I have always said that Matty Healy was the prophetic voice of a generation.

That is a controversial statement, and would be considered so probably by both the right and the left now. Before I get into who exactly he is, first:

What is Prophecy?

The typical idea of biblical prophecy is usually that its purpose is for telling the future. However, this seriously flattens the reality of the prophetic literature of the Bible, and thereby cuts us off from what I would argue might be the most nourishing aspects of the genre. Prophecy, at its simplest, is both foretelling, (For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given…) and forth-telling.

The key with biblical prophecy is that before any foretelling of God’s judgment were to be fulfilled, the people of either Judah or Israel (depending on the prophet and the year) should be harshly criticized and chastised for the dysfunctional, sinful way they were living as a society. They were not only threatened with destruction and exile, but also given hope in that circumstance. The story of Jonah summarizes this biblical trope perfectly.

In Amos, for instance, Israel in particular is criticized for living in luxury extracted off the backs of the poor in their society, and for their sexual promiscuity:

“Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Israel,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because they sell the righteous for silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals—
they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth
and push the afflicted out of the way;
father and son go in to the same young woman,
so that my holy name is profaned;
they lay themselves down beside every altar
on garments taken in pledge;
and in the house of their God they drink
wine bought with fines they imposed.”

And later Amos criticizes those who lounge on ivory beds (6:4), which would have been an incredibly expensive prestige item. Rather the equivalent of driving a Rolls Royce or wearing a custom-made Cuban chain: exceedingly expensive and wholly ostentatious.

Now, Who is Matty Healy?

Matty Healy is an extremely well-dressed, be-Gucci-ed Englishman of extremely mediocre looks, who is could be seen as perhaps growing handsomer only incidentally because he has begun to go grey early. He, like me, was born in 1989, and is one of the original nepo babies—born to two famous English actors.

The username he uses online, Truman Black, was pulled from a chosen pseudonym on his old Facebook profile, since the British paparazzi were continually trying to get a glimpse into his family’s life, and consequently his life. He says this was how he was able to have normal social media like everyone else, but avoid the press.

The reason why he has become famous in his own right is because he has fronted a band called The 1975 since 2002, with three other Mancunians he met in secondary school. After their initial 2013 debut, then went from a super indie ban with a rabid fanbase to one of the most popular and well-known bands in the world. For my little rock band-loving heart, this makes me happy.

He is also an alternately recovering and relapsing heroin addict.

Prophet or Provocateur?

As their fanbase grew, and as they released new albums, and as I attended concerts of theirs and listened to Healy hold forth in between songs, I began to consider him someone with sharp eyes and deep understanding about the deeply human dreams and desires of our generation. His motivation was always to speak up for the oppressed and the little person.

Songs like “Loving Someone;” “I like America and America Likes Me;” “Love It If We Made It;” and “Sincerity is Scary, are good examples of what I would consider his prophetic voice—critique of society, expression of angst, the desire for hope.

When he reached his zenith as a pseudo-prophet in 2016, it was the same year that both our 45th president was elected and that Brexit was ratified. We were full of so much hope, us Millennials were still considered to be young people, most of us still in our 20’s. I felt that we could rally behind him, for he was giving voice to our concerns and fears, and pushing for the right thing to be done in our societies.

The Downfall: Decadence and Decline

Of course, how could any one of us have known what would have taken place after all that, with the consequent presidential term of 45, the pandemic, and what now sounds at times like the death rattle of American democracy, or perhaps the West overall.

In late 2022 I had the great joy of going to see The 1975 live again, in an amazing venue in Seattle. Such good memories combined with such good, danceable music. Not more than two months later, on the same tour we had seen them on, he made a Nazi salute on stage in Liverpool in an oblique reference to Kanye West’s antisemitism in one of their songs; the following show he trashed the stage in response to the outcry because his message was misinterpreted; the show following that wept onstage and apologized to his longsuffering bandmates.

What’s more, within a month of all of those things, a podcast was released wherein Healy made a string of racist comments about several different people groups and ethnicities, and revealed that he was a consumer of an extremely disturbing form of pornography which portrays black women being violently degraded.

The 1975 have been my favorite band for such a long time. I always felt like it was overreaction when fans would react with feelings of betrayal and anger against their favorite public figures or musicians—until I experienced it myself. I was so pained by this that I wasn’t able to listen to their music for over a year. And despite his downfall, I still see the theme of prophecy as quite fitting for the figure of Matty Healy.

Conclusion

I have no way of knowing whether Matty Healy’s recent revolting rants were drug-fueled; if his prophetic-era rants were drug-fueled, or if they both were. But it became clear to me that his separation from normal life—whether through the numbing affect of his tragic addiction, his immense privilege and visibility as a child of celebrities; or through the extreme wealth that he has now amassed as a rock star—has muffled his ears to what really matters, and shown us that all that he is ultimately concerned with lately is himself. While society burns down around him, he too is lounging on an ivory bed.

He has been talked about greatly in the past days since the release of Taylor Swift’s new album, who ostensibly had a month-long fling with him after ending a years-long relationship, and then wrote several songs apparently about him on her new album. (The major Swifties even wrote and circulated a petition or an open letter or something heavily critiquing the unblemished Taylor for dating such a scumbag. Healy had at one point said that Swift’s mother looked like Miss Piggy. It was a major scandal last summer, believe me.)

So where are we? We don’t exactly have a roadmap for where we are as a society, but we would do well to heed these signs as a warning; that even the most well-intentioned of us can also be enticed by the idols of self and of money. We can be enticed especially by the idol of self-medicating to soothe our pain—for that is what Healy’s addiction is, nothing more than a response to the great existential pain that he carries.

It is also a good reminder that humans are fallible and can break our hearts, even our so-called cultural leaders. Matty said, while he was probably still sober, in an interview with Zane Lowe of Apple Music in 2022, that he credited his bandmates with his salvation. I cannot imagine the heartbreak of those closest to him as he goes through these cycles, but I am still hopeful for his restoration and healing—even if it still feels painful to listen to his music.