A vocal advocate forLGBTQ rights andclimate change mitigation, Healy's songs and performances also deal with themes includinginternet culture,masculinity, the social and political milieu as well as his personal life and relationships. He has been described as a "spokesperson for the millennial generation" byRolling Stone, "the enfant terrible of pop-rock" byPitchfork, "a cannily self-made bad boy" byNPR, an "expert provocateur" bySlant Magazine, and "iconoclastic" byNME.
Matthew Timothy Healy was born on 8 April 1989 inHendon, north London.[1][2] He is a son of actorsTim Healy[3] andDenise Welch; they divorced in 2012.[4] Both are of Irish descent.[5] His maternal grandfather was adrag queen,[5] and younger brother, Louis, is an actor.[6] He lived inMelbourne from the ages of two to four[7] but spent most of his early years living on a cattle farm inHedley on the Hill, Northumberland.[8][9] The family moved toAlderly Edge in Cheshire when he was nine.[10]
Healy was a quiet child, with recurring vivid nightmares.[20] He got his first drum kit when he was five,[23] and started doing karate by seven eventually earning ablack belt by his teens.[24][25] For the first twelve years of his life he was an only child "so there were a lot of video games, a lot ofMichael Jackson videos, a lot of singing and dancing to myself and self-involvement."[26] Unlike his younger brother,[6] Healy "grew up in a party house"[16] and has recalled sleeping "in the bar" of London'sGroucho Club on numerous occasions.[27] He has remembered this aspect of his childhood as "exciting" rather than "distressing".[16] His parents both had issues with alcohol[16] and his mother used cocaine to self-medicate during periods of acute depression, includingpostpartum.[28]
Privately educated atLady Barn House School[29] andKing's School, Macclesfield, Healy was expelled from the latter for starting a fight club.[17][5] He won a King's School talent contest at age 12, with renditions of songs bythe La's andOasis, and told a local newspaper he hoped "to be a pop singer" when he grew up.[30] He then transferred to the local comprehensiveWilmslow High School, where he met and befriended his future bandmates.[28] He obtainedGCSEs in Music and English,[31][32] subsequently attending music college for three months before dropping out.[33] TheAcademy of Contemporary Music website lists Healy as a 2007–2008 alumnus, obtaining a Vocals diploma.[34][35] Years later, Healy called school "a tedious imposition, getting in the way of me being a pop star".[16]
Career
2002–2011: Beginnings, and early years of the 1975
In 2002, at the age of 13, Healy was recruited byAdam Hann to be the drummer of a band he was forming withRoss MacDonald atWilmslow High School. When their potential lead singer dropped out after a rehearsal, Healy also became the lead vocalist.[36] He eventually metGeorge Daniel who took over as the band's drummer.[37] Daniel recalled that Healy was "the most outwardly passionate person in school — endearing, and intimidating".[38] Before making their own music, the band covered punk and emo songs while hanging out at their school's music hall and at Healy's house.[39] Their first performance for 200 people was as part of the council-runMacclesfield Youth Bands.[40]
After leaving school, Healy persuaded his bandmates to attend universities in Manchester to keep the band together.[41] While he briefly attended music school, he had short-lived jobs atFatFace, as abarista atCaffè Nero, and as adelivery boy at a Chinese restaurant.[16][42] Healy's mother worried about his future but his father "believed in [him] unquestioningly".[43]
2012–2014: Rise to fame
Before settling on the band name the 1975 in 2012, they played under various names – Talkhouse, the Slowdown, Bigsleep, Drive Like I Do – aroundGreater Manchester.[44] Healy recounted that the final name came from the scribblings found on his copy of the novelOn the Road byJack Kerouac that were dated "1 June, The 1975".[45]
Healy performing in Italy in 2014
The 1975 were rejected by every major record label,[46] with executives confused by the band's genre-hopping approach. Healy later remarked: "We create in the way we consume. We're from this generation, and we don't want to be from another time."[47][38]
After years as the band's manager, Jamie Oborne set up his own independent label,Dirty Hit, and signed the band for 20 pounds.[16][48] The band subsequently released four extended plays from 2012 to 2013 –Facedown,Sex,Music for Cars, andIV.[49]
