In 2014, the debut, self-titled album by The 1975 became the soundtrack to the heady early days of a relationship with the man I would go on to marry.
When it was announced that The 1975 were coming to the Palladium in Los Angeles in November 2014, we decided to make a night of it. We got VIP tickets and booked a fancy dinner at a posh restaurant on Sunset Boulevard, just across the street from the venue.
Entering the Palladium, we checked into the VIP lounge, which is a large-ish balcony on the venue’s right-hand side. We were there early enough to snag spaces against the railing, so we camped out, guarding our space – and our perfect view of the stage – like wolves.
As we waited for The 1975, we began to notice that the crowd below us was behaving strangely. Instead of staring forward at the stage, most of the young women in the crowd were turned sideways and gazing up at the balcony where we were standing, their phones pressed against their faces as they took photos. But of what?
We realized pretty quickly that the objects of their attention were about fifteen feet to our left: Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez.
Given the curve of the balcony in the VIP area, we had a pretty good view of the pair as they waved and blew kisses to the fans below, then turned their backs to the crowd, laughing and enjoying cocktails with their friends. Soon enough, they were joined by Ellie Goulding.
Finally, the lights dimmed and The 1975 took the stage. Swift and Gomez went into full fangirl mode, leaning over the railing and screaming along with every song. It was funny watching the fans on the venue’s floor as they alternated between screaming for Matty Healy and then turning and screaming for Swift.
I wasn’t entirely impressed with The 1975’s performance, and I found my attention wandering to Swift and her behavior. I’d worked in magazines long enough to know that most celebrities did not carry on like this at shows for no reason, and I began to wonder if Swift was just a 1975 superfan, or whether she was actually dating the singer.
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About halfway through the show, Healy addressed the crowd for the first time. “Hello Los Angeleeeeeez,” he said. “We’re actually moving here in April.”
Predictably, the crowd went insane at the news, and so did Swift, yelling “Oh yeah” and raising her fists in the air. After this she turned to Gomez and whispered something, and Gomez smiled, nodding.
A little later, before the band performed “fallingforyou,” Healy asked the crowd to put away their phones and “embrace the moment” and a hush fell over the crowd as Healy and the band finally clicked, delivering a gorgeous version of the song.
I watched Swift as the song played, her eyes closed much of the time, one hand on her heart. When the song ended, she made (then-classic) heart with her hands, holding it in the direction of the stage. She seemed completely smitten with Healy.
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A few songs later, Healy unbuttoned his shirt, revealing his chest tattoo, and Swift screamed and fanned herself, making me laugh.
But the best moment came at the show’s end. After saying that “Chocolate” was to be their last song of the night, the crowd would not let the band leave, especially since they had not played their biggest hit, “Sex.”
Suddenly, the entire venue began to chant “We want Sex, we want Sex” and Swift and Gomez chimed in, leaning over the railing and banging their hands in time with the call, yelling the same and laughing. Finally, the band played the song and the place went wild. While the song was still being played, Swift and Gomez made their exit, not taking the stairs that lead down into the crowd, opting for the elevator at the rear of the balcony.
A few days later, I heard that Swift and Healy were indeed dating. It was not a surprise, and when The 1975 released their sophomore album a couple of years later, it was definitely fun to guess which songs were about Healy’s breakup with Swift.
