The 1975: "Do You Know, That I Know, That You Think That I'm a Rockstar?"

There’s something really interesting about this band, The 1975. I think, what every art school wishes they could say the produced. Artists, that are not the product of art school have an interesting and unique place in the art world as opposed to many artists that come out of art school. I really appreciate what Matthew Healy and The 1975 have done to be what I would consider more of an artist collective, that created music. They have this awareness of themselves as a band that I find really interesting. It connects to the part of us that craves truth and authenticity. Healy said in an interview I was watching the other day, “My whole shtick revolves around this idea: Do you know, that I know, that you think that I’m a rockstar?”

This premise has a certain conviction that so many artists lack. Healy is proposing that the “act” that he puts on is working. And, he’s aware that its working. This “act” is just that: an act, an extension of himself as an artist.

There is an interesting connection drawn between two of the music videos off of The 1975’s recent album, A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships (2018). The video for “Sincerity is Scary” was released as an independent video on November 21, 2019. A few weeks later, the video for “It’s Not Living (If It's Not With You)”. In the middle of this video, Matty walks off the set and steps into the the video for “Sincerity is Scary”. The conceptualization that had to have gone into those two videos alone is incredibly impressive. Each music video was aware of itself as a music video and aware of itself as it related to the other videos off the record.

Healy touched on it tonight, at the United Center in Chicago, as well. There was this moment where he said, “if you think I’m absolutely amazing, make some noise!” Of course, the entire arena erupted. He continued to press by saying, “If you love me, make some noise!” Again, the crowd went wild. He then said something that I find particularly interesting: “A response like that could make a young man go absolute bonkers, couldn’t it?” Once more the mass of concertgoers responded with screams and applause. They proceeded to perform their song “Love Me”. Matt again was demonstrating his awareness. This consciousness of not only the affect his work has on the crowd, but what is the effect on himself. And the response that the crowd had to his comments only drove his point home.

Even in the production of the show, this awareness was present. In the opener of the show, the LED wall flashed lyrics that were played through a vocoder. When the track got to a part where it was just a piano, “(piano)” took the place of the lyrics. The track presented the awareness of itself as a track, and the graphics aware of themselves as graphics. As if to say, “we see the formula and the arithmetic going into solving the formula, and we would rather do the math in front of you than present you with an answer. During the performance of “Somebody Else”, the latency of I-Mag or Image Magnification was used to create a light show on the LED Wall behind the band. The LED wall presented the awareness of itself as an LED wall with I-Mag and exploited the inherent latency that comes as an artifact of the technology. However clever (and they know it), The 1975 is not the only music artist that is doing this, and it is not exclusive to this genre. Another artist that is utilizing this awareness and critique of their own genre is Tierra Whack. In Hip-Hop she specifically did this with the release of Whack World.

Clever “rockstars” are aware of themselves as “rockstars”. Clever videos are aware of themselves and videos. And, Clever art is aware of itself as art. 

Awareness in art is difficult because it is risky. It is often shown through the exploitation of an artifact of the medium, the breaking of a fourth wall, and/or an internal or self-critique. Movies do this often with sound. For example, in Mad Max: Furry Road the rock music backing the final car chase is didactic sound produced by a character on one of the vehicles in the chase.

When cognitive awareness arises in mediums that exist in pop culture, or in the art world, or somewhere in between however risky, it is often rewarded and viewed as clever. The art world commends those that would be bold enough to claim their identity. What used to punk rock and countercultural is now cool and trendy. The 1975 explains that to be punk rock you have to enter the mainstream culture and challenge it internally. You have to think critically, not only of the art that surrounds you, but also the art that you’re creating. This is how we can achieve progress, calling ourselves out just as much as calling out everyone else.