The band began to build momentum in late 2012. Radio DJZane Lowe, who was then at the BBC, gave airplay to the EPFacedown,[50] and the band had radio success with "Sex" and "Chocolate",[51] and released their debut album,The 1975, in 2013.[51] Healy said the album was inspired byJohn Hughes and was intended to be "almost a soundtrack to our teenage years."[52] In reviewing the album, Michael Hann ofThe Guardian said "the best of the writing here – and it works better at length – is fabulous."[52] The album reached number one on the UK Album Chart.[53] The band sold out three nights at London's Brixton Academy, supportedthe Rolling Stones at Hyde Park,[46] and played the Pyramid Stage atGlastonbury Festival.[54]
They premiered the lead single, "Love Me", simultaneously scheduling a support tour in Europe, North America, and Asia.[58] They premiered the second single, "UGH!", on 10 December on Beats 1.[59] The album's third single, "The Sound", debuted onBBC Radio 1 on 14 January 2016.[60] The 1975 released the fourth single, "Somebody Else", on 15 February on Beats 1[61] before the album's release. "A Change of Heart" premiered on Radio 1 on 22 February, four days prior to the album's release. Their performance at Glastonbury Festival in 2016 was highly praised withNME hailing Healy as "Britain's Greatest New Popstar".[62][63]
Alexis Petridis ofThe Guardian praised Healy's "witty self-awareness and deprecation" elaborating that he "has an eye for a prosaic detail that undercuts the air of bustling self-importance".[64] The album reached number one in both the UK and US,[16] earnedGrammy Award andBrit Award nominations, in addition to being shortlisted for theMercury Prize.[65][66][67]
In 2019, Healy received aGrammy Award nomination for Best Rock Song for "Give Yourself A Try" from their third studio album,A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships.[71] The album also won aBrit Award for British Album of the Year.[72] In 2020, the band won Band of the Decade, Best British Band, and the Innovator Award at theNME Awards.[73]
Healy performing in Germany in 2019
Healy's most critically acclaimed songwriting is the song "Love It If We Made It".[74] The song's lyrics are inspired bytabloid headlines of articles covering social and political events of that period, such aspolice brutality,Black Lives Matter ("selling melanin and then suffocating black men"), the death ofAlan Kurdi and the refugee crisis in Europe ("a beach of drowning three-year olds"),Colin Kaepernick'santhem protest against racial injustice in the US ("kneeling on a pitch"), verbatim quotes fromDonald Trump ("I moved on her like a bitch"), as well as direct quotes of Trump's tweets ("thank you Kanye, very cool") and a quote from Trump's presidential campaign t-shirt ("fuck your feelings"). The song also refers topost-truth politics,attention economy,prison system in the US,information overload, and the death of rapperLil Peep.[75][76] Healy has described it as "a montage for the times, but it's not going to change the times. It doesn't provide a solution."[77] The song's lyrics earned Healy the Best Contemporary Song award at the 2019Ivor Novello Awards, where he was also awarded Songwriter of the Year.[74][78]
In April 2023, the band releasedLive with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, which reached number two in the UK.[70] Healy embarked on a world tour entitledAt Their Very Best, to support the band's new album. The set included a life-size house, and two distinct acts and a narrative interlude, the first being the show and then the concert. The show part, which Healy served as writer and director, received unanimous critical acclaim with five star reviews from theRolling Stone,NME,[86]The Observer,[87]The Telegraph,[88]Evening Standard,[89] andMetro[90] among others. In a review of the tour,Rolling Stone wrote, "Healy and co. have set an extremely high bar for other gigs this year. Part performance art, part rock show, all bolstered by some of the best pop songs to have emerged in the last decade. It should be considered a defining blueprint on how to do arena shows."[91]
In August 2023, Healy and the band headlinedReading and Leeds Festivals for the third time with a "10th Anniversary Performance" of theirself-titled debut album released in 2013.[97] This was followed by a concert tour entitledStill... At Their Very Best which commenced across arenas in North America and Europe in September 2023 and ended in March 2024.[98][99]
Artistry
Influences
Healy performing in Poland in 2019
Michael Jackson'sHIStory show at Wembley Arena in 1996 was Healy's first concert and he has described it as "one of the most memorable and important experiences I think I've ever had."[100] He has namedthe Streets as the artist that made him know "[he] was going to start a band."[101] "All My Friends" byLCD Soundsystem is his "forever song" and he has tried to replicate it "technically" and "emotionally" throughout his career.[102]
