In a very The 1975-ish bit of meta self-reference, I鈥檒l be honest: when I volunteered to write this piece it was mostly to point out that Matty Healy is wrong, and not in the ways you might think. Specifically, Healy was wrong in February last year, when he ranked The 1975鈥檚 own albums on Twitter/X. (He put the self-titled last, for god鈥檚 sake.)
You might reasonably ask: Isn鈥檛 all art inherently subjective? Can an artist鈥檚 appraisal of their own creative output really be wrong? The answer to both questions is: yes.
How wrong exactly? Well, until the band finishes its sixth studio album鈥擧ealy has teased 鈥楪HEMB鈥, which online sleuths believe stands for 鈥楪od has entered my body鈥, and hinted at new collaborations with Japanese House and Lorde producer Jim-E Stack鈥攍et us count the ways.
Disclaimer: this doesn鈥檛 include live albums, because they don鈥檛 count.
5. Notes On A Conditional Form (2020)
If there鈥檚 an album that most exemplifies the contradictions of The 1975, it鈥檚 the impossibly sprawling Notes: 22 songs of such wild and incongruent style that it becomes overbearing. Opening on a Greta Thunberg speech, jumping immediately into a screamo-punk song, then segueing into an ambient instrumental? Sure. Supposedly recorded in 15 different studios over 19 months, Notes really does at times feel like an assemblage of half-formed ideas and fragments of other works, shuffled by the algorithm. It鈥檚 undeniably, intimidatingly inventive鈥攚hether it鈥檚 in stripped-down acoustic settings, lo-fi ambience, or full-on house鈥攁nd in so many ways, its disorienting effect feels intentional: after all, what is life online but a constant, disorienting, contextless churn? At its best, Notes is gorgeous: the pared-back heartbreak of 鈥淛esus Christ 2005 God Bless America鈥, the expansive gospel backing of 鈥淣othing Revealed, Everything Denied鈥. And 鈥淚f You鈥檙e Too Shy鈥濃攖he band鈥檚 relentlessly groovy ode to falling in love with a cam girl鈥攔emains among the perfect 1975 songs.
4. I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it (2016)
From the moment the guitar kicks in on 鈥淟ove Me鈥, you know you鈥檙e in for fucking fun. The band鈥檚 second album is, in many ways, where The 1975鈥檚 sound coalesced: its effortless shifts from pop bangers (鈥淭he Sound鈥) to earnest desperation (鈥淚f I Believe You鈥), always cut through with Healy鈥檚 lyrical self-evisceration. (鈥淭his conversation鈥檚 not about reciprocation no more / But I鈥檓 going to wait until you finish so I can talk some more / About me鈥). And while it never reaches either the daring experimentation nor the distilled polish of other albums, ILIWYS still contains some of the band鈥檚 most accomplished songwriting鈥攏ot a single note on 鈥淪omebody Else鈥 is out of place.
3. The 1975 (2013)
You鈥檇 be forgiven for thinking GQ might put the album with a track called 鈥淢enswear鈥 first on this list, and honestly, you could. The band鈥檚 2013 debut is still remarkable for the sheer density of pop hits: 鈥淐hocolate鈥, 鈥淪ex鈥, 鈥淩obbers鈥濃攅ven now, track after track demands to be hollered, while dancing in a festival crowd. The 1975鈥檚 themes鈥攕ex and yearning and heartbreak and self-consciousness鈥攁re all there in their later albums, but none of them quite manages to feel this authentic: this album sounds the way being a teenager feels.
2. Being Funny In A Foreign Language (2022)
Sorry, Taylor: if you鈥檙e going to parody a 1975 album, you probably shouldn鈥檛 have picked this one: Being Funny is a masterpiece. From the first bars of 鈥淭he 1975鈥, it鈥檚 immediately clear that this is the band鈥檚 most constrained album鈥攖here are no lurches into minimal house beats or freaky vocoder overtures. Instead, its 11 tracks are grounded by real-world instruments: strings, clavinet, saxophone, guitar. And yet that understates its symphonic production. (Listen to Daniel and Healy talk about the making of it on the podcast Tape Notes, and you鈥檒l appreciate just how deeply layered its analogue soundscapes are.) BFIAFL is in many ways the highest-proof distillation of The 1975: name another band that could turn a song about a school shooting (鈥淟ooking For Somebody (To Love)鈥) into an 80s-tinged pop hit? Or a stadium-filling guitar group that could pull off the lyrics of 鈥淧art Of The Band鈥? (鈥淚 know some vaccin-ista, tote-bag chic baristas / sitting East on their communista keisters / Writing about their ejaculations鈥).
A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships (2018)
If The 1975 sounds like how being teenage felt, then ABIIOR is the closest an album has come to mainlining pure, unadulterated internet into your ears. With layer upon layer of references 鈥 to bands (Talking Heads, Radiohead, The Blue Nile), to memes, to The 1975 itself鈥擜BIIOR is the sonic equivalent of a Tumblr feed. 鈥淚鈥檇 Love It If We Made It鈥 alone references Alan Kurdi, Colin Kaepernick, Trump鈥檚 Access Hollywood tapes, and Kanye West. Musically, it transitions effortlessly between Bon Iverian, almost Sigur R贸s-style maximalism (鈥淗ow To Draw/Petrichor鈥), and its OK Computer-ish interludes (the increasingly relevant 鈥淭he Man Who Married A Robot/Love Theme鈥) and relentlessly infectious pop (鈥淚t鈥檚 Not Living If It鈥檚 Not With You鈥, perhaps the best love song ever written about heroin). Written and recorded after Healy鈥檚 stint in rehab, the album embraces duality: euphoria and fragility, recrimination and forgiveness, darkness and beauty. And even when it鈥檚 being knowingly cynical and chronically online, The 1975 can surprise you: its bookends 鈥淕ive Yourself A Try鈥 and 鈥淚 Always Wanna Die (Sometimes)鈥 are the band at their most earnest鈥攁nd their most human.
This story originally appeared in British GQ.