Matty Healy is shaking off casual love stories.
The frontman for The 1975—who dated Taylor Swift for a few months in early 2023—shared what inspires his music these days after he “became a way more well-known public figure for loads of different reasons.” And his head-turning comments have Swifties wondering if he was taking a dig at Taylor’s songwriting.
"I would kind of just be lying if I made a record about, I don’t know, all the stuff that was said about me or my casual romantic liaisons,” Matty said on the Oct. 22 episode of the Doomscroll podcast, “or whatever it may be that I’ve kind of become known for, just because I was famous."
After seemingly referencing his relationship with Taylor—who has been dating Kansas City Chiefs football player Travis Kelce since summer 2023—Matty also appeared to discuss her style of music, which is based on personal experiences (after all, Taylor’s Tortured Poets Department album includes the tracks “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” and “Fortnight,” which are rumored to be about Matty).
“I think that a lot of artists become very interested in their lore,” he continued, “or they become interested in the things that have happened outside of their art that people know about, and they want to address that. And fair enough."
But the 35-year-old—who got engaged to Gabbriette Bechtel in June—explained that pulling from real-life experience isn’t part of his wildest dreams.
"I think that that’s an obvious thing to draw from,” Matty shared. “I’m just not interested in it. The idea of making a record about something that personally happened to me, that by the time I put it out is gonna be like two years old, I see people doing that as well, and it’s not interesting."
The “About You” singer admitted he “used to write about relationships a lot more” using “journal entries and little bits of heartbreak,” but now prefers to write music to start a conversation.
“My work is, I hope, interesting art pop,” he said, “that maybe helps popularize academic subjects that I'm really interested in.”