Healy has always been drawn to1980s music "when pop stars weren't so encumbered with self-awareness. I know that time had its decadence, but there's a real freedom in those records."[103] When the band was recording their debut album, they tried to capture the mood of aJohn Hughes movie — "the apocalyptic sense of being a teenager".[104][105]
Healy has also been influenced by literary figures includingJoan Didion,Jack Keruoac,Seamus Heaney, andArthur Rimbaud, describing Rimbaud's work as "dense and revolutionary".[113][110] He has discussed how stand-up comedy is the biggest influence on his songwriting.[20]
Voice
Healy possesses atenorvocal range, with a rasp from his cigarette smoking.[114]Pitchfork stated that he is "undeniably one of the best and most elastic vocal performers of his generation".[115]The Recording Academy has described him as having "nimble vocals".[116]The New Yorker stated that Healy has a "shape-shifting voice" where "he croons and wails and screams and murmurs, shading his delivery with a variety of personae".[5] His voice has also been described as "supple", "mellifluously melodic", and "always raw, with emotion".[117][118][119]
Thelyricism of Healy is known for its wit, humour, and self-awareness. Hismusical eclecticism[120][121] is accompanied by lyrics that are "complex, clever, catchy" streams of consciousness and tongue-twisters,[122][123][124] in addition to being "topical, explicit, and relentlessly self-referential."[125]Clash noted that Healy's "lyricism alone finds him a cut above almost all of his peers",[126] andNME stated that he is "undoubtedly, one of this generation's finest wordsmiths."[124]The Guardian has characterised him as aprose poet,[16] withConsequence declaring him "rock'spoet laureate of heartbreak, growing up, and fucking up."[127]
Healy performing in the United States in 2016
The New York Times has described Healy as "one of the best contemporary writers — especially outside ofrap — on the process ofconsumption, whether it's drugs or culture or goods".[128]Pitchwork stated that Healy "is cursed with a self-awareness that can turn a simple idea into a galaxy-braindiatribe".[129]The Fader described his songwriting as having "layered, claustrophobic lyrics [which] reveal[s] a man obsessed with fear and fragility, success and failure, endlessly looking for answers about himself and the pop-culture world he uncomfortably inhabits".[130][131][132][75]GQ has dubbed Healy "the poster boy for overthinkers",[133] withAnn Powers ofNPR describing him as "an astute social observer who doubles as a confessionalist, offering disclosures that are always suspect: He might be lying every time he opens his mouth."[134]The Guardian has remarked upon his "lyrical frankness: he wrote not about the party life of the 20-something, but about the fallout from the party,"[135] adding that "Healy is often his own sharpest critic. He usesdialogue in his songs – half-real, half-invented – to interrogate himself. Integral to his commitment to honesty and self-awareness is the knowledge that honesty and self-awareness can turn into just another shtick if you are not careful ... [He] is one of few songwriters who can examine internet culture without rendering you paralysed by embarrassment, because his music sounds the way the modern world feels: overstimulated, lurching between excitement and anxiety."[136]
Healy has stated that he used to consider himself abeat poet, before describing his job as "curating my life through music".[137]NPR has noted that he "has long treated writing songs for the 1975 as his diary".[138] Healy often writes about themillennial generation,masculinity, current affairs, as well as his own life and relationships. He has also written songs about his drug abuse, most notably "Chocolate" (marijuana), "UGH!" (cocaine) and "It's Not Living (If It's Not with You)", a song about his heroin addiction and recovery.[139][140][141][142] "Lostmyhead" and the "Ballad of Me and My Brain" were written about his mental state.[143] He has described his songwriting partnership with bandmateDaniel as "symbiotic": "We've got a shared musical vocabulary. Even if we're both working remotely, we're both working together."[144] Daniel has described himself as the "primary producer" and Healy as the "primary songwriter" of the band.[38][145]
He is known to write songs using typewriters as well as pen and paper for the "commitment that goes with the ceremony" of writing.[146][16]
