graphic by kayleigh woltal
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU Matty Healy for finally listening to the fans and creating Being Funny In A Foreign Language (BFIAFL). No egregious autotune, no punk, no robot voices rapping, just plain, unadulterated pop. The dolphins are returning to the canals, my skin is clear, and The 1975 is certainly at their very best. Nostalgic, invigorating and bursting with energy, The 1975 brings the sound that made them famous into a new decade.
It’s been two years since the release of the experimental and eclectic “Notes on a Conditional Form”, which left listeners baffled and somewhat disappointed (okay, it left ME baffled and disappointed). “Being Funny in a Foreign Language”, released on October 14, ushers in another era of The 1975, but it’s not a new era at all. In fact, it’s old. Like ten years old. And that’s the best thing about it.
BFIAFL is the collection of pop hits that longtime fans have been hoping for. Listeners who were around for the release of the band’s self-titled album will find themselves reminiscing about what it felt like to listen to them for the first time. While not as gritty as earlier albums in the band’s discography, sonically BFIAFL feels like a direct response to The 1975’s 2013 and 2016 works. The instrumentals of tracks like “Looking for Somebody (To Love)” and “Oh Caroline” have echoes of iconic tracks like “This Must Be My Dream” and “Talk!”, complete with an ephemeral intro that makes the band’s music recognizable in an instant. The entire album feels cyclical, like frontman Matty Healy is returning to his roots and prompting us to do the same.
The title track does a lot of work to position the album in the context of the current moment, and I think most people are just thankful that it’s an actual song this time and not whatever the hell the last two title tracks were (if you’re new here, the first song of each album is titled “The 1975” and sets the scene of the album with varying degrees of success). It’s clear that BFIAFL is a love letter to the younger generation that has struggled throughout the mess of the last few years. Wise ol’ Matty Healy at the age of 33 tells the youth, “I’m sorry if you’re livin’ and you’re 17”, which makes ME feel old because that means the people he’s referring to were LITERALLY EIGHT when the self-titled album came out. But, I get it, man has to get his bag and scooping up the new generation of fangirls is the way to do it. This track, believe it or not, is actually one of my favorites off the album, and I found myself overwhelmed with feeling at the first listen. The intensity of the song builds and distills this single, chaotic moment in time to a pulsing, soaring sound that sends chills down your spine. It also delivers some of the best lyrics on the album:
“You see I can’t sleep ‘cause the American Dream
Has been buyin’ up all of my self-esteem
While QAnon created a legitimate scene
But it was just some bloke in the Philippines”
Classic.
Overall the album is wonderfully cohesive. At only 11 tracks, the album is much shorter than the band’s other works and noticeably tighter as a result. There really are no weak links, and each song brings something to the table that makes them all worth listening to. The consistency of BFIAFL is a reminder of what makes The 1975 unique, which is its unmistakable style and sound.
The band’s sound is so distinct it feels like a physical space, almost tangible, and it shines through the clearest on fan-favorite track “About You.” Referred to by Healy as a continuation of 2013 track “Robbers”, listening to it feels like coming home. While the song on the surface is about a long-over relationship, fans have been connecting to their past selves when he asks: “Do you think I have forgotten about you?” Healy could easily be addressing his younger self, and when listening I remember myself at 13, hearing his voice for the first time. The song mourns the fact that we’ll never quite remember the way it felt to be alive in that moment in time, not completely. Healy has written a song that’s a perfect soundtrack for breaking your own heart to, made even heavier by the projected emotional weight of “Robbers”.
This project indicates a point of inflection for the band, and it’s not too much of a stretch to say that it signals something for the indie pop genre as a whole. As groups of zillennials gather on the internet to romanticize the days of 2013 Tumblr (a topic that deserves its own article), perhaps the indie pop bands of yore will start to revisit the sounds of that era. Are we in for an early 2010’s indie renaissance? God, I hope so.
I’m happily giving this album a 5 / 5, because damn if Matty doesn’t have the Krabby Patty secret formula when it comes to writing pop music! I have a ticket for Madison Square Garden in November and will be absolutely drilling this into my head and terrorizing my roomates with this album until then. If you haven’t listened yet by some small chance, below are some key tracks to pay attention to.
Key tracks:
- Happiness
- The 1975
- About You
- Looking for Somebody (To Love)
- Wintering
- All I need to hear
You can listen to the album, “Being Funny In A Foreign Language” here.