If you’re reading this and you do not listen to the 1975, I strongly encourage you to give there music a listen.

In a lot of ways, I find that I relate to Matty Healy, and am inspired by him. I’ve been told I drink like him, dance like him, and dress like him. All of those aren’t exactly compliments, but I only was noted of these behaviors after I saw them live multiple times.

I grew up with a sense of depression lingering in everything I do, and when I’m alone, it consumes me. I’ve been singled-out by my peers for so long as I was more introverted and prefered friends from theatre over, well, everyone else. But I’m not happy. I hated every little aspect of life and my life, and I wanted there to be an end to my existence more times than I can count. I lacked a lot of people to talk to about this issue. It was like trying to hit a high note with no breath support. The effort was there, but it ends up flat and failed. Everytime.

One particular day over the summer of 2013, my boyfriend dragged me to one of his band’s gigs. All of his friends were there, and they were all 16-18, too much for my 13 year old self to bear.

The song they opened with was Chocolate by the 1975.

I didn’t immediately fall head over heels for the song, but I liked it. And I liked how my boyfriend was dancing to it, too. From that point on, I kept the 1975 in the back of my mind and focused on artists I grew up listening to like Amy Winehouse and Lady Gaga. I listened to Chocolate occasionally, and grew real fond of the band around December 2013, when my friends dragged me to their 18+ only concert.

I immediately fell in love with their song Sex. Not only because of what it’s about, but because of how energetic the song was. This was when I fell in love with these 4 guys from Manchester who didn’t even know I existed. I have to admit though, I only listened to a select 6 songs over and over again, until I heard the song “Me”.

In June 2014, my parents split up, and I was ultimately crushed like any other child would be. I spent so many days of that summer being sad and getting high until July. That’s when I discovered the song “Me”. I have to be honest, I hated the song. It really is a terrible, simple song, but the lyrics spoke to me. Everything was so lyrical and beautiful, it was like the song wrapped it’s arms around me and said, “I’m here too”. It’s a song about Matty’s teenage years, everything from his drug use, to his own parents divorcing, to contemplating suicide, it spoke to me. It was everything I wanted to say for so long. This song gave me a voice.

Fast forward a year and 5 months later, I’ve seen the 1975 21 times live, hung out with Ross Macdonald and Adam Hann at Boston Calling, met Matty twice, and The 1975 performed Change of Heart in concert.

With The 1975, they have an extensive discography. I found a song for every situation in my life. The first time I head “Undo”, I found a voice. Again. It explained exactly how I felt about a friend’s relationship (shout out to Chris and Sam). “Pressure” gave me a voice to speak to my parents. And of course, “She Way Out” gave me a freedom to dance and love myself again. “Medicine” let me sing to my boyfriend how I truly felt about him. Don’t even get me started on “Ugh!”, that song let me have a voice in saying that it’s okay to be selfish and love your car more than you love people.

When I first heard “Change of Heart”, it gave me that beautiful pain in my chest that happens when you listen to “Small Bump” by Ed Sheeran, or “Why” by Rascal Flatts. I related to it, again, on a deep level. In almost every relationship I’ve ever been in, I end it. This song expressed a lot of the reasons why I end my relationships, I also connected with Matty’s own thoughts written in the song, such as “I feel as though I was deceived, I never found love in the city, I just sat in self pity and cried in the car.” (I have cried in my car SO many times. And I’ve only had it for two months).

In short, I don’t know who I would be without The 1975 telling me I am not alone in this world and that there is hope for me.

I don’t want to say The 1975 saved my life, and this story doesn’t end all happy. I got out of bed today, I showered, I dressed, I called my boyfriend and reminded him of our plans for tonight. I still hurt and I still struggle, but the 1975 showed me that I’m not alone. You are not alone either. The 1975 gave me a voice, and you can get your voice from artists too.

All the love,

Eve