Individually unique, The 1975’s videos – whilst both being pop-alternative songs – are connected by a dream within a dream scenario that breaks the fourth wall. Directed by Warren Fu, they’re certainly not something you see every day.
In chronological order Sincerity Is Scary comes first, followed by It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You) but I’m going to talk about the latter first. This is because it ties not only the two together, but it also introduces a third narrative – its creative imagery and set up coming from the concert film Stop Making Sense by Talking Heads. Encompassing not only the outfits of the backing singers and the over-sized suit of the frontman, but the crazed dance moves, brief strobe lighting, and stage design. However for The 1975, they take the level of bizarreness that step further – linking their artistic videos to a sense of the otherworldly.
It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You) shows The 1975 frontman Matthew Healy having a series of out-body-experiences as he sets about performing on stage; a mirror reflection coughing on its own; his mouth missing; sudden back-up singers becoming tap-dancing twins and more. To then only find himself replaced on stage by…himself. Upset, Healy exits through a stage door, before suddenly finding himself back on the set of the band’s earlier music video; Sincerity Is Scary and with it his outfit changed to match. What’s more disturbing though is what he sees as he peeks a look out into the scenery; his earlier self dancing to the music video’s routine – has he gone back in time? Travelled to another dimension? Just who knows? Having created a video within a video, there’s more a strong essence that I’m back watching Inception – and with it re-witnessing the magic that’s been made.
However, it’s not unusual for videos to be connected in telling a story, either by abstract motifs, a loose connection in props or in creating mini-films that tell a narrative, such as ScHoolboy Q’s Tookie Knows II; from the robbery of a pawn shop to its consequences. What makes The 1975 videos unique is that they’re playing themselves performing a role –which they then watch, and in doing so connect their earlier music video to the second. Dimensions broken, minds exploding, and no boring mould to be found – for these videos are purposefully breaking music’s tradition, and with it sending a message.
Stuck in every musician’s cheese-induced nightmare in It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You) Healy watches as his performance goes, not just wrong, but horribly outside of his control – like a puppet in someone else’s game. It’s both dark and frustrating, and then it hits you – its purgatory. This nightmarish hell being like the video’s title – a life not being lived if its not with you. The song’s origins relating to Healy’s addiction with Heroin, the pain and desire of it marrying together in the lyrics – producing a song that understands the many different forms of addiction. There’s also a sense in the video, that without “them” they feel lost, or at least otherwise living an isolated existence as Healy’s shown to be out of tune to those around him; from different dance moves, speed, and most cutting of all – the music’s sound being removed till all you can hear is their feet as they dance in silence and out of place bird calls as they fill the void. Wait, am I in BIRDBOX! The horror film about not looking at monsters? If I am it’s too late, I’m trapped in this fear-cage, but at the video’s end as Healy awakens from his nightmare you see his not, his living a life without “them”.
Meanwhile the earlier video; Sincerity Is Scary references a falseness we put on regarding our emotions rather than being honest, and just how much better it would be if we were sincere and true. It’s imagery having more than a touch of the 1952 movie Singin’ in the Rain which is about a singer forced to perform behind the face of another. Like its counterpart It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You) the video starts by having Healy wake up from a dream, but here in Sincerity Is Scary he enters a pastel coloured street that has you dancing with strangers, rather than the almost monochrome appearance of the latter video, though again both have Healy appear through different doorways.
If It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You) is a nightmare, then Sincerity Is Scary is more a sugar-coated dream, even if there are pianos falling and open trapdoors. But it all works out fine with trumpet players rehearsing on the street, choirs waiting to harmonise and a marching brass band. It’s also a game for fans, with multiple hidden eggs that allude to The 1975’s name e.g. alarm clock, building number, to a previous video by the band; A Change of Heart (2016) – using the same choreography, giving a flower to a lady, and finally a mini-copy of Healy’s clown/mimic being brought into technicolour as they stand in front of a cinema that reads ‘LA POÉSIE EST DANS LA RUE’. Translated this means ‘Poetry is on the Street’ which is certainly the case for Sincerity is Scary.
These surrealist videos with a sense of humour are much like the band’s style; mixing synth sounds; harmonies to a steady bass and drums; while crystal clear piano keys and plucked guitar strings hover above, all creating a pop-funk and indie-alternative that made their debut album such a hit. Award-winning The 1975 have created an ambient sound that’s both nostalgic in its 80’s pop-punk and futuristic in its electric-undertones. More recently their music has shifted direction and avoided any chance of becoming stale with an inclusion of heavier-rock undertones (People) and electric-dance beats. However, their quieter and more slowed-down tracks hold a similarity to their earlier albums and tend to have a larger appeal. Either way their music still contains deeper meanings from gender inequality, climate change, personal experiences, to current social commentary, while still having songs about love and confusion in relationships.
Other songs by The 1975 we love:
- Jesus Christ 2005 God Bless America (2020 – Notes On a Conditional Form)
- Playing on My Mind (2020 – Notes On a Conditional Form)
- Roadkill (2020 – Notes On a Conditional Form)
- Love It If We Made It (2018 – A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships)
- TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME (2018 – A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships)
- A Change of Heart (2016 – I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it)
- Love Me (2016 – I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it)
- Nana (2016 – I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it)
- Paris (2016 – I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it)
- The Sound (2016 – I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it)
- UGH! (2016 – I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it)
Other artists you might like:
- Bombay Bicycle Club
- joan
- Pale Waves
- No Rome
- The Band CAMINO
- The Japanese House
