The 1975 frontman Matty Healy made a public statement against Malaysia's anti-LGBTQ laws whilst performing at a music festival in Kuala Lumpur last week. Healy, 34, kissed his bandmate Ross MacDonald on stage at Good Vibes Festival, after calling out the country's laws. Now activists are warning however that his actions could harm the local LGBTQ+ community, generating a backlash. Here Ash Layo Masing breaks down why this is problematic.
I remember when The 1975 dropped their debut self-titled record back in the early 2010s. The pop music landscape at the time was taking a turn towards an indie and alternative sound. Introspective lyrics were cutting through huge hedonistic party anthems dominating the sound waves post-recession. The angsty, damaged, sad boy image portrayed by the band was popular amongst online communities and fandoms, especially at the height of the Tumblr era. For many queer Malaysians such as myself experiencing a terrifying and tumultuous coming-of-age (and coming-to-terms with their gender and/or sexual identity) in a country that has consistently made it apparent we do not belong in its cultural vision, this sort of alternative edge dipped in introspective emotion spoke to many of us living through an angst-ridden teen-hood. It is not surprising that the 1975 cultivated the following it did in Malaysia, especially via Tumblr, which was a common site of respite for many chronically online queer teens at the time.
