The 1975’s Matty Healy is “jealous” of women songwriters: “Kate Bush and Joni Mitchell? They’re like aliens”
The frontman spoke with Phoebe Bridgers about how he can feel envious of the perspective that female musicians can convey in their music.
Image: Simone Joyner/Getty
In a new discussion alongside Phoebe Bridgers, The 1975 frontman Matty Healy spoke about his admiration for artists such as Joni Mitchell and Kate Bush, admitting that he is sometimes ‘jealous’ of the unique approach they have as female musicians.
The interview, which was hosted by Dazed, heard from both Healy and Bridgers about their time in the music industry and how they think their songwriting has evolved throughout their career.
It was here that The 1975 frontman shared his admiration for women in rock and admitted he sometimes feels limited by his inability to write music from a female perspective.
“I think one of the main reasons that [the roster of artists represented by the label] Dirty Hit is like 90 per cent female is because I can look at Prince and Michael Jackson and be like, whoa, they’re amazing. But Kate Bush and Joni Mitchell? They’re like aliens…”
He continues, “It’s this divine femininity that’s the most potent thing. That’s the thing that I’m jealous of: it’s just a place that I can’t go.”
In the discussion, Healy also shared how this admiration for more emotive artists encouraged him to take a more mature approach to his latest album, Being Funny In A Foreign Language.
“I think that what I realised is that I needed to challenge myself. Every time I got close to being really sincere, I’d pull it back, or make a dick joke, [then I realised] that’s not transgressive for me anymore – that’s predictable,” he says.
“[The themes] I was defined by in all of my previous records – you know, drug addiction, individualism, infidelity, narcissism. All these things are maybe appropriate at that time in your life, [but then] a less transgressive set of circumstances starts to present itself, like responsibility, family, just being a good person… It’s a new way of being yourself.”