After giving hints to the world that they had another album coming out and then confirming it this past year, on Friday, October 14th, 2022, the new The 1975 album dropped. The 1975 teased that they would return to their roots by bringing back their “Drive Like I Do” Instagram page (their band before The 1975). So, what lead up to this album?
In their debut self-titled album The 1975, the band introduces themes of drugs, sex, and mental health that would be present in their future albums. Their first album is very youthful, with The 1975 describing their songs as being inspired by coming of age and growing up.
Their second album (and my favorite), I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It, begins with a less fuzzy version of the song “The 1975” from the first album. This song appears different on every album, introducing the album’s music style and showing where the band is. The album cover is relatively the same, but this time pink and white instead of white and black. This album discusses drugs in “Ugh!” and mental health in songs such as “Lostmyhead” and “She Lays Down.” In this album, the song “A Change of Heart” seems to be a precursor to the third album’s discussion of the effects of technology on people, showing that The 1975 might hint at they will sing about in future albums.
Similar to the first two albums, the first song in the third album, A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships (ABIIOR), is “The 1975,” altered from the past two versions. Unlike the past two albums, ABIIOR has a social issue it focuses on. The album discusses communication and connection with technology and the internet. In ABIIOR, the writing process gets creative with “Love It If We Made It,” which comprises of tabloid newspaper headlines that touched the band. The album ends with the incredibly sad song “I Couldn’t Be More in Love,” sung by Matty Healy, the lead singer, the day before he went to rehab.
Unlike their previous albums, Notes on a Conditional Form changes the song “The 1975.” The album still has it as the first song, but instead of the previous lyrics with an altered sound, The 1975 changes it to be a speech performed by Greta Thunberg, a well-known climate activist. This introduces a new social theme for their album: climate change. Further discussed in “People,” a more punk song than anything on their albums previously, The 1975 expresses the youth’s frustration in politics. “The End(Music For Cars)” is the song that shows the end of an era, the end of these four albums, for The 1975.
What is this new album like? In their newest album, Being Funny in a Foreign Language, they change the song “The 1975” yet again. Instead of a speech or the lyrics from the first three albums’ versions of “The 1975,” this new rendition has Healy reflecting on his music and feeling bad for teenagers today and the difficulties they face in a social media-driven world. Their first single released on the album was “Part of the Band,” their introduction to the album, which is an upbeat folk-rock song. Calling back to the first album, “About You” seems to be a continuation of “Robbers.” I feel this album fits with the rest of the music while having its own distinctive sound. It is another excellent The 1975 album.