Matty Healy seemingly addressed his earlier controversial comments at his London show over the weekend.
While on stage for his band’s headlining set at Finsbury Park, The 1975 frontman explained to fans that the purpose behind what he says and does is good, but doesn’t always translate as intended — without directly apologizing or mentioning what exactly he was referring to.
“I was always trying stuff and some stuff I got right and some stuff I got wrong,” the musician, 34, admitted. “But you know what, there’s a lot of things that I’ve said, jokes that I’ve made, that I would take back. You know what, there’s probably a couple of f—ing songs that I’d take back if I had the choice.”
Healy went on to tell the crowd that his “favorite art” is about making his fans “laugh and feel good.” He mentioned “Love Me,” the lead single from their sophomore album I Like It When You Sleep for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It and joked that “it doesn’t make sense unless I’m taking the piss out of myself.”
“I’m not a nonchalant person,” Healy said. “I’m not somebody who takes things for granted, so I was excited. The 1975 isn’t a dry band — there’s a lot of irony in it.”
The “It’s Not Living (If It’s Not with You)” singer added: “I get a bit excited, and you know what, I’m f—ing proud of myself.”
In February, Healy appeared on The Adam Friedland Show podcast when he explained that he recently slid into Ice Spice’s DMs, and she had not replied. Upon mentioning the rapper, 23, who has a Black father and a mother of Dominican descent, Friedland and his cohost Nick Mullen joked that she was an “Inuit Spice Girl,” and continued to joke using Chinese and Hawaiian accents. Healy did not partake but laughed along with the hosts.
During a March interview with The New Yorker, the “About You” singer acknowledged that he’d purposely baited his fans “a little bit,” but felt that was not the point. Healy’s stage persona is that of a “woke” liberal condemning things like climate change and toxic masculinity, though he often blurs lines on what is real and what he considers an acted “bit.”
“It doesn’t actually matter,” Healy said. “Nobody is sitting there at night slumped at their computer, and their boyfriend comes over and goes, ‘What’s wrong, darling?’ and they go, ‘It’s just this thing with Matty Healy.’ That doesn’t happen.”
He continued: “If it does, you’re either deluded or you are, sorry, a liar. You’re either lying that you are hurt, or you’re a bit mental for being hurt. It’s just 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.’ And I kind of want them to do that, because they’re demonstrating something so base level.”
Ice Spice — who is a self-proclaimed fan of The 1975 — received an onstage apology from Healy during a concert in New Zealand in April, where he told the crowd he “never meant to hurt anybody.”
“Sorry if I’ve offended you. Ice Spice, I’m sorry. It’s not because I’m annoyed that me joking got misconstrued, it’s ’cause I don’t want Ice Spice to think that I’m a dick,” he said of “Munch” rapper. “I love you Ice Spice…. It’s OK for me to be like, a trickster or whatever, but I don’t want to be perceived as mean-hearted.”
Healy went on to say, “We all get it wrong, and I just have to do it in public and then apologize,” noting that he was “genuinely sorry.”
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