The 1975‘s Matty Healy has responded to comparisons between their new album ‘A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships‘ and Radiohead‘s classic ‘OK Computer’.

The band dropped their acclaimed new album last week, and has been been compared to Radiohead’s seminal 1997 record by a number of fans and critics – and not just for the Siri-voiced track ‘The Man Who Married A Robot’.

“That album, also the band’s third, took a gloomy view of modern life when the internet was a luxury few had access to,” wrote NME in a five-star review, dubbing it as ‘OK Computer’ for millennials. ” Two decades later, The 1975’s album, written from the perspective of four digital natives, doesn’t so much condemn the march of technology, information and social media so much as accept it and debate it.


“It’s a nuanced record for a time when life’s shades of grey are darker and closer in contrast than they may have previously been, and it’s no less powerful as a result.”

Asked by Matt Wilkinson on Beats 1 about the comparisons, Healy said: “I mean, what do I say? I’m so humbled. It’s amazing but strange also.

“I think the reference to ‘OK Computer’ is because the narrative is incredible twinned with how we communicate on the internet and these kind of things, which is obviously ‘OK Computer’ in a nutshell.”

He added: “My favourite records are about life. That may be a bit of a big thing to say, but I was just writing a record about relationships. Well, I wasn’t even doing that. I just writing a record and it turns out that if you try and write and honest record about relationships and how they’re mediated in the modern day, then you’re kind of by proxy writing about the internet.”


Speaking about his ambitions for the record last year, Healy said: “If you look at third albums, ‘OK Computer’ or ‘The Queen Is Dead’, that’s what we need to do.”

“I want a legacy. I want people to look back and think our records were the most important pop records that a band put out in this decade.”

The interview also saw Healy tease that The 1975 could headline Glastonbury in 2020.