KISSING MATTY HEALY

Written by Vicky Madzak / Samuel Bradley

"My life is a fanfiction,”, says 24-year-old The 1975 fangirl Isabella Alfie – the “chosen one” for lead singer Matty Healy at the band’s concert in Las Vegas on November 11th, 2022. “So, what happened was, there was a girl with me in the pit who had a sign that said, “Play ‘Girls’, it’s my birthday”, and Matty saw it and jokingly said something along the lines of, “No, sorry, can’t do that but I can make out with you guys”, and I was just like, “okay, noted”. I tried to catch his attention throughout the concert multiple times and I just knew I needed to do something different, so I went on Snapchat on my phone and put “So we making out?” in bold letters and held it up in between songs when it got dark and he could see it in the crowd. He came up to me and asked what my sign said, then proceeded to ask if I know the song ‘Robbers’, which of course I do, so he told me to “Come here” – and when I tell you I jumped the barricade so fast with no hesitation, no one even helped me, I did it myself!”, Alfie remembers and laughs.

“Once I got up there, security told me to just sit on the couch and Matty asked for my name. He kneeled down in front of me and said, “We don’t have to snog if you don’t want to”, and I said, “Oh yes, we are”, and he asked again if I was sure and I insisted and just kept nodding and smiling.” What happened after that is history – and visible on countless videos and TikToks that went viral all over social media right after that evening. Matty Healy kissed a fan on stage. “I was in disbelief,”, Alfie continues to explain, “I honestly was the happiest I’ve ever been in my life. I’ve been in love with him and this band for so long, so it just was a full-circle moment for me. I’ve been going to their shows since 2014 and I haven’t missed one in my city since.”

Little did she know that what happened that night would be a massive throwback to everyone who has been a fan of the band since their early days, and a way of them playing into the 2014 Tumblr nostalgia, which has become a viral trend last year. In that year, The 1975 was just an upcoming band with the members being in their early 20s, making songs about love, drugs, fake friends and everything else the average angsty teens who spent most of their time on the social media platform could relate to. During that period, the band toured significantly smaller venues for a significantly smaller fandom and took their time to meet and talk to said fans outside, before or after their shows. Frontman Healy made a habit of jumping into the crowds during gigs to take photos and videos with and for fans, building an intimate connection with the audience. And once in a while, pictures of him kissing fans during the song ‘Robbers’ would spread online, with online users longing to be as lucky as that night’s chosen fangirl. After that tour, the band, the venues and the fandom got bigger and Healy was in and out of relationships and rehab – the last thing on anyone’s mind was the fact he might potentially kiss a fan on stage again.

Fast forward to 2022: The 1975 are the biggest and most successful they have ever been, with Healy himself being the healthiest he has probably ever felt since being in the public eye, and die-hard fans are still longing for the kind of intimacy that made them fall in love with the band in the first place. As the resurgence of the 2014 Tumblr aesthetic made its way across multiple social networks – with staple fashion pieces like the white American Apparel tennis skirt, fishnets and Dr. Martens boots becoming trendy again and leading musicians of that era making a comeback and releasing new music –Healy himself mentioned in multiple interviews that he likes the idea of bringing that era back and becoming a leading figure for it once again. And so do most fans, who are now in their early or mid-20s and finally feel confident enough to embrace what they like, without having to risk getting bullied in school.

However, outsiders have a lot to say about Healy bringing back the trend of rock stars kissing fans on stage, which is fairly understandable. To them, it’s a grown man in a position of power taking advantage of a young girl who he knows would do (almost) everything for him in a heartbeat. It takes them back to Elvis making out with clearly underaged girls in the audience and bands like The Beatles and the Rolling Stones, who ultimately made “groupies” a thing by not shying away from taking fangirls into their hotel rooms after their shows. Abusing one’s power and young girls should never be glorified, but there is a significant difference between Healy and his former pop colleagues – for example, security or Healy himself have asked for IDs before allowing “chosen ones” on stage in the first place. And Alfie (like all the people Healy kissed after) is not only a grown woman but has also given her consent, multiple times. Healy might be attacked for his controversial statements and political expressions every other week, but his relationship with fans for once has never been perceived as creepy or abusive.

When Alfie is asked whether she was faced with any negative backlash following the infamous kiss, she states that, so far, she hasn’t received any hate comments, or at least she hasn’t seen them, and that most people have been very encouraging and happy for her. Quite the opposite, as she quickly gained 4k followers on Twitter and 7k followers on TikTok after her encounter with Healy, with the video of her kiss with the singer currently hitting 2.5 million views. Alfie has also been the subject of four interviews and has been featured in articles in TMZ, Daily Mail, The Sun, and Washington Post and mentioned in numerous podcasts. “It sucks to see people hate on him but I understand that it looks kind of weird, but also, they don’t know the band, so it’s not like they would really understand anyways,”, she says and makes a good point, which again could be argued to be “deluded” or “brainwashed” because she has been a fangirl for such a long time but sometimes, it’s just not that deep. Sometimes people just don’t get it. Sometimes you should just be happy for someone else’s experience, without trying to tell them how to feel just because it makes you feel a certain way. And sometimes a kiss is just a kiss. An intimate moment between two people. Even if it’s shared with your idol and makes headlines.