Performance style
Widely known for hischarisma, stage presence, andshowmanship,[137][128][147] theBBC has characterised Healy as "one of the most iconic frontmen of his generation".[39]The Telegraph has described him as "a compelling rock star, a gifted multi-instrumentalist... whose self-questioning lyrics and uninhibited stagecraft ensured that it was hard to take your eyes off him".[118]The Guardian declared him as "one of music's most compulsively watchable provocateurs thanks to his inescapable charisma, open-mouthed honesty and his band's self-aware and sparkling 80s pop-rock."[148]
Healy performing in Australia in 2020
Billboard has characterised Healy as "a rock star for a generation that's too clued-in to believe in rock stars," noting that "onstage, hedeconstructs his own performance as he goes along".[77]Rolling Stone has described him as "a performer who is just as likely to show up onstage in an oversize parka and tulle skirt as he is shirtless withskinny jeans."[149] Healy has stated that when he is "on stage, the showman in [him] takes over,"[150] and is known to smoke and drink from a bottle of red wine, and flask in concerts.[151][144] He plays a character while performing saying: "I do theJim Morrison thing a bit, but I know that you know that I know that this isn't real."[77] He is interested in playing with contemporary audiences' awareness of rock star cliches: "That ridiculousness, and the elephants in the room are always the things that I find the most interesting. Everything apart from the music is ridiculous, because we all know too much."[144]Vox describes Healy'sstage persona as "a self-aware, ironic performance of fame and authenticity in the social media age".[152] Healy, who describes his private self as "soft and quiet",[153][130] has acknowledged that his "meta-layered" approach to performance means there are public "misconceptions" about him.[154]
Healy doing press-ups as part of his performance for the 1975'sAt Their Very Best concert tour
The 1975'sAt Their Very Best world tour in 2022 and 2023, which Healy wrote and directed, included a commentary on contemporary masculinity: "It's about how if you're a single guy and you've spent a year or so alone on the internet, you go mental. The show is about looking at masculinity, looking at being famous. It's about being what's real and what's sincere and not sincere."[155]The Observer has described it as "part performance art, part stage play, partCharlie Kaufman movie about a rock star in crisis."[87] Clips from the show went viral onTikTok and other social media platforms, prompting wide media coverage of his onstage actions, dubbing him "a sleazeball" or a "sensitive dirtbag".[152][5][156] InRolling Stone's review of the performance, the magazine stated that Healy delivered "asubversive andsurreal take on modern masculinity [that] when viewed in isolation on social media, that all-importance nuance is entirely absent."[91] The performance included him eating a raw steak, depictingmasturbation and delivering 20press-ups in immediate succession.[157][158] In the US leg of the tour, Healy got a tattoo on stage that read "iM a MaN".[159] Healy has also invited both male and female members of his audience to kiss him during his performance of the song "Robbers" and, on one occasion, sucked a fan's thumb.[160][161]The Guardian said it sparked conversations regarding consent, fantasy and art in 2022, and noted that Healy asked for fans' permission first.[157]
Legacy
Healy performing in Chile in 2017
Healy has influenced numerous music artists and has inspired several singer-songwriters with theChicago Tribune describing him as "one of the younger generation's most influential artistic leaders".[162]Billie Eilish has said Healy was an early inspiration for her: "His show is the second show I ever went to in my life. He changed so much about who I am, how I write music."[163][164]Halsey was "really influenced" by Healy's lyrical approach stating: "His lyrical content is a lot of dialogue, a lot of places. It's very descriptive and it creates this honest, authentic image."[165][166]Lewis Capaldi is particularly drawn to Healy's "self-awareness" and is "envious" of his ability to write humorous lyrics: "He's incredible, I absolutely love him."[167][168]Sam Fender won a singing competition at 16 where Healy was a judge,[169] and years later was quoted saying: "Every time I see Matty I can't help butfanboy him really hard".[170]Holly Humberstone has described him as a “musical genius”,[171] whileRobbie Williams, who labeled the current music scene as "boring," singled out Healy as "the only commercially viable pop/rock star who is willing to be something other than beige," describing Healy as "unhinged, super smart, super talented".[172]
