The 1975’s Matty Healy Needs to Check His Privilege About ‘Gross’ Paid Meet-and-Greets
variety.comAri Herstand As TikTok does, the social media platform recently resurfaced a months-old interview with the 1975 frontman Matty Healy and honed in on a 30-second sound bite — a tiny fraction of the hour-long conversation with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe — that was sure to spark discussion, if not controversy.
For the unacquainted, the 1975 is one of the most innovative, influential and divisive bands of the past decade. They tour arenas all over the world and Matty can’t walk down the street in any major British city without getting mobbed by fans.
For all intents and purposes, he is a superstar, even though his band exists slightly outside the mainstream. In this extensive interview, after discussing how he doesn’t want to take for granted the “transient, ephemeral thing” that connects the fan and the artist at a concert, Matty hits on his disdain for meet-and-greets.
This is where the TikTok clip begins. “It’s people reaching for something,” said Matty, “which is why I hate paid meet-and-greets: you’ve paid for the album; you’ve paid for the ticket; you’ve paid for the parking; you’ve got them in the room and somebody’s gone, ‘How do we monetize that bit?’” Matty revs up: “If you’re an artist and you do paid meet-and-greets … you take the money off the fan.
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