5. “Sincerity Is Scary”
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The video for “Sincerity Is Scary” was released on November 21, 2018, and was the fourth music video released from the band’s newest album “A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships.” It begins with lead singer Matty Healy waking up, and getting out of bed before the camera pans down to the door of the building. As Matty steps out, he puts his headphones on and begins to dance as the song begins. He walks down the street and falls into a hole in the ground, before exiting through the front door of another building, now dressed in different clothes. He runs into a man in a suit, and then the two start dancing together in the street. They duck out of frame, and when they return they have suddenly switched outfits. Matty continues to dance down the street before coming out of another building, where a group of women sings and dances along with him.
Matty does a trick with a soccer ball before hearing the sound of smashing glass. He continues to skip down the sidewalk and saves his bandmate Ross from a falling piano. The video cuts to Matty in front of a movie theater along with a marching band, which fans were quick to point out is the same theater from the “Robbers” music video. The sign for the theater has the same phrase written on it in the “Robbers” video. It reads: “la poésie est dans la rue” which roughly translates to “the poetry is in the street.” The saying is a lyric to “Love It If We Made It,” a phrase very common to the band and their fans. Then, Matty brings in a little girl dressed in a suit and clown makeup, which might be a reference to the music video for “A Change of Heart.” He pours water from a watering can, onto the umbrella.
This video is filled with tons of easter eggs that refer to other music video, songs, and the band itself. Overall, it is a bit bizarre but still consistently fun and upbeat. Matty’s dancing and storytelling are always exciting to watch, which makes this video one of my favorites.
4. “Somebody Else”
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The video for “Somebody Else” debuted on July 7, 2016. It begins with a black and white scene and Matty Healy sitting alone on a couch. We see another Matty Healy walk through the door, presumably after the events of the ‘A Change Of Heart” video, since he wears the same outfit and face paint. He washes the paint off and grabs his suitcase and sits beside himself before opening the suitcase, putting on the outfit that was inside, and walks out of the door. When he exits, everything is in color and the song begins. We then see Matty eating in a diner, skateboarding, and singing in a car by himself… He goes to a bar, gets drunk, does karaoke, and gets on the nerves of the bar patrons. Some of the angry patrons follow him as he leaves the bar, and Matty gets punched. Then he visits a club, where he drinks more, meets a woman and leaves with her.
In the next scene we flashback to see that the woman who Matty was staring at in the diner. It now becomes Matty staring at himself. He flashes back through the night and sees himself in the places of various people at the diner, at the bar, and the people who beat him up. He becomes one of the people that heckled him in the karaoke bar. He also made out with himself in a mirror at the bar, before leaving the bar alone.
The video conveys a message about Matty’s ego, but also how he is beating himself up after a recent breakup. He is his own worst enemy, his toughest critic. He has become self-destructive and is now all by himself. The music video is a very creative way of Matty conveying his guilt and blame towards himself for problems in a relationship. It is sure to shock first-time watchers.
3. “A Change Of Heart”
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The music video for “A Change of Heart” was released on April 21, 2016. The video is entirely in black and white and features Matty Healy in clown makeup and a suit dancing at a carnival. All of the rides are running, but he is the only person there until his love interest shows up. They dance together. At first, the choreography is in sync and fits together really well. They ride the bumper cars and play some games. Things slowly start heading south as Matty scares the woman, and does not seem to take things seriously. They start fighting and at one point she runs away. Matty finds her on a bench. As it begins to rain, Matty holds an umbrella over her head and she takes the umbrella and angrily stomps off. Left in the rain, he is under his own dark cloud. The song and video both tell a story of falling out of love with someone, and the pain and anger that come along with it. The 1975 convey their message in a very fun and creative way that still keeps with the somber tone of the song.
2. “Robbers”
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The music video for Robbers came out on April 27, 2014. It shows Matty and his love interest hanging out with friends, mixed in with scenes of them outside of a small convenience store. We see Matty singing to his love, as well as the two of them engaging in increasingly dangerous and violent behaviors. The video and song tell of a couple who is so focused on each other that they do not notice the destruction that they cause to themselves and others around them. This is shown in the video by drug use, drinking, smoking, and other risky behavior. We see the couple run into the convenience store together, with the intention of robbing it. Multiple gunshots and shouting are heard coming from inside the store. In a shocking twist, we soon see that Matty is the one who was shot as they exit the store and jump in a van to make their escape. Matty, his girlfriend, and his friends all go into a house, where Matty lays on the bed. He seemingly ignores the fact that he has been shot. Instead, he can only pay attention to his lover. The song and video fit well together. They do a great job of displaying the message of the tune to the audience.
1. “Love It If We Made It”
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The video for “Love It If We Made It” was released on October 15, 2018. This was the third music video released by the band from their album “A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships.” The music video depicts multi-colored shadows of the band playing between clips of recent news stories, current events, and lyrics from the song. It demands your attention throughout with the use of vivid colors and bright flashes. The music video can be difficult to watch at times but shows it is important to see what is happening in the world around us. The video forces us to see these tragedies so they are impossible to ignore. Our attention is brought to issues that we may not have known about and reminds us of things we may have forgotten about. In order to make a change in the future, we must remember and learn from the past. This music video is one of the band’s best and most important as it makes a clear statement about the state of the world, and what we must do going forward. It is our responsibility to make a change.