Stevie Nicks has described Healy's lyrics to "She's American" as poetry, whileBrian Eno told Healy that "Love It If We Made It" was the kind of political song he wished he could write.[173][2]Lorde has described "Somebody Else" as a song that "really influencedMelodrama. It influenced the tones and the colors and the emotions."[174]Shawn Mendes has called Healy "the best frontman" he has ever seen,[175] and stated that the band'sthird album was the inspiration for his single "If I Can't Have You".[176]Michelle Zauner who is a "longtime 1975 fan" described him as "the perfect frontman" and admires his lyrical ability "to make something compelling and profound and smart that's also so on the verge of making people hate him."[45]
Healy and the 1975's influence on theindie pop scene has been termed "Healywave" byNME.[181] Described as "deftly plucked, palm-muted guitar line, hop, skip and jumping its way across shimmering pop synth work and third-wave emo lyricism,"The Big Issue added that it's a "dreamified take on Eighties pop-rock".[182] "Healywave" acts named by theNME includePale Waves,Fickle Friends, andthe Aces among others.[181] Healy has also mentored artists such asNo Rome,Beabadoobee,the Japanese House, andHeather Baron-Gracie, and co-produced their early works.[183][184]Beabadoobee has stated that Healy has given her “really good advice" about songwriting, adding: "I think he has a way of finding a sentence that really fucking hits you.”[185][186]
In 2021,Essex singerGeorgia Twinn released the single "Matty Healy", which has been described byClash as "a potent alt-pop banger" that leans on "glossy Healywave" vibes.[187] In 2023,Nashville-based singerKnox released thepop rock track "Not The 1975" inspired by a woman commenting "That's cool but you're not Matty Healy," after telling her he's a musician.[188][189] The following year, Los Angeles-based indie pop singer Lina Cooper released the single "Matty Healy".[190]
Political views and activism
Healy performing in Spain in 2014
Healy identifies as a liberal and atraditional progressive,[5][129] and has been outspoken in his support of progressive issues since the start of his career. By 2022, Healy, who reaffirmed that he is "definitely on the left,"[5] had become "suspicious ofwoke-ism as a viable worldview or device to make things better"[129] and wanted to communicate to younger fans the perils of overly rigid moral standards: "You will make mistakes, you will hurt people, you will do things that some people will perceive as rotten. It's this standard that I'm trying to break down. I'm just a bloke, so are you."[191] "I'm not afraid to apologise or change my mind in public [...] I can only know a certain amount of things, and if one of them's wrong, what can I do? I've got to grow and say ‘That was stupid’, and that I'm sorry."[144]
While onstage in Denmark in 2023, Healy referred to comedians and social criticsGeorge Carlin,Bill Hicks andLenny Bruce as "staples of the left" and his "heroes" who exposed social hypocrisy with vulgarity, adding: "I do feel that if the left loses its ability to fuck shit up then we leave too much space for the right."[192]
In 2017, Healy publicly encouraged voting Labour despite saying he does not know "how to use [his] ‘platform’ in order to incentivise democracy".[193] He did not publicly support Labour ahead of the2019 United Kingdom general election and later said he was "disillusioned. I don't likeJeremy Corbyn, I don't likeBoris Johnson, I didn't trust either of them."[194] In 2023, Healy criticised "the apathy of the left" in contemporary British politics: "TheLabour Party here can't even get behind the rail workers and dockers' strikes."[101] On stage in the same year, Healy urged the audience to resist the demonisation of strikers.[195] While performing in Scotland in January and May, Healy spoke in support ofScottish independence.[196][197]
Healy has been a vocal advocate forLGBTQ rights. In 2018, Healy and his bandmates made whatThe Guardian described as a "significant" donation to an LGBTQ community centre for London.[202] In June 2019, Healy won Ally of the Year at theDiva Awards for using his platform to promote LGBTQ rights.[203] In 2020, he appeared on the cover ofAttitude’s Activists & Allies Issue.[27] In December 2022, he performed at the 8th annual Ally Coalition benefit show in support of LGBTQ youth.[204]
Healy performing in Germany in 2023
