Being Funny In A Foreign Language - December Album Of The Month

The 1975's 5th and most recent album for me really sums up the feeling of winter and the whole season in total. So let's go through, song by song, and discuss how this album works as a unit and why it does work in this festive season.

1 - The 1975

Frontman Matty Healy spoke about this song in an interview. Every single one of the band's albums starts with a self-titled song. Up until the fourth album, they all contained the same lyrics, just with different ways of portraying those lyrics. In their fourth album, they changed it up featuring a long monologue from Greta Thunberg. Matty said that this was their time to decide, go back to the normal setup with the classic lyrics or forever change this constant feature of the 1975's discography. They decided to change and I think they made the right choice. Music is changing and so should the artists who create it, this song is a beautiful piece commenting on the difficulty for young adults growing up in this day and age with all types of new social pressures one may not have faced 5 or 10 years ago. The 1975 7/10.

2 - Happiness

One of their biggest hits off BFIAFL, happiness is a jazz, dance-beat song that heavily focuses on love and emotions that go along with or provide happiness. The idea of love is a constant theme throughout this album you could even say it's their most romantic album of them all. I think happiness is a great way to introduce what BFIAFL is going to be as a listen. Happiness 8/10.

3 - Looking For Somebody (To Love)

Electric guitars and underlying senses of country. Looking For Somebody is a fun song at its face but when you look a bit deeper it talks about the struggles that America currently faces with gun violence and especially school shootings. The song suggests that the reason why someone could commit a mass shooting is their constant failure and lack of ability to find someone who loves them for them. It doesn't fail to mention also the horror of a mass shooting and how so much could've changed if someone stayed home or had run slightly faster. Looking For Somebody (To Love) 9/10.

4 - Part Of The Band

Strings upon strings, this almost orchestral piece doesn't have a deeper meaning, unlike most songs by the band. Matty said in an interview that the song was about trusting himself enough to just talk and that talking is okay. He said that it has a level of abstraction that's all about giving the audience the benefit of the doubt and that he doesn't need to be so precise when articulating his thoughts and feelings through a song he can just say what he needs to. Part Of The Band 7.5/10

5 - Oh Caroline

A romance song about Caroline, I feel like we've been here before? Oh Caroline is all about a love that's eating away at the person feeling it. Matty talks about how he would do anything for this Caroline lady. I think that Caroline is less of a person and more of an idea, in the song he says how he's tried to find different people but the only name that rhymes is Caroline. The fact he refers to Caroline as a name could mean that it's not the person that he wants but more he needs to find a person who fits this idea of Caroline that he's made in his own head. Oh Caroline 8.5/10

6 - I'm In Love With You

A happy and catchy acoustic guitar paired with a song all about love. I'm In Love With You is the stereotypical love song and yet I still am obsessed with it. It's not too overbearing but it's still enough. This hit comes along with its own music video that seems to have the same characters as a previous music video for A Change Of Heart that featured Phoebe Bridgers. This song is uplifting and catchy and again follows the same theme of love. Although the only deeper part of this song is the bridge where Matty says "I've got it, I've found it, now I just gotta keep it. Don't fuck it, you muppet." Here Matty is quickly commenting on problems that you face only when in the relationship, overthinking every move not wanting to mess up this love you've found. I'm In Love With You 8/10.

7 - All I Need To Hear

A single-take ballad performed on piano. One of the band's simpler songs, Matty jokes about how the purpose of it was to sound like a cover, when drummer George Daniels first heard it he even accused Matty of plagiarism saying "I don't think you fuckin' wrote that!". It may not be their most popular song but I think it's songs like these that become the glue to an album, which is why I enjoy it. All I Need To Hear 7/10.

8 - Wintering

One of the many reasons this album feels so festive, Wintering is maybe the closest we could get to a 1975 Christmas song. The song paints a picture of Matty's family and the dynamics in that family. He says it's like a load of little polaroids of the family crammed into a song. It's light-hearted and festive, and all about Matty's excitement to see his family at Christmas time. Wintering 7/10.

9 - Human Too

Vulnerability at its finest. Human Too is way for Matty to admit to all his flaws saying at the end of the day he only human, even encouraging others to do it saying "tell me your a human too". He really admits every single personality trait that could be problematic, Matty says that he's also commenting on his struggles with being cancelled. In an interview he said that he understands why these things happen and he knows no on is going out of their way just to ruin his life but that doesn't stop it from stinging. Human Too 7/10.

10 - About You

The big hitter on this amazing record, About You is heavily regarded as part 2 of another huge song by the band called Robbers from their first album. About You is Matty Healy's internal narration on what he's struggling with after a break-up, basically saying I haven't forgotten about you. You even see the other point of view when Carly Holt hops on for the bridge, portraying the female character. She talks about how there was so many things that she loved about Matty that she is slowly forgetting and how she misses those parts of him everywhere she goes. Matty says that if I'm In Love With You is the continuation of A Change Of Heart then About You should be a continuation of Robbers despite it being a bit cleaner stylistically. About You 9/10.

11 - When We Are Together

When We Are Together is all about the disintegration of Matty's relationship and the aftermath of that. It's folk and melancholy feel really gives the song an emotion that's very different to all the others on this record. In an interview Matty admitted that four days away from its deadline they needed an eleventh track to finish the album. Matty booked a flight to New York and met up with Jack Antonoff who helped him finish off a half-way-there barebones acoustic song, this song became When We Are Together. When We Are Together 7.510.

Conclusion

Overall I think this is an amazing album, very different to their previous and it came along with 2 tours which I was able to attend and have written about before. This album wasn't just a record it was a long period of time for the fans and the band about self-discovery and love. Being Funny In A Foreign Language 8.5/10.