Matty Healy debuted a new look on Tuesday as he stepped out in New York City, after becoming the latest target for Taylor Swift on her new album.
The 1975 singer, 35, cut a typically casual figure on his outing, but looked noticeably different from his usual appearance.
He sported a much shorter haircut, having shorn off his signature long rockstar curls, and a distinct moustache.
Matty wore a T-shirt emblazoned with a Union Jack and drawing of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher with the words: ‘Don’t Falk with me Argentina’ in reference to the 1982 Falklands War and Evita track.
The vintage shirt allowed a glimpse at his vast tattoo collection on his arm and he teamed it with a pair of brown corduroy trousers.
The Chocolate hitmaker completed his look with a patterned money purse looped on his trousers and pair of classic black Converse.
Matty’s outing coms after he broke his silence on his ex-girlfriend Taylor’s new album The Tortured Poets Department, which documents their failed romance.
The pop star, 34, released her heartbreak album last month, with Matty being the surprising focus of many of the songs.
Matty and Taylor dated briefly after her split from her long-term boyfriend Joe Alwyn last year, but despite the short relationship plenty of songs on the record appear to be about him.
Fortnight (feat. Post Malone) and in particular The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived seem to reference the star and the heartbreak Taylor felt when things ended, prompting renewed fan scrutiny of the period that they dated.
The lyrics in the latter song refer to a man in a ‘Jehovah’s Witness suit’ and ‘rusting my sparkling summer’.
Matty is known for wearing distinctive black suits during live performances and the pair are believed to have broken up in June 2023.
While the title is noteworthy, given that Matty’s stature is an object of some debate, with him previously revealing: ‘Everyone in [the 1975] is 6’4” and I’m 5’10”, so everyone thinks that I’m 5’5”.’
More recently, he addressed these short man allegations by telling a fan that he was ‘sick to f***ing death of this’, insisting that he is ‘a big boy.’
Other lyrics in the song suggest the unnamed subject of the title ‘tried to buy some pills’ and Matty has openly spoken about his drug problems in the past.
While, I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can), sees Taylor appear to refer to chain smoking, booze loving Matty, as she sings: ‘The smoke cloud billows out his mouth like a freight train through a small town / The jokes that he told across the bar were revolting and far too loud.’
Fans had expressed their concerns when Taylor started dating bad boy rocker and it seems her friends had the same reservations.
She sings: ‘They shake their heads, saying, “God help her” when I tell ‘em he’s my man / But your good Lord doesn’t need to lift a finger / I can fix him, no really I can / And only I can.’
Title track The Tortured Poets Department features the lyric ‘who uses typewriters anyway?’ – with some fans noting Matty revealed in a 2019 interview he ‘really likes’ using the old-fashioned machines.
And some fans have also speculated that But Daddy I Love Him – a song about the disapproval expressed for a new romantic partner – is also about Matty, and those who disapproved of the relationship ultimately leading to its implosion.
Matty finally broke his silence about the album last month, when a reporter from Entertainment Tonight asked what he thought of the ‘diss track’.
The singer politely replied: ‘I haven’t really listened to that much of it but I’m sure it’s good.’
According to Us Weekly, Matty’s reaction has been positive, and the people close to him ‘couldn’t be happier’ with how the record turned out.
A source said: ‘Matty still thinks very highly of Taylor but we were all nervous about what she might have said on the album.
‘Matty’s family were worried that Taylor was going to rip him apart. Matty has struggled with life in the public eye, and he’s been doing really well, but the last thing that he needs is for every Swiftie in the world to think he’s a villain.’
Another insider told the publication: ‘He was worried that their story would be shed in a negative light’ but was ‘really appreciative of the heads up’ he got from Taylor.
However, his family has given a withering assessment of Taylor savaging him on her album.
His mother, Denise Welch, threw shade at the Bad Blood hitmaker on her show Loose Women.
When the topic of Taylor’s new LP was brought up by her co-stars, Denise replied: ‘I wasn’t aware she had an album out at all… Anyway I wish her all the best.’