In August 2019, Healy was banned fromDubai after displaying a pride flag and kissing a male fan onstage to protest Dubai'santi-LGBT laws, an act that was punishable by ten years in prison.[205][206] In a subsequent interview, he reflected that he "felt pretty irresponsible" but ultimately dismissed it.[207]
In 2023, Healy as well as the rest of the 1975 were briefly imprisoned[208] and banned fromMalaysia and forced by the authorities to prematurely end their performance at theGood Vibes Festival after he criticised the country'swidespread anti-LGBT laws and kissed fellow band mate Ross MacDonald on stage.[209][210][211][212] The organisers subsequently cancelled the rest of the three-day festival, on government orders, citing that Healy's "controversial conduct and remarks" are "against the traditions and values of the local culture".[213][214] The protest was met with both criticism and praise.[215][216] Healy addressed the incident in during the band's concert in Dallas stating: "If you truly believe that artists have a responsibility to uphold their liberal virtues by using their massive platforms, then those artists should be judged by the danger and inconvenience that they face for doing so, not by the rewards they receive for parroting consensus. There's nothing particularly stunning or brave about changing your fucking profile picture whilst you're sat in your house in LA."[208] Human rights and LGBT activistPeter Tatchell, writing forThe Guardian, wrote that criticism of Healy and the band "deflect attention from where the criticisms should be most urgently directed: against thehomophobia of theKuala Lumpur regime." He also expressed that Healy is nowhite saviour for showing solidarity to the community as "queer rights are auniversal human right, not a western one".[217] The organisers of the festival sued the band in theHigh Court for breach of contract and sought £1.9 million in damages.[218]
Healy is outspoken onclimate change issues. In 2020, he invitedGreta Thunberg to record a speech about climate change for a 1975 track. Conservative MPDavid Davies accused Healy of "hypocrisy" given his touring schedule but Healy responded: "The idea that no one should say anything or try to help if they haven't 100% figured out how to be carbon neutral, along with the rest of the world, is a really illogical way of thinking about the problem."[219]
Healy and the 1975 use an "eco-management" company when touring; a tree is planted for every ticket sold in theirMusic for Cars tour, the crew catering is sustainable, there is no plastic, and an area is set up in each venue where people can learn about "proper recycling".[28] The band's four shows atthe O2 Arena in London in 2024 will mark the world's first-evercarbon-removed events.[220] This involvescarbon dioxide generated by the events being sucked out of the air, as well as planting trees and spreading carbon dioxide-absorbing volcanic rock on farmland.[221]
Gender issues
Healy has been outspoken aboutwomen's rights, particularly as it relates to the music industry. In 2018, Healy apologized after stating that "the reasonmisogyny doesn't happen in rock and roll anymore is because it's a vocabulary that existed for so long that it got weeded out".[222] He later described his comments as "ignorant" and "wrong, just outright misinformed."[223] When the 1975 won Best British Group at the 2019 Brit Awards, Healy used his acceptance speech to criticise misogyny in the music industry, quoting a piece byThe Guardian's journalist Laura Snapes.[223] Also that year, Healy denounced Alabama'santi-abortion laws during a concert in the state.[224] In 2020, he pledged to only play at music festivals with a gender-balanced lineup.[225][226]
Healy has spoken about young men beingradicalised intoanti-feminist communities: "I do know that the right wing is more successful with the acquiring of young men than the left is, and as somebody who's definitely on the left, it's interesting to watch, because the left don't seem to have [an] ideal masculinity, whereas the right have a very, very easy one." He has remarked that in contemporary pop culture, the celebrated man is "some meta-performance piece about deconstruction": "The only form of masculinity that is celebrated is one that deconstructs it. So: in a dress. I don't know what it is to be a man if you're not just deconstructing being a man and having that [be] celebrated."[227]
Religion
