1st june, 1975 

Carla Jenkins

“Hey! This is the era of reflection, right? We’ve killed the rockstars. Just another casualty in the war against popular art – butchered by our post modern reflective propensities and selfie awareness. Our projected, rendered identity needs to change not only visually but philosophically – how do you do that? Firstly we need to reclaim our identity and repossess our control of it. It’s simple. You could say its black and white. 

Until then there won’t be any pop music or dancing with long hair. 

“You can’t do that” you say, “That’s ours!!” Correct!! 

The hardest part of any relationship is to say goodbye. As much as we might like things to stay the same, change is an inevitable part of life. We can’t simply go on forever – always saying the same, never evolving, 

So we must leave, with a parting ‘we love you’ – we are already gone. 

Thank you, 
The 1975.

Camerado, 
I give you my hand. I give you my love more precious than money.”

This was the cryptic comic strip that Matty Healy, front man of the 1975, posted on his Twitter account on May 31st, devastating 1975 fans globally by suggesting that the band were taking an unannounced and unexpected hiatus. Later, on the morning of the 1st of June (a date that the band had been teasing fans about for months) the band members deleted all social media accounts, emptied their official website of any content and wiped themselves off the face of the Internet for the indefinite future. For all intents and purposes, the 1975 as previously known are now dead. 

To say that the band have devastated many is an understatement, and in fact, if it had not been dropped on the same date that the Kardashian-Jenner clan decided to drop their baby/gender-corrective surgery bombs, perhaps Healy would have achieved his desired ‘break the internet’ status. But, alas, the 1975 plans for an all-encompassing world-heartache have been thwarted. But only just.

And so, we are now left with the message they have left to the world. And what a message it is. Be it a blunder or not, it is almost guaranteed that the band are not splitting for definite, having confirmed their next tour dates and the unforgettable, blurry Instagram picture that Healy uploaded in January of what is suspected to be the second album, set for release in 2016, about 'the cultivation of established love'. Vitally, it should be remembered that the band have been together for 11 years, with only one number one album. With another set to go almost certainly straight into the top ten, who, in their right minds, would let that go?

So what is it? From the message, it seems clear that the band will be taking a ‘creative break’ in order to ‘change not only visually but philosophically.’ That much seems obvious – the message, in typical 1975 (or should I say Healy?) fashion, appears rather revolutionary in terms of publicity to announce a break until the autumn with the emergence of a new look and sound.

And yet, buried amongst the beautifully eloquent yet simultaneously solemn prose, there are more pauses for thought than the usual run-of-the-mill press release announcement. A quick analysis yields much. 

There are moments where the band seems skeptical and cryptic of its current status, painting the band as victims of the up-coming ‘selfie’ generation, where girls swoon with Beatlemaniacal propensity. In our ‘era of reflection’, they muse that we’ve ‘killed the rockstars’, suggesting the idea that they are ‘just another casualty in the war against popular art’, and citing that it was ‘post-modern reflective propensities and selfie awareness’ that has perhaps ‘butchered’ the band’s potential. It is obvious that there will be some amount of rebranding involved in the upcoming hiatus, but perhaps it can be blamed not just on creative necessity, but pressure from their cultish following. They tell us that they are leaving to ‘reclaim our identity and repossess our control of it.’ They imitate an anticipated cry of response, exclaiming ‘“You can’t do that… That’s ours!!” and answering ‘’Correct!!” 

And then we come to the strip. A young man soothes his girlfriend, who is ‘all shook up’ about the split, thinking it was going to ‘last forever’. It seems, at first, that the guys are calling our own bluffs. Publicity stunt? Isn’t that a bit Kerry Katona of us? But alas, the comic strip comes with a new suggestion of its own. A pink figure (new Matty) is depicted as being smothered by a black shadow (old Matty). The boyfriend states ‘the boy is pink with such a pink as suits the world divinely’; only to be met by the girls’ ‘OMG he was hot! And I think he liked my picture!’ 

With that answer, we are left with only one question: could it be that the 1975 are leaving for our own good? To save themselves from the self-inflicted and daily slaughter that is received by the likes of One Direction? Are they rejecting the idea – the almost guaranteed promise of idolatry that comes arm in arm with the fame of the musician to make themselves martyrs for the cause of music (Kurt Cobain is referenced in the comic)? Could it be that they are sacrificing their popularity at the moment to make an investment into their musical future? In light of the long-haired dancing boys and glowing iPhone screens, have we forgotten what its really about? The music?

But, but…they do not leave it on a sour note. Acknowledging the speed that they have disappeared with by stating ‘with a parting ‘we love you’ – we are already gone…’ the band leave knowing that before we have read the last sentence, they will have disappeared with quick thanks. And just when we thought they were slipping away from us… they leave us what could possibly be the promise of hope for their future. 

Hope? 

The comic strip ends on an elusion to Walt Whitman’s poem, “Songs of the Open Road.” It reads:

“Camerado, I give you my hand! I give you my love more precious than money,
I give you myself before preaching or law,
Will you give me yourself? Will you come travel with me?
Shall we stick by each other as long as we live?”

As well as being part of a gigantic poem that uses the road as a symbol of creative society, these lines were also etched into the limited-edition clear vinyl of The 1975’s Facedown EP that went on sale the other week. An interesting selection, considering the Facedown EP was The 1975’s first release, dropped before the album but after the unceremonious release of ‘Sex’, which came out the blue from the previously unknown ‘The Big Sleep’.

And that’s it. They leave us, on the first of June (the date that also went alongside ‘The 1975’ in the flyleaf of the book that inspired the name of the band) with a quote that was etched onto a record that charts the band’s rocketing and unpredicted development from obscurity to stardom.  

Maybe there are lessons to learn from this. They tell us to ‘BE YOUNG AND SHUT UP.’ Are they exhausted with the ‘talking’ and lack of ‘being’ in the young of today? Or are they exhausted by the message that is being projected upon the young people of today to simply BE, rather than talk about being? Is it a chastisement to themselves, a nudge towards finally acting, rather than just planning and talking about acting? 

Such actions, we must remember throughout this summer massacre of hearts and souls, is ultimately only the removal of real immediacy of direct information from us. Technically, the band members are exactly where they are and where they have always been. The only difference is that we cannot be a part of that space that they occupy anymore. And, finally, that is exactly what they want for us: the re-establishing of the boundaries that have been marked between the creative beings and their admirers throughout the ages. Is this dislocation to the barrage of immediate information we previously ‘owned’ what is needed for creative discretion in today’s age? Does that not tell us more about ourselves than it does about the musicians? 

Despite all this, through the whole ordeal, the comic strip dangles in front of us, unlike any other normal press release, the tantalizing suggestion that the 1975 are going, but also that they will be back; newer, reformed, shiny, and remembering why they started. Beginning from where they started. From 11 years ago to now; still together, just different. And maybe by then we will have learned our lesson.