I admit that I was a bit surprised when I found out that The 1975 has released another music video and it's the song "A Change of Heart". Now, in all fairness to this song, it was one of the "yeah, it's alright" songs for me. I did blog about The 1975's sophomore album "I Like It When You Sleep For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It" and I shared my thoughts about each song. Most of the songs were unpredictable for me and I found them a bit too eclectic for my taste. They strayed (too far away) from my "idea" of The 1975's sound. However, "A Change of Heart" was one of the better ones.
To quote myself, I think I wrote something like this about "A Change of Heart": "I call this the "funny ballad". The melody may sound romantic and all that; with Matty’s sweet, whispery voice melting every girl's heart out there, but don't be fooled. According to a source, this ballad is about "a girl Matty's been seeing who he's changing his mind about, realizing that her looks aren't enough of a reason to stay with her" (nme.com). As usual, Matty's lyrical frankness and ingenuity were palpable in this track."
In the music video of "A Change of Heart", vocalist Matthew Healy blew my mind off with THE MOVES. I already commented many times before how much Matty likes to dance. He danced a lot in the "Love Me" music video. He danced some more in the "Ugh!" music video. He didn't dance that much in the music video for "The Sound", BUT I saw a few of their live performances and he was all over the stage while singing that song.
I kind of think that if Matty Healy was not the vocalist of The 1975, he would probably be an interpretative dancer or some other kind of performing artist. I was mildly amused while watching him prance around, sway from side to side, moonwalk and mime his butt off in the music video for "A Change of Heart". I have to say, it wasn't the kind of dancing or miming that anyone could just do. It takes some real skills to be able to do those moves so smoothly and effortlessly. At some point, he seemed to be floating in the air and almost flying from one place to another. Matty has got some acting skills too. But I guess that's a given since both his parents were formidable actors in England.
As much as I love the first three songs' music videos (Love Me, Ugh! And The Sound), I have to say "A Change of Heart" took me by surprise. It would be one of those music videos that has left a lasting impression in my mind (along with Maroon 5's "She will be Loved"). Matty's dancing and miming skills were just too awesome to be forgettable. According to songfacts.com, "the black-and-white video was directed by Tim Mattia (Sam Hunt, Troye Sivan) and written by Matt Healy. It follows the antics of a sad sack circus clown played by The 1975 frontman. The clown ruins his chances of getting the girl he loves when their carnival date doesn't work out and he is left sitting under a literal rain cloud."
What made this video memorable, aside from Matty the Clown, was the story behind the song. In an interview with The Rolling Stone, Healy explained that this song incorporates concepts and lyrics from The 1975's earlier tracks; “from "the opening line of "Sex," ("This is how it starts"), "Robbers," ("You used to have a face straight out of a magazine") and "The City.""
The enigmatic and poetic vocalist said: "There's a knowing to this album in place of the naiveté of the first one. I think that's what I reference a lot. 'I never found love in the city.' 'You used to have a face straight out of a magazine.' There's a resignation to that hopeful naiveté in this record that replaces that. It's all about being the same guy. It's a world now. It's a community. It's a whole thing, the 1975. At least to us because we're in the middle of it." It was indeed quite nostalgic for me. I definitely saw the connection with the other tracks, but I didn't get the whole "related story" thing.
In The Odyssey Online's review of the album, they explained (quite ingeniously) the references in "A Change of Heart" with the other The 1975 tracks.
While in The 1975's interview with Annie Mac, on BBC Radio 1, Matty described it as "such a simple song - three notes - and the truth. We wanted it to [have] serious conviction. It turned into a very atypical '1975' song, being very sentimental, very self-aware, and as beautiful as we can make it."
Suffice it to say, "Matty the Clown" (or "The Mime") Healy is a lyrical genius. And an incredible dancer/mime/clown who should definitely be in the next remake of the movie "Footloose".
Credit: songfacts.com, theodysseyonline.com
