Matty Healy did not mince his words as he launched into an angry tirade directed at the Recording Academy for leaving The 1975 out of its latest Grammy Award nominations.
Last week, Recording Academy chief Harvey Mason Jr announced the 2024 Grammy nominees during a live-stream event.
“Kill Bill” singer SZA dominated the nominations this year – followed closely behind by Phoebe Bridgers, Victoria Monét and mixing engineer Serban Ghene. However, Healy’s four-piece English pop-rock band was nowhere to be seen.
“The fact that we didn’t get nominated for a Grammy is a f***ing outrage. And the reason people don’t say that is ’cause it’s not a very tasteful thing to say,” Healy, 34, said at their recent New York City concert in footage shared on X/Twitter.
“But I’m way past tasteful. Are you f***ng mental? Are they f***ing mental?!”
The “Somebody Else” group released their latest album, Being Funny In A Foreign Language, in October 2022 days after the eligibility period for the 2024 Grammys opened.
The frontman and singer went on to bemoan the fact that The 1975 has never won a Grammy Award since its inception in 2002.
Matthew Healy of The 1975— (Getty Images)
“A Brief Inquiry, I Like It When You Sleep – nothing! F*** off! Dickheads. What the f*** are they on about?” Healy continued.
I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It earned them their first Grammy nod in 2017. They received their second nomination in 2020 for Best Rock Song for “Give Yourself A Try”.
“I mean, ‘About You,’ just on its own merits, deserves a f***ing Grammy,” Healy declared of the band’s most-listened-to song on Spotify from their 2022 album.
“I mean, I don’t really care that much, but it just winds me up,” he said before adding: “I’ll tell you what: Tell me of anybody who should be nominated in the past four years. And you know what? I’m not being self-celebratory, but Kanye’s one of my heroes. You’ve gotta f***ing believe in yourself.
“That’s an awkward hero to have right now; I understand that. But separate the antisemitism. Just think about the self-belief. And the truth is – no!” he argued.
Controversial rapper Kanye West is one of the most-decorated hip-hop artists in Grammy history. He’s currently tied with Jay-Z at 24 wins.
“Shush! Tell me! Literally tell me one band, in the past four years, that could do what we’re going to do in the next three minutes,” Healy said.
This is far from the first time Healy has exhibited outlandish behaviour on stage. Early last month, he apologised for his recent controversies, pledging to “do better”.
“Because some of my actions have hurt some people, I apologise to those people, and I pledge to do better moving forward,” he said in footage shared on X/Twitter.
