The fifth studio album from The 1975 is a brilliant opus of endless musical possibilities. When the band set out to record this album, entitled Being Funny in a Foreign Language, in the height of the pandemic with veteran producer Jack Antonoff, the pressure couldn’t be higher on this English rock band to deliver the goods. While Notes on a Conditional Form was a mixed bag of stellar material, paired with some odd song sequencing, and a little too much filler, this album comes in and blows the door off the hinges with its ability to convey a wide range of emotions in an 11-song, concise artistic statement that never overstays its welcome. While listening to the record, you get the feeling that The 1975 were able to hone in on the best parts of their stylistic songwriting and bring forth the best version of themselves. Being Funny in a Foreign Language has all the makings of an album of the year, while still adding plenty of deep references for longtime fans of The 1975.

Now that we’ve had some time to digest the latest album from The 1975, I thought it was about time that we started the discussion on everything that makes up Notes on a Conditional Form. I’ve seen several posts online about the album being too long, and at 22 tracks, it’s a warranted argument. Some people have even gone as far as cherry-picking individual songs from the album to make their playlist that better fits their tastes and listening preferences. While I am usually against the idea of skipping tracks during the listening experience that the artist intended, I found myself just as guilty as everyone else with navigating around some of the songs that didn’t seem to flow in the full album. Typically when there is an album that invites so much dissecting to enjoy the material, it’s a clear sign of an imperfect record. The 1975 had a lot going for them leading up to this LP, having already released three bona fide classic records before NOACF. This album is arguably their most polarizing to date, and while some may write off this record as a rare miss, the good far outweighs the bad in their latest artistic statement.

As I sit here looking at a blank page, pondering about how I’m going to approach writing about The 1975’s gargantuan third album, A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships, I turn to my dear friend procrastination and flick open Twitter on my iPhone. After a few minutes of scrolling through an endless timeline, disgusted and amused simultaneously, I had the belated (and probably way too obvious) realization that A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships is an exploration of our codependency of the things – whether it’s drugs, sex, the internet – we use to temporarily numb the sting of loneliness.

Much has been written about The 1975’s leader Matty Healy decision to spend six weeks in a rehab facility in Barbados to fight his addiction to heroin – a stint that helped Healy reflect not only on his life, but the lives he was affecting. His decision to get clean came shortly after the band started writing A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships, so unsurprising a lot of the lyrical content is derived from the recovering addict’s time spent in therapy.

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After teasing “June 1st” for months in early 2015, The 1975 began posting cryptic images with text such as, “Pay not attention babe — it’s all pretend. Part of an act!!” and “Be Young and Shut Up.” Following a very brief disappearance from social media – prompting break up rumors – the band promptly returned on the afternoon of June 1st with a new pink album cover and revamped aesthetic. Gone was the expected black-and-white personality we had all welcomed from The 1975, welcomed was a splash of color – pink. Pink photos emerged, a pink album cover that mimicked that of 2013’s self-titled album, and pink attire.

Read More “The 1975 – I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it”

I had never seen a band gain such rapid buzz before releasing a debut album like The 1975. Surviving multiple name changes before finally deciding, the band released EP after EP over the course of the past year. Each EP gained them more of a following and more of a following – until recently when they seem to be everywhere. Watching this band grow has been incredibly exciting, because this band defines everything pop music should be.