you’ve SO cool when you’re young and acting like nothing is complicated, when matters of the heart are always complicated.
I enjoy how the band tries to act annoyed with the girls, but really, it’s pretty difficult to be cross with half naked super models and it shows! All the girls in the video are absolutely gorgeous and I’d like to think they had a blast shooting it.
The Sound
Speaking of boys being given flack, The Sound embraces all hate the band receives from the critics outside their glass box in this video. I assumed it was actual hate mail, but I haven’t found any articles to confirm that.
Matt’s a bit of a hot mess here, but I listened to the 1975 on Spotify before seeing any of the video content so I focussed more on the lyrics; of which there are a great many. Here are a few of my favourite:
She said “I’ve got a problem with your shoes and your tunes
But I might move in” and “I thought that you were straight, now I’m wondering”…
And we left things to protect my mental health
But you call me when you’re bored and you’re playing with yourself.
I don’t regret it but I’m glad that we’re through
So don’t you tell me that you ‘just don’t get it’
‘Cause I know you do.”
“Thank You, Next” Cover
This isn’t officially a 1975 song, duh, it’s a cover of Ariana Grande. It’s been watched 3.1 million times on YouTube and I’m probably a million of those. I absolutely adore this cover even though it’s a bit of a mess; time gets lost, Matt drops his papers, the backup singers have to keep it on track, but as a concept, I love it.
It also helped me appreciate the original version more because I could hear all the lines and the form of the song far more clearly in this version. I’d love for them to officially release this so they can clean it up but I doubt that’ll ever happen.
TooTimeTooTimeTooTime
This is from the new album and I like it because it totally has a little Afro beat action going down. This video is meant to be with fans, some of them look too comfortable to be fans and others look quite gushy, which makes it a bit more believable. This could probably be remixed into a phat afro house tune if someone was up for the challenge?
Any other 1975 fans out there? Lemme know which song got you into the band in the comment section below!
PS Special mention for this super well produced.
