“We’re going to go away and hopefully make you a good new album,” the frontman told fans in Birmingham.
Matty Healy of The 1975 headlines the third day of the TRNSMT Festival 2023 at Glasgow Green on July 9, 2023 in Glasgow, Scotland.
Roberto Ricciuti/Redferns
The 1975 will be taking a break at the end of its Still at Their Very Best Tour, but fans needn’t worry – the band won’t be gone for long. While performing at Resorts World Arena in Birmingham, England, Wednesday (Feb. 21), Matty Healy said that new music was just around the corner – and to prove it, he played a snippet of an unreleased song for the crowd.
Speaking about the approaching end of his and his bandmates’ European tour, Healy said, “The truth is, everyone’s kind of afraid that we’re going to go away for ages.”
“We’re working on a new record now,” he continued, sitting behind a piano onstage. “I just need to stop for, like, a minute.”
The “Somebody Else” singer went on to spontaneously pull out his phone and hold its speaker up to his microphone, then played a few seconds of a vibrant, up-tempo track that began with a countdown. He went on to seemingly share a lyric that related back to his need to take a break after tour, telling fans, “It’s a line actually, what is it … ‘I take a minute when I think I won’t die from stopping.’”
“And that’s really how I’ve felt for a long time,” Healy added. “We really appreciate you guys and thank you so much. We’re going to go away and hopefully make you a good new album. I just don’t know what to do in the meantime, really.”
Billboard has reached out to the band’s reps for more information.
The Manchester band’s stop in Birmingham marked its last show in the U.K. this tour. Healy, guitarist Adam Hann, bassist Ross MacDonald and drummer George Daniel will continue performing through Europe for the next month – with dates planned in Portugal, France, Germany, Italy and more – before closing out the Still at Their Very Best trek March 24 with a concert in Amsterdam.
The 1975 has been touring since late 2022 in support of its fifth studio album, Being Funny in a Foreign Language, which debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200. The group started with a nine-month run dubbed the At Their Very Best Tour, which lasted through mid-August 2023, before immediately embarking on another sweep of North America and Europe for the Still at Their Very Best Tour.
Watch Healy discuss new music and play part of an unreleased song below.