Album Review: The 1975, Being Funny in a Foreign Language

Being Funny in a Foreign Language captures The 1975 at their most authentic. From beginning to end, the album is an honest reflection on love that comes across far more hopeful than any of their previous albums, yet Matty Healy still comes across as self-obsessed as ever. 

Lyrically, this album is one of their most raw, however a lot of the songs are also drenched in irony at the same time. A perfect example of this combination is ‘When we are together’, which begins with the quintessential throwaway line ‘Our first kiss was Christmas in the Walmart toy department’. In spite of this, the chorus contains one of the album's most beautiful lines: ‘The only time I feel I might get better, Is when we are together’ - summarising on the album’s overarching message that love can save us. 

I did however find that in certain songs, the overuse of irony detracted from my enjoyment of the music, particularly in ‘Part of the band’. This song appears self-critical but is really just Matty Healy’s love letter to himself, revelling in the self-deprecating yet narcissistic persona he has curated. 

Despite this, I generally felt that the album was very sincere. It also carried a more positive tone than much of their earlier work, expressing a cautiously optimistic view of the future. This is a stark, and in some ways refreshing, contrast from A Brief Enquiry Into Online Relationships and Notes on a Conditional Form (their previous two albums), which felt full of anger and dread for the future.

Masculinity is also a prominent theme in this album, particularly the toxicity of it. Healy does not shy away from the role he has played in this, with lyrics such as ‘I thought we were fighting but it seems I was gaslighting you’. 

Whilst the album conveys a strong, overarching message lyrically, there is a huge variation between songs in terms of style. The 1975 have delivered a signature mix of guitar-heavy upbeat pop music and slow, sombre instrumentals. This perfectly captures the band’s musical range in just 43 minutes, almost half the length of their previous album. 

To summarise, although Being Funny in a Foreign Language is quite a tonal shift from The 1975’s previous work, it certainly still captures the pretentious yet heartfelt energy of the band.