Healy was not raised in a religious household[228] and identifies as anatheist.[16] He is a patron ofHumanists UK, a charitable organisation that promotessecular humanism, human rights and representsnon-religious people.[229] In 2014, Healy, who described himself as "profoundly anti-religion",[230] tweeted: "ISIS are cutting little girls heads off and you want to challenge a non-religious, humanist perspective? I don't understand the world at all". When challenged by a nineteen-year-old Muslim woman operating aHarry Styles–themed Twitter account, he said he "resent[ed] being 'educated' on religion by a Harry Styles fan account." When asked about the resulting controversy in 2015, Healy said: "I may not be as progressive as I'd like to be. There are some innate structures of thought within me that I'm really embarrassed about. I'm not as bright as I'd like to be."[135]
By 2018, Healy's position on faith had evolved: "I used to be an ATHEIST, now I'm like an atheist. It's not that I have softened on the logic or anything, but I'm really understanding and quite sensitive of the culture of religion. Because culture is a very different thing toscripture anddogma."[113]
Since rising to fame in the early 2010s Healy has been dubbed a heartthrob andsex symbol by several media outlets.[239][240][241][242]Stereogum has observed that "he actively subverts the role" with his eccentricities and onstage antics.[243] Early in his career, Healy had been known for his ever-changing hairstyles and fashion which included wearing his collection of vintage shirts,[244] and skirts on tour.[245][246] He has described this period as him having an identity crisis, and his style as "sexually confusedEdward Scissorhands".[247][248]
He has built a reputation as an unusually candid interviewee.Billboard described the experience of interviewing him as "a wild ride ... [His] earnest craving to be understood creates a sense of intimacy disproportionate to the fact that we've only just met."[77]The Guardian said Healy's "compulsion to say whatever is on his mind makes him a divisive figure – to some themood board for a generation, to others a pretentious motormouth."[249] Michael Hann ofThe Guardian has observed that Healy "must be a horror to handle" for his manager and publicist, commenting: "He says absolutely anything, sometimes contradicting himself from sentence to sentence. He makes up words [...] and he's grandly, fabulously pretentious... It was one of the rare interviews that you find yourself fascinated to transcribe."[135] In 2020, Healy said he did not intend to give any more interviews and reflected in 2023: "I think I'd gotten to a point where I didn't know how much I wanted to qualify my statements."[250]
Healy performing in the United States in 2019
Healy has been described byThe Times as "the first, and last, greatfrontman of the social media era".[251] He first used the online pseudonym Truman Black as a teenager to prevent fans of his parents messaging him on Facebook,[252] and later used it as his handle across his public social media accounts on Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr.[253][252][254][255]
Healy deactivated his Twitter account in 2020 because he no longer wanted to participate in the "culture war" and wanted to take a more considered approach to his public statements.[256][257] Following themurder of George Floyd in 2020, Healy had tweeted: "[I]f you truly believe that 'ALL LIVES MATTER' you need to stop facilitating the end of black ones", and posted a YouTube link to the 1975'sprotest song "Love It If We Made It". Amid online criticism that his tweet was self-promotional, Healy apologised and deactivated his account.[258][5] He later reflected: "My reaction in the room to all that Twitter shit was like, 'Oh fuck off! You know that I'm not using this as an opportunity to monetise the half-a-pence I get paid for a fucking YouTube play'. What I'm saying is, 'Here's something I've really thought about', and all you've been asking for four days is 'Say something about it!' So I said, 'Here's what I think'."[256]
Healy remained active on Instagram. He partnered withAmnesty International to raise awareness of various online petitions.[259] According toNME, Healy also showed a "sensei-like mastery of [...]shitposting": "HisInstagram stories have been awash with eyebrow-raising jokes, artfultrolling of hardcore fans, and explicit attempts to getcancelled".[260]Tolentino ofThe New Yorker noted that, on Instagram, Healy "constantly made fun of both himself and the fans who seemed obsessed with his morality." She described his resulting public persona as that of "a post-woke rock star, switching unpredictably between tenderness and trollishness".[5]
In January 2023, a video of Healy performing the band's song "Love It If We Made It" went viral. While singing the lyric "Thank you,Kanye, very cool", which is a direct quote of a tweet fromDonald Trump,[261][262][263] Healy marched on the spot and raised his left hand, leading to online debate about whether the gesture was intended as aNazi salute.[264][265][117] In November 2022, Healy had denounced West's recentantisemitic remarks, saying that "grief" and "mental health issues" did not excuse them.[266]
