Nope. That’s not the title of a young adult romance fiction novel. That’s how I would summarize The 1975’s “Love Me” video.
Since I had written my thoughts on The 1975’s David Bowie-esque new song, “Love Me”, I thought it was only fitting that I put in my two cents about the music video. The much awaited music video was released last Wednesday, October 28, and of course, it had more than a million hits.
First of all, setting aside the fact that the song was indeed like a blast from the past, I was expecting a music video that would suit it perfectly. I expected lots of big hair, ridiculous and flamboyant outfits, vintage cars, a bit of nudity, heavy makeup (particularly blue eye shadow) and plenty of girls doing (and signifying) absolutely nothing. Well, Matthew Healy definitely got the “big hair” and the “nudity” part down. Obviously.
I don’t really want to digest the video and give a blow by blow account of what happened (and what didn’t happen). I’m just here to point out the best and the worst parts, as a fan.
The video was directed by Diamond Martel and I have to say the boys are just consistent with all their videos looking slightly low budget. It was, like most of their videos, shot in a studio where they just did their thing with their instruments while Matty frolicked about half-naked, wearing black leather pants and doing his patented dance moves. I mean, I’ve seen them perform live and there was nothing new about Matty cavorting around with a bunch of girls, drinking straight from a bottle of wine (or was it champagne?) and banging his beautiful head to the music. Did I mention he kinda likes being half-naked?
One of the best things about the video was the life-size standees of famous celebrities such as Harry Styles, Ed Sheeran, Rita Ora, Charlie XCX, Elvis Presley, Mr. Bean and what looked like a very young and innocent Miley Cyrus in a cheerleading uniform. The fact that Matty sang the line “I’m just with my friends online” as he gestured around the celebrity standees was ingenious. It was like a big slap in the face of the throngs of self-absorbed millennials out there who only care about how many followers and likes they have on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
What made that part even more epic was Matty suddenly licking Harry’s face off. Haha! I mean, that was NOT a kiss. That was definitely a LICK. And who could blame him, really? I would never pass up that opportunity.
Speaking of “licking”, I’m guessing that is one of Matty’s special skills now because not long after that “licking incident” with Harry Styles, he was in the Jacuzzi with the boys and licking George’s foot. And as if that was not enough, he also licked off a lucky girl’s thigh at one point in the video. I mean, come on! Where do they get these girls in their videos? I think that is the coolest part-time job ever – being a “random girl” in The 1975’s music video. You don’t need to do anything, just dance around, act cute, be sexy and let Matty lick off your body parts. #dreamjob
Going back to the video… since George is my favorite member, of course I’ve noticed him. I’m not sure exactly what he was portraying or symbolizing in the video, but he was just playing the drums with much less enthusiasm than he used to. It was what I call “The Robot Drummer”. LOL. And in one scene he was using a selfie stick as he takes a selfie of himself, while drumming with one hand and doing the famous ‘duck face’. Hilarious!
All in all, it was a really entertaining video to watch. I bet they had nothing but fun and laughter all throughout the shoot. Let me just say, Matty seemed to be born with incredibly mad dance skills.
I mean, like I mentioned earlier, this guy has a habit of prancing around on stage whenever he performs. But he took it to the next level in this video. He was just all over the place doing different dances and moves that I don’t even know what to call. He was gyrating, swaying, shimmy-ing, hustling, and moonwalking. It was insane!
This video did hit home with all the mockery of all the fame, glamour, glitz and everything that this generation stands for. NME.com said it was “a call to arms to question how our society's evolved into one that's suffering from glued-to-the-screen tunnel vision.” While altpress.com described it as “the members of the 1975 poking fun at rock and roll in the digital age and the self-constructed mythology of the iPhone generation.”
For me, it was just a bloody brilliant parody of celebrities and this new generation. It was fun, fresh and exciting. Well, when your second album is called “I Like It When You Sleep For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It”, then you have got to raise the bar higher.
^ Whatever you think she's doing... yeah, she is doing it.
