The 1975’s Matty Healy rejoins Reddit, shares details on new album
The Manchester group return this week with the single ‘Part of the Band‘
By Tom Skinner
Matty Healy has taken to Reddit to share some new information about The 1975’s upcoming fifth album, Being Funny in a Foreign Language.
The Manchester group announced the follow-up to 2020’s Notes on a Conditional Form late last month ahead of releasing its first single, ‘Part of the Band’, this Thursday (July 7). Additionally, Healy and co. have shared the lyrics to the imminent track along with a brief instrumental snippet.
Over the weekend, the frontman gave fans further details about the new song in a rare post on Reddit. He confirmed that ‘Part of the Band’ had stemmed from ‘New York’, a track he premiered while supporting Phoebe Bridgers in LA last October.
However, the singer said that the previously-performed tune “is not on the album”, adding: “‘New York’ is a song written by my friend Benjamin Francis Leftwich.”
Healy continued: “I love the song and it didn’t have a bridge. So when I opened up for Phoebe I kinda wanted to do that old school Greenwich Village folk scene thing where people used to just play songs that were knocking around by other artists.
“The bridge was written by me. And then became ‘Part of the Band’. ‘New York’ will be finished eventually but is not a song of The 1975. Love you see you really soon x.”
Elsewhere, Healy responded to The 1975 manager Jamie Oborne’s suggestion that Being Funny… was the group’s “best album yet”. One user commented: “This is just meaningless PR hype”, to which the frontman replied: “Nah he’s just right.”
Healy confirmed on Reddit that he had “just started doing interviews where I explain the record and its context”. A release date is yet to be announced.
The full tracklist for Being Funny in a Foreign Language is as follows:
‘The 1975’
‘Happiness’
‘Looking for Somebody (To Love)’
‘Part of the Band’
‘Oh Caroline’
‘I’m in Love With You’
‘All I Need to Hear’
‘Wintering’
‘Human Too’
‘About You’
‘When We Are Together’
The 1975 have not performed live since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, playing their last show in Dublin. But the group are booked to appear at Japan’s Summer Sonic Festival next month, headlining alongside Post Malone.