Healy appeared on theleftistirony podcastThe Adam Friedland Show in February 2023.[267][265] He agreed to be a guest partly to provoke a reaction from his fanbase.[5] During the episode, he laughed as co-hostsFriedland andNick Mullen joked about the possible origin ofIce Spice's stage name and ancestry using various accents.[268] These comments were later widely and incorrectly attributed to Healy.[269] Ice Spice would later recall that Healy has personally apologised to her multiple times for his appearance and they remain on good terms.[270][271] Healy also joked about watchinginternet pornography in which black women are "brutalised", supposedly from the controversial websiteGhetto Gaggers.[272] In a subsequent podcast episode, Friedland clarified that he himself mentioned the site simply due to finding its name humorous, and "did not even know" if Healy had ever visited it. In March 2023, Healy toldJia Tolentino in a profile forThe New Yorker that the controversy was "people going, 'Oh, there's a bad thing over there, let me get as close to it as possible so you can see how good I am.'" He admitted to "oppositional" behaviour and "exaggeration of my shit" over the previous 18 months.[5]The New York Times music criticJon Caramanica described the public response as an example ofcontext collapse.[273]
By early April 2023, Healy stated during anAdelaide concert as part of the 1975'sAt Their Very Best tour: "The era of me being a fucking arsehole is coming to an end... I can'tperform off the stage anymore."[274][275] In October 2023, in an onstage speech at the band's concert inHollywood Bowl as part of theirStill... At Their Very Best tour,[255][276] Healy has clarified that he had "performed exaggerated versions" of himself "in an often misguided attempt to fulfill the kind ofcharacter role of the 21st-century rock star. Because some of my actions have hurt some people, I apologise to those people, and I pledge to do better moving forward," he told the audience, adding, "You see, as an artist, I want to create an environment for myself to perform where not everything that I do is taken literally."[277]
Personal life
Healy resides in northwest London.[278][279][103] He was in a relationship with Australian model Gabriella Brooks (2015–2019)[280] and English singerFKA Twigs (2020–2022).[281][282] He has been in a relationship with American model and musicianGabbriette since September 2023.[283][284] They got engaged in May 2024.[285]
Healy performing in Germany in 2014
Healy identifies as straight[28][286][287] and has said he is not attracted to men in a "carnal, sexual way".[288] In 2019,Queerty reported that Healy hadcome out as an "aesthete".[289] Healy issued a statement on Twitter, criticising the publication for misinterpreting his words: "I didn't come out as anything. [...] I'm not playing a game and trying to take up queer spaces, I'm simply trying to be an ally and this headline makes me uncomfortable."[290][291][292] Healy was a "gangly and effeminate" teenager and was drawn toGeorge Michael,Prince and Michael Jackson rather than traditional figures of masculinity.[293][133][294] Healy's parents were both in creative industries and "the kind of people that I aspired to be, happened to be gay": "I suppose it would make more sense for me to be gay or bi. But it's just kind of where I come from. I hope I never exploit that... The idea of making a self who iscis, white and straight more interesting by aligning themselves with that culture really makes me wince."[144]
Healy has had vision correction viaLASIK surgery.[23] He has been clinically diagnosed withADHD.[5] In a 2022 interview, he mentioned being in therapy, and referred to dealing with trauma from "some early sexual experiences that, as [he] got older, were really, really difficult to deal with."[295][296] Healy is a recoveringheroin addict,[297][298] and has also had issues withcocaine andbenzodiazepine abuse.[299][16] In late 2017, he spent seven weeks at an in-patientdrug rehabilitation clinic in Barbados,[300][301][302] following an intervention by his bandmates.[28] He has spoken openly about his drug use: "I don't want to fetishize it, because it's really dull and it's really dangerous. The thought of being to a young person what people likeBurroughs were to me when I was a teenager makes me feel ill."[77] As of 2022, Healy still smokesmarijuana.[303][129]
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