The 1975 Want You To Believe They’ve Disappeared

The 1975 are playing silly buggers with fans’ heartstrings, pulling a disappearing act from cyberspace by de-activating all of their social media accounts. And to drive the knife even deeper, prior to deleting his own personal Twitter page, frontman Matt Healy reportedly posted a cryptic comic strip, suggesting that the band might be breaking up.

As The Guardian reports, the cartoon depicts “old Matty” silencing a character dubbed “Pink (new Matty)” alongside a mysterious statement, which reads:

“Our projected identity must change not only visually but philosophically – how do you do that?” the piece reads. “Firstly we must reclaim our identity & repossess our control of it…Until then there won’t be any pop music or dancing with long hair.

“The hardest part of any relationship is to say goodbye. As much as we might like things to stay the same, change is an inevitable part of life. We can’t simply go on forever – always staying the same, never evolving. So we must leave, with a parting ‘we love you’ – we are already gone.”

A skeptical person might think it’s all just an elaborate publicity stunt to promote, perhaps, the band’s next album (after all, they did recently promise to release “new music in 2015”).

Whatever their game, it seems we are all mere pawns, and fans have taken to the now 1975-less Twitterverse to air their fears, vexations and general puzzlement over the whole affair. Many seem to legitimately believe the band are indeed breaking up, triggering an almost Zayn Malik-level meltdown (examples below), while other sage-like social media users have counselled patience, pointing out that the band are most likely getting ready to re-vamp their image in some way.

The Guardian managed to get in contact with Healy himself in the hopes that he would be able to shed more light on the situation, but it was a bust, with the singer offering them a reportedly terse, “No comment”.

Whatever happens guys, we’ll always have Splendour.

UPDATE 02/06/15: Just 24-hours after disappearing without a trace, The 1975 are back online and they’re sporting a whole-new look.

UPDATE 03/06/15: The 1975’s frontman, Matt Healy, has now penned an open letter to fans, explaining that the band’s disappearing act was all about starting a “new chapter”, which will begin with the release of their new full-length LP.

Photos: The 1975 – Splendour In The Grass 2014 / Photos: Ashley Mar

Interview: The 1975 On What Defines Pop Music

http://youtu.be/IoxANj3ZSUg

are the 1975 gonna break up?! what does this mean ?! pic.twitter.com/oAf6akxc2j

— em (@em_williamsxn) May 31, 2015

" the 1975 deactivated all of their accounts" pic.twitter.com/3NkxvEr3nu

— shai ✨ (@lewytate) May 31, 2015

http://twitter.com/CuddleWithRicky/status/605158764400906240

http://twitter.com/omfhs/status/605042652476788736

But really if the 1975 break up I'll eat my own femur

— Professor Oak (@OkanNVLS) May 31, 2015

everyone is saying the 1975 is going to break up but they've already started their second album + tour dates pic.twitter.com/YhF78BCDNZ

— haley (@liIcherubs) May 31, 2015